Have you ever woken up in the morning, and checked your cell phone, only to see three text messages and ten missed calls from numbers you’ve never heard of? Have you gone through the address book in your phone to see numbers stored under “don’t call”, or “mistake?” Well if you’re in college, and you make the social scene a part of your life, this should be a familiar scenario.

College dating has grown parallel to the change and introduction of technology, and it’s changing the way people get to know each other, the way they introduce themselves, and the way people meet, in general. There’s no more guessing involved.

There are some technologies you need to watch out for, and there are some you should definitely use if you want to make the best impression.

Facebook

Some guys skim through their Facebook friends and find an attractive girl, send a message to her, and make an attempt to take her out. I’ve done it before, it’s not something I’m proud of, and from my experience it can actually be quite embarrassing.

However, I can see why people do it. I mean, why not? You can easily look at someone’s profile and see if you have a lot in common. Maybe you’re both involved in Greek life, or you like the same kind of music, or maybe you have a few friends in common.

If it works for you let me know, but I think Facebook should be used the same way you do research for a sales call. Find out a few things about the person, then bring it up in a face to face conversation. You’ll have much more success that way.

Instant Messenger

Creepy!! Avoid this at all costs. If you’re going to IM someone randomly, make sure you do it when you’re sober, you can see daylight outside,, and you have a good reason. If not, you may as well be a stalker. I trashed AIM about a year ago. It makes a terrible first impression, and probably won’t lead to anything. I also got rid of it because it is a huge distraction. Now I use Google Chat because the people on my Google list are typically close friends, business contacts and family.

The Text Message

My personal favorite… Text messaging can do a lot. First of all, texting allows you to say things that you may not be able to say in person. This can be good and bad. Just keep in mind, you are going to have to live up to whatever you say if you end up seeing the person (which is the original goal).

Just the other day I received a few text messages from the girl I had been dating. She decided to break up with me, via text message! It wasn’t so bad, I mean I didn’t have to get an explanation, and we didn’t really talk about it, it was pretty simple. It made the dreaded breakup much easier, but it was really lame.

While I’ve learned firsthand that its not a good break up technology, texting is my favorite way of communicating with someone I just started dating because it allows you to let the person know that they’re on your mind without being a complete pain in their ass. Just don’t overdo it with the texts, and like notes in high school math class, only send them if they’re worth it.

Cell Phones

We all have a cell phone now, and when you get someone’s number at a bar, it’s difficult to obey the “Two day rule”, because a phone call is a button away. However, you really need to restrain yourself, especially from the dreaded drunk dial. If you happen to overdo it on the booze and mistakenly drunk dial someone, you may as well kiss that potential future relationship goodbye. If they do answer, and you end up meeting that night it probably isn’t worth it anyway.

Technology changes all aspects of life, especially in college, and it truly is unique for our generation. Access to anyone is a click away, but I’ve learned that you need to determine what you are looking for before you use all of your resources. If you’re just looking for a one night stand look into the drunk dial, late night text, or random IM. However, if you’re really looking to meet someone, take my advice into consideration, and let me know how it works out for you.

Now that I have gained the attention of at least a dozen people who are currently trying to justify their procrastination, let me explain. The act of procrastination is an unavoidable human behavior that is exhibited frequently by the vast majority of people. Procrastination comes in many forms, as small as finding a reason to not take out the trash, to waiting to the absolute last minute to begin a term paper that is worth 20% of your final grade (which happens to be the current reason for me writing this post).

For most procrastinators, we know that we will eventually accomplish whatever task is in need of completing, but I have found that that logic alone doesn’t relax me enough to stop me from finding other tasks. The truth is, when I’m procrastinating, I’m getting more done than at any other time.

And it seems as if most college students are in some way the same way. At no other time is this more evident than during exam week at colleges across the country. Like clockwork, you can be sure you will find students cleaning their rooms, attending to the dreaded task of washing their clothes, and heading to the gym for the first time in weeks.

While true, my procrastination usually leads to other tasks such as catching up with my magazines and newspapers, searching the web for new blogs, writing new posts, and reading books that have been sitting on my coffee table for weeks, the idea is the same; personal advancement through strategic disengagement from the real task at hand.

Of course this isn’t true for everyone; it’s a direct facet of individual levels of motivation and desire to improve upon one’s self worth. Take for instance the nine to five cubicle employees right now, intent on searching the web and never getting back to the mundane tasks that await them, well, only after the daily dose of FreeCell has been exhausted. In that case, procrastination is procrastination for procrastinations sake, which comprises the “sort-of” in the title.

This begs the age-old question though, quality or quantity? For me, and yes it’s a cop out, it’s a very healthy mix. Could I spend more time on my paper to ensure I receive a grade closer to perfection? Sure, but where does that get me in the grand scheme of things? Choosing to procrastinate has allowed me to accomplish so much, that I can honestly be content not achieving absolute excellence on everything. Like everything however, this is an individual decision that you must make. What do you find works best for you?

Our generation has been working in groups since kindergarten.

But now I’m a senior in college, and I’m still surrounded by people who don’t know how to work together. At first thought, I was surprised that my peers were incapable of filling a role in a group. With all this group work as kids you would think we would be better at it now. But the truth is, working with others is never easy Here are a few ways to successfully work in a group and still achieve your personal goals.

You don’t need to be the leader to stand out

The Fisher College of Business is a competitive school, and many of the students are very extroverted. We’re constantly attempting to get on the fast track to a good job in a great company. We are trained to stand out if we want to make an impact on recruiters. Because of this, everyone wants to be the leader in the group. However, I have learned that you don’t need to be the leader to stand out. Instead you should embrace your skills, and use them to benefit the group however possible. For example, my good friend Jeremy enjoys, and is good at market research. Because of this, he tends to take on the research role. This benefits the group, and allows him to talk about something he is confident in during the presentations.

Learn to open up

No idea is a bad idea, and everything should be brought up and discussed. The key is to get your group mates to share their ideas no matter how shy, reserved, or embarrassed they may be. Then make sure that you provide constructive criticism, but stay as positive as possible. You will see that the more people are involved in the discussion the more ideas you will come up with.

Don’t hold all meetings online

The internet is a great tool, but it is not the only way to communicate. My groups always use Google Docs and Spreadsheets, and because of our busy schedules this definitely makes communication easier. However, there are some meetings that you just can’t have online. For instance, any meeting that incorporates a good amount of brainstorming rather than just information sharing should be done in person. Having a brainstorming meeting in person will allow for better communication, and more discussion. Also, it will limit the distractions that surround you when you’re online.

These are just a few of the ways you can improve your group dynamics, while still benefiting your best interests. Groups are a part of life that no Millennial will be able to avoid. We should be able to embrace them. From my experience, more often than not, working as a team is much more beneficial than constantly competing. But by all means, don’t forget to embrace the competition when necessary.

I have expressed in numerous posts my disdain for the higher educational system. Among many things, I don’t think it understands and blends with reality. It doesn’t ready the majority of its students for their actual careers. And above all else, it only rewards those who succeed with flying colors in the classroom. But things may be slowly changing, and as an opponent of universities, I must acknowledge their failures and successes.

My first glimpse of hope came with the arrival of Ohio State’s new president, Gordon Gee. President Gee is a man committed to the students, the faculty and the prestige of the university first, and his own reputation second. You can frequently find President Gee walking along side students on their way to class, engaging those standing in line for lunch, and famously teaching the Ohio State population how to tie a bow-tie. Last month President Gee could even be found challenging students to a game of Wii Bowling at the student recreation center.

Outside of his desire to interact with students, Gee is emulating the success of forward thinking companies by inviting his staff to town hall meetings where everything is on the table, continually challenging the status quo, and demanding innovation from within. With dozens of independent schools and colleges comprising the makeup of the university, Gee is expecting inter-disciplinary engagement to develop ideas, technologies, and advancement in areas we don’t even know exist yet.

My second reason for optimism that universities might slowly be catching on comes from the start of another blog, LifeBeforeNoon. The founders of this site are all seniors in communications at James Madison University, and started the blog due to the lengthy discussions in their communication classes about the world of blogging.

Carla Blumenthal, one of the co-founders said, “It started as a recommendation of our professor to develop skills in writing, new social media, and networking…it blurs the line between personal and career development…but also helps develop skills that are so essential in the job market now.”

These two examples completely rebut two of my main critiques of universities. For one, outside of the sciences, professors struggle to inject new and exciting technologies into the discussion as a means of progression of ideas and advancement of their student’s budding careers, if not their entire professional field. And two, that universities are completely out of touch with their student bodies.

It goes without saying that my disdain for higher education still exists, but these two cases are a small sample of great things that are happening at campuses across the country. They provide hope that our education system will again assert its dominance, and allow our country to prosper with knowledge, innovation, and a belief that together, we can begin to tackle impossible dreams.

I have been looking for the best ways to market to the Gen Y demographic for the past three years. We’ve tried everything from handing out fliers to getting newspaper articles written about us. Interestingly enough the most effective form of advertising has been the cheapest thing we’ve done - Chalking.

Chalking is when me, my partner, and our interns go out between midnight and 2 am and use colored chalk to write SloopyMenus.com all over the sidewalks in the most populated areas of campus. Every time that we do this, we see our traffic stats rise; the effect is immediate and measurable.

Why does it work? If you ever go to a college campus, especially a campus with 50,000 students, you will notice the majority of the people are walking around with headphones on, looking at their feet. They are either mentally preparing for an exam, or they are wishing they didn’t have to go to class. Either way, they are looking down, and they are thinking.

We conducted a focus group last year, and asked the students how they heard about our website. The common answer was that it was written on the sidewalks in the oval (the center of campus). We asked them what made them go to the site because we knew that there was really no call to action. They replied that they went either out of curiosity, or because they asked one of their friends about it while walking, and they told them what it was.

Think about large companies, and if they did something like this on college campuses across the nation. For instance, if a new “jobs” website is launching, and they’re targeting the college demographic, they could pay two kids at schools across the country $20 a piece to go out and chalk. This could reach millions of educated Millennials about to enter the job market.

Obviously, this would not be a first for companies to market on campus. An article from the Boston Globe discusses companies like Microsoft, JetBlue, The Cartoon Network, and Victoria’s Secret using students to “pitch their peers”. The chalking approach is different in the fact that there are no personal sales, but if it is a buzz you are looking to create, the chalking will do the trick.

I’m going to do an experiment this spring. I am going to go out one night, and write my name on sidewalks all over campus. Thousands of people will go out and see “Dan Healy” and wonder who or what that is. Then I’ll go out to some bars that weekend and introduce myself to as many people as possible. I will keep track of how many people can swear that they know my name somehow, and how many random facebookings I receive. I’ll keep you updated.

Sunday night I had the privilege to attend a seminar by a leading keynote speaker who delivers insightful thoughts behind successful ways of advocating. His main point, “cater your speech to your audience,” was less than ground breaking until I talked to a friend afterwards who exclaimed that she “loved the speech, but didn’t think he got his point across.” That’s when I knew that he did.

Regardless of what anyone in attendance says, not one of us went there to be enlightened on how to correctly advocate for the security and definition of the state of Israel. We went for the same reason most college kids go to any grown up event; one, to say we went, and two, to understand something on a far more complex and deeper thought level then we are used to in our daily lives. And that’s just what I did.

You don’t always need to have a point.

Not a black and white point at least. With the main objective of delivering a speech on a topic to a specific audience, the speaker was able to maintain the attention of everyone in the room for over an hour, a feat rarely accomplished at lectures. He spoke to a college crowd, with an underlying theme of Israeli advocacy. I actually learned nothing about Israel, rather I learned about every flaw I have when I attempt to capture the attention and subsequent agreement of an audience when I’m speaking.

Know your audience.

In other words, don’t try and convince a republican to become a democrat using a democratic school of thought. Become an expert on both your own point of view, and the view of your opposition. Then approach your audience from whatever point of view they are coming from and rationalize why someone of that particular viewpoint should be interested in what the other side has to say.

Understand your opposition’s strengths, and suppress it.

There is nothing more damaging to the point you are trying to get across than attacking your opposition head on. If they are educated on their topic, and they probably will be, you must approach the situation in a way that neither puts them on the defensive or offensive side of the discussion. Ask guided questions that can be answered with as little amount of opinion as possible. In the case of a debate, instead of attacking the opposition, ask those on the same side as you how they feel about a specific facet of the conversation. This allows your point to take up more time and resonate deeper with the audience.

Ultimately, take the emotion out of the conversation.

At the end of the day, whenever you choose to be an advocate of a certain issue you are doing so because the issue has an emotional appeal to you. Portraying this emotion to someone of a different viewpoint will only turn them off to the discussion. Be definitive and assertive, yet remain sympathetic to the uncommitted ear. Remove as much emotion and opinion out of the equation as possible without sacrificing your sincerity and support of the issue.

Now pick a topic, enlighten the world, and make a difference!

Lately I have been struggling to cope with the idea of waiting. Partially a facet of reading The 4-hour work week by Timothy Ferris, and partially due to the fact that I should be graduating in the spring, (and I am not) playing the waiting game has become a daily struggle for me to accept.

Not wanting to wait is nothing new for me, having started working in a professional setting at the age of fourteen. But I find myself currently at a crossroads between my age finally catching up with my mentality, and wanting to make the next leap forward.

The more I read and talk to other millennials, the more I realize that I am not alone in this desire to get ahead, this absolute inability to accept the status quo. I consistently yearn to push the limits, both of what I know and what is expected of me by our elders.

Life has a funny way of playing itself out, and for me, the twists just keep on coming. Having already worked professionally for over a third of my life, my new desire is to enter the second part of post-collegiate life before I even complete the first step of graduating

What does this mean? Well, a few things. First and foremost I have already considered life after college, and have subsequently accepted the fact that marriage, kids, and settling down are in my near future. These are things I tell myself I want, and I don’t want to wait for. To me, having this feeling is a direct correlation to working professionally for as long as I have. It is also a consequence of the fact that I feel I relate to, and prefer talking with, people much older than myself.

Furthermore, it is a desire of mine to spend as much time caring for and raising a family as possible. When you narrow down the objectives of things you’re truly put on this planet to accomplish, participating in a loving relationship and producing offspring is definitely on that list.

Secondly, I find myself more interested in entering the second part of my life. In other words, I always wanted to enter the non-profit world and make a difference in the lives of those who cannot make the difference for themselves, but I wanted to do this only after making a small enough fortune that allows me this flexibility. Now I am less concerned with my fortunes prior to entering this choice of fields, and I am just eager and ready to begin making a difference.

Thirdly and most importantly is my desire to not put off happiness. This is truly a millennial train of thought, and something I have developed more since reading Timothy Ferris’ book. I cannot stand to say another time that I want to move to a warmer climate, or that I’m saving for retirement. If that’s what I want to do, well it’s time to stop talking and begin doing. I began to put this into motion by switching major’s midway through my senior year of college. I wasn’t happy with architecture, and I made a huge change at an inconvenient time, but at the end of the day I made this decision at a time that allowed me the ability to not regret not making this decision.

These are just a few things that I refuse to continue waiting for; things that I will direct my attention to accomplishing in the relative new future. What can’t you wait to do? And will you drop everything and do it?

I’ve had many mentors in my entire life. From the time I was in kindergarten, and looked up to my teacher, through all of my coaches in grade school and high school sports, and now today as my professors and advisors prepare me for graduation, there have always been individuals in my life that have helped me to learn and to grow. And what I have found through this is that there are three types of mentors that you need to be successful.

First there are the long-term mentors. These are people that you have known for your entire life, and who have continuously impacted you in all aspects. For me, these would be my parents. In all stages of my life they have given me the inspiration and knowledge I need to get through all of the challenges I have faced. They have been able to do this only because we have an open relationship that allows us to talk about mostly anything.

Next, there are short-term mentors. These people are there during short stages of your life, such as your elementary school principal, your high school football coach, or in my case, my History professor sophomore year of college. These are people you respect because of tough love, or because of things they teach you. I found that it is necessary to impact these people as much as they impact you. Look for life lessons out of your experiences with these people, and later in life, use what you learned to get through a tough situation. My history professor showed me that it is necessary to look at all of the background information to fully understand a situation. He taught me this through an unorthodox curriculum that focused on the not so newsworthy events of the time period.

Finally, there are your special mentors. These are the people you only reach out to in specific situations where you have no where else to turn, or if your predicament relates to something they are very familiar with. Special mentors are very tough to find, and some people have only one, but I think that it is important to have as many as possible. I have used networking and communication to find multiple people in multiple fields.

For example, in Columbus, there are people I have met that are involved in everything from advertising to Judaism. If I find myself in a marketing conflict, or if I need job advice, I will reach out to the people that have that knowledge. However, if I am struggling with something personal or spiritual then I will reach out to a rabbi. I make sure not to overdue the amount I ask these people, and I only contact them when necessary. I know that by limiting the advice I ask them, I will always receive their sincere and full attention, usually resulting in an answer to my problem.

Mentors are incredibly important in your life if you want to be successful. They need to be people you trust, and they need to trust you. Experience has shown me that reaching out to people you trust can help you to solve any problem you have. Just make sure that that you determine who is appropriate to ask, and when you should ask them. You will see that life’s many issues will be made easier with a little advice, and many different opinions.

Three and half years ago I made it to the campus of The Ohio State University, and more than anything else I was ready to “find myself.” I was not entirely sure what was meant by that, but everything the University had sent in my direction essentially read “Come find yourself,” and I was ready to do so.

What I essentially found out was the phrase “Trial and Error will bring you closer to where you want to be,” would have been a far more appropriate reading of the University’s main objective.

Once I understood the point, I freely joined organizations, switched majors, and increased my affiliations with people who fit into the network I was looking to create. Each new organization I joined, every new person I met, slowly but surely shaped the future I was creating for myself.

What I learned was priceless. Not only was I able to find myself while attending the largest university campus in North America, but I was able to take with me general guidelines that anyone can use to “find themselves” no matter where they go.

Don’t be convinced you need to commit to anything right away.

Take your time; experience everything the college, the community, the city, or wherever you are has to offer. Find what makes you happy, and then dive in. Committing yourself too early to something will just blind you from seeing things from a different point of view, or experiencing it in a different way.

Don’t get pigeonholed.

Leave yourself options to switch majors, switch jobs, or even switch social networks at any point. In other words, get involved with multiple organizations of varying backgrounds. The more people you meet the better chances you have of finding the right person or the right interest that will put you on a path to whatever it is you are looking to be.

Be open to everyone and everything.

Embrace diversity. Chances are you will have preconceptions about everything, from what to order to eat to who and who not to talk to. Do not make this mistake. Cross boundaries of race, religion, gender, and age as often as the chance presents itself.

Be happy and content with ones decisions.

There is nothing more disconcerting than going through life and not being happy. No matter what the situation is, there is always another way to make it better. Sticking to your true convictions will make this step a heck of a lot easier. Don’t let anyone tell you you can or can’t do whatever it is that you want to do. Just follow guideline two “don’t get pigeonholed,” and you will eventually find someone or something that, if not on the exact same page as you, is pretty darn close.

Practice the four principles above and you will be that much closer to having the ability and freedom to move anywhere, do anything, and become anyone that you want to be. Life will only be as rewarding as how true to yourself you are.

I always thought that sales consisted of finding clients, setting up meetings, and getting them to sign a contract that would eventually make me direct advertising money. It wasn’t until recently that I realized how much more sales can be, and how it can affect every aspect of your business and your life.

The personal sale is something I have always been an advocate of. Not necessarily from a patron aspect, but instead, from the marketing side. With my company, I have been lucky enough to have my target demographic all in one area, with the same interests. The design of my website was aimed specifically at my market, and my slogan, “for the students, by the students” was also an attempt to make a personal connection.

However, I am not alone in this market, we’re just one of hundreds of companies attempting to get a hold of the population of the largest university in the country. We had to come up with something unique in order to gain a loyal customer base. When we looked at what worked and what didn’t work we realized that a personal sale was the most effective form of advertising. I thought about the best way to approach this, and this is what I came up with:

Introducing myself to everyone. This includes randomly going up to people in popular hangouts, shaking their hands, and sharing my message with them.

Going into offices around campus. I tell the secretaries about how my friend and I want to give back to the university, so we started a website that would make their lives easier.

Speaking in classes. I get in front of classes of 700+ students, and tell them about our website, why we started it, and how it is for them to use, free of charge. This enabled me to give a personal sale to many people all at one time.

Sponsoring university functions. This includes everything from Homecoming Week, to dorm socials, and fundraisers.

These were all very successful for us, they were our most effective routes of advertising. It gave us the opportunity to get in front of thousands of people and spread our message.

Throughout all of this I realized that I was not only branding my company, but I was branding myself. When I go out now, people recognize me as the SloopyMenus.com guy, and tell me how cool it was that I spoke in front of their class. I go into the business school and say hello to at least half of the people I see, not because I have spent quality time with them, but instead because I have branded myself as the SloopyMenus guy.

This got me thinking, and what I realized was that personal sales are a way to brand yourself as whatever you want. If I had stood in front of classrooms, and talked about registering to vote, I would be known as the vote guy, or if I represented the Buckeye Barbeque Club, then I would be the BBQ guy.

I fell into this role without even knowing it, and every time I wore a shirt with my logo, or said hello to someone and told them about my website, that is how they thought of me. I need to remember this lesson in the future, because whenever I meet someone, or have a conversation, I need to assume that they will recall me, my face, and my name by whatever was in the context of the conversation.

When you meet someone at school, at work, or even in the bar, be aware of what you talk about, and take advantage of it, because that is how you will be remembered. And that’s personal branding.