In my junior year of high school, my family relocated to Illinois as my dad helped start a new business Elkhorn Investments. Since moving to Illinois, my relationship with my dad has grown and he has become a mentor to me. Since my dad's office is in downtown Wheaton, I have the privilege to meet with him close to once every two weeks.
My dad has been able help me in many aspects in life such as school, business, my relationship with Christ, and so on. My dad has also been able to connect me with people in his office to teach me about the different aspects of his business. One of the things that I have been able to do with my dad is be vulnerable. When I moved to Illinois, the transition was hard and strengthened my relationship with my dad. My dad is able to help me navigate through different decisions in college and help encourage me as well. My dad has shared some of his difficult experiences he has faced in life to help guide and prepare me for life.
From a business standpoint, my dad has encouraged me to get involved with different clubs and organizations that relate to business. He has also encouraged me to reach out to different business leaders in the area. Through getting involved with student government and work in the OCO, I have been able to identify some new interest as well my strengths. Last time I met with my dad, he encouraged me to connect with one of his friends who works in finance. I reached out this guy and got breakfast with him and was able to get good investment advice as well as advice on how to build a good resume. I have also reached out to different businessmen in the area who have helped give me life advice and helped connect me with other people. One of the main things I have learned from my dad is networking.
Last, my dad also likes to talk sports with me every time we meet. Sports is something we connect and bond over. My dad and I love Chicago sports and try to go to a game together every once and awhile. While it is nice to get advice from my dad and have a mentor relationship with him, it is also nice to be able to talk sports and connect in that way. In our last meeting, we ended up talking about the "one and done" era of college basketball and how that effects the business and brand of both college and NBA basketball. We also discussed the topic of should college athletes be paid. Both of those topics relate to business in a variety of ways and are super interesting.
Phil,
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you have a connection like your Father to help teach you the ropes of the business world is awesome. Im sure you'll be blessed with the opportunity to meet and network with many important people and what an opportunity that is. College athletes should be paid. We are all broke boys and we need that mula.
Mason
Phil,
ReplyDeleteGlad that you have such a strong relationship with your dad. Having a dad who encourages you in all aspects of life is so important. Continue to use your dad to connect you to the business world. God has a plan for you.
College athletes being paid.... interesting topic lately. Would love to hear what you think about it. Thank you Phil.
Caleb
Phil,
ReplyDeleteI'm happy that you have such a great relationship with your dad. You two can have both the serious talks about business and economics, but also can have less serious talks about sports. You two have even found a way to mix the two. That is just amazing. I would encourage you to continue this relationship and keep networking. This will be beneficial in the future.
-Kobe