Maddy Johnson

I love potato-related everything, real estate, and advertising.

[themadisonjohnson]

[hipster-and-thoughts]

[hipster-and-thoughts]

[stability]

[jpaddey]

[themadisonjohnson]

In My Spare Time

When I am not working...

So my best friend Morgan and I thought we would take a trip into Boston to try one of the oldest German restaurants in the city. By the end of the week, neither of us felt like doing the commute into Boston and opted for a closer German restaurant instead. Living in New Hampshire leaves you with limited options, but to our surprise, there was a place not more than twenty-five minutes from our house so we drove to Hooksett, NH. We were sketched out upon arrival by the restaurant being in a plaza we could not figure out how to access. The restaurant itself is called, 'Bavaria German Restaurant'. It was very traditional, with the music and the trinkets throughout, everything felt authentic, right down to the food. 

  I ordered a plate of different sausages with sauerkraut and a side of potato soup with vegetables and bacon. Morgan ordered a sort of meat cake with mashed potato salad and the same soup. I ate every sausage except one with a very strange consistency that just sort of melted into your mouth. I wasn't sure if that was supposed to happen. Later on, we order vanilla ice cream that had been stuffed inside this pancake crepe like thing and topped with fresh homemade whipped cream and drizzled chocolate sauce. It was very good (I'm hardly a sweets fan) and I recommend it. Unfortunately, the ice cream sort of poured out of the sides of the pancake but we ate it all just the same. It was a split effort. 

Later that week I presented an award at Dustin Park in my hometown on behalf of Pittsfield Listens. The woman in the photo standing in the gazebo is my mother. We did speeches, presented community awards, and I was asked to help in the decision-making process because I was a recipient of an award in 2014 so it helps to form a committee. All in all, it worked out, the rain stopped and people brought lots of food. It was not the same people being re-elected over and over again (for the most part) and people were happy to see one another. 

That is just a little bit of what my week looked like last week :)

[themadisonjohnson]

Exploring My Options (RANT)

Last week I was working in the marketing department and it gave me a lot of time to think about what I want out of life and how important it is to find something you love doing so that the waking up/ work-life thing isn't as hard. I love marketing, and the data aspect. However, I was working as a Guest Experience Manager (GEM) the other day in our Ford/Mazda store and overheard a guest of ours talking about getting her real estate license (something I plan to do in the near future) and so I sort of chimed in a started asking her questions. What program was she at? What were the classes like? Are you planning for this full-time? How is your teacher? She gave me her teacher's name and told me to pull up her website and filled me in. I'm not sure whether I would rather work in New Hampshire or Rhode Island but I am leaning towards Rhode Island seeing how it is where I live eight months out of the year. I have been obsessed with housing markets and the real estate industry since I was seven. It kind of ties into this lifestyle thing going on which when it explained makes me sound like a control freak. Basically, I've picked out our house, all vehicles, pets, names, as well as other people's vehicles and homes. Working for a car dealership this summer has exposed me to the world of sales and I pay close attention to our top performing salesmen and what it is that they do right. I will write a separate blog post about this. Right now I am just trying to learn and be exposed to as many things as possible and hope to master a couple. 

Update: I received a message on LinkedIn from an HR Recruiter for this finance firm in Massachusetts about a position as an Account Sales Manager and I just kind of thought about what that would be like. There is no way I could manage that with being full-time in school and it being in a  different state requiring I be there all the time, but I thanked them for considering me. Life isn't always going to be a straight and narrow path. There is no instruction manual to having the perfect career when nobody knows what they really want to do until they have gotten exposure to it. 

 Other things I have thought of pursuing include: A green energy start-up, stock market trading (I think I play Stock Wars too much), and talent management (A&R) for music. Yes, all very different. 

In other news: I tracked some of the campaigns that I had done and combed through the data analytics and saw we had people visiting the company site from Guayana, Puerto Rico and Bahrain the other day. I have no idea how such small social media campaigns reach people from such great lengths but when they do it always amazes me. When I leave for school I plan to still work for the car dealership and manage some projects for them online and work there on my breaks and some weekends off. I made up a list of things I am more than willing to do help out with when I am gone that do not require my physical presence. The meeting is this coming week and I just have to run the list by him. He is really great about making sure that everyone has what they need and are learning something by being there. 

I also tried out a career test on my school's website and it told me I ranked highest in enterprise/entrepreneurship and science. I highly recommend it. Don't knock everything else if you have not tried it. Stay open, stay humble!

P.S. You will see me back at Johnson & Wales University next week where I will be sharing what goes on throughout my week as a college student with and without my classes. Moving in on September 2nd!!!

:)

[themadisonjohnson]

Like RiRi Says: "Work, Work, Work, Work, Work, Work!"

On my way to work in the mornings I contemplate what my day will consist of, what kind of tone it will set for the next, among other things. I find myself spending a lot of time thinking of how I got to where I am and how I tell my story. So for the summer I applied to a local car dealership expecting to work in sales and got offered something much deeper than that. By the end of the interview, I was being told that this company would do everything in their power to try and find me a place to help out with marketing and sales work. I had not yet realized that Grappone Automotive Group gave me an incredible opportunity and this summer has challenged my professional growth and given me skills that I may not have learned elsewhere doing the traditional retail or ice cream scooping summer position. 

Since then, I have been shadowing in various departments and filling in where I am needed. I spent time working on spreadsheets and sorting through information for a local health center as a pitch in hopes that they send their business our way versus the dealership down the road from them by helping them further their green initiatives. After that I went through negotiation free sales training, working in the Guest Experience Center (GEC), and then as a Guest Experience Manager (GEM) at the Ford/Mazda Dealership, and I am currently working in the marketing department alongside our digital marketing guy, Josh. Yesterday I worked on Facebook ad campaigns for Ford and Mazda and then started ended the day with writing a blog post about Mustangs on behalf of the company blog (very cool stuff, even for a Camaro fan). I'm not quite sure what I am doing next week, but I know it involves helping the marketing department, so I am happy as a clam. 

[themadisonjohnson]

BACK TO PROVIDENCE

Fall is right around the corner which for most students means one thing: BACK TO SCHOOL! I have already planned out what the year will look like, what classes I will take (as many marketing and advertising ones as I can) and lastly, what clubs and activities I will continue with. I also plan to explore the city more, try out new restaurants (who can resist Federal Hill's Italian?), visit new museums and local events, and share my work as well as photos of my experiences with you guys. I will try to update this with as much new content as I can, when I can, and hope that this becomes more than just a useless blog. 

[themadisonjohnson]

He's so sexy

[coral]

[themadisonjohnson]

Obligatory latte insta (at Small Point Café)

[riding-the-wavez]

[themadisonjohnson]

Honey, I'm home! (Providence, RI)

[jaclynpaige]

[peachyeezz]

[themadisonjohnson]

My day one role model 

[worlddelevingne]