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Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Marketing in the Genes?

Did I miss my calling?  Do I have regrets?  I don't think it was a conscious effort on my part, but I realize now that I resisted anything to do with business careers as a function of rejecting family values!  How many kids do that, either intentionally or not?  I think I did - and have come to have a few (but not TOO many) regrets!  My father had his own marketing and advertising firm in NYC; my brother worked for many years in marketing for large consumer product companies, and he has run his own antiques business now for many years.  RJG Antiques has become very well-known for folk art, primitives, furniture, and decoys.

I spent 20+ years teaching French and Spanish, 15+ years in higher education as a career counselor (isn't THAT ironic?), and I probably never knew that I had a career in marketing hidden away in the recesses of my brain.  I had a glimpse a long time ago when I had left teaching for a job in career development at Johnson & Wales University.  I was hired to run one of their co-op programs - no experience, little guidance, and managed to grow the program 100+% in the first year!  And I ran HUGE events!  And I loved it!

Then I went back to teaching while working on my masters degree in counseling - and I taught for 11 years.  All the while, while interning and then working as a career counselor at Brown University in their Career Services department, I ran programs, presented workshops, devised some of my own marketing materials, and who knew that down the line - in my so-called retirement - I would be back at work marketing my fiber art.  I'm not trained - in marketing OR in art of any sort - but surprisingly, I am enjoying greater success than I ever imagined!

I've just taken on a project for Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts to develop and manage their monthly newsletter via Constant Contact.  I so enjoyed learning their platform and developing the first of such newsletters that I established my own Scarf It Up! account, and I've already sent out my own first newsletter.  And here it is....not bad for a first effort!




I tried copying and pasting it into this post, but it appeared truncated, so please click on the link to see it for yourselves.


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