Justin Paxton

Exciting Opportunities

It’s hard to believe it, but I have been working for Fossil for 6 months now! My six month anniversary was last Wednesday, as one of the other brand reps pointed out. It doesn’t feel like I have been working for Fossil that long, which makes me think time will start to fly by even faster.

Work in general has slowed down. Sales at Macy’s and Dillard’s were huge throughout New Years, leaving me with little stock in watches. We aren’t getting big shipments in until right before Valentine’s Day, so I’m currently attempting to sell the leftovers from Holiday. This makes for shorter working days and I am back to Netflix and long work-outs in the late afternoon. I have picked up a new GMAT Math workbook, because the practice test I took didn’t go so well in the math department. In high school, math was one of my strongest subjects, but not using simple math and writing frequently in college has changed me into an English freak. The math book so far has been solid and I am getting a better and better grasp on simple concepts that I have long forgotten or blocked out of my mind.

I finally rode my bicycle for the first time last weekend. After spending many hours trying to piece it back together (all it needed done was putting on petals, the front wheel, and the front brake), I had been waiting for the weather to get better. I am also afraid of riding around Dallas because they aren’t the nicest nor the most patient drivers. Defense riding cannot be overstated in this town. I rode my bike to a coffee shop last week and practiced some GMAT. In the morning I checked the weather app and it wasn’t supposed to rain until 2:00 p.m. Of course, Texas being Texas, it starts raining at 12:00 p.m., right when I want to head back home. I tried to wait it out, but the rain was not letting up, so I rode home in the rain. It was exhilarating, but my shoes and most of my clothes were soaked by the time I got back. Note to self:  don’t trust weather apps, if it is going to rain in Texas, assume it could be anytime that day.

The real reason for this blog post though is an email I received two weeks ago from my boss titled “Exciting Opportunities.” All the brand reps received it and speculated what it might be. I thought it was going to talk about presentations we were supposed to work on, others thought it was about new job openings, and some thought it was going to be something infinitesimal. Last Wednesday, we arrived at the office dying to hear what these “exciting opportunities” where. They ended up being job opportunities that we could transition into now! The one I have applied for is Global Wholesale Operations Coordinator. I would be in charge of inventory and shipping of all non-product materials and I would work with operations, marketing, merchandising and other departments. I want to learn more about the position through the interview and see if it will be a good fit for me. Part of me is torn because I want to shadow other people in Fossil and I’m not quite ready for the office yet. However, the other part of me knows that I won’t want to wait until August to go into the office. I interview next week, so we shall see what happens.

Here’s to new opportunities and where ever they will take me.

Settling In

It’s crazy to say this, but I have been living in Dallas for three months now! It just feels like yesterday that I was moving into a new apartment and starting Fossil Boot Camp. Yet, here I am three months later and I am starting to get into a groove. The days are starting to become more regular with activities, and I think I have just about adjusted to not being in college. (Getting over the homework part was easy, not having tons of friends around and a crazy schedule has been harder.)

Work has become a major part of my life, which I guess it was before, but I have become acclimated to the store visits, merchandising, and blackberry emailing. I enjoy all of my stores, but Dillard’s associates over in watches and handbags are by far my favorite. They keep up with markdowns, don’t destroy my cases, and the management team is very accessible. I wish I could say the same for Macys. The only thing I can say is, “every day is a new challenge.”

I have started going to church over the past couple of weeks. It has been a long time since I have regularly gone to church, but I think this time, it might happen. I said I would never attend a super church, but I like the Watermark church in Dallas. They have a service on Tuesday nights at 7:00 p.m. targeted at people my age. The sermon is relevant, provocative, and while I may not always agree or accept what is spoken, it gets me thinking. I think this will be a great opportunity to meet new people and get involved in service opportunities.

I have also picked up playing tennis again, which I’m super excited about. My friend, Monique, wanted to learn how to play, so I have been teaching her. I finally understand (to some degree) the frustration my Dad must have felt when he was teaching me. Monique is improving rapidly and I am already impressed with her serve, but there is still a lot of work to go. She is eager to play and learn, so I’m sure she will be good in no time. However, I would like to find someone at my level or better, so I can improve my game as well.

GMAT still takes up about 6-10 hours of my time each week. I pushed through the verbal section with no real problems, but math was rough. I forgot EVERYTHING. Thankfully, I bought a supplementary math book, and I have been brushing up on my arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. I plan on taking the actual test in mid November, so I still have lots of studying ahead. 

My TV watching has increased dramatically since college…it’s not just Modern Family anymore. Now I have started watching New Girl, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother, Parks and Rec, and Mad Men. Thankfully, most of the shows are only 30 minutes. People keep telling me to watch Breaking Bad, but I think I’m going to have to cap myself at 5 shows.

Reading is the last real thing that takes up a majority of my time. I try to read part of the Bloomberg Businessweek magazine I get. I’m currently reading “The Sustainable MBA,” and have two more green books to read after that. I plan on working on a potential ride share proposal for Fossil, which could cut down on cars driven to work, while boosting relationships across departments in the organization.

As a Type A person and a planner, it’s nice to have a bit of routine again. However, Holiday is coming up and it’s supposed to get a bit crazy at work. That’s good though, I miss a little crazy in my life.

I’m Riding Solo

Here I am, on my third week of being on my own, and I feel relatively comfortable with my job and the tasks I need to accomplish every day. The first week was not too bad, as Fall watches and handbags had not hit all my stores yet. I got to work with my favorite sales associate, Flo, who destroys my cases at Town East Macy. I literally walk in thinking we sold a bunch of watches, but soon find out that they are just laying around the case in the back. Seriously, it’s not that hard to put it back on the clips. Today, I walked in to find all the back stock in the cases. It literally looked like someone had vomited watches, as they were in disarray. After scrounging around for some egg crates, I was able to put some Michael Kors and Fossil back where they belong, in back stock!

My Dillards at Town East has been equally challenging, but the employees are more helpful. Each week I have gone, there has been another watch move. The first week, EVERYTHING was moved. Thankfully, the sales associates put watches by style together, so all I had to do was move watches to meet the schematic. I have also had handbag issues there, but I was able to move the back wall to where my other Fossil handbags are. Before, they were in two separate areas, which was not ideal. As sale bags dwindle down, I’m hoping to grab even more space, because there are still bags in back stock. Stonebriar Macys has also had its problems, starting with handbags. During the first week, I was working with Candace, the merchandising veteran, who realized we had about 30 bags in back stock that were on markdown. We had to spend a considerable amount of time getting them marked and then placed in the sale area. The second biggest problem was losing my Men’s leathers table, which I later found out is a corporate directive agreed upon between the two companies. I can’t wait to head there tomorrow and fight to get the table and suitcase back up.

Besides work, life is going well in Dallas. I haven’t been going out very much, but I have made working out a priority. It not only saves me money, but makes me feel much better than a night of drinking! I have started studying for the GMAT and hope to take the test in mid-to-late October. Jarrett and I are still getting along (at this moment in time), and I’m sure it will continue. There is always a learning curve living with someone new, and I’m compromising as much as possible. (Aka trying not to be an absolute control freak.) Last weekend, we went to a comedy club for free in Mockingbird Station. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the two comedians (one was Dante from Last Comic Standing) were absolutely hilarious. I was thoroughly impressed. This weekend I have Jarrett’s birthday, and I plan on hitting up another coffee shop and grinding out some GMAT work.

As far as riding solo, I enjoy making my own decisions and “running my own business.” It can get lonely at times, but it just forces me to build relationships with sales associates! I thought I wouldn’t like being out in the field, but I can’t complain about being on my feet all day. I have my whole life to sit at a desk!

Training Wheels.

These past two weeks I have been shadowing my coach, Christine, who has been a brand rep in the field for the past year. I was able to go to all of my stores that I must go to weekly. Town East is out in Mesquite, Texas, which is an interesting mall. The Macy’s has been a disaster both times we went, but that was mainly do to the fact that the company was doing inventory. None of the watches were placed back correctly, and all of the tags were left out. I think I spent an hour just doing one watch bay, so I was very happy to have the help of my coach, who is about 5 times faster than me. The Dillards on the first day was also a disaster, but the sales associates are friendlier, and the handbags associate is new and very nice. I will have to become her new best friend, so she can help me out when I am not there. The Stonebriar Macy’s is huge, as it is one of the biggest malls up in Plano, but the product itself stays pretty neat. Thankfully, Candace, another merchandiser who has been doing this for years, has the Dillards at Stonebriar, so we can work together.

Merchandising the watches and other product itself is not rocket science. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t challenging. Trying to make the product we have look like the schematic can be downright difficult. There is a lot of creativity and problem solving involved, and I enjoy that aspect of the job. Something I’m looking forward to is building relationships with the employees and managers at the store. I know with my business background, friendly personality, and RA experience, I will be able to build strong relationships with the important people in each store. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we will be spending much time in the corporate office, but that can be a plus and a minus. I was looking forward to the projects in the office, but I have plenty of time to sit at a desk. I need to enjoy the ability to travel around and be on my feet while it lasts.

I thought I would be more intimated for my first day on my own tomorrow, but I am pretty confident. My coaches have taught me well, and I have strong support group to call or email if I have questions. The training wheels are off. It’s time to work all on my own.

The Working World

This past week was my first real taste of the working world and what I get to do for the rest of my life. (Slightly depressing, right?) However, I don’t know if I can consider the past week a real working week, since we were in training. On Monday, we met at Macys at Northpark and walked around the displays and then worked on merchandising one of the cases. Talk about being thrown right into the gauntlet. I will say it was pretty intimidating doing the cases, since I didn’t know much about the watches. Understanding the platforms and how things will be grouped will easily take me a few weeks. I’m less nervous though, as working at Nordstrom was the same way. The first couple weeks, you don’t know where the shoes are or what they are called, but in no time, you have everything down. I’m praying this will be the same way.

Tuesday, we went into the corporate office and since we were unsure of traffic, we ended up arriving 40 minutes early. (Oops!) We sat through many powerpoint presentations, which was rough after two months of no powerpoints. We talked about expectations, communications, “the day in the life of a brand rep,” and endless other things. Information overload would be an understatement. Jarrett and I arrived back home around 6:30 p.m. and I felt like a zombie the rest of the night. This working world stuff is hard, and I hadn’t even started my actual job yet.

Wednesday and Thursday were much more exciting, as all the of the brands came in to present their current collection, and the themes for Fall. We got to see all the new watches and hear from previous brand reps, which was great. I really enjoyed learning more about all the brands, their “DNA,” and what the latest trends are. I can’t wait to meet with some people from branding and product development, to gain a better understanding of what they do, and if it is something I want to pursue. One thing that always popped up were customer profiles, something TCU tended to ignore. I will have to talk with Dr. Grau and let her know how important they are in retail. These two days were much shorter time wise, allowing me time to work out and relax at night.

Friday was even more relaxed than the other days. We had a few presentations in the morning, and then we received some free merchandise!! We headed to lunch right after and this is where we got to meet our senior and junior mentors. My senior mentor is Tim Burkhart, who is the VP of Retail Operations, and my junior mentor is Justin Buck, who manages specialty accounts. Justin (not sure if this was a coincidence or not that we got paired together) was not at the lunch, but I had met him during my first round interview with Fossil. Tim was very nice, and I can’t wait to meet and discuss my future at Fossil with him. The lunch was fun, as we got to see where previous brand reps have gone within the company, and it made me realize that this program is the mini Fellows program at Fossil. Accelerated learning and faster climbing of the ladder. I can’t complain about either of those. We headed to the retrodome after lunch, which is Fossil’s distribution center for North America. The thing was absolutely massive at 750,000 square feet. Later, we headed to dinner at a brewery.

The first week of “the real world” was ALOT of information. I hope I can retain as much as possible, but I know I will need to review the information a few more times before it actually sinks in. In regards to Fossil itself, I couldn’t be more excited to start my career at this company. The people, the company culture, and the products they deliver to the customer are all fantastic. I’m ecstatic to be a “Fossilite” for the first stage of my work career.