Business and Marketing Personal Statement
Whereas most of my friends started using the internet as teenagers for things like instant messaging and social networking, I instinctively gravitated towards e-commerce. Creating an online retail business selling fancy dress supplies and vintage toys and clothes that operated through eBay, I soon began to learn the ropes of business and marketing. Setting up shop in this way was both great fun and financially and intellectually rewarding, and it set me off on a path of being enthralled by everything related to business and marketing. Studying the Peter Jones Business Level Three BTEC course ranks among the most stimulating experiences I have had in my life. I feel the course has alerted me to the most essential considerations that must be made by business people as they attempt to create or run a business, such as conducting thorough market research to ensure that the business is viable, identifying future business opportunities and effectively marketing products. My excellent grades in the course, which is worth 280 UCAS points, are a demonstration of how much its content has inspired my interest. It has also helped me to develop a business philosophy of my own, based around notions of ethical business practices. I believe that it is not just possible for companies to reconcile ethics with profit, but essential in the long-term to do so.
Studying this course in a business-focussed college has meant that I have been surrounded by people who are all enthusiastic about the business world and ideas for creating successful ventures. Over the course we have been encourage to set up microbusiness initiatives. One example of these was the personalised candles business that a friend and I created, which gave me a real insight into the notion of ‘adding value’ and how it can be used to maximize revenue. Similarly, for the Personal Professional Development portion of the course I am part of a fundraising team for UNICEF. The challenge of devising and organizing a fundraising event for this December and seeking out other fundraising opportunities has been one that we have enjoyed tackling collectively, and has been useful in particular for learning how work can be distributed within a team to take advantage of each member’s individual strengths.
The course has also helped to prepare me for university life through the way that it is taught. Instead of relying on conventional classroom lessons, we learn instead through a combination of linked lectures, seminars and workshops, in which we are encouraged to discuss and analyse issues rather than simply take notes. It’s a method of learning that I have really enjoyed. The course also has considerable input from real-life business owners and experts.Attending conferences and lectures at which they speak has helped me to really think about the way that what we learn in college relates to real business scenarios.
I’ve experienced business life through working in several different companies. For example, in the past I have worked in busy high-street clothes stores during the Christmas shopping period, which taught me about the ways in which companies maximize sales in this crucial sales period. This summer I worked as a supervisor in the hotel industry. The post helped me to develop managerial skills such as ensuring my team performed their cleaning duties promptly and to a high standard. An equally interesting challenge I have enjoyed in recent years outside of the professional workplace has been working with children as a Kumon mathematics instructor.
During this year I will be completing a work placement at a marketing firm as part of my course. Marketing is a discipline that really interests me because it is in many ways one of the most creative strands of the business world. It is also an area in which I would like to be involved in the future; I ultimately hope to set up a PR or advertising agency and help other businesses fulfil their potential.
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