What is the definition of hard work and hustle? Me, myself and I.
My name is Camille Murphy and I have been working hard since I learned what working is. Currently, I am a Senior at Raymond S. Kellis High School in Glendale, Arizona and I plan on attending Georgia State University. I know that I am the living embodiment of hard work because I currently have two traditional jobs, and two social media side hustles.
My career goal is to become a successful entrepreneur and create generational wealth for my future family. I hope to have multiple businesses surrounding health, fitness and business marketing. Health and fitness are important to me because most of my older family on both of my parents’ sides struggle with diabetes and high cholesterol.
Growing up, there was not a lot of positive depictions of healthy eating and living a healthy lifestyle for me or my siblings, so I want to create a platform to inspire and inform children like myself. I also am going to create a business marketing agency because marketing is one of my passions. I find the idea that my words and illustrations can compel someone to do, buy, or like something, completely fascinating.
The jobs I’ve done in the past and in the current will help making the transition into my career much easier and allow me to adapt to challenging environments better than the average entrepreneur. Before I discuss my current jobs, I am going to explain my middle-school and early high school hustles.
The Early Years
I learned about having my own money when I was in fourth grade. Before then, everything else was cash for birthdays or holidays, and even then, I wanted more. In fifth grade, I turned 10 years old and wanted a brand new 3DS but to my surprise, my mother had other plans. Instead, I received my first real talk about the worth of hard work and how to earn your own money.
Soon after that, I began to braid and do girls hair from my school for small change. Eventually I became good at braiding and started charging more. Soon enough, I was getting $30-$50 for cornrows and French-braids for my peers, which to me at the time, was a lot of money. By 8th grade I was styling high schoolers hair for at least $80 while staying on the honor roll.
This experience allowed me to get the first taste of what having my own business would be like and I absolutely loved the feeling it gave. Since I started school early, hair braiding was my hustle until my Junior Year of high school.
Traditional Hustles
My first ever real job was at Wienerschnitzel when I turned 16. During the school year I was working at least 25-30 hours a week while maintaining a 3.5 average. Working at Wienerschnitzel taught me patience and assertiveness while dealing with customers and co-workers. Working in a fast-food restaurant was a major learning experience and called for the extreme redefinition of what I thought working would be like. I went from picking up clients whenever I wanted, to having a fixed schedule and actual consequences.
Luckily for me, I never had to experience any of those consequences because of my willingness to learn and grow in a fast-paced environment. I believe Wienerschnitzel prepared me for entrepreneurship because it sharpened my communication skills, heightened my awareness of financial materials, and enhance my problem-solving skills. After 7 months and Wienerschnitzel, I got a new job at a retail outlet called Van Heusen/IZOD.
Van Heusen/IZOD was another complete shift in environment. My hours were cut from an average of 30 to 15 hours maximum. Due to Van Heusen being retail, there were a lot more workers and a lot less guaranteed hours. At this job, I discovered my ability to connect with customers and up sale store merchandise. The number one rule of good sales is to have great customer service and a loyal customer base.
I am proud to say that during my first three months I signed up over 100 customers for our loyalty rewards program. This experience is better preparing me for the marketing aspect of my career because it is showing me the importance of building a loyal and dependable customer base with a high return rate. The reason that a loyal customer base is a necessity is because with loyalty comes a higher rate of financial security, whereas a business with 100 new customers and a low return with be stuck with an instability in sales. With my knowledge of financial security, I made the decision of applying for a second job at Buffalo Wild Wings.
Buffalo Wild Wings and Van Heusen are my two current traditional jobs. At Buffalo Wild Wings I am a hospitality team member, also referred to as the Face of the House. As Face of the House, it is our job to greet and welcome the customers into our establishment.
The two jobs that I do in hospitality are hostess and takeout. Greeting customers has taught me the importance of setting a positive atmosphere in a service-based establishment. A positive attitude and atmosphere means positive tips and everyone wants those tips! On a more serious note, creating a positive atmosphere helps to make work feel less like an obligation more like a choice. Overall working in customer service has shown me how to maintain my hustle mentality, but still build relationships along the way.
Social Media Marketing and Influencing
My main, and my favorite side hustle is social media marketing. I help build small businesses’ social media presence and I am working on building my social media presence as an influencer as well. A lot of people wonder how exactly someone makes money from Social Media work.
In most cases, influencers are hired to promote a business on their page, and they either get paid a flat fee or they receive a portion of the profits made from that promotion. In my case, I accept a flat fee for business-based services. For instance, the creation of a promotional email would run a flat rate of $70 for smaller businesses.
My flat fees are mainly for smaller businesses who need promotional materials and general business set up essentials. My fixed rates are for staring companies or established companies who are trying to build their social media platforms. For these companies I create accounts and promotional posts in order to encourage interactions between the forming customer base. I love building platforms for small businesses because I get to see someone’s vision for their company come to light.
When it comes to social media influencing on my page, I am a bit less consistent, but I still make money from the small promotions I do. The reason why I go easy on promoting on my own page is because I must research a company and ensure that my beliefs and values as a person aligns with theirs. I make money by negotiating with brands to either earn a percentage of the profit made using my codes.
Another way is by getting paid per post. For example, if a company sends me a few items with no promotion code, they pay me $50-$300 to post. But if a company sends me a promotional code, I get 10-70 percent of sales made using that coupon code. Overall, my experience with social media marketing and influencing has prepared me to build a social media platform for my future business endeavors.
Conclusion
In conclusion my side hustles are what make me who I am. Without having an earnest work ethic, I don’t know where I would be or what I would have accomplished. Learning the value of a dollar while working for that dollar is the only way to guarantee personal career success. Thank you so much for your time and considerations. Work Hard, play harder.
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