Kyle Ganshert
Account Director
Column Five
Milestones
My road in life took a while to figure out.
Went to college and worked on campus, at restaurants and as a valet.
Studied abroad in Madrid, Spain for one semester and fell in love with international travel.
Graduated and bought an old suburban with a friend and fixed it up.
Then I drove from California through Central America to the Panama Canal-changed my outlook on life.
Flew home, worked and stayed with friends and family and saved money for more travel.
Traveled the next 16 months on and off to places like Australia, NZ, Indonesia, and the Maldives.
Came home with over $10k in debt and started wearing a suit and tie and worked for Xerox.
Moved to Cintas and continued to wear a suit for 5 years before taking a pay cut and starting at C5!
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Career
Account Director
I oversee current accounts and develop new business at a creative agency.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Business
Numbers
Working with Others
Day to Day
I get to choose when I come in to the office. As long as I work an 8 hour day and I come in before 10am, I'm good. I work with an amazing group of people and everyone collaborates creatively in order to produce the best work we can. We work really hard but I enjoy interacting with everyone. I typically have client calls set up, make sure all my current projects are on track, that my team and clients are happy, and I handle some business development. Oh and there's ping-pong and beer Fridays.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for college students
Work Hard! I feel like a lot of kids out of college these days expect a high paying job out of school, with no prior work experience. The truth is, work is hard! You have to put in your time. I did outside sales for 2 Fortune 500 companies and a lot of the time, it sucked. But I gained an incredible amount of experience, which opened the door at Column Five. I think the key is starting with a company you enjoy working for with people you like. Then gaining that experience is fun!
Recommended Education
My career is not related to what I studied. I'd recommend this path instead:
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Society in General:
"I can't believe you are going to drive from California, through Central America, to Panama! You're crazy! You just finished college so why don't you get a good job? You're going to throw it all away to get robbed in Mexico, kidnapped in Guatemala or killed in El Salvador? When you get back, all of your friends and peers are going to have good jobs, a head start and they will gain valuable job experience. After all your hard work in school, you're going to give that up?"
