Mike Briney

Friends

2011-08-15T15:29:00.000-07:00

I want to pose a question...What is a FRIEND? The dictionary defines a friend as:

1. A person whom one knows, likes, and trusts.

2. A person whom one knows; an acquaintance.

3. A person with whom one is allied in a struggle or cause; a comrade.

4. One who supports, sympathizes with, or patronizes a group, cause, or movement

In my opinion a friend is much more than that. A friend is some one that will stand by you, even during the toughest of times. Someone who will listen. A friend always has your best interest at heart. Is someone who would give their life for you.

In life we meet many people who say they are our friend, but we will only make a few TRUE friends in our lifetime. SO let's make them count!

I have been so fortunate to find my TRUE friends.

I found my BEST & TRUEST friend and married her on May 7, 2011

Thank You...Friends!

7/3/2010 Weekly Post

2010-07-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

Personal Progress: This week I received a job offer. It is really cool to see that all the progress I have made throughout my college career to finally be coming to life. I have been working so hard to get a job someday to be able to support myself and my family. The job is a marketing design intern, with the opportunity for full time employment after. I am just really excited. I am still waiting to hear back from Del Sol to see if I've received their internship. I have been working on more of my design skills this week. I was asked by a friend to create a poster for an upcoming event. I looked-up some cool tutorials online and also asked a friend of mine for some insights on how I could get the job done, so far the poster is coming along nicely and I will be done with it soon.
Team Progress: This week we are working to finalize our research and start putting together the results, analyzing and writing them up. I am still looking into the company Big Squirt, and their management and how they started their company and what our company needs to do to become successful. We have to come up with a protection recommendation for our client, a marketing strategy, pricing and the future of the company. I am really pleased with all the work our team has done, and am anticipating the final project and presentation we will present to our client.

Weekly Update 6/25/10

2010-06-28T10:10:00.000-07:00

Personal Progress: This week has been crazy. I was able to go to Utah this weekend for a job interview. It went very well. I was able to catch-up on some of my interview skills and ask the company some pretty insightful questions. I also was able to go over my resume again, and correct or fix any problems it may have had.
Team Progress: This week I am assigned to look over bigsquirt.com. I will look at how they market, advertise and their pricing. Anything that is useful and or relevant for our comany.

6/19/2010 Weekly Update

2010-06-19T08:46:00.000-07:00

Personal Progress: This week I had the opportunity to re-design my resume. I started thinking about my future and the opportunity to be able to work for a design company would be really exciting. However if I was to work for a company who places a lot of emphasis on designing I would need to take it up a notch in my personal designing and make myself look more marketable. So I decided to take my resume and revamp it, make it look more artistic and fun. I had a lot of fun deciding what to do with it, and I thought that I would make a completely new layout and design, and play around with it. Hopefully this week I can make the finishing touches on it because I have a job interview on Friday 6/25!
Team Progress: This week I have been assigned the topic of marketing for A Toy Company; they finally came up with a name. In particular I was asked to look up gorilla marketing. What is it that we can do to get the name and brand out into the market. I have also been researching the different chemicals and issues that a lot of toy companies have with recalls. This will help our client to better know what he is getting himself into, and what we can do to help him market his new toys and make them profitable.

6/12/2010 Weekly Update

2010-06-12T16:11:00.000-07:00

Personal Progress: This week I had the opportunity to sit down and learn a couple new skills in designing. I have always been a little interested on how people always look good on the cover of magazines and in the magazines. Their faces look flawless and so I knew it was airbrushing but I thought it was only special computer software that you could buy that helped in the airbrushing technique. But I decided I wanted to learn how to do it for myself and I have the Adobe Creative Suite and just figured why not? So I looked up a tutorial on YouTube about airbrushing, and watched it first to see if it would be at all possible for me to do and I realized that I could do this. I found a picture I really liked and I went through the video tutorial step by step and was able to airbrush a photo. There is still so much more practice I can do to become better at airbrushing, but I have the basic knowledge of how to do it, and someday this could come into handy in my future job, and it is a definite portfolio builder for know.
Team Progress: This week I we are learning the different aspects of the manufacturing side of the toy industry, specifically with our new toy company, and how we are going to manufacture our new toy line. I am responsible for the idea of manufacturing our toys domestically. I am learning on what it will take to manufacture our toys here in the U.S. and the cost and benefits in doing so.

6/5/2010 Weekly Update

2010-06-05T07:47:00.000-07:00

Personal Progress: This week I have had th opportunity to research and study out different internship/career opportunities. I am very excited for the chance to finally graduate from college, and to go out into the world to start a career of my own. I was able to research into an advertising company The Ad Group (T.A.G.) I found a couple of opportunities for employment and applied for the positions. I am also emailing back and forth with a company, Del Sol for a possible internship. I hope that before graduation I have a solid offer for employment.
Team Update: This week I am in charge of researching and looking into how to form and register and LLC. I think this is an excellent opportunity because one day I might might want to create my own company and I will have to know how to register the LLC.

5/29/2010 Weekly Update

2010-05-29T07:11:00.000-07:00

Personal Progress: I had the opportunity to research what it takes to get a job in the music industry. A Mr. Howard details his experience of how to find your niche in the "what looks like the exclusive club of the record industry." In the outside world, that not of the music industry there is usually a clear path on how to obtain a job for lets say an accountant, or a hair stylist. These standard paths lead you to you destination. In the music industry it is completely different. It's all about who you know. If you know someone in the music industry you could ask them for help, and talk with them to broaden your network and get to know more people. So if you don't know anyone in the industry what are you to do? First of all don't get discouraged. Just because there is no easy path doesn't mean there isn't a path. Here are some of the things I learned about what to do to increase your chances of getting that dream job in the music industry. You HAVE to do an internship with a music company. There is no way of getting around that. To get an internship think of fun creative ways to express yourself to the company to be able to get hired. During an internship you also have to be dependable, go beyond the call of duty, ask questions (but don't talk too much), be confident but not cocky, energetic, offer suggestions very cautiously and be very humble and always ask what else. Through my research and efforts on how to get a job in the music industry I feel a little more confident and not so timid about what I need to do. This has helped me to progress towards my goal of one day finding a job within the entertainment industry.
Team Update: We had the opportunity to meet again as a team, and go over some of our findings from last week. I was able to research specifically the workings of Mattel and their history. We decided to wait into the research of the manufacturing aspect of the business because we felt that it was more important and end up more beneficial for our team to know a little bit more than what we already knew about the toy industry. I was able to look a little bit into the financials of Mattel, their selection of the different toys and products they offer. All of this gets me so excited about what we are doing as a team to hopefully help Schneider Toys break into the business.

5/22/2010 Weekly Update

2010-05-22T09:37:00.000-07:00

Personal Progress: This week I had the opportunity to research what it takes to get a job in a magazine of the entertainment industry. What I did was research and contact a couple human resources departments of some well known magazine companies and asked them their opinion about what it takes to work at a specific magazine. After I spoke to the HR departments I dove into researching online what I should do to prepare myself for a job in the magazine industry if I so desired.
These are some of the things I found to be most important: Getting a job at any magazine is really hard. There are hundreds of thousands of applications and resumes sent to any one magazine a year, and it is very difficult to get an internship with any company.
I was told that researching and planning is the most important thing to do when looking for a job with any magazine. Know who you are dealing with. Magazine companies are looking for people with a strong character, who are hard-working, dedicated, passionate about the magazines services, self-motivated, experience, knowledge or a desire to learn.
I was also able to learn some of the basic important skills or course to take while in college. Some they recommend: programming, designing, creative writing, literature, journalism, humanities, history, politics and business. It is almost a must to have a personal blog and web site outside from the social networking sites.
If you find out that you want to work for a magazine the next step is to get work experience that will benefit you in the long-run. Get a low-end, starting job with a magazine of newspaper, this will help to know who the important key players are in the industry. Start networking and getting to know people, because it is about who you know.

Team Update: This week I was able to do a little more research into what it takes for a small toy company to break into the business. I was able to find a great source detailing some of the important facts about the toy industry, and what makes some companies more successful than others. I learned that marketing is considered the most important step in the business, because you have to know to whom you are trying to appeal to. So I was able to write-up about 2 pages of notes on what Schneider Toys needs to do at this point to try and break into the business. Next week I will hopefully be able to research the pros and cons into the manufacturing of toys; locally and abroad.

5/15/2010 Weekly Post

2010-05-15T10:12:00.000-07:00

Personal Progress: This week I was able to research and discover what it takes to become a Television Executive. There are two types of executives; first there is the "Current Executive" they are in charge of the projects that are currently on air. The current executives work with the writers, produces, directors and cast of the television shows. They kind of serve as the liaison between the network, studio and actual production. The next type of executive is the "Development Executives" these executives are the ones who work on the development of new television material. Whether it be to create a new series, or to work with a specific writer. The development executives are also the ones who fill in all the gaps with the cast, writers, production, they fill out the staff when a show goes from a pilot to an actual series. I found out that the best way to become an executive is to become an assistant first. This will help to have hands on experience meeting with the managers, producers, writers and so forth to be able to understand what goes on to create something great.
Team Progress: I have been placed in the "Schneider Toys Project" group. I am excited to have the opportunity to work with a new and upcoming toy designer and help Schneider Toys enter into the toy manufacturing industry. As for a team we just met for the first time this week and we have our first consultation this Monday. We have been assigned to research the toy industry and get a little insight on the expectations of a start-up toy company.

5/8/2010 Personal Project Update

2010-05-08T08:12:00.000-07:00

This week I have had the opportunity to research a couple of companies I would like to work for in the future. I also signed-up to have the Entertainment Weekly Magazine delivered. This way I will be able to read some of the articles and learn the magazines layout and and writing technique. I also researched a little about Carlos Amezcua who is a news anchor for FOX News. I had the opportunity to meet Carlos in March and learn a little more about what it takes to break into the News, and Entertainment Industry.

Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair

2010-04-27T17:13:00.001-07:00

1. List Pro's and Con's of Ryanair's decision to enter a new market and compete with larger airlines?

Pros:
-    The low cost of air travel would be very appealing to customers.
-    Ryanair offers first-rate customer service.
-    Ryanair could capture the 30-40% of travelers not traveling on Aer Lingus.
-    With the cheaper fares Ryanair could convince ferry travelers to fly.
-    With the larger planes they could transport more people.

Cons:
-    Ryanair would be competing against larger, more establish companies.
-    Not being able to offer cheaper flights.
-    With the larger planes their costs would be higher and they would have to raise their prices.
-    Being the underdog.
-    Lack of brand recognition.

Personal Strategy Project Proposal

2010-04-27T16:53:00.000-07:00

The industry I have selected is the Entertainment Industry.

Company #1: abc Televsion. abc is one of the major broadcasting companies in the United States. They carry many television shows as well as world leading news. I briefly worked for abc in Idaho Falls; Channel 8 News. I believe working for abc would give me the opportunity to use all of my skills and develop new ones to launch my career in the entertainment industry.

Company #2: Entertainment Weekly. EW is one of the most popular American magazines that focuses on celebrities and what is going on in the entertainment industry. I have never worked for a magazine and I think it would be a very fun and exciting company to work for.

What I could do to better myself and make myself more marketable to the entertainment industry is to research and learn more about the entertainment industry and learn what it is each company does, and what their main focus is in the market.

Weekly Plan:
I plan on taking time to research and learn more about the industry, and figure out what it takes to break through into the entertainment industry. I will choose a news anchor or a writer, and study them and what they did in school and how it is they made it into the industry.

Senior Capstone (B499A)

2010-04-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

1. Describe the role of Value Creation and Management
Value creation is very important to a company, and to be able to understand it is even more important. Understanding value creation means that a company values their customers, employees and investors. They add value to their company by doing so, and something with value is held to a higher standard and looked up to as being good. Because the company is good the customers, employees and investors are happy and the company is then able to make an income.

2. What makes a strong Business Model
A business model is the way the company will capture their value creation. The business model should encompass everything their value creation entails. In order to create a strong business model the company must look at what they are getting themselves into, and know how to get the job done. The business model is used for many things in a company like the purpose of the company, the strategies of the company, and the process by which the company will operate. With a strong business model a company will be able to sell their goods and services at a minimal cost and become profitable.

3. Key Principles of effective Strategy?

Effective strategy is of very high importance to a company. To be effective the company understands the market they are in and they know where it is they are in their specific market. Another way a company can prove their effectiveness is by knowing what it is they can do to set themselves apart from their competitors to be able to create a strong and loyal group of followers. A good example of this is Apple. Apple has created a huge following, and they know how to keep their customers happy, and wanting more. Shoppers have camped out in front of an Apple store just to be the first one to buy the new iPhone, or laptop. Apple has planned out strategically every move they make to be effective, and in return they have devoted, loyal customers.

Are You Afraid Of The Dark?

2010-01-01T20:23:00.000-08:00

So I was meaning to do this right after it happened, but let's get real, I always take too long to do anything. (But that's another story, for another time!)

It's the day before Fall Semester 2009 ended and I was in the laundry room ready to switch my clothes from the washer to the dryer when all of a sudden EVERYTHING went DARK. Yes, the power went out, but not only at the Ridge, but ALL of Rexburg, Rigby and St. Anthony; it was as Craig likes to say, "total chaos!" I started to feel my way around the Ridge laundry room and I made it to the door, when I realized that the door to the laundry room was electric...I WAS TRAPPED! I finally managed to push the door open and looked outside to saw...

It was crazy, EVERYONE in Rexburg jumped in their cars and started driving around, to experience it all in the DARK.

There is nothing more fun than a college town loosing power and the students going CRAZY. We blasted music in my roommates car and had a dance party in the parking lot...

All in all it was a pretty AWESOME night. I'm sorry to any of those students who were taking tests, or still had homework, or papers to write. But Rexburg with no power was LEGIT.

Let's Play a Little Catch-Up!

2009-12-14T12:53:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know I really do suck at this thing...But I feel like I never have anything of actual relevance that someone would want to read on a blog. So here goes nothing...

Some of the things that have happened since last fall, since this one is about to end:

1. Found out who my TRUE FRIENDS are, and said adios to some old ones!

2. Lost 54 pounds, gained 15, lost 7...

3. Met the MOST AMAZING girl...Annie!

4. Solidified my stance on how much I HATE the snow.

5. Ran the Disneyland Half Marathon.

6. Renewed my LOVE for television...

Law & Order:SVU, Cougar Town, Modern Family, One Tree Hill.

7. Saw some Celebrities...this one's for you CRAIG!

Neil Patrick Harris(I took the picture), David Archuleta (he came to BYU-Idaho.)

8. We Shot The Moon

9. Had my very FIRST surprise Birthday Party.

10. Went to VEGAS!

So, these are just some of the few things I have been up to...

After getting all this put together I might actually update this thing more often. but who knows it could possibly be like my, "oh, I'm so awake, let's watch a movie!" and then fall asleep 30 seconds into it.

For now just please enjoy! And Have VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! (If I'm not on here before then!)

Yet ANOTHER Visual Media Project!

2009-07-20T20:33:00.000-07:00

We had to make a brochure, and this is what I did. I mean come on we all know I'm addicted to my iPhone, so why not make a brochure for a fake Greek cell phone company introducing the Apple iPhone...

This is the outside (supposed to fold together)

...This is the inside

I took so much time on this project, I literally thought I was living in the Spori...oh wait I'm here right now, working on my final , Final project!

I hate Craig Shipley!

2009-06-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some projects I have been working on in my visual media class this semester!

So let me know what you think of em?

Blog Tag!

2008-12-29T15:18:00.000-08:00

So I was tagged by Craig and I guess I'm supposed to put the 4th picture of the 4th album on my computer! It's from 2 1/2 years ago..."Just Jack (Mike) 2000 or 2001!" Hilarious! I really think Craig tagged me just so I would add more posts to my blog! Well I guess it worked, so eat your hearts out!!!
TAG! JOSH & CHRISTINA! YOU'RE IT! Put the 4th picture of the 4th album from your computer on your blog and tag someone else!

It's about freakin' time!

2008-11-12T16:18:00.002-08:00

I know, I know, I suck at this whole blog thing! So I am finally deciding that I should update my blog. I mean I only have one post! Things have been pretty crazy this semester (fall 08). I'm in my 3rd to last semester, and getting ready to wind things down here in the Burg. I think I will be really sad when that happens, but I think I need to realize that I can't be in college forever! Hopefully next semester I will be in warm sunny southern California, working on my internship, but I still have no idea! Maybe I should work on that! But I just wanted to let everyone know that I am still alive and kickin' and I will try to do a little bit better on this blog thing!!! Chau!

My very own blog!

2008-06-17T16:05:00.000-07:00

Hello there everyone! Craig finally made me sign-up and create a blog. I think I am still a little lost on what exactly I am doing but slowing getting the hang of it. This week is crazy, I have tests in every single one of my classes. I hate how all of my teachers give tests the same week. The hardest part about the whole thing is I am trying to leave to go out of town this weekend. I have to fly home to get my fingerprints taken, and have a job interview, so I can work this summer. Oh...I can't wait to lifeguard this summer! SO pretty much all I get to do this week is study for ridiculous tests, and live in the testing center...but there is light at the end of the tunnel...Thursday I leave for C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A!!!