Mentoring Blog: "About My Experience With Carl Neuenhaus"

Sorry for the delay in my posting, my internet would not connect and I was out of town most of the time, but luckly I am back home and able to post--

About My Experience With Carl Neuenhaus

During my field trip with my mentor, we visited Volunteers of America of Greater New Orleans, F. H. Myers Construction Corporation, and Lamarque Ford.

At Volunteers of America of Greater New Orleans, they are a non-profit business that helps out people in need; such as distressed victims of natural disaters like Hurrican Katrina, others who are mentally or physically disabled, and people who are recovering addicts. They have many employees who are paid, and plenty more who are volunteers. They make money by donations and a little money comes from the government; however, the money that the government provides them with is not even close to how much they need in order to ensure comfortable alternatives to the things they most need. What surprised me most about the business was the fact that they are able to keep rolling in this economy. And to help others as much as they do, I mean WOW! We met with the President/CEO James M. LeBlanc. He was kindhearted and very nice. Two pieces of advice that he left us with is be thankful for what we do have, and never take anything/anyone for granted.

At F. H. Myers Construction Corporation we learned so many interesting facts from the President/CEO Fred H. Myers. He explained to us all that he had been through and the many curves that life threw at him. It was interesting to find out how he ended up with a successful company, while he started off where we are today, and a little worse. He showed us pictures of his many accomplishments, such as designing and building the Audubon Zoo entrance. We were astonished by the many things that we had been able to see before that he had been part of, that we would have never guessed he had before meeting him. He was a down-to-earth "real" guy, who was once in our shoes. I think I liked this guy the best!

The last place we visited was Lamarque Ford. We met with President/CEO Ronnie Lamarque. He gave us all the ins and outs of the "fast lane". He told us of how he started and how he ended up where he is today. He gave us the advice of not to take life for granted. And we even got to see "THE KING'S ROOM" (his office). This place was fun, Ronnie had us laughing the entire time, and he also sang for us!

My favorite part of the whole day, though, was dinner with Carl. Carl brought his wife, who we met for the first time, and it felt like family. We talked, we laughed, we ate, and man did we eat! It was quite an experience and I wish we could do this every semester... I will honestly miss all my times with Carl!

--Lacey

Networking: "Cocktail Party"...Mission: "Collect 5 Business Cards"

On Thursday, January 15th, there was a mock "cocktail party" for my business class in which each student's goal was to obtain five business cards from business professionals. The way in which we introduced ourselves was through an "elevator speech".

My elevator speech went something like this: "Hi, my name is Lacey Volion. And your name is? ... Well, nice to meet you. I am a freshman here at Loyola University in the College of Business. My majors are Business Marketing and Management. My future plans are to open my own business particularly in that of the fashion industry. What do you do?..." And on to a conversation about the things that they have done/are doing, and the answering of questions that I had asked them throughout the course of the conversation.

At the end of the conversation, I asked if they had a business card in which I could get in touch with them. I aquired the following business cards:

Meghan Ryan Bonavita--a sales associate for the Carlisle Collection. She is in fashion merchandising.

Daphne Main, Ph.D., CPA--She is the Associate Professor of Accounting. She had a very inviting personality, and was very easy to talk to.

Dr. Mike Pearson, Ph.D.--He is a Professor of Marketing. He also was very nice, and stayed a while after to talk to my mentor and I. He seemed very outgoing and expressed his love for the Loyola campus and community.

Michelle K. Johnston, Ph.D.--Mrs. Johnston is the Associate Professor of Management, and is also the Director of the Executive Mentoring Program. Mrs. Johnston also teaches my Business Communications class and I am very excited to be spending a semester with her. She seems very intelligent and has many things to offer to us as students preparing for the business world.

Len J. Trevino, Ph.D.--Mr. Trevino is the Gerald N. Gaston Eminent Scholar Chair in International Business. He offered advice to me about being a Business major and that was, "If you are certain about what you want to major in, make sure you have something else to bring to the table that will surely sell yourself to the company in which you are trying to get into." Basically, he was saying make sure you have something to set yourself apart from everyone else.

Brian A. Gueniot--He works for a consulting firm to try and help businesses stay out of the courtroom. (This is basically how he described it.) He told a group of students and I that he used to be a football coach here in Louisiana, and he also enjoys the Loyola community and all that it has to offer.

Julie McDonald--Mrs. McDonald explained to me less about herself and more about one of her friends after I explained to her my future plans. She said that she has a friend with an "old-fashioned" lingerie shop down Magazine St. in New Orleans called "LiLi's". I explained to her that my future plans were to own a lingerie shop also, but naming it "LaLa's". It was quite amazing that someone else had done this, and also offered me hope for what I would like to do. I thought I was crazy about even thinking about doing something like this, turns out not. I am really excited to meet Mrs. McDonald's friend and find out some advice that I can use in the future.

One thing that I am sure I did well on during the networking event was handshaking and keeping eye contact. I offered each business professional a firm handshake as well as eye contact while saying nice to meet you along with my name. In the future at Cocktail Parties, or even business events, I hope I feel a little more eager to just jump into it. I was a little stand-offish at first, but towards the end I started warming up to the idea. It was an overall great experience that will help out in the future.

For further reference on what you should do while networking, check out some of the links at:

http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/businessnetworking/Business_Networking_for_Entrepreneurs.htm

or try http://www.businessknowhow.com/tips/networking.htm. These should point you in the right direction.

Wolves on the Prowl 2008

So, "Wolves on the Prowl" was on November 8, 2008. "Wolves on the Prowl" is a name given to the time when buisness students go do community service. We had about five different events we could participate in, and I, as well as a couple of my friends, chose to go to Wilson Charter School (in New Orleans) to help clean up and do different things.

When we got to the school, we were greeted by the principal and other staff members. We were given a speech that made us feel very excited to be there and good about helping others. We were given key chain necklaces with "Wilson Wolves" imprinted on it, and they told us that the only people to have these are Wilson students so we should be glad we got one too. We were split up into different groups, some painting, some planting plants, some doing posters, and much more.

Some of us chose to paint one of the social workers' offices. When we got in there it was a wreck. There were dead bugs on the floor, dust everywhere, paint falling (crumbling) off the walls. It was just unbelievably disgusting. First we had to clean up. It took us the longest to do this. Then, we had to clean the walls; which also took a very long time.

Finally, we started painting when we had pretty much only an hour left; keep in mind, this was a four hour event. It started off being a good experience, and turned bad quite quickly. People that decided to be in our group, after we started, decided that was not what they wanted to do and left us to fend for ourselves. So, we had no choice, we did.

We painted and finished ten minutes after we were supposed to leave. And we didn't even really finish. We did not get to put all the things we took out back into the office, which made me feel bad for the social worker, because it took at least five of us to get all the stuff out and now there was only one person to put all the stuff back in.

Overall, the bonding with my classmates was a good experience, but the task itself was challenging and infuriating. Next time, I hope it is better than this one.

Careerbeam Values and Vison

In ten years from now, I see myself as the owner of a successful lingerie shop called Lovelace in New Orleans, La. But not only in New Orleans, I also plan on opening another shop in Fort Lauderdale, Fl, or somewhere around Fort Lauderdale. I will not only be selling women's lingerie, but also men's to be able to open access to all genders. I want to have a diverse business that has a friendly/sexual environment, but not too over-pressuring. No one wants to walk into a sensual shop and feel overwhelmed by what is in the shop itself. I don't want a big shop, but I want one with enough room for twenty to thirty people to be in there at one time and be able to move around comfortably. I plan on my employees being friendly and able to greet everyone that walks through the doors of Lovelace. The reason I wish to open up my own company, instead of managing someone else's is because I like to take charge and run things my way. I do like input, but most of the time I like to be the leader and do things on my own. I am a friendly, outgoing person who likes the warm air and the south, which is how most people who know me would describe me. But, I don't think that I will be able to make it on my own, so I would like to partner with other sponsor, such as "toy shops" and "movie makers", so that we can help each other out... I also plan on co-owning my business with one of my friends who will do all the taxes, so that my outlook will be on the company itself within reasonable measures set by the "bill manager".

The benefits of writing a vision statement is that when writing a vision statement, one realizes what it truly is that he/she wants to do with his/her life and where they think it will end up or even begin. Without taking into account money, place, etc, it really gives incentive to think out of the box. It lets you realize what are the pros and cons of yourself and the obstacles of weaknesses that you must overcome (i.e. mine is that I want too much leadership, whereas I will need help one time or another).

The challenge of writing a vision statement is that one must realize that there are some things that will have to be overcome and you have to at one time or another realize what it is you want to do and where will it all be. How will you do it? Who will help? What is it exactly you want to do? When writing a vision statement, it makes you cover all of these questions, and for some it might be really hard.

The value that is most important to me is being a DRIVER. I tend to try and influence others by what I think all of the time. I argue my point and to why I think it is right. I don't let others step all over me and I choose what it is I want to believe in. Now I take this stand, but I rarely think that others should do the same thing, I most of the time try to get them to believe what I do, or if not just agree to disagree. But, most of the time I take a stand, and I don't give up until the other person gets frustrated because I will argue until there is no end about something that I believe in fully.

A company that sort of has the same values as I do is Bare Necessities. (http://www.barenecessities.com/aboutus.asp) They strive to make sure that all women (though I want to establish a connection with women and men) are taken care of in that they are comfortable wearing lingerie. Working for a company of this type, would probably be a comfortable environment to work in even if one is selling lingerie. They want to make everyone feel beautiful and make their special someone view them as that also. And I think that is amazing. Bare Necessities states, "With 10 years of experience satisfying the intimate apparel needs of women of all shapes and sizes, we provide the care and knowledge of your favorite local bra store combined with an amazing selection that far exceeds that of a department store. Average figure, plus size or petite – Bare Necessities has the bra to suit your needs and your body. Our incomparable selection of bras range from size 30AA to 54H – a true range of sizes and styles to fit the full range of real women’s bodies." Hello...Exactly what I am trying to say about my lingerie...well in the future.

^^So you don't know what you want? I know! I know! Let me show you...

^^You don't know what to get? Let me tell you what I think and then you can decide...

About Me

Hello everyone, my name is Lacey Volion. I just turned eighteen on September fourth. I am a sibling of five brothers and three sisters ranging from the ages of twenty-six to seven. I am a really friendly person who has big dreams. I normally do not let people get in the way of my dreams, but I do have a big heart so I will stop myself to help others in any way I can. I recently got in a bad car accident when I evacuated for Hurricane Gustav. I went to Monroe, Louisiana for the hurricane and someone decided to "T-Bone" me while I was driving on a main road, and didn't even bother to say he was sorry. But the truth is, I forgive him. So in other words... I am a very forgiving person, but I never forget.

I went to high school at Riverside Academy, where my graduating class only had a total of fifty-three people. So we were all close-knit and I had lots of friends. I currently attend Loyola University of New Orleans. I am studying business and plan on double majoring in Management and Marketing. My current favorite teacher is Dr. Kendra Reed. The reason being is that she is honest, funny, and smart. She reminds me of a person I would like to become.

I grew up in Reserve, Louisiana. Most people do not even know where this is because we pretty much are a tiny little city. I probably wouldn't even call it that. I live where "everyone knows your name". So once you screw up, everyone down the street knows. So far, I haven't had to deal with that...let's keep it that way.

I look forward to this school year and all it has to bring me. And if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or whatsoever... just let me know!