SH#$ Just Got Real..Real Life Horror Stories of an MBA

I realize that it's been a while since I've posted.

I blame work & the fact that we are now doing our capstone project. Awesome.

For the most part, my MBA experience has been hunky dory--lot's of rainbows and butterflies. I've worked hard, hand a couple of stumbles, but nothing that really freaked me out.

Thanks MBA for changing that for me.

So here's the background story. This semester, my group of 6 other individuals were given the opportunity to consult with a client. This was a real client that we would be doing real work for. At the beginning of the capstone, we had to delegate someone that would be a team lead. I hesitated because I've taken the lead on a lot of things--and wasn't sure how much time I would be able to dedicate to this project.

We had someone volunteer, and that's where things started going south. We will call him The Kid.*Note, my aim in this post is not to be rude or condescending, I am simply recounting the events from my point of view 

Now, we have an individual in the group who simply goes above and beyond in all aspects of our MBA program. This is a good and bad thing because that individual has made it easy for others in the group to be lazy--but that's beside the point (we will call him Enabler).

So The Kid had some unforeseen and unfortunate medical issues happen. He didn't see it coming. He stopped coming to class (because of medical issues). However, there were also some mistakes made along the way that just weren't in his favor--he sent a silly email (presumably on drugs), and then made the biggest mistake in the history of consulting: complained to the client. We were doing a lot of work that required us to leave work (since it was in the middle of the day), and it's been difficult for some people to arrange.

HOWEVER, 

Complaining is something you never do--especially to someone paying you. This garnered a lot of negative feelings, and everyone in the group literally cringed when he said it. All of these little mistakes like him not having enough time to devote to the group, and missing deadlines made all of us very grumpy. But we dealt with it. But, he was team lead, and was constantly scrutinized by the Professor of our class.

AND 

Just like that, The Kid was off our project, and he has to wait a whole 'nother year to graduate. The Professor told us that The Kid decided on his own free will to drop out {the story changes depending on who tells it. The Kid had to meet with the dean, the professor, and director of the MBA program--they had basically decided that he was going to be removed from the project before he even met with them.

YIKES

So here's my advice: work as hard as you can when it comes to anything MBA. You might be sent packing early--and no one wants that! Don't volunteer to work hard just in case you think something may be out of your scope of time. It's better to work a little less and not have to worry about responsibility.

#keepitreal

How to Write a Professional Letter to a Business {Template Included}

As of late, we've been busy, busy bees! 

We were contacting businesses, and doing focus groups--and life was good. But what about maintaining our professional image? 

We were in need of thank you letters. But professional thank you letters are a whole other beast...

Looking for a guide on writing professional business thank you letters? 
We've got it: 

1. Start with letterhead stationary. {makes you look more prof}
   
2. Use either a letter or memo format. {Google that shiz if you don't know what they are--we like these examples: Wiki, About. etc}
   
3. In the first paragraph, identify yourselves by group and by individual name, and give the date you met with them and thank them for their time and effort.
   
4. In the second paragraph, mention something specific about the meeting that was helpful (for example, thank the group that provided the lunch for the meeting).
   
5. In the third paragraph remind them how you will use the data from the meeting and explain how this will be helpful to your client. Mention any follow up that you plan on.
   
6. Sign off 

Easy peezy. 

Here's an example: 

*it's not on official letterhead just yet!