Create your own success story

It’s one of the worst feelings a college student experiences. The phone feels so heavy in your hand, you slowly dial the numbers, listening to the dreadful dial tone …  “Mom? Yeah, I’m … I’m … I’m broker than MC Hammer.”

Calling your parents for money is demeaning and something most of us would like to keep to a minimum.

In my opinion, it’s easier to address the problem at the source: the need for funding. Whether that funding goes to textbooks and pencils, or (root) beer and (not) drugs, is your decision and not mine.

So, how do you go about making some extra cash?

The most obvious way to have a steady income is to find a job with regular hours. Unfortunately, during this recession, jobs aren’t easy to find.

Luckily, there are avenues you can take to skip that pesky looking-for-work phase.

We have the Office of Student Employment right on campus, with listings for every type of job possible, on campus and off, paying and volunteer.

Websites like Monster and CareerBuilder are designed for you to put in exactly what you’re looking for, and they’ll give you a nice clean list of places that fit your needs.

Or you can do what I did and find a job writing articles about whatever comes to your mind for the school paper!

Your second option, which I personally endorse, is following the American capitalist dream by controlling your own success.

I know students on campus who have started a laundry company, charging fellow dormmates a small fee to pick up their bags of dirty laundry, wash, dry and fold the clothes, then return it to the customer’s door.

Freshman Cameron Bloom partnered with an upperclassman and started MyMiami, a business catering to the needs and wishes of UM students.Texting ‘Miami’ to 66337 adds you to a once-a-day texting list, which will send you huge deals at local businesses with no cost to you (do it, it’s free and worth it).

Bloom has even started a Facebook page to let students interact with him, and request businesses and restaurants where they’d like to receive discounts. In my mind, this is exactly the motivation and creativity that Miami embodies.

There are many positions available at companies and businesses around Miami, and all it takes is a little effort to get hired.

There are also plenty of great ideas that haven’t even crossed anybody’s mind yet and all it takes is one bright individual.

The man who created the internet, who developed the combustion engine, who first thought of stirring chocolate in with his milk (GENIUS!), were all completely oblivious to their effects on the course of history, at some point.

So, how do you know what you’re capable of until you try? Use your intelligence and creativity to avoid that annoying (and demeaning) phone call with your parents.

Evan Peskin is a senior majoring in neuropsychology.