Marketing Application Essay On Business And Humanity (Essay Sample)

Marketing Application Essay
Name
Institution
1. Business leaders have the ability to create opportunities, build products and systems, and inspire others to action. Please describe a time you created an opportunity, built a new product or system, or inspired others to act. The example you provide and elaborate upon may come from your professional endeavours, academic pursuits or civic engagements. (500 word maximum)
Everyone has a testimony about how life in college changed them in one way or the other, beneficially or detrimentally. I have one myself. Back in my foundation years at college, I had a lot of financial needs. My parents could not provide any extra amount of money aside for money for food. I knew I had to do something. In any case, at 23 years of age, the society already considered me a man. Men found ways to make money. I started looking for a business niche in various fields. Some guys I knew had gone into partnership with local hotel owners so they would distribute buns and cakes very early in the morning to the student’s hostels. Business wasn’t so bad from the much I gathered, I mean, who doesn’t need a bun or two after a tough day in class. This was a good opportunity. On the downside, a number of students had caught on so that you were bound to find at least a dealer in every other hostel at any other time of day or night, yes, these guys did their business 24 hours a day, one always wondered how they managed to balance academics with business.
The other option was running a photocopying machine service as students always had assignments and handouts to photocopy. I however did not have a computer nor a printer and my savings were nothing to write home about. My ultimate business opportunity however arose soon after. I should mention that I have a penchant for taking good photos. Where some were good in front of the camera, I was good behind it. I however did not have a camera then. There was a friend who had one but rarely if ever used it. He was one of those who take pride in owning expensive gadgets and flashing it here and there. I asked him to loan me the camera over the weekends at a small price, this he accepted, but he could not stand being away from his Canon 30D for more than 4 hours. So I only had four hours a day, both Sunday and Monday. I remember walking around spots where students generally hung out on weekends; namely, parks, courts, fields, and so on. I would then take photos of them at a fee then edit them in Photoshop using my friend’s laptop. The latter bit I did for an hour, since my friend spent much time using his laptop for his schoolwork and entertainment. By then, special effects and filters in photographs were not that popular among local photographers most of whom restricted their imagination to taking studio shots. Needless to say, business caught on and I increased the price per photo from a dollar to two. Within 6 months, I managed to purchase my own camera and a second hand computer from a fellow student who had hit rock bottom.
I then sought the assistance of a friend who had become fascinated by what I did on Photoshop and had aspired to learn the skill. I taught him the basics then recommended him some YouTube Videos tutorials for the technical bits. At the end of the day I gave him a small percentage of my earnings. Within the next 4 months, I managed to acquire another camera. I also rented a small room which housed my sparsely equipped studio. Never mind the fact that I still had a single computer in the studio. I however got another student to operate the second camera. One year since I had began; I had succeeded in employing five students part-time, got two cameras, a computer and 3 studio lights.
I began covering social functions such as seminars within campus, birthday parties as well as doing video shoots for weddings. By this point in time, other potential photographers within the student body had woken up from their idyllic slumber. I however had the head start and with the help of online tutorials I together with my team had advanced our skills in Photoshop and could even simulate advanced special effects from movies in our work.
At the moment, I am a one year old graduate and run an average sized studio within a metropolis with over 10 part time employers who are newly graduated. I am a firm believer in providing opportunities for others particularly college students because I have been there before so I know how hard it is to manage at times.
2). Business with humanity in mind means many things to different people. Please explain what business with humanity in mind means to you and how you will apply your knowledge, skills and abilities to advance this ideal over the next five years. (500 word maximum)
Business with humanity in mind basically means that one needs to consider the business they opt to undertake in with the mindset that we are a singular human race. The way a business person interacts with different people is quite vital and leaves a very big impact to the people they interact with.
This concept comes at a time when major corporations focus on achieving success at the expense of the majority. You run a manufacturing company without caring about the effect of industrial waste to the immediate environment or the livelihood of the locals. Focusing on profit alone is bound to be detrimental to the community and society at large. Regardless of what one may believe in, the immediate society where your business is based is largely responsible for the success of your business.
Business with humanity in mind means looking at the forest for the trees so to speak; you l...