I was approached by Greg Yost, Principal of Yost Advisors, a business consultant and family friend of many years. Greg reached out to me in hopes that I could help him as his worked picked up. Yost Advisors was a one man company prior to my arrival. Greg was a consultant for Wet 'n' Wild Phoenix and Hawaiian Falls Waterparks based out of Dallas. Along with his consulting business Greg was a partial owner in three separate companies which included film and travel. My role was to help keep Greg organized and help in consulting our Hawaiian Falls client.
My duty was to help file paperwork, create word documents, excel documents, take meeting notes, manage all business accounts, manage travel arrangements, provide IT support for Apple devices and more. When I first started I had to hit the ground running. Greg's lifestyle was to move at a million miles an hour. It was my job to catch what he could not manage. When I started in August of 2011 Greg had purchased his first iMac computer. It was my job to help him transition from his PC to his iMac. As you all know purchasing your own Mac is like entering a whole new culture. There was daily interaction as to how to use the computer like maneuvering through "finder". There was also a complex filing system Greg had used for years and had to keep it up. We would create hard files of documents and then had to file the electric documents in "finder". So there was one electronic copy of a file and one hard copy of the same file. With two clients and three companies, keeping up with the filing system was difficult.
Your internship/job opportunity with Wet n Wild seems interesting and a different approach to practicing your management skills. I'm curious as to how you find working with Greg in the private sector will compare to work in the public assuming you do not stay in the consulting game in the future. Also, the Hawaii client interactions might be a good experience in terms of managing stakeholder needs which is something public sector personnel do all the time. Can't wait to keep reading =)
ReplyDeleteAs you and other stated, transitioning to a Mac is difficult. When I bought my first Mac and moving from a PC was very difficult. I later found out that Macs are so much easier to use and do not require as much updates or work. I will never switch back to a PC unless I have to. My internship involves the use of a PC in the office but for the most part everyone in the office has their own Mac (Macbook Pro or iPad) to work on. Staying organized will only help in the end. I try to keep an organized filing system for schoolwork and general work at my internship; so when someone asks me for a file or document I can easily find it.
ReplyDeleteYour description of your responsibilities and expectations of you from Greg sound intimidating. But I am extremely impressed by how you tackled such challenges. Your approach to solving problems and meeting expectations sounds very methodical.
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