Young, Broke, and Driven. A life in Marketing.
By: Ben Sklivas
Tags: Marketing, Storytelling, First Post, Life Lessons, Students

First time writer and longtime social advocate, I am taking to Medium. As a recent graduate of Saint Francis Xavier University. Yes, you heard that right, Canada’s #1 party school and the home of the infamous X-Ring. So here it is, another ambitious, driven marketing student reaching to medium as an outlet for his thoughts on the everyday subject matter.

Seeing as I’m a native to Montreal, Quebec options have always been endless for what I should or could be doing later in life (Thanks mom and dad!) Deciding to leverage my skills, and like many others, I got into Marketing. (I know shocking, right?)

Let’s be honest, I have never been the “academic type,” I grew up having to fight for acceptance from my friends seeing as I was the “Dumb, Illiterate, hyper, inattentive, DISTRACTED” one in the group. The number of times I have been told to pay attention, so that I may be able to comprehend what others were catching on to, are countless. There has always been a constant stirring or an impression that I was dealt the worst hand possible in life, at times I found myself crying to sleep, because “how could I not get those simple things.” Soon after I was labelled, like many others, with ADHA and Dyslexia (how lucky, am I?) but that never stopped me from following my dreams. I learned that after constantly beating myself up, that my “disability,” which everyone viewed as a limiter of my abilities, which became a source of antagonism- meaning bullying for countless of years, would become one of my greatest superpowers.

It was hard on me growing up knowing that I constantly had to try harder than everyone else, but I was though never to give up. I took every day as an opportunity and believed that I was who I was for a reason. You know the typical “You can be whatever you want to be son spiel.”

The day I got accepted and enrolled at St.FX as a business major, was the day my dream of proving everyone that though I could not make it to university start. My next series of adventures was to see if I could genuinely have what it takes to succeed.

The first year was hard, to say the least, I probably should have cut down on some of the partying. Let us be real here for a moment, who would not want to spend a year dressing up for Hawaiian night, or get decked out in Blue and Red for BurMac (This is for all you St. FX student out there.) Moreover, who can forget all those nights waiting endlessly at the Piper’s Pub’s entrance, which made the Wall of China look like a cake walk.

Now that I come to my final year, and THANK GOD, I find myself thinking back on all the good, the bad, and the ugly times that have come to pass over the last 4 years. Slowly shinning at my own speed, and loving/hating every inch of my own growth. Reminiscing with all the lucky few that I can call my friends. I look back and think of how much I have changed how much harder of a worker I have become in order to get where I need to be and grow my network of people I can depend on, going into the workforce.

The one key take away that should be put into words without seeming like a total space cake is that University (marketing in my personal experience) DOESN’T prepare you for finally getting into the workplace. (Thanks for not making me feel crazy Josh Gallant.)

I have been reaching out to business leaders, Media Managers, the list goes on, and they all tell me the same thing. GET YOUR STORY OUT THERE, so here I am talking about how useless most of the theoretical knowledge that I spent HOURS studying for in the dark, dimly lit library of ST.FX will be when I get to start working.

With all that being said, here I am, alive after all the countless gunshots I have taken from Professors, “The final will be a piece of cake you have nothing to worry about,” they said. With all the times I have had to hit the ground and start all over again. With all the times I have cried myself to sleep over the stress and anxiety. With all of that and more. I made it, I made it through as a stronger and better person, and with this new, shiny, gold X-Ring.

So do not, I’m going to repeat it, DO NOT GIVE UP. We might be different, but that does not make us any less ambitious, or less driven. I was told all of my life that I was stupid, not able to do anything with myself, and this is a PSA for all you that are in the same situation, if I can do it, so can you. We might have to work harder and longer, but just because the sun and the moon don’t shine at the same time, it does not mean that they are any less important.

Now that the world is my oyster, so to speak, can someone tell me what’s next? …