Jason Kirby's Personal Blogs

San Diego Outside

2009-03-08T14:44:00.000-07:00

College students love to party and have a good time, but sometimes there needs to be something called moderation. I am in a fraternity and I go out drinking and partying with my friends, but its not all there is to do San Diego. Sadly, most people don't realize that.

San Diego, in my opinion, is by far the best place to live in America because it has everything. You can go to the beach, hike mountains, snowboard, and dirt bike out in the desert all in the same day. There is so much to do out here that I feel not too many people take advantage of. For example, today I went on a beautiful hike through the hills of Poway. It was absolutely amazing, I had no idea that there was such a beautiful area in San Diego. Going hiking today really made me realize how much is really out there and all of the things you can do in a day for FREE! The best part of hiking is there is no cost except for the cost of gas to get to the place. There are no entrance fees to hike, bike, or swim out in the open.

After today, I made a promise to myself to go hiking at least every other week. Just to take a few hours a month to get some fresh air and stretch out my legs outside of the gym is so relieving. Once you are out on the trail there is a sense of relief and as if there you don't have a care in the world.

I want recommend to anyone that lives in San Diego to go hiking or get on your bike and just go to some trail. It is so rewarding and more likely than not you will fall in love with the outdoors. If you do not know anything about hiking or trails or anything check out SDoutside.com they have done all the work for you. SDoutside.com gives a list of everything you need to go out for a hike. It also gives you all the information on trails throughout San Diego. It is a great site that I recommend to anyone interested in exploring the outdoors of San Diego.

Nothing makes a good weekend into a great weekend like a nice hike through San Diego's back country. Whether it is Mission Trails or the hills up in Poway, nothing compares to getting out on the trail on a beautiful sunny San Diego day.

-Jason Kirby
Jason-Kirby.com

25 Facts about "The Jason Kirby"

2009-02-08T22:48:00.000-08:00

25 Facts about The Jason Kirby:

1. I plan on being worth a million dollars before I am 25 years old

2. I live to be active and play intramural sports whenever I can

3. I am currently training for a triathlon...

4. I hate swimming because I suck at it

5. I own a photography company http://www.therightlightphotography.com

6. I am the kind of guy that is always busy and can't stand wasting time doing pointless things

7. I live, breath, and die South Park and South Park quotes. If you haven't seen every South Park episode, you might be confused when talking to me.

8. 24 is the most manly TV show ever. Jack Bauer will fuck up Chuck Norris any day

9. I currently have 2 jobs, one internship and one real job

10. I intern at eBoost Consulting, a digital marketing consultancy, check out my video from there - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_mN0sy65_0

11. I work at Ritz Camera and sell cameras

12. I teach photography classes to people just starting out

13. I have a personal masseuse

14. I am currently in SigEp and rage my face off when I get the chance

15. I live in a house with 5 other dudes and a really gay dog (Brutus)

16. I am an currently a junior and majoring in Entrepreneurial Management and plan on graduating spring 2010

17. I love anything sweet, especially Trolli Sour Gummi Worms and Skittles

18. I created a really awesome calendar... The Greek Goddesses Calendar

19. I shot an equally awesome, yet slightly homosexual calendar... The Greek Gods Calendar

20. I trade stocks with two different brokerage accounts

21. I really want to skydive before I die (anyone want to go with me)

22. I have 3 different blogs

23. I have absolutely no shred of musical talent in my body, I attempted to play the violin in 4th grade and was asked to leave.

24. I love listening to country and hip hop (two complete opposites)

25. I actually took the time to create a website about me, it started off for networking purposes, but now it is a complete joke because the picture I put up on it... check it out for a good laugh http://www.Jason-Kirby.com

26. 26 is my favorite number

Jason Kirby's Work History

2009-02-04T19:28:00.000-08:00

This is Jason Kirby's Work History. This blog (and also on my website www.Jason-Kirby.com/who-is-kirby/work-history.html) goes into further detail than my resumes and actually describes what each company offered me and what I gave back to it. I will briefly go over my tasks and duties I performed at each job and what I took from these jobs. Each company will be in order of most recent and follow all the way to my first job when I was 16 years old.

eBoost Consulting (December 2008 – May 2009)

eBoost Consulting is a Digital Marketing Consultancy made up of young, hungry, eclectic business professionals. eBoost is driven by building enduring relationships based on trust. And on the frontline of this are the people. The way we do business and the methodology of our decision making is peer-based and forward-looking. It’s based on the outlines of the 21st century organizational model and accelerated by the extraordinary talent that we attract. This is the most recent company I am working for. Currently I am working as an unpaid intern working on a myriad of projects. These projects range anywhere from Pay Per Click Marketing (PPC), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing (SMM), Guerilla Marketing, Persuasion Architecture and Persona Development. Before working for eBoost, I had no marketing background, let alone a digital marketing background. Now I am capable of putting together several aspects of a marketing campaign and how to successfully market to potential customers/clients.

Not only do I work on digital marketing campaigns for existing clients, but I also had the opportunity to assist in the training of CEO's and Vice Presidents. I trained these executives on how to start a digital marketing campaign and assisted them in learning the basics. This training session was put on by eBoost Consulting and I was one of two interns brought in to help. A wonderful experience that I will never forget.

Ritz Camera (September 2007 - Present)

Ritz Camera is the largest camera and camera accessory dealer in America with 2000+ stores nationwide and very successful website. They treat their employees well with benefits and high paying commissions and sometimes cash prize contests. Working at Ritz Camera I have learned more about sales than I have cameras. Sure my passion lies with photography and that has certainly assisted me in relating to customers' needs, but the sales training I received has been of great value. I was dominating in overall sales in comparison with my coworkers. I was working 28-34 hours a week and was selling more and had better sales percentages than my coworkers who have been in the company for years and working full-time. My manager was of huge assistance and acted as a mentor to me when it came to understanding customer needs and doing everything in my power to meet their needs.

Not only did I excel in general sales, but I also have taken on the position of course instructor. Ritz Camera offers free camera and photography classes to anyone that purchased a camera from any Ritz Camera Store. I am one of the few employees in the San Diego District that teaches these classes to 20 people at a time. My students have been so pleased with my teaching that they have requested me for their future classes.

I have gained invaluable experience from working at Ritz Camera and plan on working here until I graduate from SDSU.

Snookies Bar & Grill (May 2007 – August 2007)

Snookies Bar & Grill is a restaurant franchise based in North Texas around the Dallas area. This was my first and only server job in the restaurant industry. Since this was a completely new industry to me, I was able to learn a lot in a short period of time. I was working as a full-time server and picked up the importance of efficiency and quality customer service. While working here I was able to understand what patience really means and how to work in an extremely fast paced environment. I sometimes endured 14 hour shifts with minimal breaks and had to stay quick on my feet all day and not sacrifice quality of service to our customers. Snookies customer base was mostly return customers which meant there was high demand of consistency in food and service. I was commended by my managers on well I performed in tough conditions and held true to everything Snookies stood for.

Aztec Shops (August 2006 – May 2007)

Aztec Shops is a non for profit corporation operated by San Diego State University. They are in charge of the SDSU Bookstore, the convenience stores, and all eateries on campus. I worked for one of the larger convenience stores that had high levels of traffic during operating hours. Working on campus for Aztec Shops was vital to my successful transition from high school to college. I learned how to manage my time effectively with school, rushing my fraternity, and maintaining my performance at my job. The tasks of the job were minuscule and did not require much. However, it was important to be in the right place at the right time to manage the high volume of customers and keep the shelves stock. It was a fast paced environment that required attention to detail and my surroundings. The most valuable experience I gained from Aztec Shops was learning the significance of time management as a freshman in college.

Cox Communications and Business Internship Class (January 2006 – June 2006)

Cox Communications is cable, internet, and phone provider in several locations nationwide. I was intern in the Real Estate Management Department. This internship was organized by an ROP class I was apart of my senior year of high school. In this class I learned basic business operations and ethics. My professor worked with me on standard forms of business communications; such as, when and how to write memos, emails, letters, and proposals. After basic training I was assigned to intern at Cox Communications. It was a 100 hour internship that I learned how what office culture is and basic data entry. I also experienced what it is like answering to management and writing progress and status reports.

This internship was a valuable experience to have before I came to college and gave me the upper hand over my peers.

Radio Shack (January 2006 – June 2006)

I was the first 17 year-old hired by Radio Shack in over a decade, the district manager was so impressed by the interview he ignored my age. Radio Shack has by far the best sales training I have ever heard of and been through. I went through extensive amounts of sales and product training before I step foot on the sales floor. Working for Radio Shack introduced me into the wonderful world of sales and performance based pay. Here I learned how to approach a customer, qualify them, get them what they need, up sell them, and close the sale. This is where I learned the benefits of a high dollar per customer/ticket. I had an excellent manager who walked me through sales and taught me what to improve on and what I was already doing well in. This job is the reason why perform so well in sales and customer service.

Kid's Factory (January 2006 – March 2006)

Kid's Factory was an after school program for kids in grade school. I was a level 1 supervisor and was in charge of organizing activities and maintaining a safe environment. I was responsible for the largest after school program in the district with over 80 kids. Even though this is not a business related job, I think I learned more working with and managing these kids than I have at any retail job I have had. I was in charge of disciplining the kids for poor behavior and making sure all of the kids were getting along nicely. Patience had a whole new meaning to me after working here.

Lake Mission Viejo Association (Summer 2004 and Summer 2005)

LMVA was a recreational park that had boat rentals, beach volleyball courts, and grass/beach areas with BBQs. My job here was to maintain the boats and the park in a whole. This job required hard physical labor for 8 hour days. This was my first job that taught me what hard work and grunt work really is. Having worked here makes me grateful for all of the jobs I have had since.

This was a list of every company I have worked for and what I learned and experienced for each one.

-Jason Kirby

If you want to learn more about me, Jason Kirby, than please visit www.Jason-Kirby.com

Jason Kirby's Scholarship Essay

2009-01-26T20:31:00.000-08:00

This is an essay I wrote for a scholarship I applied for. The requirements were to write about my educational and professional goals, why I chose my major, and who is my biggest influence.

Why I Became an Entrepreneuer

My father worked full-time and had to go to night school majoring in Finance at University of Houston. He knew without a college education he would not be able to provide the life he wanted for my brother and I. My father is a proud man and his hard work over the years has proven that he tries to put his family first before his own well being.

I love my father for everything he has done for me and the wonderful life he has given me. In appreciation of the fulfilling life he has given me, I have taken leaps and bounds in college to impress my father and show him that everything he has done for me did not go to waste. I set my eyes on being a Finance major at San Diego State University and following the footsteps of my father. However, I remembered the workload and stress my father went through in order to make it where he is now. It seems as though he works harder now than when he was younger and will probably continue to do so until he is 65 years old.

I realized this is not the professional career choice I want, so I changed my major to Entrepreneurial Management. The factors that influenced my decision to change from a Finance major to an Entrepreneurial Management major were clear. I wanted to put my family first before work and never wanted to have to worry about work coming in the way of my time with my family. Another reason was I love exploring new things and having control over making decisions to make changes or make something better. That is why I decided becoming an entrepreneur was the right path for me.

SDSU provides some of the best resources in the country for aspiring entrepreneurs and this has got me excited for my future. Being an entrepreneur requires a strong educational background, however, experience is what makes an entrepreneur successful. In order to increase my experience while studying to graduate Kum Latte, I have several small goals set for myself outside of the classroom.

Many of the goals I have already achieved and expanded on. For example I have already started my own company, managed a project with over 70 people involved for profit with considerable donations to charity, held an executive position in my fraternity, the entrepreneur society, and an Associated Students advisory board. My goals from this point are to start a partnership and a new company by the time I graduate. The main goal behind all of these is to gain comprehensive knowledge in all aspects of business so I can more successfully run and understand a business.
Being an entrepreneur all leads back to what my father had to go through to give me the everything I have and me wanting to give back to him by being the best I can possibly be.

Jason Kirby
The Entrepreneur
www.Jason-Kirby.com

Jason Kirby and His Spring '09 Semester Goals

2009-01-19T16:36:00.000-08:00

As of right now I have a lot on plate:

Internship with eBoost Consulting, part-time as a sales associate at Ritz Camera, owner of The Right Light Photography, teaching photography classes, full-time student at San Diego State University, active in my fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, heavily involved with the Entrepreneur Society, Green Love advisory board, and the Real Estate Society.

And if that isn’t already enough, I am working with a partner of mine to start a new company in the entertainment industry.

With all of these obligations and things I want to accomplish it is hard to keep my priorities straight, still get everything done, and have a social life. So with this blog I want to present all of my goals for this semester and prioritize them.

1) My number one goal, as is for every semester, is to stay on top of my grades and manage to pull off a 3.68 GPA. In order to graduate Kum Latte, I must maintain a 3.68 GPA for my next three semesters here at SDSU.
2) I want to get more involved with Entrepreneur Society and the Real Estate Society. These are two organizations that have lots of resources that I can use to further network with accomplished professionals and increase my knowledge as an entrepreneur.
3) I plan on improving my relationships with friends and family by working a little less and inviting them to my website to keep updated on what I am up to and answer any questions or requests they may have.
4) On top that I want to create new relationships this year and really broaden my network. However, I do not want to pursue superficial and meaningless relationships. I am going to work on meeting people and following up with them and exchanging meaningful conversation. I found this is what real networking is, not just passing out a business card and shaking hands, it is a lot more than that. Check out what I mean by watching this video by Seth Godin.
5) I have begun the early stages of my training for a triathlon in May. I feel that training for a triathlon and competing in one will satisfy my physical needs and have an end result that I can shoot for. I find this to be a much better goal than saying I will go to ht gym every week.
6) I really want to start up Zodiac Girls (the entertainment company – name is tentative). This is the company I will have my first partnership agreement on and I am looking forward to the experience. According the time-line I created for this company, we should be launched by mid May.
7) I plan on sticking to a schedule with updating and adding content to my website. My goal for www.Jason-Kirby.com is to provide my knowledge of business and photography to anyone who might be interested. The other goal is if someone wants to know anything about me or searches me, they will easily find this site. Also, I plan on and have been applying the knowledge I have received from my internship with eBoost Consulting.

All of these goals are subject to change and maybe their priority level might change, but in general this is what I, Jason Kirby, want to accomplish in my Spring ’09 semester.
If you have comments or questions about my goals, or feel that I have not shot in doing any of this, please leave a comment and I will be happy to hear what you have to say.

-Jason Kirby
www.Jason-Kirby.com – Your source for everything Jason Kirby
www.TheRightLightPhotography.com – Need a photographer or want to be taught how to shoot like a pro, then visit my photography website and/or Jason Kirby's photography blog

Jason Kirby's Theory of MANtality

2009-01-12T19:09:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered why more and more people are buying bigger and bigger TVs?

This is due to something I like to call MANtality. What is MANtality? MANtality describes an average male who is in constant competition with himself or other fellow men, whether he knows it or not.

In the bigger TV scenario, I find a 60" LCD TV completely unnecessary when a 32" tube TV will still provide the same end result, a TV show. However, I find myself in the market for 46" Sony Bravia XBR6 TV. For some reason I feel the need to spend $2000 on a TV, when I hardly watch TV at all. I am constantly trying to justify the purchase of this monster of a TV. I keep telling myself I will use it for work by making it a monitor for my computer or that I will buy a BluRay player and watch more movies and TV. To be honest, I have no intention of doing either and I don't even think that TV would fit on my wall. I am in such a small room that my a TV of this size would dwarf my room. The only logical reason behind my way of thinking is my MANtality. I am craving this need for a massive TV.

MANtality goes into affect even more when alcohol is involved.

MANtality doesn't only affect a man's reasoning for pointless purchases, but almost every decision we, as men, make. Below is list of just a few things that have been caused due to MANtality.

Punching walls or immovable objects
Thinking about sex 22 hours a day
Trying to drink more than your friend who weighs 100lbs more than you.
Maxing out at the gym and doing only one rep to see how strong you can say you are.
Not asking for directions when you clearly know you are lost.
Playing a sport with a broken ligament or while wearing a cast
Purchasing the newest tech gadgets just to say you have it, but don't even know what it does
Buying a full-size pickup truck when you live in an apartment complex
Never admitting when you are wrong when deep down inside you know you are.
Not calling a repair specialists to save money, but you end up spending more on your hospital bills after attempting to fix it yourself

These are just 10 things of the many thousand we as man do and rationalize only with our MANtality. Feel free to contribute further by commenting.

- Jason Kirby

http://www.jason-kirby.com/

First Blog (Test)

2009-01-06T18:55:00.000-08:00

This is the first blog of many to come. This blog will be specific to Jason Ryan Kirby's (me) personal blogs. They will be rant and raves about my personal life and my life at San Diego State University. These blogs are meant to be entertaining and can also be beneficial for those considering going to San Diego State University or any large party school.

Not only will this blog be fun and amusing, it will also direct you to my other useful blogs and sites that consist of information regarding San Diego, Photography, College Life at San Diego State University, Entrepreneurs, Professional Networkers, and even digital marketing. My other blogs related to these topics are http://kirbyprofessional.wordpress.com/ (updated every Wednesday) and http://trl-photography.blogspot.com (updated every Friday)

You can also find all of this information at www.Jason-Kirby.com or you can check out my San Diego Photography company at www.TheRightLightPhotography.com

This blog will be updated every Monday I hope you enjoy these blogs,

Jason Kirby
www.Jason-Kirby.com