Today was a very interesting day at Major League Soccer. I got to listen in on many different meetings regarding the planning of the different matches for the World Football Challenge, which is going to take place in July and August. Watching it all come together has been very exciting, especially due to the fact that once the planning stage is over; I will be able to take part in the event as well. Being able to work with a team from all over the world will definitely be a great experience for me all around. Besides that, I was given the task of ticketing (counting the tickets) for a couple of games and then logging them so that later we can allocate them to our sponsors.
After work, I headed out to Leverage Agency to attend our speaker series event that we were going to have directed by Lewis Howes. Lewis is considered to be an expert when it comes to networking; particularly through the use of social media and websites (he quickly explained that he is a huge advocate of LinkedIn). He gave us a run through of his career to this point, and how he managed to get from his sister’s couch, where he was living, to a successful career using web-based communication tools to use his networking pool to its maximum potential. It is important to note that Lewis would have rather been a professional athlete (something he is still pursuing through handball), but certain circumstances forced him to improvise and reach the point he has today.
To me, the biggest takeaway from what Lewis told the MSBA group was that when you are young, you need to take advantage of all the energy and hustle that you are able to procure, and use it to overcome already-established systems within the marketplace which prevent newcomers from entering. It is just a matter of having a plan, using time efficiently and not being afraid of taking a chance. If you really want something, chances are, not even the most challenging of circumstances will keep you from achieving your goal.