The Circle of Life -Articles Written By Howard Freedman
Why bother to share a wide variety of articles in a financial aid consulting website? The reason is very simple. Life is a learning experience with a mixture of a formal education and real world learning by which we will succeed and fail. From these experiences, we become stronger and more productive individuals, employees and members of society.
As a seasoned financial professional with a diversified career path that has taken me from production management, quality control, auditing, industrial engineering, employee services, financial and College ACCESS program management, consulting to financial aid, I do not want to be stereotyped as an expert in one area but a well rounded professional and acclaimed writer and public speaker who can share many of my experiences and opportunities to appeal to my readers of all ages who are just starting out or in the prime of their careers.
Many articles were written throughout different stages of my careers based on invaluable experiences working as an employee, consultant and businessman for large and small corporations, public and private and profit and not for profit organizations covering most industries and organizational structures. I was responsible for millions of paychecks to compensate employees, customer service, staffs of all sizes and accountability to all levels of management. I learned how to implement process improvements from W. Edwards Deming, the father of quality control and a legend responsible for stimulating the Japanese economy. My mentors, my employees, and from those who continually challenged me to do better taught me some of life's most valuable lessons. Building and rebuilding departments, improving relationships with third parties instilled a sense of confidence and trust often exceeding expectations. Yet with such good experience my greatest passion was creative problem solving such as simplifying a process, saving money, outsourcing a non value added activity or just making things more efficient. It wasn’t about the plan but the results. Helping families afford college was merely an extension of what I have already done. The difference is that in business I focused on the present helping companies and employees to the best of my ability. Today, I take what I learned in the past and apply it to my client's futures.
Writing is my second passion that has enabled me to share these experiences and to give something back to others. My articles cover a variety of subjects that follow a cycle from college, to career opportunities, well being and finance. Each article is based on the real world not an ideal world that does not exist. The anticipated result is sharing what I learned to help others smile and feel somewhat more optimistic and seize opportunities that they may not have known existed.
After receiving my undergraduate and master’s degrees, I stood on top of the world; I thought the world was waiting for me with an abundance of job offers. Reality was that finding the right job was like a treasure hunt as long as I never gave up. Through that journey, I worked hard and received many professional awards for which I was very proud. It proved that I did much more than I had to and could succeed by remaining focused and always trying harder. It wasn't all about the money but finding your passion and doing the things that you love on your own terms. That is where I am at now and would not give it up for anything other than winning the lottery.
The world in 2008 provides everyone with new challenges that we assumed would never happen, but they did. Paying for a college education is not possible for those people who only believe it to be so. Believing in yourself, finding the right opportunism and continually following your dreams will ultimately lead you to the secondary education and opportunities you deserve regardless of the economy.
I hope you benefit from these articles and would appreciate your feedback through this website or e-mail at finaidman@comcast.net
Sincerely,
Howard Freedman