How The Blog started

Educational Autobiography

Every great journey begins with a story. Mine is no different.

But first let me introduce myself my name is Dominique Delong and I am a millennial that grew up like a gen Xer, who is currently pursuing her Bachelors in Marketing with a concentration in Digital Marketing. Though I currently do not have a 9 to 5, I am currently an Entrepreneur, going after my Goals of being a Business Owner!

My earliest educational memories were not made during my time spent in the Educational Institutions (School). They were in fact made at home with my Family. My Parents had many hobbies and worked very hard at their careers and prioritized family. My father is a Mechanic and my mother was an Infant Teacher for many decades, but recently became an Electrician. Their hobbies consisted of Junking (scrap metaling), and Family Time (morning music, movies, shows like American Pickers, and the History channel, traveling, cook outs, weekends and game nights at grandparents).

My parents taught me early on at the age of six that the only way to get anywhere in life is through hard work. They taught me Hard work meant physical labor to the point where you push past your breaking point and kept going. Though at some point they introduced smarter not harder, this included thinking outside the box and taking charge of decisions that are important or critical to the task.  This concept was taught through manual labor most of the time and when over seeing my older siblings completing a task. I have a distinct memory at that age watching my brothers put 2×4’s in the bed of a truck, one of my brothers got sick of walking them over and he got this look like in his eyes like he’s going to throw a 2×4, I remember telling him not to throw it because our dad was worried the back window would get broken. Of course, he didn’t listen to me and threw it anyway and broke the window. Then I took charge telling father about the mistake because now everything had to be removed and glass needed to be cleaned. I remember my brother being scolded about making bad choices and being told to clean his mess alone. I saw how my brothers decision made him do twice as much work because he wanted a quick fix to a demanding task.

Weekends at my grandparents, where I played lots of card and dice games, were also crucial learning experiences outside of EIs. These card games is where I learned counting, multiplication, and strategy. Not only strategy for dominoes or Yahtzee, but playing Yu-Gi-oh, or Pokémon with my uncle and friends. The card games taught me to consider planning and thinking ahead before even starting the game because building the deck prior was crucial to beating an opponent. Deck stacking meant the difference between winning and losing. This taught me, in life it is crucial to understand that a plan is necessary and even if you stack the deck it doesn’t mean you will win or everything will go your way.

In my early years in the EI, I quickly learned the only place I really shined or felt like myself was in art class. Everything else felt daunting and was built on high expectations for testing and Individualized group activities like classroom reading time, where everyone read different books for an hour once every day. In art class I loved learning how to draw buildings using the point perspective, and color theory. The creativity, structure, and relaxed nature, made me feel free and open. My six-grade art teacher had the class tackle a project where each student had to pic a picture of a building from our town and draw it from the perspective of the image so it could fit on the portable calendar mural. We only had a few weeks to complete the drawing so we could draw it on the mural and then paint it. The teacher facilitated conversation between the students about the steps that needed to be taken to accomplish the project. This taught me that everyone has something to contribute and communication is key! Just because everyone is working independently doesn’t mean that we are not all working towards the same goal.

Moving onto middle school (seventh grade), I started to explore more creativity with art and music. I tried starting a band. My best friend and I started practicing singing and guitar playing, which we weren’t to bad at, but decided we wanted others to join us. In art class we had just got done making posters and discussing strategy in placement and visuals like boldness, white space, foreground, middle ground, background, Different sentences or segments of information to be displayed in different formats like size, italics, etc. along with a call to action. This helped us figure out how to design our posters to get other students to attend an audition for two parts, a singer and drummer. We wrote songs together and rehearsed, It was lots of fun. I figured out I was good at being a leader, making decisions, and scheduling. This adventure only lasted for a few months as other responsibilities took a hold of my life.

In High School I tried my hand at many different free elective classes like Band, Clay, Journalism, Childcare, and Shop which was called survey of technology. In Survey of technology, I engaged in woodworking, smelting, welding, and two stroke engines. Though I did not pass all of these classes due to standardized tests, I was very skilled at all of these trades. My junior year was my last in this school. A few core classes during my junior year that got me motivated in business and marketing were Economics & Government (E&G). I had the same teacher for both E&G which allowed me to get a different perspective because she always made connections between these classes. Primarily for Economics, this teacher had the students choose a business, and budget our product, equipment, building, etc. I had to produce a full business plan with a physical product to present to the class. I had to choose something affordable and fun, so I chose a Bakery. I didn’t get the chance to present my project but the class enjoyed the cake I put the school mascot on. Using frosting I decorated the cake with a Panther face holding a diploma. In my report I had given examples about the difference between renting and owning the building and equipment, along with depreciation, town and state laws and regulations.

After that I was motivated to take the opportunity to get a certificate as an Automotive Service technician while finishing my initial education (High school diploma) at a second high school. The class that helped me get my diploma was criminology which I loved. When I finished my diploma in March of 2015, I didn’t want to spend more time away from my family. When I was in my six-month review meeting, I was told six more months and I would be able to start physical training with cars instead of the online training I had been completing. Then I would have to spend another 1.5 years getting my certificate. Though I knew how to do everything and I passed the online tests with flying colors, I felt it was taking too long to achieve this goal. I decided I no longer wanted this certificate as being an Automotive Service Technician was no longer in my future. I tried to leave for my birthday except the coordinators tried telling me I couldn’t leave until I completed the program. I told them I was there under free will and was going to leave. They tried convincing me to try other programs and that there were no waiting lists on other programs. Later that day I called my mom filled her in on what was going on and ask her to pay for bus tickets. Afterwards, she called the coordinators and they allowed me to leave when the next available bus was heading out.

After living at my parents and working for six months. I was unable to get an apartment anywhere. During that time I received a phone call from a college saying that I could go to the college they mentioned and get a degree in any of their programs. I jumped at the opportunity without a second thought taking remote courses full time using a free tablet they provided. I started working hard on the business degree program they offered. I had some struggles and I couldn’t keep up with the work due to moving and internet connection issues. I ended up moving in with my brother for a short stint and then with my future in-laws. Then I picked it back up and straightened out my grades but I still had lost my FASFA coverage and the school charged me. I dropped out because I couldn’t pay out of pocket to continue. I looked into potentially transferring credits to a new college but I decided that was not best at the time as I was not in a stable place. I had received a call from my mom with a job offer and took it. I moved back to the coast two hours away from my Fiancé. I worked this full-time job while my fiancé made plans to join me at my parents. After about two years I had also picked up a part-time job on the side to bring in extra income. During this time, I found out that my old college was under investigation for financial fraud, I was shook.

I had that job for almost three years and my Fiance and I were in a great place, so I decided to quit my full-time job because we wanted more time to transition our lives to a new chapter. But not more than two months later my fiancé and I had some devastating struggles setting us back in life. This new chapter included things we never thought we would go through especially during the start of Covid. These struggles included our home burning down, and me, a few months later, almost dying of kidney and liver failure in the hospital. After leaving the hospital, I was still processing our loss. I had fallen into a deep slump, of which my Fiancé put his energy towards for several months pulling me out. He helped me shift my focus and we made a game plan for us to advance ourselves in life and we didn’t want to go through anything like that again.

I took a step in the right direction to advance my knowledge and career. I decided to transfer my credits from the old college to a new college, which I vetted and had looked into several times since thinking about going back to college. I started my new college journey in 2022 at Southern New Hampshire University until November of 2024 when I Graduated with my Associates in Business Marketing with an impressive GPA of 3.89. During this degree is when I started my blog as a demand from the curriculum but slowly became a large part of what I do in my spare time. I learned many things during my education for my associates which includes understanding my Leadership style, creating Investor Reports, Business Branding, how to Merge business Industries, Applies Statistics, Social Media Marketing for Media Campaign & Strategy, Apply Microeconomics, Business Law specifically Contract & Tort, and many tools like SWOT, KPIS, SMART Goals, and The C.R.A.A.P. Test.

I continued my academic journey into my Bachelors of which I am currently trying to complete. Thus far, I have learned about Digital Marketing of an ecommerce business, Professional Selling over the phone or email using SPIN Selling and Buyer profiles, Target Market and the 4 Ps, Marketing Tools, Mobile Marketing Strategies, the qualifications for a B Corporation Certification, the TBL and Wellness as it pertains to the wellbeing of owners, employees and partnerships.

While I work towards my personal Goal of acquiring my Bachelors in Marketing with a concentration in Digital Marketing, I plan to also achieve my business goals of selling online templates to Sole-Proprietorships, starter companies, and fellow Entrepreneur.

I have always been driven to learn a wide range of skills to become a master of many instead of a jack of all trades.

Established in 2020, I embarked on a mission to provide high-quality information, insights, and perspectives in Business, Health and Science. My vision is to stand as the foremost provider of strategic solutions, consistently delivering exceptional information. Whether you’re starting a new Business venture, or poised for expansion. My commitment is to collaborate Business, Health and Science to help propel you towards your Business goals.