My name is Katherine, and I will be posting on Barry’s blog as a guest author while he is out of the country (and away from all communication devices).

I began working for Barry part-time a little over two years ago. I met him through my mother, whose business utilized Barry’s capabilities as a business consultant. He had mentioned that he needed someone to help him with organization, and I was recommended as one of the most organized people my mother knew.

Barry gave me a small assignment–to find contact names and email addresses for some organizations. He told me not to spend more than two hours on it.

"Sounds great," I smiled. Oh my God, I’m never going to be able to finish it and I’m going to be broke all summer, I thought.

I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but luckily my Google search skills were sharp from years of using search engines for school projects, and I was able to complete the assignment. I assured Barry I could do more of the same–there was no way that I was going to let this job go: I got to work out of my home, I could sleep until 10, and I could work in my pajamas. What more could a college student want?

Well, if said college student is a chemistry major working for a man who specializes in entrepreneurship, a little background in marketing or small business would be nice. I was soon to find out that while knowledge isn’t necessary to be successful–although I wouldn’t recommend attempting to do any sort of chemistry experiment without some paper research–it definitely helps to give a sense of confidence. This is probably one of the most important lessons I’ve learned while working with Barry–along with the fact that there is no substitute for experience.

Posted on Friday, June 23rd, 2006 at 9:45 am under Things I don't Know Where to Put and . Comment RSS 2.0 feed. Comment, or trackback.