MS degree in HR Management - Law Web search assignments

I know you have heard the old adage "kill 'em with kindness" I'm making my own new one to become an old adage tonight...

"bury them with words" on my last assignment for what I fondly call the Law class from hell for reasons I won't go into at them moment, the professors said I did "good" and failed my paper with a 33/50, so for this one I spent over 18 hrs creating an 11 page document that covered three current topics in HR Management.

This Web search paper was over 2000 words and I used APA formatting with the help of Microsoft Office 365's Word program and 3 of my old style books. Yeah I know one would have done the trick and showed me what I was interested in seeing but I had to make sure that it was the same in all three. I'm just crazy that way.

The idea of the assignment was to research online 3 Current HRM law issues and share them and what you learned. So that is what I did. I actually

So check out the link to the paper in it's ungraded entirety and leave me a comment let me know you have missed my blog updates.

Now that I am working towards my Master of Science degree in Human Resources Management I am sure I will be posting more writing assignments and interesting articles.

 Link to my web search doc

https://drive.google.com/a/fiu.edu/file/d/0B7P72BFQ3kLeTlQzRl9UWUhLM00/view?usp=sharing

Enjoy!

Entrepreneurship Class Project

This is it the last paper for my last class in my Business Management Minor. It was a great class to end with to. Relevant and up to date with a great professor who had experience with Entrepreneurship and knew his stuff.

So, we had to use a discovery canvas which I left attached at the end of my paper and then expand on that for the paper to become 5 pages.

Please let me know what you think, you never know... I just might do it!

Howe Recruiting Service

The Pitch

Howe  Recruiting Service will provide the recruiting professionals that transportation firms need.  We work hand in hand with your company, dispatchers, safety department, and insurance company to insure your recruitment needs are met. Then we go beyond any other recruiting or placement service in the market today by providing after-hire services that allow your safety department to concentrate on more important things, like fleet safety, and allow you to rest easy knowing that professionals are making sure your company grows.

We will create a job description, seek out the best candidate to fill the position and interview them for your company . Then we will assist you in putting together an application that meets the Department of Transportation (DoT) and company standards. Our service includes running the standard background checks by pulling MVR, DAC, and PSP reports and tallying up any tickets or infractions to verify applicants’ PSP scores are acceptable per your company's insurance standards.

Howe Recruiting Service will continue to go beyond just connecting your business with an applicant. We will continue to serve you by collecting all the signed documents and after-hire documents that the DoT and your company or insurance company require.

Proving to be the best service means delivering the best recruits. We want to insure that our recruits and our clients build a long -lasting relationship by offering an optional liaison service between the company and driver for up to a year to assure retention. Assuring retention can save companies time and money. Retention of drivers means that new recruits will be added to fill new positions produce new profits for your company.

As  your company continues to grow we realize that more trucks mean eventually you will need more dispatchers to manage your new drivers. We are able to help find your company experienced dispatchers, or if you would like new fresh recruits that are smart and reliable to train, we can find them for you, too. We have established relationships with many dispatchers and can draw from a pool of qualified, experienced candidates to fill your needs. Alternatively, we can work with your company to create a job description, place advertisements, and interview to find smart reliable recruits who you can train to fit in with the company you have built, and who will maintain the standards you require.

Potential Client Base

More than a million trucking companies in the U.S. have twenty or fewer trucks, and they are all possible customers for this service. When a company decides it is time to grow, they have three choices for how to go about making that possible. The owner of the company can do all the work of advertising, interviewing, and hiring drivers or owner operators themselves. This choice decreases the amount of time the owner has to do other money-making and administrative activities, thus decreasing income for that time period. Alternately the owner can assign those duties to someone else within the company with the same results, dividing that person’s time and availability between their normal duties and recruiting. Or they could choose to seek outside help by hiring a recruiting service such as Howe Recruiting Service to take on the burden for them, assuring that their company grows with the best possible recruits for the job while not losing any productivity, time, or money.

As truckers and companies share information constantly, we hope that even larger companies might find the value of hiring Howe Recruiting Service to take the burden off their already hardworking staff, and to help multiply the production ability of their team. Larger companies can afford to hire extra employees for staffing purposes and may even have a Human Resources department with several employees diligently working on recruiting. Then all of the sudden a lane is awarded to them that needs 10 new trucks brought into the company within a week, that is when they will want to call us. We will be able to fill that need and will guarantee it. 

Logistics

Most recruiting companies charge an upfront fee of 25% to 35% of what the recruit would make in a year. That is a large burden to come up with for a small company all at once before they even have the person to fill the position. Truck drivers and owner- operators can make varying amounts depending if they drive local, regional, or over the road. Also, the amount will vary if they are an owner-operator, meaning they own their own truck and pay all the expenses to keep it up, or if they are a company driver using the company’s truck. Based on those variables, recruits could earn anywhere from $22,000 to  $250,000 annually, so a percentage-based fee could be an up front cost of $7,700 to  $87,500. For a small business struggling in today's economy, that may not be an option they can afford. Our company breaks down the fees and allows them to pay us monthly to retain our services as well as a per-recruit charge that isn't billed until the first load is pulled meaning that recruit is making them money therefore they will have to afford the fee.

Our customers will be able to purchase our services through our website, over the phone or in person. We will charge a one-time account set up fee of $600 dollars to each new business. We will guarantee to find a specific number of recruits for them within a specific time period, such as 10 recruits signed on in 3 months. Then they will be charged a monthly account maintenance fee of $350 for as long as they wish to retain our services and a per recruit fee of $350 dollars to be paid on the date of their first load . If the customer wants our liaison services they will pay an additional fee for each recruit we liaison for them of $300 at 90 days, 6 months, and 1 year. Our typical turnover time is 4 new recruits placed per week, per employee. We have the capability to staff a company with as many or as few recruits as necessary.

We strive for a long-term commitment from our clients, allowing us to fulfill their recruiting needs as they grow. We will then also help them to find and hire new dispatchers as they are needed. The dispatcher fee would be a graduating fee as the company grows and is earning more money: $1200 for the first $1400 for the second and $2500 for each thereafter.

Plans for Growth

Our plan is to grow our company as our customer's needs grow so that by doing a great job of helping them grow their company, we can also grow our own. We have unlimited resources for this company via the internet and social media that are free or low cost to reach out and find recruits for our company as well as for those we serve. In the beginning our company will be a small family-run business. I have been working as a recruiter for a trucking company for nearly six months, and love it. It requires me to use my writing skills, business skills, and sales skills all at once, and because I am a people person, it really fits my personal style.

There are many resources available to me through my current job and the people whom I have met. My husband is currently a dispatcher with the same company and has a degree in web design. He will be in charge of the website and our company IT person, as he can also build computers, fix computers, and so forth. Both of our sons are in college majoring in computer science, and can write any programs we need to do the work or keep track of recruits. I am going to have them create an Android application for cell phones and tablets that will promote our business, and that can be used to submit application information from any device. Also, both boys have worked with me in the past when I owned a store and are great salespeople, which translates nicely to recruiting.

Looking outside of our family for resources to help build our business, I have many friends in this area who own businesses and have helped me in the past with expert advice on marketing, advertising, management, accounting, and finances. I also have strong bonds with several past professors, and have sought their advice and knowledge on business ideas and topics. It is good when you have an entrepreneurial spirit to be a people person. I have found that people want to help you succeed; they are just waiting for you to ask.

The only upfront costs associated with starting a business such as this would be for the website, printed material, and advertising. In the beginning it would be run from our home with our computers that we already have. We also already own a printer/scanner/fax machine. We already pay for Internet and phone service. As the recruiting business grows, we may want to rent or buy a building and start bringing in employees who would be paid by the hour with bonuses for each recruit successfully placed.

Proof of concept for this business is already in action, I have the ability and knowledge to provide the service I wish to sell. Once a website is in place and a few businesses show interest in my service, then I can run the business in the evening while still performing the duties of my current position during the day. The best part of this is that my current employer would gladly switch over to being a client once Howe Recruiting Service is established. 

Ice House Opportunity Discovery Canvas

1. Describe the problem being solved the need being filled.

Small transportation companies don't have employees with the skills to be recruiting managers. They often do not know the Department of Transportation codes that must be followed. Many of these small companies have a high driver turn-over rate because they do not properly vet the driver in the early stages of the hiring process.

Hiring a new employee for the sole purpose of recruiting is costly for a small trucking firm that only has a limited need for such a person. Cross-training current employees to do recruiting is also costly and can lead to lack of productivity in both roles the employee is trying to fill.

2. Describe your idea for a product or service.

We will provide the recruiting professionals that transportation firms need. We will create a job description, seek out the right driver or owner operator to fill the position and then we will also act as liaison for the company and the driver for the first year helping to assure retention of the recruits we find. 

3. Describe solutions currently available.

There are many different recruiting firms and some of them will even recruit for the transportation industry. I only found one that was specifically transportation industry orientated and hired for drivers. Many recruiting firms only search for the account representatives, sales executive positions.

4. How is your product or service different?

We will meet with the company through either a face to face meeting or a virtual meeting. This will allow us the opportunity to get to know the leaders of the company and to get a feel for how we will need to acquire the specific talent the company wants and needs to meet their staffing needs. Each company will have a specific recruiter assigned to them who will also later act as liaison for the company and the recruit.

Create a job description for the company from the information provided. Many companies just take a job description from the company instead of creating one for them. Our transportation industry specialty knowledge allows us to create a description that attracts drivers and owner operators and gets more calls.

We will help the recruit to create a DOT acceptable application meeting all the current standards. Then we will verify their employment history, pull current MVR, DAC and PSP reports and make sure nothing in their past history disqualifies them. We know that each insurance company has different standards and will work with your insurance company to make sure that the recruit hired for the position meets and exceeds their standards. We will collect all the after hire documentation, such as copies of title, registration, reviewing company policies, etc.

We will provide liaison services for the company and the new recruit for an agreed upon length of time, up to one year, to help in recruit retention. Many times after being hired recruits have a disagreement or misunderstanding with their dispatch, who is their only link to the company, and will quit because they have no one else to turn to who is in their corner. Our company will help with retention issues because we are there for both the company and the recruit to give them someone to mediate and help the recruit feel that all his concerns are being addressed. The Liaison position will also give us the heads up if they just are not a good fit and then because of the experience our company should be able to correctly fit the recruit to another firm and the firm with the correct recruit.

5. How many people have this problem?

1,164,000 trucking companies in the U.S. have twenty or fewer trucks (http://www.truckinfo.net/trucking/stats.htm) they are all possible customers for this service.

6. How will you communicate your value to your customers.

We will create a website and print materials explaining our services and the costs. Then distribute information about us to companies and truckers using face to face meetings, telephone and email and social media. Truckers talk to one another and once a few are successfully placed with companies that fit their needs and personalities the word of mouth advertising will be amazing. Social media is important in communicating our value because we will be able to interact with businesses and truckers and showing each what we have to offer. The amount of interaction with customers in the beginning would be large because we will need to constantly be adding new customers even if they are just signing us on as a trial basis. I would assign an employee to a sales position and their job would be to expand our customer base by pitching our services daily to customers and truckers.

7. How will your customers buy your product or service?

Our customers will be able to purchase our services through our website, over the phone or in person. We will charge an account set up fee of $1200 dollars to each new business. We will guarantee to find a specific amount of recruits for them within a specific time period such as 12 recruits signed on in 3 months. Then they will be charged a monthly account maintenance fee of $300 for as long as they wish to retain our services and a per recruit fee of $250 dollars to be paid on the date of their first load. If the customer wants our liaison services they would pay and additional fee on each recruit we liaison for them of $250 at 90 days, 6 months, and 1year.

8. What evidence do you have that people will pay you for your product or service.

Recruiting is what I was hired into for my current employer, her company is small but growing and needed more trucks. I have learned many things working there; truckers switch companies frequently until they find a company and dispatcher that fits their personality and style. The most important part of recruiting is learning about the company and the recruit. We take away the advertising costs and the cost of hiring and keeping a recruiter in house for a company which saves them money and time.

There are other similar companies out there that do recruiting most companies only recruit for higher paying jobs and do so on a different style of fees. We take it a step farther with the liaison service no one offers that service to go with the recruiting.

9. How can you prove your concept without taking large risks? 

I am currently acting as a recruiter for a company, so I have the necessary experience and knowledge. I have already begun hiring recruiting helpers to help me with my job recruiting for the small company that I am working for now. I am not on my own yet but my employer has actually encouraged me that this is a great idea for a service and agrees that many companies would rather pay for the service than hire another employee. I would create the website and documents then test the waters and see how many people I had interested. In the beginning I could do the work in the evenings and if there was enough interest I could pull in family members such as my college age sons and my husband to help. Eventually I would hope to grow it to the point of hiring outside the family and quitting my job to run the company full time.

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Product Descriptions, Social Media & Twitter

 Lately most of my "free" time has been spent writing descriptions on eBay and Etsy to sell items that were left over from my online store. When I am not posting new items I am promoting items already posted using Social Media such as Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. The rest of my time is spent learning.

I have to admit all of this social media PR is new to me. We did not have a class in Social Media Writing, although it would have been a very useful skill for this day and age. So far I am using mostly Twitter to promote my products. Look me up if you want to follow my tweets I am ArvillaH on Twitter.

My dealings with Twitter started many years ago back when I opened the Sandusky Craft Mall, it was my real brick and mortar store in which I sold craft supplies, new & used books and handmade items on consignment. I read from some of the bloggers that I followed that they had Twitter accounts so I decided to figure out what it was all about. I am still trying to figure out what it is all about.

After all these years and my on-again, off-again, on-again relationship with the site I am proud to say that in the last two months I have doubled my Twitter followers and the numbers are still climbing. I still feel clueless, but I am starting to understand some of it.

Last week I learned about the use of hash tags (# then a word or phrase) thanks to HubSpot Blog and a great post by Magdalena Georgieva. Then I learned about how to use what is called Follow Friday to keep and gain more followers because lets face it this is marketing and the bigger the audience the better.

To find out all about Follow Friday I went to a blog called Ask Aaron Lee and read a post called "How to do a proper Follow Friday". I had read many posts from people that were just lists of names after the hashtag #ff or #followfriday and I knew that was useless. Aaron Lee explained in his blog how to attract followers for yourself and treat Follow Friday the way it was meant to be.

I'm still learning and as I learn more and find great blogs and links to learn from I will continue to share my journey here with you.

 Do you know of a great website to learn how to use Twitter? Have you recently learned something about using Social Media? Do you have a blog about using Social Media? Leave me a comment and tell me all about it. I welcome your links and advice.

Check out my eBay - Arvilla2012
Etsy Store - Artsy Arvilla
Pinterest - ArvillaH
Follow Me on Twitter - ArvillaH

My other Blogs
Simple Family Stories Blog
Coffee Bean Babblings Blog

Writing a Feasibility Study

I have a dream... I want to start a Small Business Incubator. In order to do this I need to create a Feasibility Study.

I have never even heard of Feasibility studies before now. I have been researching Feasibility studies trying to figure out what to do and so far this is what I have figured out.

"Definition of Feasibility Studies: A feasibility study looks at the viability of an idea with an emphasis on identifying potential problems and attempts to answer one main question: Will the idea work and should you proceed with it?" 
As found on http://womeninbusiness.about.com/od/businessplans/a/feasibilitystud.htm

The page above is AWESOME they go on to explain the six parts to a feasibility study. It goes on into seven lessons on how to create your feasibility study. I will be using this and continuing this post into several others until we have my Feasibility Study all done and ready.

I want to take this dream of helping small businesses to grow and compete with the huge conglomerates and make it a reality.

We need as a nation to support our local businesses and stop giving our money to giant stores that don't care about people only their own profits.

I don't have a name set in stone for it yet but for starting purposes and the need for something to call it, we will call it the Sandusky Business Incubator or SBI.

The first thing they want is a description of the business; products offered and how they will be delivered.

A full description of the SBI will be the next post.

Tell me please do you know of any great resources for learning about the process of creating a feasibility study? Leave me a comment and let me know. Have you ever created a feasibility study if so share your experience with me please. Thanks

Homeschooling Again

The girls wanted to homeschool this year so I have been working on lesson planning for them. I was wracking my brain trying to figure out how I was going to write their Science lessons so that they could both view it and use online resources. I went to them, since they were home and ask them what they thought the best and easiest way for me to create their science lessons would be.


They considered my question and offered suggestions such as a USB drive, or emailing them the lessons. Both very good suggestions because part of my question was that I wanted them to be able to pull it up on whatever computer in the house they happened to be able to use at the time.


Considering their suggestions, I went back to my office/craft room and sat down at my computer to continue looking up resources for the first lesson when it hit me. I actually laughed at myself when I realized I could solve all the issues at once by creating a blog for their lessons. I can post the direct links for them to use to look up information and include questions and activities appropriate to their grade levels. So, you know me I immediately opened up my blogger to blog about my experience. LOL


 This is an exciting time for us, I homeschooled the boys when they were younger and they went back into school at about the ages that the girls are coming out of public school to homeschool now. My oldest is in 8th grade but reads at a college level and loves math so is going to be working from several pre-college and college books that we actually have here in the house. My younger girl has struggled with school since the beginning and really had I not been so busy with college and we didn't have anyone available to be with her when we weren't home, I would have homeschooled her much sooner and saved her a lot of unnecessary stress. For her we are using 4th through 6th grade materials depending on the subject. I am mostly using online information and some workbooks along with things we already have available to us from our home library, the town library and SVSU's library. She is excited to get going.


 Knowing that I am going to finish my last three classes in the winter to graduate with my bachelor's degree. I realize that I won't be able to put the time and effort in that I will need so, I am going to work it all out ahead hopefully so that now in the beginning of the year I get all the lessons planned and ready to go for them. It will be a lot of work but they are worth it. Maybe since I'll be blogging their lessons it will help out someone else too. :-)


 Wish me luck and if you have any experience or know of any good homeshool websites please leave a comment and let me know I can use all the help I can get. Thanks.


Here we go off on another writing and researching adventure.

Writing a Socratic Dialogue

This Rhetoric class is one where I read the assigned readings and they are interesting and different from anything I've ever read before, I understand them and what they are saying but then I go to class and listen to the people in my class (who have obviously had other classes that have read material like this before) talk and I feel like an idiot. I don't know what they are talking about half the time because they are referencing other authors and their writings that I have never heard of or read. My professor is awesome though and he usually has a way of putting it all together in a way that I can understand and then I get what they were referring to and/or comparing. Egads, this is all so new and weird for me it feels like I felt in my creative writing class when everybody else there seem to have a great time just creating and I struggled. Which brings me to this Socratic Dialogue assignment. I am struggling. Mostly because I do not have much experience with the creative writing world and this assignment is asking me to creatively write a Socratic Dialogue.

So I have started researching and I found a great website that has a lot of good information about how to write a Socratic Dialogue. http://www.philodialogue.com/Authenticity.htm as I find more I will update this post and include them and I'll update it again to let you know how it all goes or create a new one.

Hopefully someone else will find this useful to them. If you do please leave a comment. Thanks

Portfolio Websites

I am back at Saginaw Valley State University and back in my writing classes. I'm currently working on a personal website. It has been a struggle trying to decide on a theme and something original and interesting that would give the site my own personal style.

I found these great blogs and websites that show examples of other great personal websites. Seeing them has really helped me along my path.
- 20 Inspiring Personal Portfolio Sites You Should Explore

- 50+ Fresh and Unique Personal Portfolio Websites

- 35 Professionally Designed Personal Portfolio Websites

My school project website will be found at svsu.edu~alhowe 

My site is still under construction and what is there today may be completely different two days later but come on over and check it out then leave me a message and tell me what you think. 

Please take a moment and let me know if any of the links or my own site inspired you. Thanks.

Writing Biotechnology Scientific Reviews

 I just wrote my very first Scientific Review for my Biotechnology Writing class this morning. Very early this morning like from 2 to 6 am.

I had dreaded doing it wasn't into it at all in the beginning. I had started it several times this past week but life and school and four kids kept being to big of distractions to let me get very far. By Tuesday I had most of the researching done. I found several articles about transgenic food and allergies in children. They were all very interesting and informative. I read them several times in my false starts that got nowhere with actually getting started.

I think that it actually was a blessing for writing a Review paper to have read the articles so many times. I knew what they said and could easily put them into my own words for the review by the time I sat down this morning to write it.

What I had dreaded was the rules and the abstract. Which is funny in a way because I had already written an abstract for the class and the rules are good guidelines that really give every scientific paper a consistency that allows them to be thorough and interesting. It may have been more of the distraction issue again. It was definitely easier to get homework done when the kids were in school. Either I may have more all night writing sessions in my future or I'm gonna have to take it out of the house for a few hours like go to the Library or somewhere.

I was amazed when I started to write ad then finally after the second time through editing looked at the clock to see that it was 7 am and I had been writing for five straight hours. Well, reading and writing and a little more researching of some facts then of course editing and doing the final formatting.

The awesome part was I was writing and doing all that for five hours and it just flew by. When you are doing what you love to do time flies and it doesn't seem like work at all. I love to write whether it is my thoughts, a business report, a guide, instructions, grant proposals or scientific writing, it is all writing and even though sometimes I have issues getting going I always find that in the end no matter what kind of writting I am doing I really love to do it!

I can't wait to someday get paid to do what I love that will be the best!

So here are some links that could help you if you want to learn about writing scientific reviews.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/19531932/How-to-Write-a-Scientific-Review-Paper

http://www.parint.org/isajewebsite/bookimages/isaje_2nd_edition_chapter5.pdf

http://www.istl.org/06-summer/review3.html

Finally I will get my paper "More needs to be Done to Protect Children from Allergenic Transgenic Food" posted for anyone who is interested in checking it out on my online portfolio 

http://arvillasportfolio.webs.com/

Have a great day and please leave me a comment let me know, What have you been writing lately?

Writing in HTML

I'm just finishing up my very first HTML class and I have come to a few realizations.

1. People who write in computer code are still writers like me, they just use a different language.
• I always thought that writing in code was something completely different than writing a document. 
• Writing an entire site requires knowledge of more than just HTML one must learn CSS and PHP too, similar to writing a great document requires knowledge about the subject and background which may include learning the meanings and backgrounds of words.
• Computer code requires one to not only be a good writer but also to be visionary and creative thinking not only of the wording but of graphic design also, much like creating a good magazine layout.
2. Writing code is much like writing a report or document.
• First you need an idea, a sketch or an outline of what will be written and how it should look.
• Good content always makes a better document, there are structures to follow in code just like in writing a sentence in English.
• Editing is not just a necessity but with code if it isn't correct it won't work.
3. Writing code can actually be pleasant.
• Once a style sheet has been created and a basic page layout, the background work, then the code that creates each page is much easier.
• I love writing and expected to dread coding but was happily surprised that I like it.
• Graphic design is always present in writing layouts and is also important for a good webpage and I love designing pages and places to look nice.
• It has come in handy for my blogs, my black board posts and in other places that I hadn't expected.

If you would like to see what I did for my HTML class I would be proud to introduce you to my live online website. It is called Easy Sales Shop and I will be using it to sell things that I have made and maybe someday things that other people have made too. 

Yes, I plan on taking more computer code classes. My degree requires it and my curiosity demands it. 

Net Neutrality

Have you heard about this thing called "Net Neutrality"? I hadn't before today and now I am all fired up. My fingers can't hardly keep up with my brain.

Okay so I am currently taking a HTML class and my teacher brought up this topic for our discussion for this week. He shared some really good links that I'll share with you too.

Wikipedia defines "Network neutrality (also net neutrality, Internet neutrality) is a principle which advocates no restrictions by Internet service providers or governments on consumers' access to networks that participate in the internet." Go there and read there is more too.

So the issue is that big businesses like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner Cable are lobbying our government to end net neutrality and let them control what they allow us to see ON THE INTERNET.

THAT IS JUST CRAZY TALK! I know it sounds nuts, here are some links where you can learn more.

Save the Internet.com So, apparently over 2 million people have heard about this before me and banded together so if you haven't already, go there. They also have lots of good information.

Common Cause.org another place where people are banding together to fight for our freedoms on the internet and another place where you can make your voice heard. (I really must be living in a cave with my head buried in the sand.)

Finally there is NetCompetition.org which is an e-forum promoting competitive internet choices for consumers. I love their counter in the upper right corner plus, yep, they have more good information.

So I beg you if you didn't hear about net neutrality like me and have been nose to the grindstone living your life oblivious to what is going on in the world around you, go read learn and decide for yourself.

Do you want someone else to decide what you can see over the internet?

Leave me a message and tell me, had you heard already? What are your thoughts?

Lots of Blogging

Okay, you can't tell it from this blog, but I have been doing lots of blog writing.

I started a blog just for stories about our family. I call it Simple Family Stories. I have been taking a minute here and there to write down little stories from how I met my husband to us planting our first garden here in Texas. I am not trying to put them in any particular order that way if something interesting happens today I can write about it or if nothing is really going on then I can write about something that happened from the past.

Mostly I have just been trying to stay busy reading and writing and trying to perfect my craft so that someday, dare I dream it, I will be graduated and working. Actually getting paid to do what I love, to write! I have always done it and I must not be to bad at it because I keep getting A's from all my teachers. I have Ethics and Algebra right now but in 4 weeks I will be starting Bio-Medical Writing. I am very excited to take that class.

Happy Easter all.

Another Semester Over

One more semester done. How wonderful it is to say that, especially knowing that if all goes well I will be a graduate by Christmas. I finished up my English Workshop class, no need for any other English classes now and I have started my adventure in computer classes with my first class Computer Literacy. I enjoyed both class and encountered to more teachers that gave very good and timely feedback.

The English Workshop class was an adventure toward a ten page argumentative paper. Much to large to paste here in the blog. I will however put it in my website. It was titled, "Budget Rekindles the Debate over Abortions" a very argumentative topic and in the news quite a bit lately.

The Computer Literacy class was the most basic of computer classes but I learned some very interesting things like cloud storage and Trojan viruses among other things. I was compelled to write a five page paper which was titled "Computers and the Technical Communications Industry." It will also be available on the website for your reading pleasure.

I fear next semester because it brings me into Algebra yet again. My love of words is barely equal to my dread of numbers. Yet here I go again forced to confront numbers. I do look forward to my Biomedical Writing class in the second half of the spring semester.

The adventure continues, stay tuned for more updates. :-)

The website to view my works is http://arvillasportfolio.webs.com/

If you read this please leave my a comment. Thanks.

Listening Final Completed

Goodness that was an interesting assignment. We were supposed to work in a group of four students on the paper, but it ended up being just the two of us my new, dear friend from Alaska and myself. We worked really hard and collaborated very well, she was awesome.

The final assignment was to write a Listening Analysis on a Film. We decided on The Prince of Tides and set about creating a document that ended up being a full 16 pages long. I think we did a great job, we'll see what our Professor says, he is a tough one. We have been getting good grades from him but never a perfect score. Some classes are just like that.

So, if your interested in checking out the Effective and Ineffective Listening Analysis of The Prince of Tides, you can check it out on my online portfolio.
http://arvillasportfolio.webs.com/

My listening class was a great experience. The professor was tough but fair and gave the best feedback that I have gotten through NEU from any professor. I wish my writing professors gave such fabulous detailed feedback on our work. I learned many things that I sort of knew about just through life and many more things that I had no idea about. I think that the Listening class was a great success. Although I was skeptical of it in the beginning, as a Junior in college having to take a listening class, I have learned valuable skills that will serve me well throughout the rest of my academic career and into my writing career.

Learning about WordPress

Yesterday I decided it was time to force the freelance writing desires into reality. I am now, once again only a full time college student and stay-at-home mom, so I am going to work as hard as I possibly can to become a freelance writer.

I searched freelance writing and found a place called Odesk and several other places that I may use in my adventure. The one common denominator that I noticed was that many possible clients wanted me to have knowledge of WordPress. So, today I set out to gain knowledge of WordPress and make myself more valuable in the freelance writing industry. The first place I visited in my adventure this morning was Wikipedia and that linked me right up to the WordPress site that allowed me to download the program for free and is where I know I will find out all I need to become a WordPress expert.

As for what I am writing at this time, my Online Documentation class has me creating a help file for a retail business. I picked the Furniture Row website since they currently have no help feature. I am creating a Design Specifications Document about the help file which I will upload to my online portfolio.

My Listening class has me creating reports about podcasts and movies on the topic of listening. When the class ends I will pick the best report on listening and also upload that to my online portfolio.

It has been a while...

Okay, I have got to admit life got crazy and busy and I haven't posted in quite a while.

I got a full time job as a salesperson at Furniture Row in Las Cruces, NM. I am still taking full time classes but now they are online. I am in Listening and Online Communication presently. Life is still crazy but I am going to take a few minutes every week to write something.

So, I am officially back and would like to suggest a great website for tech writers with a blog and podcasts. One of which I am currently using for an assignment for my Listening class. http://www.idratherbewriting.com

I will be better this time more consistent, I'm gonna write it in my calendar to post.

Read an entire Freelance writing book yesterday!

The book is called Getting Started as a Freelance Writer by Robert W. Bly.

It was well written, and kept my attention from beginning to end. I must admit there were a few paragraphs here and there that didn't really pertain to me so I breezed over them with a quick scan.

He starts with discussing what and how you need to set up your home office and your schedule. Goes on to money matters, fee negotiations and such. Then Bly talks alot about self-promotion throughout the book but Chapter 8 is devoted to it. It makes sense if your self-employed to self-promote. He gives great suggestions.

The hardest part for me, is probably what should be the easiest. He says early on that I need to pick specialties, things I know about or have experience in to write about. Bly says not to have more than three. I can't think of one good one. UGH! He has a Bachelor's in Chemical Engineering, there is one of his specialties, he worked in marketing and direct mail is another of his specialties.

I have always been the "jack of all trades and master of none" type of person. I've cooked in restraunts, raised and raising four kids, homeschooled for several years, opened and closed a business, I'm crafty, and I can sew clothes.

I keep coming back to homeschooling to write about I researched the idea before I homeschooled for a year and then I was very involved and researching things for several years as we were homeschooling. I have been out of the loop for a little while but I think it would be easy enough to get back into researching even if I'm not actually homeschooling at this time.

So, I am off to research the world of homeschooling.

Several wasted hours on Google

I jumped through so many hoops to create a site through Google. First I spent a day putting my documents on Google docs, then I spent a day creating the site. Finally I spent three hours last night attempting to verify the site to publish it. Finally, after hours of blog reading to try and figure out what to do, at midnight I drug my frustrated self to bed.

This morning I came to the determination that it was time to start over with a different web host. So after a short search I came across webs.com and it has been a breeze to use. Now I just have to finish putting all my documents on it to show what I can do. I'm very excited that this online portfolio could help me possibly get a writting job.

Last week disappeared

Okay so last week was a total wash as far as writing anything but cover letters and applications. I had a few interviews. So, the week wasn't wasted but no call backs. My biggest hurdle here in El Paso is that I don't speak Spanish. Or, at least I hope that is what it is because they all want to know if I can.

Anyway, we went to the Library on Dyer St. for the first time on Saturday. WOW, I'm liking it alot. I took out three books but at the rate I have been reading lately we'll see if I get through them.

Monday I figured out all the kinks from registering and getting my classes lined up for fall at Northeastern University. I am excited they have alot of classes I'd like to take and can online. I figured out that if I wanted to I could keep going till I had my Phd from them online. That is an idea anyway.

Tomorrow it will be back to the grindstone for me. I need to come up with an awesome post for my Handcrafted Mom blog.

Goodnight.

Friday - Cleaning, Blogging and Reading

I have no idea how Friday became my cleaning day once we moved here. We have only been here a month. Maybe, I still have time to change this habit. The chores could be divided up and I could do some on Tuesday and the rest on Thursday. Sweeping and mopping this entire house, cleaning two bathrooms, the kitchen and making the usual three meals for the family gave me no time to read or work on writing until after supper.

I did read several posts from the Ten Tips for writing a blog and a few from About Freelance Writing. I plan on catching up with the NYT and a few other news sources before I finally call it a night.

I did manage to get a nice post created for my Handcrafted Mom blog, this one came kind of easy because I wrote about one of my favorite things to do with the kids. Combining my memories, storytelling and a link to a good recipe. I ended with a couple of questions and hope that someone will respond to them.

Good night.

Cover letters and Handcrafted Mom Blog

Today has been full of cover letters and sending out resumes. I found a website through one of the blogs about freelance writing that hires freelancers. http://www.freelancejobopenings.com

I did manage to post an entry to the Handcrafted Mom Blog about making t-shirt quilts. I had actually started it last night.

I also did some transcriptions for applications and sent those for working freelance too.

Last night I opened my Google Reader and did a search for freelance writing and technical writing and have been reading from several different blogs and sites along with news sources such as the NYT and the Houston Chronicle.

I am hoping that Saturday we may be able to find our local branch of the library.

The only thing that scares me is the flicker of a thought in my head what if all these people call me and want me to work for them at once? What a wonderful and yet horrific thing that would be. I guess I would figure it out and take the best offers. :-)