I currently divide my time between a few endeavors that span multiple industries. I teach at a small school in New York City and online through two ed-tech startups. I also work in the administration of my family business—a mental health services company. Prior to that, I was an ESL teacher who taught for seven years in South Korea and Turkey.
I signed up for CORe to improve my career prospects, learn about business and entrepreneurship, and determine whether I wanted to pursue an MBA. Throughout the program, I was impressed by the professionalism of the professors—all of whom had a command of the material that was truly inspiring. Another important aspect of CORe was the amount of knowledge and material that is condensed into these courses. Each of the courses—Business Analytics, Economics for Managers, and Financial Accounting—have positively impacted my career in numerous ways.
What I Learned in Business Analytics
Business Analytics helped me to look for, collect, and analyze data in ways I was not able to before. For example, our company measures employee performance based on several factors and creates an annual score. I realized that this data wasn't being analyzed, so I calculated percentiles to compare the best and worst performance, along with the average score and standard deviation. These measures help managers have a better understanding of overall and individual performance throughout the company.
What I Learned in Economics for Managers
The mental health services company I work for is investing in property, and understanding the concepts of willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to sell (WTS) has helped me make decisions with our real estate agent, owner, and contractors. I'm currently working on a project to bring solar energy to the property, which will save more than $1,000 in electricity costs and increase our property value.
I knew investment in solar was a good opportunity, but the concept of WTS helped me understand and explain why. Because of extra incentives from the city program and group purchasing power, the electrical contractors were willing to sell solar energy systems for a much lower price than usual, thereby increasing our consumer surplus. By explaining WTS, I was able to convince the owner to move forward with this project.
What I Learned in Financial Accounting
After studying accounting, I had the confidence and curiosity to review the company balance sheet and other items on Quickbooks. While exploring the documents, I noticed an $18,000 discrepancy between Quickbooks and the hand-written journal. It turned out that the owner hadn't realized that the business manager had made an $18,000 payment to the contractor. Of course, the contractor didn't correct the error. If I hadn't read the balance sheet, we would have overpaid by $18,000.
What’s Next in My Career
One of my dreams is to start my own coffee company. The concept of fixed and variable costs helped me think about how to enter the market. After taking CORe, I realized that to enter the market, my fixed and variable costs would have to beat a competitor’s variable costs. This has made me think critically about how I could create a competitive cost structure to be viable when entering the market.
Additionally, learning conjoint analysis has been helpful in thinking about what features of my product would be most valuable to consumers and how to highlight and market those features. These are critical considerations for entrepreneurs, and now I have the confidence and knowledge to make these decisions because of CORe.
I'm also planning to pursue an MBA, and I'm currently studying for the GMAT. CORe really helped give me confidence in my ability to succeed in an MBA program, and it also showed me that studying business can be interesting and enjoyable.
Are you interested in learning more about CORe? Explore the CORe page and discover how you can apply essential business skills in your everyday life.
