I’ve been an aspiring entrepreneur from a very young age. In seventh grade, I drafted a plan to open my own hotel and have been working toward this goal ever since. I have focused a great deal of my time reading and learning all that I can about entrepreneurship and my other passions of hospitality, travel and sports.
I am an avid sports fan and always stay current with sporting news. I was born and raised a Kansas City Chiefs and Royals fan and very loyal to my home teams. I was fortunate as a child to travel around the U.S. on family vacations and have especially enjoyed touring sports stadiums and different hotels, keeping a journal of these sites and areas that especially intrigued me. I recently had the opportunity to travel overseas to Israel and loved the experience. I am currently working on a start-up business called Sport Fan Travel, which is an interactive site for sports fans traveling to sporting events to learn what fans need to know in order to have a positive and stimulating sporting experience at the sporting events they attend.
I attended Wichita State University and pursued a business major with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship. While at WSU, I was involved in the Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs and served three years on the Executive Board, including President of the organization, my senior year. I was able to exercise my leadership talents by implementing a new program that gave our student members the opportunity to visit and tour with executives at successful national corporations around the U.S. I organized tours to Wal-Mart Headquarters, Silicon Valley, Google, Cisco, Tesla Motors, San Francisco 49ers and Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist. I attended three national CEO conferences, participating in some highly motivational workshops and programs and learning from and meeting some outstanding entrepreneurs from across the world. These conferences always inspired me to continue to pursue my goals and dreams. During my senior year at Wichita State University, I entered the business plan competition, winning the Elevator Pitch award for a detailed business plan that I created. And, I was a Semi Finalist for Wichita State Senior Honor Man of the Year. The skills, education and motivation that I received at Wichita State have encouraged me to pursue my hotel aspirations as I continue to work in and learn about the various aspects of the hotel industry.
In the spring of 2011 I was offered the opportunity to advance my hospitality career as assistant general manager at a limited service hotel located in River Falls, Wisconsin. With the support and independence given to me from the management company I have been working for, I have gained strength in multiple areas including hotel customer service improvement, creativity in sales and marketing and revenue management. These along with the responsibilities and initiatives I have completed through my work at this property have contributed to the knowledge and growth I am eager to bring into my next position.
My goal for the future includes furthering my career in a management position at a full service hotel and eventually moving into director of operations for a corporate hotel management company.
I am a hard worker and bring energy and excitement to any job I undertake. I am highly motivated and eager to learn, to enhance my skills and expand my knowledge about the areas I want to pursue. When I see something that needs to get done, I do what I can to fulfill that goal. I consider myself to be creative, dedicated and committed and like to think “outside of the box”. I have a strong work ethic and I’m not afraid to tackle any challenge or opportunity.
I hope you read my blog and are able to learn or become inspired. “Learn, grow and become stronger” is the motto I live by!
Great stuff man!