Since 1997, LatPro has become the worldwide leader in providing online employment resources for Hispanic and bilingual professionals. With 95 of the Fortune 100 companies using its service, LatPro is the largest diversity employment site in the U.S. and the most complete personal career advancement service for Latino and bilingual professionals.I am currently the Marketing Director at a midsized Real Estate company in Hawaii. I have been working in this field for a little over three years now.
I produce and develop all the online content and make sure that the company stays streamlined and stays relevant through Social Media and other outlets. I take care of all the online listings, am responsible for how the agents run their ads, and how they perform their duties as Real Estate Agents. The main misunderstanding that people have about this type of work is that they think it isn’t necessary to be relevant through Social Media and the Internet. This isn’t true, as being and staying socially relevant online is what drives business to you in today’s society.
Right now I am hovering around a 7, sometimes an 8, with my job satisfaction because things could always be better. They are getting there, but some stuff still needs to be tightened up and streamlined better. I think more freedom to implement some of my new ideas would get me more enthusiastic about the daily work. The Marketing Director job is actually something that I do really enjoy. My favorite part is developing the website related material and other online content. This is my passion, and it seems as though I am able to do more and more of it.
I actually started working as a freelance writer, which I still do a lot of. However, I caught the Website Marketing and Social Media bug and am actually self-taught in this field. I got started a few years ago when I began to dip into website creation and blogging. It really caught my attention so I started self-teaching. If I had it to do over, I would have majored in Marketing or Business Communications in college. As it stands now, I actually have a degree in Psychology. There have been several hard learned lessons on the job. I will say this; always speak with confidence, even if you are unsure of the subject matter at hand. I was more of a trail and error person, and I still am, so that’s how I deal with things, but it is different for every person.
The strangest thing that has happened to me while working in this position is that I actually built an online template that was not at all what I thought it would be. I guess that is not too strange though, just more of a waste of time. I guess an agent coming up to me and asking me to separate their profile from everyone else’s because they thought they were better than the other agents was a little unusual, and I hope not to have to deal with a client like that again.
I get up and head to work everyday because I enjoy the people I work with and I enjoy seeing the things I have built implemented into the routine and working as they should. Results are always fun to see, and computer marketing results can happen very quickly, so sometimes I don’t have to wait too long to see something I have created become successful which is such a rewarding feeling.
The main challenges come from outside vendors who think they know what I should be doing better than I do. There is always someone wanting to get his or her two cents in. This can be tough at times, so you just have to roll with the punches and be confident in your own abilities and skill set.
Stress level with my job goes up and down. It really depends on what part of the year we are in and how many listings we are holding at once. For the most part, I am able to maintain a healthy work/life balance. However, I am still getting complaints from my wife, so maybe I should cut back a little more.
Usually the salary for what I do would be in the $75,000 - $100,000 range, depending on the company and how big they are. I actually make less than that, but I also own a content writing business, so all in all I do okay. I am able to eat and pay bills, which is more than a lot of others can say, right?
I have a little advice to give to those wanting to enter the computer marketing industry: Though I was self-taught, I happened to put together a very nice portfolio doing freelance jobs before I got this job. I would honestly say that if you are able to put something nice together and are good at what you do, then you may not even need a degree. However, a degree in business, communication, computer coding or graphic design would not hurt. Make sure you are prepared to work a lot with others trying to tell you they know better.
Five years from now I would like to have a very successful website design and content writing firm. I have the portfolio for it, I just need to find the time to build it up.
