Hello 

My name is Kristy Alexander.  This blog is designed as a place for me to post about marketing as a grade for my Entrepreneurial Marketing class at Wallace State Community College. My instructor is Brandon White.

As my first post, I would like to tell a little bit about myself and why I am taking this class, an introduction of sorts. I will try to keep it as short and simple as possible, seeing I am the type of person that likes to include all of the details. And I do mean ALL!  Just ask anyone that knows me.  It has become somewhat of a family joke, because my brothers are the same way!

If you would have asked me what I wanted to do when I graduated high school, at the time I would have either said, "I don't know" or " a teacher."  I was a student teacher for a pre-1st Grade class during my junior and senior years of high school and really enjoyed it.  However, it did not translate right away in my mind to do it as a career.  Don't ask me what I was thinking, because I really don't know!  I actually waited a whole year before going to college, but when I did my major was Elementary Education.  I only got through the general/basic courses before getting married and that was the end of college for quite a while.  I ended up having two children relatively early on and life just went from there.

Fast forward to about fourteen years later and I ended up going through a divorce.  I don't recommend it.  It's the worst thing for a family and especially children.  However, by the grace of God, we survived!  I feel much stronger and wiser now for it, too!  Because of these changes going on in my life, it gave me the opportunity to return to school.  I had always had the desire to go back, but for some reason I didn't feel like I could.  Looking back, I really don't know what I was thinking!  This time, however, I didn't think Elementary Education was the best choice.

Over the years, I had always had the desire to own my own business.  My problem was, well, probably a few things actually.  One problem was that I didn't know what business I would do, there are so many things that seem interesting to me.  Unfortunately, I am not one of those people who always knew what they were going to do.  I am still trying to figure it out.  Another problem was a lack of confidence and ignorance, really.  I didn't know anything about how a business is run and what all it takes to be successful.

After going through a divorce, I really ended up feeling so free.  I felt like my whole world had opened up and I could be anything/do anything I wanted to do.  So, I started thinking about all the things that interested me.  I won't go into all of my ideas right now or we would be here all day!  To get to the point, I had it narrowed down to a few things, but it all revolved around me owning my own business in some way.  I wanted to have more control of my life and not just be going to work.  I wanted my job to be something I loved and truly cared about, not just a way to make money.  I had intentions of doing the Business Entrepreneurship degree as one of my first choices.  I went up to the college and spoke with someone there, and after listening to me, she recommended Accounting.  (That was one of the choices on my list.)  It was a business degree, but something specific that would help me get a job.  I really felt like that was good advice, so I took it.  I just took the last two classes to receive my Accounting degree this summer.

Although I felt good about my decision, I still wanted those entrepreneurial classes.  Every time I looked at the list of classes, I considered changing my major, but decided just to stay the course.  As I was about to finish and earn my degree, I looked at the list again and realized I only had eight classes left (since both degrees share a lot of the same classes), which is only two more semesters.  I decided to go ahead and plow on and take those classes, as well.  So, I have two more semesters left , then I will take a break!

I am currently in the process of looking for a job using the skills I have learned so far and am also still enrolled as a full-time student on my way to a second degree.  I still haven't figured out exactly what business I will have, but I am hoping that if I can get a good education that it will prepare me for when the right opportunity arises and then I will be ready!

One idea that I will share with you before I go is that I have always loved houses.  I have dreamed for years of buying old worn out houses and renovating them and flipping them.  It would allow me to be creative and do hands on projects that I have longed to do for a very long time!  That is definitely something I plan on doing no matter what.  I still have some other ideas floating around in my head, but nothing definitive yet, so I will keep learning and searching until I get it figured out.

Last but not least, marketing.....  The reason for this blog in the first place.....

Today, I am going to share with you something that I see as a marketing success.

My children and I love comedy.  We listen to the comedy stations on Pandora and watch clips on YouTube.  We have come across a Christian comedian by the name of Tim Hawkins.  You may have already heard of him before.  We are somewhat addicted.  I have purchased several of his recordings via computer download and we have watched them over and over and over.  I even bought my kids some of his merchandise for Christmas this past year.  It was one of their favorite things!  Now, he has ventured into the world of podcasting and I am subscribed to that via iTunes.  We just can't get enough of him.

First of all, he's funny. He's very relatable and he uses visual comedy to enhance his performance.  He is a musician and he incorporates that into his shows, as well.  My point is that he has a very good "product," in my opinion.

Secondly, he is easily accessible.  I follow him on Facebook and Instagram.  He also has a twitter account which he uses to connect to fans. And as I mentioned earlier, he has video clips on YouTube Then there's the podcast.

He also has a website that you can go to to purchase his live recordings, merchandise, and tickets to his live shows.  The website itself it put together well.  The fonts and colors they chose are very stylish and appealing.  The overall look to his website is attractive to me.  Plus, he has a cool logo.  You can tell that a lot of thought and planning went into it.  I definitely appreciate a good looking website.  Something about it makes you feel better about ordering from websites that have a good design to them.  They seem more serious, more legit.  From a purchasing standpoint, the look of the website could certainly be a make or break it for me if it is not something that I am already familiar with or belong to someone I personally know.

All of these things combined make a good package as far as I'm concerned.  Because I purchased some of his merchandise, I now receive email updates with information about his shows etc.  My kids and I are very excited to be going to one of his live shows this fall!  We can't wait.

Check it out for yourself:  http://timhawkins.net/

Here is a short clip for you to enjoy:

Have a great day!

Kristy Alexander