Mastery Journal

“Let Go Of The Past” - Mastery

First of all, Internet Marketing Campaign Development class was one of the most important because it definitely helped you understand what you have to offer a client. Professor Murray was great! Every month of school went by fast, you had to make sure you dedicated time to each class or else you would definitely get behind. If you had a bad week you would probably need to talk to the Professor. I say this because I had a few tough weeks. A week ago, I actually got a little emotional while working on an assignment because I had to pull up an old video file from my usability class. My Mother’s voice was heard and I could not go on. Let me rewind a little bit before I proceed with the story….

This past year I decided to go back to school because of a new life strategy I began. Instead of focusing on my career in film producing/writing and editing, I decided to seek the knowledge that would teach me how to market and sell products on internet platforms. Robert Greene’s Mastery book is the best way to describe the reasons I made this decision. Greene mentioned that sometimes you have to “let go of the past” and use adaptation strategies to learn about another career in order to find your true mastery. The good part about learning a new business strategy is the fact that it can be applied to the knowledge I already have. 

Change, itself, has never been the worst thing that has happened to me. I say this because even through tragedy, you HAVE To find a way to adapt to life without the person you loved. This leads me to why I got emotional while listening to my Mother’s voice. I have had to adapt to change three times because my Brother and Father passed away when I was younger and more recently, (two months ago), my dear Mother passed away. It was a lot to deal with but what was even more challenging, was the fact that I was taking my last two grad school classes at Full Sail. If I didn’t use Greene’s advice, I would be stuck.   

Internet and Law!  Great subject to learn but for me, it was so hard to focus.  During this month’s class, I found myself distracted every week.  I tried to block the fact that my Mother’s funeral took place in the first week of class, but it was not easy.  Losing my Mom was the third and last immediate family member to pass away.  When I was a teenager, I lost my only sibling/brother and lost my Dad 10 years ago.  I had one semester left of high school when my brother died so I could only think about Robert Greene’s Return to your origins chapter in his Mastery book.  Like High School, I do not have a lot of days left before I graduate.  Although it was tough, I stuck in there and stayed in School regardless of how hard it was to focus. I enjoyed reading Return To your Origin (Greene, 2012 p. 31) with Coltrane, mainly because of learning that he used “his voice through powerful emotions” to successfully produce the music he is famous for.  I could really relate to that because I believe that when your art is more authentic, it is coming from your heart.  This is not art school but using that kind of inspiration helped me get through this class because since I am so passionate about getting this degree, it helped bring out the strength needed to read and write the work I had to produce.  My Mom wanted me to get this degree and that authenticity was what my heart knew as well.  It was tough but, returning to my origin, helped me understand what I needed to do to get through this class.    

This month we were learning about law provisions when it comes to the internet.  I found this class interesting because at times we subscribe to a website or app on social media without reading the privacy policy.  I know I never read them. After taking this class, not only do I want to get rid of the apps on my phone but now I am very cautious about how my personal information is used after you join a vendor’s website.  Is my information being used by marketing companies?  Sometimes we all notice a brand follow you to another internet platform, for instance, if you are looking shirt ad you saw on Facebook, why do I see the same brand pop up with deals when I visit a new website?  Your privacy is compromised so much and it is not against the law because you agreed to their privacy policy.  Well, maybe you didn’t, you just decided to click-through and did not read the policy because it is too long and you want to hurry up and just get on the website.  Most of these policies are asking for permission to monitor you or even share your information.  

What was great about this class, was the fact that we are made aware of how important it is to understand how your personal information is used.  

Overall, this class is very needed for digital marketers and I feel like going forward in my career, or just when I am visiting a website, I will use what I learned in this course.  I gotta say,  learning about jurisdiction was interesting as well. Since it is quite confusing to understand how you sue someone for posting a defamatory statement, understanding that there will not be a case if the victim’s audience Is not affected by the post.  For example, if you post something in Virginia about someone in Florida, there’s a chance there won’t be a case because the jurisdiction is not in the victim’s state.  The Jurisdiction is Virginia.  

‘’DIGITAL ANALYTICS AND OPTIMIZATION class was a useful learning experience that I will never forget.  “Google Analytics allows you to confidently answer questions that are crucial to the bottom line of your business.”(LMO, 2016)  

During this month of class, we were able to earn a Google Analytics certification.  One of the many things I learned from studying analytics was how to monitor and analyze all the details of each report we generate from a website.  If you see one market with impressive conversion rates, you have to compare the metrics from the market that is not doing as good.  Through thorough analysis, you can determine the reasons why it is not as impressive.  It was helpful to see that businesses, big or small, will still use Google Analytics to improve the strategies in their marketing campaigns.  I passed the google analytic exam with a 92 percent.  I now feel more comfortable about creating marketing campaigns for clients.    

This month was very challenging not just because of our course work, but because I lost someone very dear to my heart during the third week of class. My Mother, former Citigroup Vice President, Barbara Swain, passed away. As I write this post and even mention her, I feel pain, mainly because I can’t stop thinking about her last minutes on earth.  I sat in her hospital room for the majority of this class, even the night she died.  My Mom and I are the last people of my immediate family.  My father passed away in 2008.  

I can relate this month to Return to your Origin and Avoid false Paths chapters, of Mastery by Robert Greene(Greene, 2012 p. 37), mostly because when I was a senior in High School, I lost my brother.  Just like this month, it was tough to finish the semester and avoid false paths.  However, I did.  The only difference is age and maturity.  Back then, false paths were staring at me.  I stared back.  I am thankful to understand the bigger picture today.  Since I only have one more class left, I realized the bigger picture is to finish up school and try to stay as focused as I can.   

For the most part, having school to occupy my brain during this time has been very helpful because I really miss my family.  No matter what, for the rest of my life I will always remember this class.  Rest in Peace Mom.