The Impact of a Bad Credit Score

Bad credit can prevent you from starting a business, from buying a car, or from buying (or renting) a home.  On the other hand, good credit gives you better rates, more borrowing capacity and more negotiating power, With discipline and awareness, one can easily start establishing good credit or repairing bad credit.

Recently, employers have been screening their candidates’ credit history. Not only is it getting harder to get access to debt with a bad credit score; today it even bars access to income. The realities of your bad credit score are:

1.     high interest rates

2.     creditors and lenders will not approve your application

3.     high insurance premiums

4.     difficulty starting a business (no matter how good your business plan or idea is)

5.     calls from creditors and collection agencies

Establishing good credit isn’t difficult and repairing bad credit isn’t impossible. Discipline and knowledge of how to build credit value are essential. Five components enumerate a credit score.   

1.     35% is payment history

2.     30% is based on a credit-utilization ratio which equates to

credit available ÷ debt

3.     15% is the length of credit history

4.     10% is the variety of credit accounts

5.     10% is the amount and frequency of credit inquiries

Everyone is allowed one free credit report per year. It’s important to first address any major events on the report that are public record like charge-offs and bankruptcies. In cases where a credit score is so bad that you stop getting approved for major credit cards, apply for a retail card or a card that requires a security deposit. If you’re waist deep in a bad credit score, the financially savvy thing to do is start repairing it immediately.

Business Department Waiver Paragraph

My major is Marketing. I chose this major because of my personal experiences in entrepreneurship. I'm continuing this major because of a pair of very successful internships. The contemporary marketing space, ranging from research to advertising, demands creativity. I think the skill sets I possess and the ones I'm learning along the way are versatile enough to stimulate my imagination and the enthusiasm of others. Entrepreneurial marketing is a field I not only want to be a part of but one that I intend to lead and innovate.

Diversity and Innovation

Austin, Texas is a majority-minority city. In other words, there is no demographic group that exists as a majority. And it's not a coincidence that Austin's urban sprawl has high concentrations of affluence. 

Houston, Texas has surpassed NYC as the most racially diverse city in the U.S. In the past few decades, 93% of its growth was non-white. And it's not a coincidence that H-Town is the world's 30th largest economy; its primary industry being energy.

Now look at this map of Detroit. Diverse. Segregated. Regressive. 

Detroit is racially diverse. Its layout makes a strong statement that diversity is dangerous. But a good idea should be dangerous.

In some organizations, diversity has lead to divisive effects. But I'd argue that a great deal of innovation is extracted from disagreements on dangerous ideas and the best ways to execute them.

KSAO's and Internships

I brainstormed the KSAO's of a career path I'd be interested in; starting from the top as an experienced Independent Consultant and working my way back to where I stand now as an intern.

Independent Consultant

Knowledge

A consultant who works on his or her own merit, without the marketing machine of a consulting firm like McKinsey & Co. has built a career out of a reputation. Their knowledge is in marketing it. 

Skills n Abilities

A consultant's client is dependent on their skills and abilities which have developed in response to their professional career path. Their professional career path has likely developed in response to their academic career path.

Other

1. 1. a command of language
   2. mastery of business cadence
   3. opportunistic

Interactive Producer

Knowledge

Interactive Producers initiate engagement with technology. They should be knowledgeable in the landscape of the Internet, buyer psychology, and obv pop culture. Most importantly, they should never lost their love for learning. 

Skills n Abilities

An interactive producer should wear a technical tool belt. To start, programming languages, command line interface, and some digital marketing will come in handy.

Other

1. 1. detail-oriented
   2. entrepreneur mentality
   3. fast learner

Intern

Knowledge

It's better if they know nothing or at least assume they know nothing.

Skills n Abilities

With some exceptions, interns are refining what they've learned in school. Skills are in a development stage and vary per discipline.

Other

An intern should have no systematic or consistent philosophy besides enthusiasm and effusive inquiry. They're the students of the workplace. But if they listen well, well enough to take risks and speak up at the right time, they stand to gain much more than they have to lose.