Las Vegas (part 1): The Decision

I had several misconceptions about what I was getting myself into.  In all honesty though, I did not know what else to do.  I was struggling: in school, in life, and at working.  I quit my last real job (minimum wage, Shift Leader position, at a corporate owned Subway Franchisee) almost a year ago.  I was working at a mattress store for my younger brother when they needed an extra body for deliveries, but that was hardly a job.  I constantly forget to consider it a job myself (seriously what did I do for a year)!  Somewhere around May, the mattress store stopped calling me.  I thought it was strange they had gotten so slow, but eventually I would find out the owner hired his best friend and they did not need me anymore.  I was taking out maximum student loans; however, my grades were not good enough to suggest I spent most my day not working at my “hardly a job” and focused on school.  I did do some job searching, but I was far more selective than when I got the job at Subway.  I was hoping to get something that generated valuable experience, but even then I filled out some desperation applications.  I did everything, but ask for my old job back.  I did think about it though and even joked about it on a former co-workers facebook wall hoping he might take the joke seriously and bring it up with the manager or something.

I really think that was my big problem:  I did not know what I wanted enough to go out and find it.  I would have done anything, but really only wanted something that would give me experience.  Experience in what though, that is the question, Marketing is so broad and Psychology? Sales, advertising, strategic marketing, I/O psychology, human resources, research data entry!?!?  I do not know, that is why after I got a call from someone that saw my resume online, I pursued the opportunity.  Two “interviews” in Nashville took a toll on my empty wallet and unless I could start making cash immediately it did not look like I would be able to make it to work!  I walked away from that opportunity and I still wonder if that was the right decision; nobody else even called me for an interview.

In a lot of ways, I needed change.  My only plan for the last 5 years had been to get a degree.  Then after three years that began to get a little difficult and everything else just seemed to crumble around me.  If the last 2 years have taught me anything it is that I am not a good student and I could not just keep going to school.  For fall semester, I took two classes I actually needed and four classes that I just decided I wanted to take.  After that semester, I only need a passing grade in one class.  This is not me giving up, but I never heard anything sound that simple before that seems so incredibly impossible at the same time.  I have to take a break from University; perhaps it will be simpler after a little bit of change.

The plan I came up with in my head was to finish up what schooling I was enrolled in, come out to Vegas and help my brother, eventually take the business back to Kentucky (where most of our family is), then one day pick a city and start the same business there.  Once again, I was blind to reality for all the fantasy my mind creates.  I led myself to imagine the business was constantly booming and that I would be able to work frequently for my brother and make a lot of money in a fairly short amount of time.  The reality is my brother might work a lot from April to June, but even from April-June his peak business days are Friday to Sunday.  Also I found out that just because his business sounds easy, does not make it so.  It is a lot more work than I realized.