responsibility

June has been a month with many meetings and travel.  I’ve been to Saigon twice already, a third time next week and spent this last week in Laos looking after our properties there.

The meeting I attended today, gave me a huge boost in confidence and really helped me fall in love with my job, all over again.

I was called into headquarters in Saigon to discuss our online marketing efforts for our hospitality group.  To say that we are ‘average at best’ is an exaggeration, even.  We have outdated websites and no strategic plan in place to drive traffic to our hotels.  This is a project I am excited about and eager to be successful.

Since my office is at the Press Club, where two of my sales and marketing teams sit, I spend A LOT of my day on managerial issues and frankly, correcting English.  On site, I am the only native English speaker, and so I am constantly being asked to proof documents.  Heck, even one of our business partners, who should be providing us perfect copy, asked me to proof their marketing materials (that’s an entirely different issue for another day).  The press release sent out at the time of my arrival completely glossed over my five years as a teacher in Japan.  Yet I find that that entire experience comes into play more often than my years in marketing, alumni relations and hospitality.  In many ways, I am a teacher and mentor to our Vietnamese and Laos staff members.

In addition to this unwritten bullet point in the job description, I love the variety of challenges my job presents, such as balancing the day-to-day stuff versus the big picture projects.  I’m learning new things every day, I am kept well on my toes, and I see a great and long future with this company and in this type of position with other hotel groups in my far-away future.  I have a very long TO DO list, I still need to find the time to get organized, still need to balance out the personal life, but it’s all good.

In a nutshell, I think I’ve found my gig and I’m digging it.

On the Bright Side,

Shanna

This is a brain map!

If all goes well and all gets approved, these scribbles will turn into a new online sales & marketing department with me as a team leader!