It is not often that an individual is able to say that every single variable in a situation comes together perfectly for their success. When these moments do happen, it can lead to some of the most enriching and successful business endeavors that someone can experience. In one of the most unexpected ways and at one of the most unexpected times in my life, I was fortunate enough to have a situation arise that has provided an outlet for me to truly become my own boss.

In the Fall of 2019, I could feel that being on campus at TROY was not the best option for me. I was beginning to experience severe homesickness, battling bouts of anxiety and depression, among other things. As such, I decided to move home. It just so happened that a family friend was starting a business; Repurposed Heart Wood, which makes raw wood material as well as custom wood products by using recycled wood from the urban forest of Birmingham, Alabama. My friend had just opened a store in the Riverchase Galleria and needed someone with retail experience to assist him in the overseeing of the business as well as making a strategy for the sale and distribution of online products. Seeing an opportunity to both help a friend out and gain valuable experience, I decided to step in.

What I thought would be a simple job has turned into something much more. As I moved into my role as store manager, sales began to dramatically increase. In addition to this, the company was able to purchase multiple pieces of equipment to expand their range of services for consumers. I was seeing my work pay off in front of my eyes. After a few weeks of profitability and a revitalization to the Riverchase location, I was officially offered a partnership position in the new fledgling company, giving me the opportunity to truly have a stake in the company. Of course, I happily accepted.

This year might be the biggest one of my life. I am looking forward to building both the store and the company in order to ensure that Repurposed Heart Wood can be successful in every way possible. It is my hope that I can stay with this company for the rest of my working career and build a line of products and services that are unique within both the retail market as well as the reclaimed wood market.

When I was a freshman in high school, I went over to one of my best friend’s houses to watch a new movie that had just came out. My parents weren’t keen on me watching overtly vulgar and raunchy films, so we made the deal that we would all watch this new movie that we had been dying to see together at my friend’s house. The film? A Martin Scorcese biopic/dramatization of corrupt and infamous stockbroker Jordan Belfort: The Wolf of Wall Street. I was hypnotized by the film, all the riches and glory and the extraordinary amount of “screw-it” that Belfort had towards life and those who were against him. I told myself that I wanted to be just like him (minus the heavy drug usage, infidelity, and fraud, among other things). After my first watch, I began to research the man Jordan Belfort actually was and only became more tantalized. So, from my sophomore year in high school, I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in investment banking.

My idolization of Belfort took me to many places that I never thought I would go in trying to learn how to effectively sell to a customer. Turns out, Belfort was one of the most brilliant minds that the business world had ever seen. He had broken down the game of sales into a science, with a passion that was almost religious being the driving force behind it. In his book, The Way of the Wolf, Belfort made an effort to not only outline the reasons that people want to buy things, but the complete human psyche. Reading this book gave me a completely different approach for how I wanted to become successful in the business world.

I now realize that in order to effectively sell something, you have to know the person that you are selling to on the most intimate of levels. You must know their desires, their dislikes, their insecurities, and the things that they hold dearest in life. Knowing all of these factors means that you can steer a conversation into a solution that benefits both parties, offering you the opportunity to make money to support your family and yourself and in exchange, giving the customer a product or service that equally enhances their life. This “get to know you” process can happen in a matter of seconds, all based upon a person’s response to two or three questions. If you can learn to read people and know how to break a sale down to a basic conversation between two people rather than a business exchange between company X and company Y, then you will be very successful.

In conclusion, the last two years of my life have seen an increasing interest in the place of psychology within the business world, namely sales. As I prepare to enter the career field, it is my goal to learn all that I can about the human mind in conjunction with the way the business world works so that I can not only be successful at selling items, but also be successful in selling items that bring a positive influence and joy into the lives of those that I do business with.

Getting to Know Me

My name is Brannen Earnest. I am currently a Junior at TROY University pursuing a degree in Financial Economics. I was born and raised in Calera, Alabama. My small-town upbringing meant that everyone knew everyone and instilled the need for community and friendliness with everyone around me. More than anything, however, it inspired me to be a contributing member of society and to effectively lead in order to ensure that those around me can reach the highest levels of success and achieve all of their goals. This has translated to TROY, as I have served as the President of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and consecutive terms as Vice President of Administration and President of the Interfraternity Council.

I have had an interest in business for as long as I can remember. Innovation and making the current world better through the invention of products or services is one of the greatest goods that an individual can do. As such, many of the classes that I have taken during my course of study have greatly increased my love for the business world. This class is one that I am very much looking forward to participating in because I believe that effective communication skills are the most important aspect of a successful career in the business world.

Outside of the classroom, I have many hobbies that I enjoy spending my time participating in. These include playing video games, making music, and powerlifting. I’ve enjoyed playing video games for as long as I can remember. I primarily enjoy playing first-person shooters and sports games. I also enjoy almost all genres of music, but my favorite two are contemporary rap and classic rock. As I have gotten older, I have been able to merge my love of business with these hobbies to become familiar with the industries of these topics, and it is my hope that I will eventually be able to find a career involving one of my hobbies.

Above all else, it is my hope that with my degree that I will be able to enact a positive change in the world. Whether that be through making life easier for the average person through a new product or service, or simply donating my money or time to a charity that I believe in, I want to be able to say that I contributed to the world in a positive way. While many people don’t consider a career in business as an occupation that is made to “serve,” I believe that it is possible to use the skills that I have to enhance the lives of those around me. I look forward to all that I will learn in this class.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.