Jean-Charles Dervieux was halfway through his MBA by the time he realized he was in the wrong industry. The Florida native was trying to work his way up in the banking world with a sales job at Wells Fargo when he noticed that his most profitable leads all came from the same source: LinkedIn.

The professional social networking site was still in its infancy, 但让-查尔斯的数据说明了一切. He realized that he'd never make the money he needed to become an entrepreneur if he stayed put. "Social media and digital marketing was the way to go to be very successful. There was a lot of demand, and it was still fairly new technology,他说.

Jean-Charles immediately started looking for schools offering a master's in internet marketing, but he came up empty — until he found 满帆大学. At the time, it was the only school he found offering the degree (now titled 数字营销). 在线形式是一个额外的好处. "I could maintain my full-time job and go after a second master's," says Jean-Charles.

The pivot started paying off right away in one of Jean-Charles's first classes. "The introduction course talked about writing and being friendly from an email perspective. 当你在工作时，有时会忘记这一点." He learned what information he needed to include in digital correspondence to get responses and communicate more effectively with his team.

满帆 also helped Jean-Charles establish his current habit of reading business books for at least 30 minutes a day. “我们没有使用教科书, it was industry bestsellers and books that focused on day-to-day information,他说. “在我的MBA课程中，有很多教科书和理论. 全速前进, it was creating plans where you'd set up your financials within paid 搜索 to make sure that you're moving in the right direction."

用他的新知识武装自己, Jean-Charles started applying for 数字营销 Director positions at small- to medium-sized businesses. 在接下来的几年里, he learned how to build and optimize websites at several business-to-business companies.

Jean-Charles' first big professional win came at a larger company called Haystack (now 经销商.com). “公司每年亏损约200万美元, and I was hired to help rework internal processes for a better customer experience." Within eight months, Haystack was back in the black.

这些数字引起了……的注意 赫兹的 corporate office, and they hired him as a Digital Optimization Manager. Jean-Charles hit the books again for new certifications in user experience (UX) and helped Hertz rebuild their website. Soon after, an Amazon recruiter found Jean-Charles on LinkedIn.

Jean-Charles isn't allowed to say much about specific products he worked on at Amazon. 然而, he helped broker deals with retail stores and apartment complexes to place Amazon Lockers in their buildings.

Plenty of business-minded people would consider Amazon a final destination, 但让-查尔斯仍然渴望创业. He's recently decided to leave Amazon for French company ContentSquare, where he'll offer consulting to their West Coast clients on web analytics.

让-查尔斯的成功并非一蹴而就, and he has practical tips for anyone who wants to make their own moves. “我建议每个人都尽可能多地阅读. Make it into a routine that's 30 minutes to an hour a day,他说. "Referencing a book [in an interview] showcases your knowledge, 利益, 和好奇心, 这对科技公司来说至关重要."

The site that first introduced Jean-Charles to digital marketing has made a huge difference in his career as well. “我一直保持着非常强大的力量 LinkedIn的资料. Make sure that you network with the right people who are influential within the marketing arena. 我的大部分工作都来自LinkedIn."