My name is Amy, and I’m currently a twenty-year-old journalism student.
Not too long ago, on a cold December morning, I was making my way up as usual to the University of Leeds. But, this wasn’t to be a regular day of lectures for me.
As part of my scholarship to the university, I’d been scheduled in for a tutorial with an entrepreneur who’d offered to mentor some students. All I knew was that he was going to talk to me and give me some guidance about business plans. Not really knowing too much about what to expect, I made my way into the room.
‘Dylan Thwaites.,’ he said, offering his hand to me. ‘Pleased to meet you.’
As we sat down and began our conversation, I was taken aback by his openness of character. I had (admittedly, misinformed) preconceptions of what he would be like. I didn’t realise that a successful businessman could be so friendly and approachable.
After discussing potential future business and employment plans, Dylan looked me in the eye.
‘When you talk about communications and marketing, your eyes light up,’ he said.
‘The entrepreneur has a point!’ I thought.
Needless to say, we had a long discussion, through which I began to realise that a career in marketing is something that I would be very keen to pursue, and as the meeting came to it’s end, I saw an opportunity.
‘So…do you have any jobs then?’ I asked, probably a little too boldly.
At first Dylan looked quite taken aback and I worried I’d been a bit cheeky by asking. He said nothing, and seemed to be wracking his brains. I sat there, nervously picking at the skin around my nails until he replied.
‘To be honest Amy… I don’t really have any openings at the moment’
What happened next is what Dylan teasingly describes as me inventing a job for myself at his new company, May Contain Nuts Inc. Somehow, in about a ten second window I managed to convince him that there may well be a role for me in his company, after all.
The rest, as they say, is history, and now, as crazy as it seems, I’ve got the chance to prove that I can actually succeed in marketing, working with two former entrepreneurs of the year.
My first real test is the launch of the LogFire App on Android. It’s a really good quality tablet app, which as you might guess shows a real flickering fire. My role, is that I need to get as many people as possible to make videos of the fire in as many places as possible and for them to upload them onto YouTube.
The main thing I’ve learned so far, is that it’s impossible to know what the future may hold if you don’t seize the opportunity! So, watch this space, to see if I can actually pull this off and succeed in following my marketing dreams…