Jason Kirby's Scholarship Essay

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

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

First Blog (Test)

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