Adventures in Adulting: First House

"Hello MTV and welcome to my crib..."

This is what I feel like saying to everyone that comes over for the first time. This summer I furthered my adventure into adulthood and moved into my first house with three lovely roommates. And for the first time in my life I actually decorated with furniture other than a futon and cubby shelf. Furniture fit for an adult. After months of decorating, I'm so proud of how our little house turned out. Here's a quick tour:

                     

As fun as buying adult things and decorating has been, one thing truly hasn't been fun about adulting: managing the house (mainly utilities). I honestly don't know the first thing of managing a household or how to keep my utility bills as low as possible. 

What temperature am I supposed to keep the house at? Why was our water bill so high this month? 

These are some questions I'm searching for the answer to. Side note: I even got tricked into getting a phone line for a cheaper rate, which I didn't know would result in companies sending me a ton of annoying junk mail. Ugh. 

I'm certainly learning how to adult, but I wish I had some helpful advice that made it easier. Here's some examples of some things I'd be interested in reading:

This struggle led me to an idea of how local Athens companies could connect with fellow new house owners/renters venturing into adulthood (like myself).  Companies such as Rent Athens and Charter (or other rental and utility companies) should better educate new home owners/renters through social media.

These companies should target their new customers by creating an informative online atmosphere. I would love to follow someone who tweeted out articles on saving money on utilities, life hacks for your house, and other helpful advice for managing your first house. By simply tweeting out such helpful information, these companies would find themselves gaining an engaging audience.

Also, they can connect with their audience by encouraging customers to ask for advice using #AskCharter or #AskRentAthens. Engaging their followers with helpful answers is a quick and easy way to build brand loyalty.

Targeting these new customers this way is such a great idea because if you can make a positive impression on these young adults during their journey into adulthood- they'll likely secure a customer for life.

Adventures in Adulting: Motivation

Being told "I know you can do this" weirdly makes me not want to try… "You CAN'T do this" has same effect. Ok, yeah, I might just be lazy.

— Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) October 9, 2014

I'm not sure if it's the midterm season or early senioritis setting in, but lately it's been borderline impossible for me to get out of bed and get anything done. I've never been a lazy person, or someone who excessively sleeps, but I swear all my motivation has gone out the window.

As I sit here for the fourth consecutive hour in the library, I'm thinking about all the things I would rather be doing than studying. Sleeping, eating... the list goes on. And then I thought, how cool would it be if I saw on Twitter (okay so maybe I'm on Twitter instead of studying) a tweet about the possibility of free food delivered to me during my time of misery?

If you haven't read my intro blog, I've recently set out to identify ways that local Athens businesses can market to students using the idea of "adulting," and I feel like this would be such an easy way for Papa Johns to interact with students. The tweet could say something like:

"Adulting is hard, but it's nothing pizza can't fix. Tweet us your current adulting struggle using #AdultingforPJ for a chance to have a free pizza delivered to you"

When the pizza is delivered, share a picture of the student(s) enjoying the free pizza. I think that this would be a great social media push to have once a week, especially during midterms and finals. 

And on that note, I feel that about sums up this post. Like I said, all motivation went out the window this week...

Adventures in Adulting: Work-Life Balance

Sometimes the best part of my day is imagining what I'm gonna eat when I get off work.

— Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) April 21, 2014

Have you ever been stuck at work and found yourself thinking about dinnertime? I have. A lot.

I don't think I obsess over dinner because I'm hungry (well most of the time), but because it's the only part of my day that I get to actually relax before tackling endless chores, schoolwork, and other to-dos.

I'd like to think that my inability to reach my ideal work-life balance is simply a college-phase, but the adult world hasn't proved too promising for me either. I say this because I had the opportunity to intern for a large company this summer, where I was thrown out into the field and expected to adult. But this was adulting to the extreme. The stereotypical 9-5 job wasn't a reality in this world; when and how long you would need to work was always unpredictable. This inconsistency left me too tired and without much time for my personal life. Side note: if you're an adult reading this, you're probably getting a good laugh in. Yes, I know it only gets harder. Don't remind me.

Such a demanding job really had me questioning if a work-life balance was even achievable in the adult world. 

So here I am, overwhelmed as I stare into the face of approaching adulthood: graduation and the start of my career. Suddenly, the thought of taking a fifth-year victory lap sounds incredibly enticing. But instead, I know I have to take adulthood head-on and continue filling out applications for full-time jobs.

Let me tell you, the job search has proved far more complicated than I had anticipated. How do I get a true sense of the work-life balance that awaits me at one job over another? Flashes of my summer audlting-experience haunt my mind; I hope to never again be expected to adult without a proper work-life balance.

Why aren't these potential employers trying to woo students capitalizing on our fear of entering adulthood to better market themselves to us? Specifically by addressing work-life balance? I have a little advice for companies trying to win students over:

Utilize social media to create work-life balance

I believe that these companies can create work-life balance  for their employees by using social media. For instance, Facebook can be used to promote and host events that promote work-life balance for employees. Examples include organizing a work softball team or posting about available concert tickets to employees. Facebook groups are also a great way to inform employees about anything deemed incredibly important, without them having to check their work email or phone on the weekends. Having the ability to turn these off for the weekend can better separate work from their personal lives.

Using social media to promote a work-from-home policy would do wonders in helping to create the work-life balance. A company can also use platforms such as Meerkat and Periscope to train employees online, and YouTube as a way to store these videos for future use. Similarly, these social media platforms can be used to hold virtual meetings so employees don't have to be on site to attend.

If your company can successfully create an environment that promotes work-life balance to this extent, it's time to share that resume.

Utilize social media to send students your resume 

I think it's pretty common for companies to forget to market themselves to students as hard as students are marketing themselves to them. Students put in all the work needed to build and format their resume throughout the years; but a company should note that students don't stop there. Students are always searching for recruiters on LinkedIn: trying to connect, send messages, and hopefully get them to take a second look at their resume.

Similarly, companies need to be proactively searching for students on LinkedIn, marketing to our needs as we enter adulthood, and trying to get us to take a second look at them. For example, I was really impressed by one company that I had never heard of that reached out by messaging me on LinkedIn. The woman wrote why she felt I would be a great match for their company, some benefits to working there, and to come check them out at the Career Fair. With a simple message, and in a sense a simplified company resume, this company went from being unknown to the top of my list.

Companies should mention their specific steps to promoting work-life balance for their employees. I think highlighting the possibility of work-life balance, in-depth training, and a smooth transition from college to career would be the best way to target those students preparing for adulthood.