Fulfillment

For the first time since I was a computer consultant in my twenties, I absolutely love my job and love what I am doing. There were times between when I thought I loved my job and got satisfaction out of it. Those times pale in comparison to now. 

I do admissions and marketing for a private school. This is a stretch because I studied computers, not marketing. To think, I cried the entire drive in to interview for this job. Well, technically, it started as marketing and events but morphed into admissions and marketing. This has been one of the hardest jobs I've ever done. I've felt more fear and insecurity doing what I do. 

But I also feel successful at what I do. The year before I got there, enrollment was about 96 in K through 8th. When I got there, enrollment was about 106 students in PK to 8th. The next year it was 145. This year, we are at 189. This is a recession and we charge tuition. Private schools are closing all over the city. We are blessed.

There is a challenge to my job that is heightened because we are located in the heart of the downtown core. Marketing is a unique beast because of our location. It's not like we have a 50 acre front lawn we can park a school bus on with a sign that says "Now Enrolling" and call it a day. Interestingly enough, we don't have a school bus. One of the reasons we don't have school buses is because of the cost we would incur to re-paint them several times a year after they are tagged in our parking lot. Not an expense many schools in the burbs have to factor in. LoL!

Want to know what actually works...? Posting fliers with tearaways in local coffee shops, restaurants, and dry cleaners. Want to know what had a crazy great affect? We put 2 ft tall letters with our school name.org in windows at the front of our building (on a busy city street). It put us on the map in the neighborhood. Our best marketing tool of all time though is word of mouth. 

We used to have parent volunteers give potential parents tours. That job has fallen on my shoulders. I LOVE it!!! I get to meet everyone and tell them how unique our school is. We believe that having one or two knowledgeable people doing the tours has helped to provide a consistent message and to give prospective parents the information they need to make an informed decision.

I look forward to going to work every day!