UIC MBA Chicago Entrepreneur Blog Past, present, and future plans in the life of an entrepreneur and former Chicago UIC MBA student.

Published by Jay on August 16, 2008 01:01 am

Thanks to everyone who left comments and wrote e-mails. It’s nice to see that people with similar interest appreciate what I write. In return, I would like to teach you some money saving tips. Here goes:

• Charge everything! I carry three credit cards in my wallet.

-Chase Gas Reward Card: (My card isn’t open to new customers anymore but it’s 5% cashback on gas. You can research card online and find one that gives 5% on gas.)

-HSBC 2% Reward Card (I use this to charge everything else. 2% BACK ON EVERYTHING. I charge all utilities, online purchases, etc…It all adds up. Below is the referral free link)

http://www.householdbank.com/

-American Express Card (I only use these for places that don’t accept VISA/MC, such as Costco)

• Buy textbooks from Half.com or Abebooks.com Abebooks.com is amazing. Some of the textbooks they sell are not original versions but they are full color copies that sell for half the price. Usually textbooks run around $100. I buy the generic version for $50 on abebooks.com and sell them for $25 after I finish the class. The end cost is about $25-$50 for a book I’ll never read again anyways. <!–more–>

• Use StudentUniverse.com to book airline tickets. You usually save $10-$20 off the same tickets from Orbitz or Expedia. Another option is to use Orbitz to look up flights and then go to the airline’s website direct and save about $10 off booking through the airline.

• Craigslist.org or ebay.com for buying and selling misc purchases. Many times, people will tell themselves that they cannot afford a product. The correct way of approaching this is, “HOW can I afford this product?” I recently sold my two year old laptop for $450 through craigslist and purchased a brand new, higher spec laptop for $500. Better specs and new warranty with just a few hours of work.

• Purchase items through Amazon.com. Free shipping on orders over $25 and it’s tax free. In Chicago, they’re raising the sales tax to 11.5%. If I’m not in a hurry to get a product, that’s 11.5% percent I save automatically on top of their low prices.

• Slickdeals.net is a site I frequent daily. There are new deals everyday and you’ll be able to purchase some items for amazing prices. Warning: (I am guilty of purchasing misc items through this website just because the prices were so low.) Don’t let this happen to you! Buy only what you need!

I hope you guys use some of these money saving tips. I can honestly say that they save me thousands of dollars a year. Best of luck!

Posted under UIC MBA Liautaud

Published by Jay on July 15, 2008 08:58 am

The other day, I was having a conversation with my friend in which he stated: I feel like I’m not becoming the man that I want to be. That comment led me to consider my own situation. First of all, I should NEVER become that man I have always envisioned because I should always try to achieve more and become even better. The idea of that “perfect man” should evolve with my life and there should never be a set ideal. Second of all, what life is worth living once you have achieve perfection? No one will ever achieve perfection and no one should ever stop trying to be a better person.

Am I even on the right path to becoming this man? I honestly don’t know. I feel like I’m heading in the right direction but I’m getting too comfortable. I have the comfort of loving family/friends, not worrying about where my next meal comes from, a roof over my head, and the ability to choose what I want to do. I often think to myself, is having this kind of comfort so wrong? Part of me does think so. Here’s one of my favorite stories:

The MBA and the Mexican Fisherman
An American businessman was at a pier in a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow-fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied only a little while.

The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked the Mexican how he spent the rest of his time.

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor.”

The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and, with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution.

“You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But senor, how long will this all take?”

The American replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then, senor?” asked the Mexican.

The American laughed, and said, “That’s the best part! When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public. You’ll become very rich, you would make millions!”

“Millions, senor?” replied the Mexican. “Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

So where am I trying to go with this post? Part of me believes that the fisherman can follow through with the MBA suggestion and become rich. In the process, he’ll be employing many people, helping the economy, and with his new riches he can help the less fortunate. Another part of believes that he is happy doing what he wants and he should continue life as is. Fortunately for me, it’s not my decision. At the end of the day, you’re the only person who can make that decision.

Posted under Entrepreneur

Published by Jay on July 9, 2008 09:23 am

Many of you guys have visited my site wondering which MBA school is better. It really depends on your circumstance and which school you will feel more comfortable in. I’m partial to UIC because of the reasons I listed on my previous post and because that’s where I attended my undergrad.

I ended up taking three classes at Depaul MBA and realized that I didn’t like two of them. If any of you decide to pursue Depaul, I HIGHLY recommend MGT 500 with Dr. Christopher Barlow. It was, by far, one of the best classes I have ever taken. I’m pretty sure everyone received A’s but that’s not the reason you should be taking this class. There was a lot of group work and interaction with everyone else in the class. By the end of the trimester, everyone was pretty well acquainted. Dr. Barlow also used real world situations and class participation in his lessons.

Back to the subject at hand. Many other people have been curious about the graduate assistantship program at UIC. I will go in depth about what this program is and where you can find it. There are three types of GA positions: GA (Administrative - that’s me), Grad Research Assistant, and Grad Teaching Assistant. I work 20 hours per week which is considered a 50% appointment, Mon-Fri, 1pm-5pm, so come visit me at BioEngineering. As long as you’re between 25%-66% appointment, UIC will waive your Graduate Base Rate (you still have to pay the differential rate which come out to a little over $4000 a semester for me plus some other fees.)

Link to Fall 08/Spring 09 Tuition Rates

Where to find positions: (Advice from Diana, fellow MBA student)

There are 3 places you will find positions posted. Two of them are
secured sites where you will be required to enter a NetID and password.
They are the Liautaud Loop/Blackboard (blackboard.uic.edu) and the CBA
employment system. The site you can access without an ID is the UIC
Announcement Board at (http://tigger.uic.edu/announce/index.cgi/bytype)
Look under “position available” for any openings. The last option will
most likely be your best bet. I don’t suspect that there will be many
posted until closer to the end of the summer session. At that time, they
will have revamped budgets and begin posting availabilities for the fall
session.

I took her advice and applied for a position through the Announcement Board. Check often though, as it always changes and positions do go fast! Remember to write a cover letter explaining how your experiences will match their needs and also follow up! This last link will give you an idea of the kind of salary you will receive through this assistantship (remember, it varies by departments!)

Link to Graduate Assistantship Info

This position works well for me since I am able to work on other projects during the morning. I work from 1pm-5pm at my department and then class usually starts at 6pm. The atmosphere is relaxed and there is interaction with professors and students alike. I hope this post has helped you. If you have any further questions, feel free to e-mail me jayplin@gmail.com

Posted under UIC MBA Liautaud

Published by Jay on June 11, 2008 11:07 pm

Recently, I’ve decided to leave Depaul Kellstadt MBA program (ranked 6th on US New & World Report part-time MBA) and transfer over to University of Illinois UIC Liautaud MBA program (ranked 24th out of 300 US News & Report part-time MBA). I firmly believe that I’m one of only a handful of students that have ever done this. In addition, Crain’s Chicago (Chicago top authority in business news) recently ranked Depaul 3rd in Chicago and UIC 6th in Chicago.
Now why would I want to leave Depaul MBA (ranked 6th) which has a massive alumni network in Chicago and transfer over to UIC (ranked 24th) with a much smaller alumni network? Sit down, sit down.. let me explain my madness.

1. I was paying out of pocket for my MBA with which Depaul cost around $50k for the whole program while UIC MBA cost around $36K if finished within two years.
2. UIC offers Graduate Assistant Position in which you’re paid a monthly stipend and basically half your tuition is waived (will go into more detail about this on next post)
3. I wanted to go back for my MBA to actually learn and apply the principles to businesses. In which case:

Depaul VS UIC

Case study: 11 % Case study: 31 %

Distance Learning: 5 % Distance Learning: 9 %

Experiential Learning: 10 % Experiential Learning: 4 %

Lecture: 50 % Lecture: 20 %

Simulations: 3 % Simulations: 6 %

Team Project: 11 % Team Project: 30 %

Other: 10 %

1. This was a HUGE deciding factor for me. Almost 30% less lectures and more attention on case studies, team projects, and distance learning. I find it hard to justify paying $3000 a class if I’m going to be only reading from a book and listening to a teacher lecture about it.
2. While test scores do not really prove anything: Depaul (Average GMAT 573 and accepted 88% of applicants) while UIC MBA (Average GMAT 610 and accepted 45% of applicants). This tells me that UIC is trying hard to bring in quality students while Depaul is relaxing their admissions.

Although I have not started at UIC yet, I feel confident that I made a right choice. My goal from an MBA program was to take the principles I learned to apply to my future businesses. Don’t get me wrong, Depaul is a great school also. I met some really great people there. I believe that given the time and money constraint, UIC Liautaud Graduate School of Business was the better decision of the two.

Posted under UIC MBA Liautaud

Published by Jay on June 5, 2008 10:50 am

One of my goals last year was to attend the Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting. I wasn’t able to attend last year because of work. This year, I decided that it was finally time for me to go. It turned out to be a great trip and interesting experience!

I started to look for hotels around that area four months prior to the meeting. Every single hotel within 10 mile radius had already been booked. I then decided to search for hotels/motels in the neighboring city of Council Bluffs. I ended up finding an open room at Motel 6 and booked it for $60 a night. It worked out well since Council Bluffs is only a ten minute ride to all the Berkshire events.

Since I’ve never been there, I decided to search the events of the meeting online. I wasn’t able to find much information which is why I’m posting this entry. I’m going to break it down day by day for all the newbies:

Day 1 (Friday): Drove from Chicago to Omaha, NE which took about 8 hours. Checked into my motel and headed straight to the cocktail reception. The cocktail reception was located at the Regency Mall which was closed to shareholders only. There was an open buffet line (took about 30 minutes to get food) and OPEN BAR! The only downside was that it was JAMMED PACK. In addition, there are discounts at Borsheim Jewelry store if you’re interested.

Borsheim Cocktail Party Berkshire Hathaway

Day 2 (Saturday): (By the way, cameras are prohibited but I NINJA-ED these pictures)

Berkshire Meeting

Over 35,000 attended

Saturday is the actual meeting located at the convention center. We got there around 7am and I think the doors opened at 8am. There was already a long line but if you value sleeping more, you can still get decent seats before 9 am. The meeting starts a 9am with about 6 hours of Q and A with Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger. It was definitely an experience to able to hear the greatest investor of our time speak about stocks, the economy, and even his beliefs. Charlie Munger is absolutely hilarious. Around 11 am, someone asked Warren a question about how he would invest money if he didn’t have time to actively managing it. Warren responded by telling him to invest in index funds. Turned out the person that asked

the question was……. Tim Ferriss!

I ran up to the top section and managed to introduce myself to him. This guy is one my heroes and I certainly didn’t expect to meet him there. Turned out to be a really cool guy as he chatted with us for a couple hours. If you guys ever see him around, I recommend you go up to him and introduce yourself. He’s a fun guy to get to know with tons of stories.

Tim Ferriss

After the meeting, there’s more fun at exhibition hall where you can see all the discounts given for Berkshire companies including Geico, See’s, and tons of free candy from Mars/Wrigley!! By the way, I just happen to see this guy walk right next to me in the exhibition hall:

Bill Gates walking right next to me

The day ends with a BBQ in the tent in front of Nebraska Furniture Mart where there are discount a plenty for all types of items. Day 3 is also another shopping event at Borsheims where there are special events. I didn’t attend those. Overall, I was able to meet Tim Ferris, see Warren, Munger, and Bill Gates, meet some very interesting people, and eat some good food. Was it worth it? What do you think? =) I hope this helps some of you guys/gals thinking about attending next year.

Posted under Berkshire Hathaway