brass Blog

I recently came across a quote about billionaire Warren Buffett–one of the world’s richest individuals.

“Buffett’s still living in the same house he bought when he was 28 for $31,000.”

In today’s day and age, with all of the attention-getting extravagance of CEOs, celebrities, and politicians, a detail like that makes you stop and think. Then again, Buffett isn’t your average rich guy. As this article sums up, despite his large charitable donations (and when I say large, I mean giant), his fortune continues to grow. He advocates for higher taxes for the wealthiest of the wealthy. And he hangs out with fellow billionaire do-gooder Bill Gates, not only sharing the top-most places with him over the years on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people or donating an immense chunk of his fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but playing online bridge together under the usernames “T-bone” and “Commander.” Here are a few more things you might not know about Mr. Buffett.

• Two years ago when he was 75, he promised to donate 85% of his fortune to five foundations.
• He is known as “The Oracle of Omaha,” likely because of his success as an investor. The nickname may also reflect his ability to set and reach goals like he reminisced about in this Fortune magazine interview: “Well, when we got married in 1952, I told Susie I was going to be rich. That wasn’t going to be because of any special virtues of mine or even because of hard work, but simply because I was born with the right skills in the right place at the right time.”
• According to Forbes.com, he issued a challenge to members of The Forbes 400 in October: he would donate $1 million to charity if the collective group of richest Americans would admit they pay less taxes, as a percentage of income, than their secretaries.
• He is reported to love Cherry Coke.
• He knows he’s not perfect and says so (from that same Fortune interview above): “In philanthropy also, you have to make some big mistakes. I know that. But it would bother me more to make the mistakes myself, rather than having someone else make them whom I trust overall to do a good job. In general, Bill and Melinda will have a better batting average than I would.”

Consider this a good reminder that being rich isn’t about clothes or cars or bling, but as our CEO once said, it’s a way of life–one that embodies fulfillment, balance, and compassion for others. Words of wisdom for your weekend…make it a good one!

-Sarah

Remember when you used to write down your thoughts and activities in a journal to have something to look back on later in life? And how you would paste ticket stubs and magazine cutouts the old-fashion way? These days having a blog is a hyperactive version of an old school journal. The blog craze has hit everywhere, including news sources, magazines (like here at brass!) and more, but 37% of bloggers cite “my life and experiences” as a primary topic of their blog . (source: pewinternet.org)

Interestingly, about 54% of bloggers use a pseudonym. If you’re writing about sensitive information or worried about certain people seeing your blog it may be a good idea to use a pseudonym. A friend of mine with a blog has had to adapt and start to use nicknames for friends and has shut down the entire blog several times to deal with outside repercussions. However, that same friend also was recently recruited and hired as the editor of the college blog network collegeOTR.com, after being discovered through her blog.

It’s a crazy media-filled world out there, but it looks like blogging could be for just about everyone – whether you choose to make it a personal interactive diary or a launching pad into the media world.

If you’re creative and want the freedom to make a difference in the world, keep reading. Whether you’re deciding where to work as an employee or what type of business you want to create, aim for organizations that are either “innovators” or “radicals.” Let me explain.

According to one model, there are four types of businesses/organizations in the world – monoliths, purveyors, radicals and innovators – and people move among them. Click on the image below to see just what I’m talking about up close.

Picture it this way: monoliths and purveyors are on the service side of the chart. They are businesses/organizations that function on pattern and are focused on producing tried-and-true products that don’t have a lot of risk. The big, powerful, money-loaded ones are the monoliths; the smaller mom-and-pop operations that operate on this principle are the purveyors. If you work for a monolith or a purveyor, you’ll most likely have a steady (and good) income, but you’ll also be bound by formulas and tried-and-true methods that produce results, but aren’t creative. You’ll be a cog in the machine instead of the driving force.

On the other side of the chart are the innovators and the radicals. These are the businesses/organizations that are risk-takers, entrepreneurial, and usually founded and formed by creative people. Radicals are the businesses/organizations that work on a shoestring budget, but produce content and products that change the way people think. The really successful ones grow to be large-scale innovators who influence the masses. If you work for an innovator, you’re where it’s at. There’s money to pay for the production of your ideas and you’re able to think outside the box. You can create new products and new forms of reaching your audience. In other words, you have freedom and the monetary means to make those freely-inspired ideas a reality. Want to know more? Check out this article on a different breed of business.

The idea and content for this blog post were inspired by Professor Deb Morrison, who was a guest speaker in my Ethics of Persuasion class (GO DUCKS!), as well as my first few weeks working at brass as an intern–here’s a video of brass CEO and founder, Bryan Sims, explaining what makes brass…well…brass.

- Jens

I used to be confused about how to organize a résumé during high school and in early college; my jobs, while plentiful, were unrelated to my real career aspirations.
I bounced from a farm store to a gas station/deli, and then landed at a seafood café (where I stayed for five years). I also worked (throughout college) at an auto parts store, a pawn shop, a recycling center, and a hospital, where I was a groundskeeper for two summers. Eventually, I finally quit all my temp jobs to work more closely in my desired career area, taking up jobs as both an editor at my campus newspaper and as a writing tutor at my university’s writing center. A lot of us rack up part-time jobs that seem out of place on our résumé when it comes time to apply for that first “real job.”

How are you supposed to present your work history, skills, and responsibilities and not overwhelm the page with bullet points and subheads?

I decided to surf online to find out what the experts say about organizing a professional résumé when your work history looks like a patchwork quilt (like mine). One company’s site recommended grouping similar jobs together under one heading or dropping least important jobs so that your more pertinent positions shine. CareerJournal.com has an excellent list of articles containing résumé tips, pointers, and how-to’s for building your next résumé.

Finally, education is also an important thing to note on your résumé. Once I graduated college, I inserted my education (read: I have my degree now!) at the top of my résumé, because the positions I was applying for required a degree.

I also changed the “experience” heading to “relevant experience,” thus indicating I only included the jobs related to the one I was applying for.

Hopefully this helps you when it comes time to move on from that summer job to a school-year gig, or from your college career to your first big interview.

Now, back to work–at the job my résumé helped me land.

While we are hard at work on the November issue of brass, I wanted to share an interesting coincidence I happened to find while checking the news the other morning.

In the same vein of the Susan B. Anthony dollar, the Sacagawea dollar, and the 50 state quarters, the US Mint has started the Presidential $1 Coins program this year. I have yet to see any of these coins, but I imagine they are getting scooped up by collectors, much like I did with the 50 state quarters when they were first introduced. The US Mint has a schedule currently showing production of the coins through President Gerald Ford (year 2016), so these coins should be around for a while. However, only time will tell if they will be as ubiquitous as the Sacagawea dollar or as scarce as a two dollar bill. Either way, they could end up being collectible or valuable, and it’s not expensive to start coin collecting.

The interesting thing is that the coin release dates coincidentally correspond, at least they have this year, with the publishing dates of brass: George Washington bowed in February, John Adams debuted in May, Thomas Jefferson kicked it with Devin Phillips in August, and we’ll see the James Madison coin when the next issue of brass hits the streets in November.

Coincidence? Fate? Maybe they were just inspired….

A new coin and a new issue of brass are all the more reason to get excited in the coming months. Plus we have a cool feature on its way in 2008 about turning your favorite pastime into your cash line–coin collecting anyone? Until next time, keep it brass.

How often can one person watch the same movie in the theaters? I watched Ocean’s 12 three times in the theater, and I don’t regret a minute of it. Unfortunately, so far I have only watched Live Free or Die Hard twice in the theater (and loved it both times), and watched Transformers once.

Having been to the theater three times in one week for the last two movies, I was able to see a certain Diet Coke commercial three times. Titled The Morning Routine, and directed by Josh Greenbaum and Raul Fernandez (students in USC’s graduate film school program), the short won this year’s Coca-Cola’s Refreshing Filmmaker’s Award (click on the “2007 Winner” link to watch the commercial). I normally prefer Cherry or Vanilla Coke, but even I wanted to try some Diet Coke after seeing that short.

Additionally, Greenbaum won mtvU’s Best Filmmaker on Campus Award at the ‘07 MTV Movie Awards, and two of his shorts played at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. If you’ve got some time, go to his website and check more of his stuff; I got a real kick out of the commercials. But don’t take my word for it. Watch for yourself (you’ll have to use the link above because I couldn’t find any of his Coke stuff on YouTube).

I’ve heard a lot lately about MMORPGs. For those of you who don’t know what those are, the acronym stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. It’s like playing Hearts online, but with millions of other players and the game is totally different. Basically, you start with a character and progress through the game’s online world. As you go, you can collect your game’s currency to buy weapons, skills, or other items which help you in your quest.

What is amazing is the fact that selling World of Warcraft’s “gold coins” (or the currencies of similar MMORPGs) online has become a lucrative business for people wanting to make some cash. Check out this New York Times article to see how it works (registration required).

As popular as this may seem, from what I’ve read, many gamers feel that paying to win is basically cheating, and that gold farming and buying your character and equipment takes away from the hours and hours other players invest into their avatars. Apparently, the game developers are also concerned about this trend, mostly because some organizations are looking at these games as investment opportunities.

This could be an interesting development to watch, especially when you think about how many people use credit/debit cards now instead of actual currency. Are we one step closer to seeing paper money go away? Remember the rumors of the penny’s production being canceled? Luckily for you all, I have a gallon jug full of coins in my closet if anyone ever needs to use a parking meter.

Any of you heard of a company called Zenter? Me neither. Apparently, being small and relatively unknown didn’t stop this start-up company from getting purchased by a giant conglomerate.

I read in this blog that a six-month-old, start-up company named Zenter was purchased (for an undisclosed price) by Google (heard of that company, right?) for further development and implementation in Google’s Docs and Spreadsheets department. If you’ve got some time, and if you’re interested in starting a business, you should really check out that blog. I found it really helpful how Yi-Wyn Yen (the writer) focused on explaining just how Zenter caught Google’s attention. She had a pretty cool and informative interview with the founders of Zenter, Wayne Crosby and Robby Walker, where they give the do’s-and-don’ts of making a start-up company something that a corporation can’t live without. Pretty inspirational stuff.

Ever feel like college just doesn’t offer you the chance to learn the skills you want to? After writing the last few blogs on automobiles, I ran into a few scholarships for the car lover…who would have guessed? It got me thinking that there are probably a lot more opportunities for people to pursue their interests in college than I first thought. I actually found three websites that offer scholarships for aspiring auto wizards.

The first one, The Collectors Foundation, carries a list of schools or institutions that receive scholarships or funding for automotive programs and/or equipment. Next up is the Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium (GAAS), which was formed with the intent of providing funding for students who are interested in careers in automotive aftermarket products and services. Information on the GAAS scholarships is available on the GAAS scholarship page, complete with an application page, a phone number and an email address. Finally, the Automotive Hall of Fame offers scholarships that are open for application to anyone entering an automotive field of study at accredited colleges and universities.

While this is by no means a comprehensive list of automotive scholarships, it could get you started in the right direction if cars are your passion. Researching scholarships and programs for untraditional hobbies could help you find a few surprising options if your chosen field isn’t one normally associated with a college degree.

Be sure to check out our next issue of brass|MAGAZINE this August for a brass Ten on unusual scholarships. Who knows? That space exploration jam you’ve been composing on your zither could earn you a grand for college. You just never know…