History
Education
High School
I began high school in the same district where I attended elementary school and junior high school - Willapa Valley. After my freshman year, my family moved to Chehalis where I started attending W.F. West HS. In 2004, I graduated from W.F. West.
College
After high school, I took some classes at Centralia College. I was interested in their electronics program so I enrolled in a few of the classes. In addition to the electronics courses, I took a Visual Basic computer programming class and the History of American Modern Music.
After job shadowing at some electronics plants during my second semester, I decided that I did not want a career in the electronics field. I completed my first year at CC, and then went to work full-time.
Work History
McDonalds
When I was sixteen (2002) I started my first job at a McDonalds in Napavine. I started out taking orders at the front counter, where I first developed skills in customer service. After a couple of weeks, I was trained in the drive-thru. I was required to heavily multi-task between taking orders, taking money, bagging orders, dropping fried foods, washing dishes, etc. Eventually I was trained on the grill and was able to perform most jobs in the store.
Taco Del Mar
In October of 2004, I took on a second job at Taco Del Mar in Chehalis, where I worked as a shift supervisor. Taco Del Mar became my primary job, although I would still work at McDonalds on my days off or when somebody called in sick. As shift supervisor, I was responsible for counting down the till at the end of the night and making deposits. I oversaw breaks and delegated work tasks between my co-workers and myself.
Radio Shack
I left both McDonalds and Taco Del Mar in June of 2005 to work for Radio Shack in Chehalis. At Radio Shack I was taught basic sales technique. I quickly excelled to the top of the roster in sales performance, constantly competing for the highest position in total revenue, wireless phones sold, service plans sold, etc. I consistently remained among the top sales associates of the store.
Centralia Chronicle
After working at Radio Shack for about a year, I was recommended for a job with the Centralia Chronicle. In June of 2006 I took a position as an account executive with the Chronicle, while maintaining employment with Radio Shack, working there on weekends and nights.
I had to adopt and maintain existing accounts while at the same time actively pursue new clients. I quickly adapted my retail sales experience to appropriately fit my outside sales position. I sold into both retail and classified sections, annual special sections, and a Chronicle-published monthly magazine entitled, "Southwest Family".
Galveston County Daily News
In 2007 I had made the decision to move to Galveston, TX. I contacted the Galveston County Daily News to see if they were hiring, but they were not. I put in a transfer at Radio Shack and began working at the Galveston store.
I kept checking in with the Daily News and eventually ended up getting hired on for a vacant classified display ad sales position in June. I worked that desk for three months and grew its income from $15,000 per month to over $34,000 per month.
In September, Hurricane Ike hit Galveston Island, shutting down all businesses and displacing the community. When we resumed business at our Texas City office two weeks later, I was asked to help develop a new department in online advertising. As the sole sales person for all online banner advertisements, I approached many out-of-town insurance companies, independent contractors, private adjusters, law offices, and any other leads who might be interested in advertising hurricane recovery services.
After the initial chaos following the hurricane had subsided and local business began to re-emerge, I changed direction from soliciting out-of-town business and began calling on local clients. Since many of our newspaper subscribers were still displaced and were not receiving the paper, our website offered advertisers an excellent alternative to print advertising to penetrate the wide audience we were reaching online. I called on countless local leads with the assistance of their retail advertising reps with high close rates and great success.
Once we had developed a solid foundation with our banner campaigns, we began working on our classified verticals. We hired Gabriel's Technologies to construct a real estate site for us. I regularly made presentations to entire real estate offices in order to convince local brokers and their agents to buy listing packages on our website. I also sold banner ads throughout the site.
Present
Although I extremely enjoyed my work with the Galveston County Daily News, homesickness had set in and I made the decision to move closer to my family. I am currently looking for an exciting new sales position in Washington State.
