A Business Decision
“Ok…..now that you’re graduating from high school, I want each of one of you to tell me what your major will be in college and what your career will be.†Eric said to me and the Homies at our high school graduation party.
He filmed each one of our answers. Everyone answered to the best of their 18-year-old ability (Tobin was 17 at the time) and I was the only one with an answer that I’m actually doing in present day.
“I’m going to major in business and own my own international company.†I said to Eric and the camera.
What the hell did that mean?
I wasn’t sure. I thought being a “businessman†was cool, it was lucrative, and it was sexy. I really had no idea what it meant though.
Looking back, I’m happy that I decided to major in Business in college. A lot of my friends, and people I know in general, put a lot of pressure on themselves to decide on a college major and a career. When in reality, there’s a lot of time and life you need to live to truly decide what it is you want to do with your life.
Josh was an Engineer Major in the fall and a Business Major in the spring before leaving after a year (Fall 2006/Spring 2007) at Montana Tech of the University of Montana in Butte, MT. He had no idea what he wanted to do and spent the year going to parties and working part time more than doing homework.
Tobin seemingly changed his major every week at Montana State University in Bozeman, MT before settling on Nursing at the end of the year and deciding to transfer.
Steve ended up going to Bilbao, Spain for the school year and lived as a foreign exchange student with a family whose children would come to Dillon, MT on exchange programs. His claim to fame is graduating from high school twice. Steve ended up having a great year seeing Europe, learning Spanish, and took some time to explore life before moving to Helena, MT for the summer to work for the Forest Service.
Bigs went to the University of Montana – Helena, College of Technology in Helena as a Web Design major for the year but that was because he liked the computer classes we took in high school.
Andy redshirted at Carroll College, also in Helena, as a Center/Guard for football and was undecided on a major but after having a good year of development athletically, meeting his girlfriend who would eventually become his wife, and taking a lot of classes he gravitated to Communications and Public Relations. Andy has always been good about applying pressure to himself without outwardly stressing which has always allowed things to flow his way.
Brent was a Civil Engineer major at California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo, California and stuck with this, like me with business, throughout his college career. (he also had his own graduation party and wasn’t part of this original discussion)
To me, business seemed focused but general enough that I could do anything. Originally, I thought I would hit corporate America after college, live in some big cities, and see where that took me. But the birth of my daughter (Integrity) changed ALL of that in a second.
Even though I transferred a lot, I always had business as a major. ?(Aside from being a General Studies major in the spring 2007 while I was at North Idaho College (NIC) – but the goal was to always get back to business)
The University of Hawaii at Manoa was International Business with a Minor in Spanish (fall 2006).
Mendocino College was Business Administration and Business Management (summer 2007, fall 2007)
NIC was Business Administration (spring 2008, fall 2008, spring 2009)
Lewis-Clark State College, Coeur d’Alene was Business Administration with a Minor in Marketing (fall 2009, spring 2010, summer 2010, fall 2010, and spring 2011) [fall ’09 to summer ‘10 it was Business Administration and Business Management with a minor in Marketing but that was due to the misinterpretation of the course catalog by an academic advisor who was eventually fired]
I also took 3 credits in the fall of 2009 and spring of 2010 at NIC in conjunction with 9 credits from Lewis-Clark State College.
Over 5 years, I went to 4 schools, in 3 different states, got 2 degrees, had 1 daughter, and had 0 debt. It was an absolute ride and flowed into the start of my first career in higher education.
Because of this ride though, I actually decided that business was cool, but it was too hard for me. Not something I typically say. But Kiwi changed my risk threshold entirely. My life felt completely squashed and sidetracked with all of my transfers, working in higher education, and raising a daughter.
It was depressing but I was also taking responsibility for my actions and making the best of my situation.
Needless to say, I didn’t get my sauce back until I attended the University of Idaho, Coeur d’Alene as a master’s in business administration major. The undergraduate work was good, but it was less practical and felt more like academic rigor than real life tools. Idaho, Coeur d’Alene felt more practical and reinvigorated my passion for business.
The wisdom I had as a high schooler though knowing that the most important thing to do is get the “piece of paper†and the rest of it will take care of itself is crazy to me as I look back. Not knowing what I wanted to do, but choosing something that is general enough to get me started is something I’ll always be proud of myself for.
You’re one decision away from living an entirely different life. And I’m happy with the “business†decision that lead me here today.
Keep Climbing
-- Alex de Golia,