I’ve Accepted A Spot On The Rutgers University CX Advisory Board

I never saw this coming…

Especially now.

I’m still at what I consider the beginning stages of my career.  And I feel I haven’t begun to even scratch the surface of what not only my true potential is but also the number of people I can help with this blog, my book, and my products and services.

So when I first saw the email I thought it was a hoax…

Last week I received an email from a Rutgers University program director saying that I’d been personally invited to apply to become a member of the Rutgers University Customer Experience – or CX – Advisory Board.

I wish I was videoing the reaction on my face because it probably looked something like this…

Why?

I don’t have a university education in marketing.  And I don’t have any kind of formal university education in any form or fashion due to severe health issues in the past.

Hell… I’ve never even stepped on a university campus for anything other than football games and friends and family’s graduations so the thought of me on a prestigious universities advisory board took me by complete shock.

This is why I thought this email was a hoax when I first opened it… I’m glad I took another look though.

After doing a bit more research from the materials in this email I found that the advisory board focuses on:

Become inspired at the Customer Experience Certificate Program at Rutgers. Learn to understand customer’s experiences, develop deep insights, and integrate innovative methodology throughout your organization. Immerse yourself in a program designed by professionals, for professionals. Classes are fast-paced, interactive and provide practical skills and tools you can take back to your workplace and apply immediately.

Essentially, the advisory board crafts material to help students learn about marketing, digital marketing, sales funnels, the sales process, marketing processes, and entrepreneurship.

This is where my eyes began to perk up…

With my curiosity piqued, I emailed the program coordinator back to schedule a call with her.

She scheduled our meeting for 30 minutes but it ended up lasting more than an hour and it was amazing.

At the end of the call, she said: “You’re exactly who we’re looking for on this board and it’s a no-brainer for me to highly recommend you for this position.  And given that one of the program directors personally recommended you I’d like to ask if you’d accept this appointment when and if given?”

More brief confusion and then I, of course, said yes I’d be honored to serve on the board.

I’ll get back to this brief confusion in a bit.

A couple of days later I got the email pictured below from the director of the program.

The places with the sticky notes are to block out personal names, phone numbers, and addresses of members of the board.

But now let’s get back to this new brief confusion…

To my knowledge, I’ve never talked with or met the director who personally recommended me which is where the confusion came from.

Since the person who recommended me wasn’t on the call I didn’t ask how he knew about me but I’m assuming he found me by something I’ve written or posted about value investing.

Even though this is a great honor that I’m incredibly proud of I’m not writing this to toot my horn.

I’m telling you all this because I want to get this massive point across to you…

You never know where your opportunities may come from.  And never sell yourself short.

If others see value in what you can offer, take the chance… You never know where life-changing opportunities will come from or where they can take you.

Put yourself out there, take chances, fail a lot, learn a lot, improve a lot, bring as much value as you can to everyone you interact with, and you never know where events may take you…

Maybe to the board of a prestigious university to sit alongside people who have generated billions of dollars of revenue where you’ll have the chance to change lives.

I’m excited and honored to see what this opportunity leads to.

The first board meeting is in mid-January 2018 and I’ll keep you updated on all of this.

Oh and don’t worry, I’ll still be posting and teaching more here.  As of now, the appointment to the board will only take up a small amount of my time.

P.S.  If you want to know more about how anything is possible if you work hard enough and have the right mindset read my post titled You Can Do Anything You Put Your Mind To.