As Baruch students, we feel inclined to choose a business major such as finance or marketing. From there, we apply for internships at renowned companies in hope for a full-time offer. But why spend the rest of your career working for someone else? Why not start your own company?  That’s what Sara Blakely, the owner of Spanx, did.

Sara Blakely was an LSAT exam failure, Disney World ride greeter and a fax machine salesperson before she became the billionaire owner of Spanx. The famous pantyhose and undergarments start-up company started off as an idea to an irritable problem Blakely, along with other women had.  She spent her entire life savings, $5,000 and the next 2 years planning the launch of her product, researching patents and searching for hosiery mills. She started off with her product in Neiman Marcus stores, and then expanded to other luxury department stores such as Bloomingdale’s, Saks and Bergdorf Goodman.

Spanx raked in $4 million in its first year and $10 million the next. Blakely made the Forbes’ Billionaire list at 42 years old, the youngest self-made woman to grace the magazine’s cover. Blakely also has plans to expand her operations to international markets. Currently, Blakely is estimated to be worth $1 billion dollars and just decided to become a part of the Giving Pledge.

Here are some of Blakely’s tips for aspiring entrepreneurs:

1.      Don’t let the first “no” (or five) stop you – Rejection is inevitable. You will need to get used to it and learn how to overcome it.

2.      Don’t quit your day job just yet – Be smart about your dreams. Blakely was still working at her day job during her first few years of creating Spanx; she wanted to make sure that Spanx was on the right track before resigning.

3.      Don’t seek validation from others – You may want to get feedback from your friends and family but it is better to tell people who can help you move forward with your product. Looking for validation can stop potential multimillion dollar ideas.

4.      Hire your weaknesses – Blakely was a charismatic salesperson but needed someone familiar with business planning and hired the current CEO, Laurie Ann Goldman.

5.      Never stop evolving – Although she made her fortune off of women’s wear, Blakely knew her company needed to grow to keep up with consumer demand. Now, her company offers apparel, swimwear, men’s wear, active wear in addition to her original products.

Students at Baruch may feel that working for someone else is essential to having a successful career. However, starting your own business is a viable alternative. If you believe in an idea and work hard to bring it to fruition, the opportunities can be endless!

The influence of marketing is all around us. From advertisements in the subway to product packaging, marketing has an important role to play in any business. For Romi, a senior majoring in communications, working for WABC-TV gave her a peek into the world of the entertainment industry. Last semester, Romi found a marketing internship at the network with the help of STARR search and the communications department at Baruch. Part of her responsibilities included performing competitive analysis to see how other stations were marketing sponsorships online. The network also had Romi work in a group to pitch a sponsorship package, through which she learned about budgeting and audience demographics.

In addition to gaining insight into the industry, Romi strengthened her teamwork skills as it was essential to her role at WABC-TV. Throughout the semester, she had the opportunity to network with professionals in the industry. While interning at WABC-TV, she was also able to get a glimpse into the way different functional areas—marketing and sales, for example—work together towards a common goal. This allowed her to understand how her work in the marketing department fit in with the goals of the other departments. Most of all, she’s appreciative of the creativity that she refined over the semester.

To hopeful interns, Romi stresses that being proactive and mindful of deadlines is essential to working in media. She also highlights the importance of differentiating yourself from other applicants: “You don’t want to just be another face in the crowd.” Although Romi has moved on from WABC-TV, she is eager to explore other fields in which she can use her skills as a communications major. Currently, Romi is the Work Abroad Coordinator for the Weissman Center of International Business where she helps Baruch students discover internship opportunities in countries around the world.

As college students, we find ourselves caught up in school plans, work, searching for internships and other career related tasks. All these responsibilities are essential when trying to establish yourself as a  businessman/woman. Your credit score is your pass to many things in life such as whether you can buy a house, the interest rate on mortgage payments, starting a business, car payments, your ability to take out loans, the interest on those loans, insurance coverage and even whether you get a new job. Building your credit score at an early age is a great start to creating a stable financial foundation so you can have a stable credit history for future endeavors. Maintaining a good credit score is not easy but possible, if you are smart about spending. Here are some tips in order of importance to your credit score rating:
1. Pay your bills on time (35%) – The decision to shuffle your bill under a bunch of other papers may be tempting but not beneficial. Whether you have a two-cycle average daily balance (which computes the average daily balance for the current and previous billing cycle. What does this mean for you? You pay more), or an average daily balance (which is the average amount that exists in an account over a period of time).

2. Closing credit cards (30%) – Your debt-to-credit ratio is important because the lower the amount of credit card debt you have, the better it is for your credit score. This can be tricky due to the terms of the credit score system. An example is: you have two cards (Card A and Card B) you charge $1,000 on both with a credit limit of $5,000. Your current ratio is 20% (10% each total $1,000) the recommended debt to credit card ratio 25%. However, you decide to take advantage of a deal offering a 0% balance transfer fee of $1,000 from Card A to Card B. You decide to close the account with no balance thinking you are helping yourself, but this changes your score. Now you have Card B with $2,000 and a balance of $5,000 resulting in a 40% ratio. Although you haven’t spent any money, you now seem risky to credit review bureaus due to the 20% increase in your debt-to-credit ratio. It is therefore recommended that you try to keep your debit to credit ratio below 25%.

3. Your credit history is important (15%) – This goes hand in hand with the above point, older accounts boost your credit rating. If you must cancel a credit card, cancel the newest one and wait about 30 days. If by the end of the month your credit score has not been negatively affected, do the same for any other cards. Closed accounts will still be included in your credit score, but after 10 years, they will be dropped from your credit report.

4. Select the right credit card (10%) – Do your research and avoid cards with unnecessary fees (annual fee, interest rate, late fee, over-the-limit fee). Find a rewards program that will be useful to you. Do not choose a travel rewards card if you barely book flights. Determine the grace period; if you are able to pay your bill off in time, you will not have to pay interest on purchases you make until next month.

5. Have a mix of loans and credit (10%) – Often retail stores offer a credit card for their store to promote “extreme savings”. By owning too many cards, you give an impression of not being trustworthy. Instead of applying for more cards, apply for installment loans as lenders like to see a good mix of installment loans along with your credit cards. These loans (like for car and house payments) show how reliable a person can be, especially if payments have been made on time for an extended period.

Research extensively the various conditions for any credit card; in the end, these are for profit companies. As a college student with a good credit score at an early age, you will have a head start.