Today, I met with my mentor again at a coffee shop. We talked for about two hours and I really appreciated our conversation. The day before we met was the Chinese Lunar New Year. It’s like the Christmas Eve in China. People get off work and have a big meal with their family. However, since I’m all the way in the State, I couldn’t celebrate it with my family. It was tough the first year when I came here, but I kind of get used to it now. Maureen and I talked about some interesting traditions that my family usually does on this day such as making dumplings and exchanging red envelopes. My family used to stuff several coins and dates into dumplings, and whoever have those ones means they’re going to be lucky or wealthy for the rest of the year. I still remember when I was a kid, my parents would purposefully give me the ones with dates (the red color of date is quite visible through the dumpling wrap). And I was super super happy because it represented “good luck”. Then, we started to t...

I decided to choose my fiancee's dad, Stan Crosley, as my management mentor for spring of 2018. It seemed like the natural decision, since I had gotten an internship with his law firm for this upcoming summer to help develop a consulting branch. I'm very excited to be working with him directly, since over the last few years we've become very close friends. A few weeks ago my fiancee Rachel and I got to go back home for a weekend, and I was looking forward to it partly because I would get to talk to Stan about my internship coming up, and ask him questions regarding what I would be doing, how I could be preparing, and for other helpful advice. We got to talk in the living room in the late morning shortly after breakfast with a college basketball game on, and a fire in the fireplace. One of the best parts of having Stan as my mentor is that we already have a very close relationship and I'm comfortable being open with him about things that are going on in my life. We h...

Blog Post #1 I was able to meet with my Dad tonight for over an hour.  He had some really good advice on how to become an effective leader. We first addressed my weaknesses which would prevent me from being an effective manager.  He pointed out how I need to prioritize being on time.  He also suggested that I learn to delegate tasks to others.  If I am able to assign specific roles to people, I will be an effective manager.  The timeliness of this assignment is great because I am actually applying to be a leader of the chapel band for next year.  We discussed ways I can be a good leader, which included these ideas of timeliness, role setting, organization, and scheduling.  He said that I need to work on organization, as well as being ahead of schedule with a plan. He also pointed out some areas that I am good at.  I said that I am good at vision, having an idea of what I want to do and how I want to do it.  The trick is to put these good...

I met with my Mentor a few weeks ago. His name is Ryan Trout, and he is an alumni from Wheaton College. He is currently working as a salesman that sells marketing advertisements to colleges. We met with a specific goal to talk about my current moving, landscaping, and junk removal business called 2menlabor. Now, we talked about my entire business overal as far as the model of it. He had a few ideas there, but no significant changes to what I already have. What he did do though, is he made me believe in my company. Interestingly enough, he made me believe in it probably even more than I currently believed in it at that moment. He was helping me write my pitch for Wheaton shark tank, and geeze! The dude is a phenomenal salesman. he really knows a lot about presenting. I'm pitching my company as a franchise company, specifically franchising with recent college graduates. He told me "it's brilliant. Today's generation, wants and craves that ability to have independence t...

I had never been the one to accept the advice of others or to seek out a mentor in life. I typically act in self reliance and in my own wisdom, which can be a lonely place to be. As members of the body of Christ, it is important to interact within that community, as the Spirit's power can be made manifest in the gathering of two or three. That is why I am blessed to have a mentor today named Jacob. Jacob is only about 10 years older than me and is a member of my church, but I have found his insight to be relevant (as well as recent) to my circumstances and stage in life. He has only recently attained his initial career and family goals, and it is helpful to hear his wisdom on these subjects as I am working towards those now. The most recent topic of discussion was what I want to do for the rest of my life. At first, this was an easy question for me to answer, as I know what it is I want to do after college, which is to join the Air Force. He agreed that this was a good goal and c...

This past week, I was able to have a video call with my older brother Nathan. Being 10 years older than me, Nathan has always been a great role model throughout my life. From teaching me how to shoot a basketball to getting ready for college classes, Nathan remained interested in helping me out. Choosing him to be my mentor was an easy decision due to our similar interests and upbringings. Nathan is now married and living in the city of Chicago, which makes it easy for me to meet up during the weekends. He studied at Washington University in St. Louis and graduated with a psychology degree, planning on going into med school. However, he found a strong connection to business and is now working at SymphonyIRI doing data research and analysis. We first caught up on all the things that were going on in our lives and the usual conversation about how classes were going. He then casually asked me if I still am interested in business/economics and doing business in the future. I bet he i...

In my life there have been many mentor figures. I grew up in an all Christian household with many people looking out for me. I had a great relationship with my parents, brothers and brothers of Christ in my small group. Whatever I needed I had constant support from family and friends. Out of all these people growing up, my mentor was my brother Ben. Ben attended Wheaton and graduated in 2013. I always looked up to him and his dedication and love for Jesus and other areas of life. Also his endless hard work makes me look up to him. He is constantly growing spiritually and in other areas of life.   Ben and I have many similarities. We went to the same high school and college. We played the same sports in high school, follow professional sports closely, and went to the same church growing up. He played golf at Wheaton and I do too. We would usually talk about what we are doing and how we are doing. It could be normal conversation like “What’s up for today”? or discuss what ...

My mentor that I have chosen for this assignment is a good family friend, Taylor Clement. I came into contact with Taylor while searching for a personal wrestling coach while I was in high school. He just so happened to be one of my mom’s teaching partners husband’s so the connection was easy. Since coaching me in high school, Taylor has had a deep impact on my life not only in athletics but also in all facets of life. He began to tutor me in different subjects in school, give life advice, and even became a close family friend. Taylor is now a headmaster at a private Christian elementary school in St. Louis. We continue to remain in contact and I decided to reach out to him, as he is already one of my mentors.              As I told Taylor about the assignment and what the course was truly about he provided our first topic almost instantly. Taylor is an excellent example of a manager and he brought to my attention that he deals with i...

I have been extremely blessed to have an excellent mentor over the last couple of years. His name is Mike, and he is a general manager for a minor league baseball team in eastern Indiana. I originally reached out to Mike after my first summer working for a professional baseball team as a sales executive two years ago. I sought his professional advice for moving my way up the ladder (i.e. trying to get a position with a higher level team), and also was seeking a Christian mentor in my life. After reading about him and quickly noticing that he was a Christian, I reached out to him, and he was kind enough to meet with me. So, I woke up one morning and drove three hours to meet and get to know Mike. Since then, he has been an incredible mentor for me, both professionally and spiritually. He has helped me navigate the world of minor league baseball, and given me lots of advice on successfully launching a career in sports. Since beginning my mentoring relationship with him, I worked for...

Tom Daulquist  One of the mentors that I have had the privilege to learn from is Tom Daulquist.  Tom works for Royal Bank of Canada, (RBC) as a financial advisor.  I met Tom through my dad who also has been mentored by him for over a decade.  He graduated with an Archeology degree and soon found himself looking for any job that could make ends meet.  He ended up in financials and soon made his way to work under the right people to lead him to working as a financial advisor for the past 35 years.  His story struck me first because he left college and choose a completely different career path than he had studied for.  He also was obedient to Christ when his plans changed and he followed this calling to RBC.  I find it comforting to know that God was constant in his life as a rock and trustworthy.   The last time that Tom and I spoke I called asking about the stock market.  One of the stocks I had been watching had come out saying th...

I was able to facetime my mentor last week. My mentor’s name is Daniel and he is is an older friend that I’ve known since the 5 th grade and he has been a mentor figure for me ever since. I consider Daniel my mentor because he’s been through a lot in life starting from a young age and despite the tough things that he’s been through, he chose to take care of me through middle school and high school by taking me out to eat and teaching me about sports. Because of this and many other things, he is someone I really respect. During our phone call, we mostly caught each other up and ended our call with conversations about the NBA, our summers plans, and what’s been going on back at my home church. At the end of my phone call, there was one thing that stuck with me. My mentor was extremely smart in high school and even excelled in sports. When it came to college application season, he found himself getting offers from D1 schools to play soccer and acceptances from the top colleges aro...