Mark Phillips

My general impressions from this week have been awesome. There have been many different presentations that influenced me this week. Not only presentations, but also individuals that changed my perspective on a lot of things. To be specific, Adam Carroll gave me a great perspective on my money situation. He expressed his vision on how to manage your money which is a very big thing for college kids. I have been managing my own money for many years already but I am not very good at managing it yet. He also expressed his points from a different vantage point that was able to connect with me. Another person that affected me this week was Jim Verlengia. His full of life presentation really connected with most of us. He gave us great inspiration to go after what you want. I like how he gave some heart felt stories that touched us. I felt very motivated after listening to his presentation. I could talk about many more of the sessions as well. Andy Drish and Lawrence Cunningham gave us some good ideas to think about as we decide what to do with our future.

As far as I am concerned, agriculture will be involved in my life and work experience in some way in the future. With technology booming in the agriculture industry, I will be possibly implementing new technologies into systems around the state or let alone the country. I plan to be involved with technology in the future whether or not it is with my current position now or with some other company. Everything is going to electronic devices these days to control pinpoint accuracy in the fields and eliminating human error to gain better productivity. Increasing productivity and efficiency in the farming community will be key after learning that the population is growing while the farm land is decreasing. More food will be needed as a result to the higher population. Agriculture will need to rely on the technical industries like telecommunications and computer programming. More software will need to be developed as more technology is developed. The way farmers communicate with one and another will be different as it even is now. In my opinion, there will be a new form of communication that farmers can utilize. Basically, I will more than likely be at least remotely involved with agriculture in some way.

We have talked about a lot of different opportunities that are available in Iowa over the past few days. We talk about networking and finding the right job for you. There is pretty much anything you are looking for Iowa somewhere in the state. However, there is one thing that is missing from this state. A true professional sports team. I know we have a lot of minor league sports. But this state is lacking the big league factor. You have many small teams that have their following like the Des Moines Buccaneers, Iowa Energy, Iowa Barnstormers, Waterloo Black Hawks, Cedar Rapids Roughriders, Cedar Rapids Kernels and Dubuque Fighting Saints. All of these are great for their respective cities. But you are looking at attendance numbers and a solid team following of under 3,000 people. Some do not even hit that number on a regular night with exception to maybe the Iowa Barnstormers. When you look at a major sports team like the Kansas City Chiefs, or the Green Bay Packers, there isn’t a lot different about the given cities. You have Green Bay that is much smaller than Des Moines but is able to have their own NFL team. They have the tradition and the set up that will allow for that team to thrive. Then you look at the Chiefs. Kansas City may be a bit bigger than Des Moines but it is not all that different. KC has a few more facilities that are made that will allow for most of this at this time. It would take a lot for a place like Des Moines or any other city in this state to build the facilities to match KC, but I think it is something that should be looked into. If there was a major sports team in this state, we would have more passion for the given sport that is in town.

Today we toured the state capital, went to Pella to tour the Pella Corporation plant and the co-workspace. We then attended a networking event at Tassel Ridge Winery and the Sports Page. I think the biggest thing I got out of the day is the overall structure that Pella Corporation had. I have worked for a few different companies since I first graduated from Simpson. The organizations were not run in the best way and were very inefficient. I know there was something that needed to be done but didn’t know exactly how to fix it. By just walking through the Pella Corporation, I could definitely see the structure that they had. The plants were very clean and set up well. The efficiency seemed to be top notch. Even though I did not see everything and know the full story, I think they have their ducks in a row. This is more than likely the reason why they are a very well-known company around the country. So I would take the efficiency from Pella Corporation to a company that I would start up in a smaller community. In order to make things work, you need to maximize your assets as best you can especially for a small start-up company. I like to figure out how to make things more efficient even though I may not be the most efficient at most of the things I do. I feel that I could make the functions of a business work well by maximizing the productivity. It is an important concept to me so that was what I got out of today and would be using that in a job that I would start in a small community.

One of my best assets is my versatility that I have acquired throughout my young career. I have been in many different fields since I first graduated from Simpson College in 2005. I have been in sports, as I worked for the Des Moines Buccaneers. I gained a lot of experience in many different areas like public relations, web development, video production, graphic design and marketing. After that job, I got into project coordinating with a display company called Performance Display. I handled the pricing, quotes, purchasing and deployment of projects for clients which requires a lot of attention to detail. It was a completely different industry then sports. So essentially I was learning a new system and process that I never knew existed before I started working there. After about a year, I was transferred to the print division within the company. I was again learning a new industry and its process. So essentially, I have done a few different jobs that have given me some great experience.   Unfortunately, the downturn in the economy hurt me in the fact that I was laid off with the company. Now I am about to finish my degree in telecommunications at DMACC. So far, the program has prepared me for yet another industry that I have entered. It gave me a good edge on getting my new job with Inteconnex. The program taught me installation and troubleshooting skills in the telephony and IT.

My experience and knowledge I gained over the past six years is my asset that I can contribute to the state of Iowa. I am very happy in Des Moines and I don’t plan on moving out of the state. It is such a good place to live. My goal is to make key contributions to the IT industry in the Des Moines area.

Another asset that I possess is the fact that I am a people person. I like to work with people to get the job done. I have worked with vendors and sales people in my previous jobs. I like to develop a very easy-going relationship with them to make business a lot easier for both parties. I am one that will like to get to know the people I work with so the communication is less awkward. In my opinion, it makes business a lot less stressful. I enjoy those relationships I have developed and am willing to get more of them in the near future.