(Kosmayer, 2013)
Hobbies: Woodworking, watching the news, soccer,
Ben Miller is a middle aged father of two children living near the suburbs of a major city. He has been working in construction since he dropped out of high school in 10th grade, and has worked himself up to be a middle level manager. His compensation from his job is enough to support his family because of his early start in the industry, but not as high as it could be if he went to school. He wants to learn management and business skills to start his own company.
Technology Access and Skills
Although Ben has basic internet access and owns a smartphone and computer, he has a hard time navigating them to perform basic tasks. He has social media accounts on facebook, and an email to connect with his coworkers, and family. Ben struggles with typing on a keyboard, and would rather write things out. An additional area of concern is the proper usage of basic software programs such as spreadsheets and word-processing tools.
Responsibilities
Ben has to take care of his children after he picks them up from school since he gets off work earlier than his wife. He is the main breadwinner of the home and contributes his fair share of money for paying bills. Although his wife does the majority of house chores such as cleaning, cooking, and attending to the children, Ben has to maintain the house, family car, and pay the bills. An additional goal would be to set aside a college fund for his kids when they come of age.
Concerns
Ben’s job is physically intensive, and mildly dangerous. He occasionally gets injured at work by straining his back while heavy lifting. As a result, there are some periods of the year he must take time off from work to recover, leading to a reduced income. He has not been in a schooling environment since grade 10 (About 30 years ago) and did not have good studying habits. He needs to keep working whenever he can to ensure the stability of his household. Ben has not experienced online school and fears that he will struggle to learn the technology he needs to access for his schooling. In conjunction to Ben’s work-related injuries, he also developed a premature hard of hearing. As a result, Ben is in need of hearing aids to better improve his current hearing abilities.
Current Skill Set
Ben is very sociable and easily connects with his peers since he started working at a young age. He is not afraid to ask questions and participate in conversations he is knowledgeable in. He has been given managerial responsibilities at work, and has developed some schedules and planning skills. He has taken some safety courses for his work and has learned to operate heavy machinery such as a forklift, boom lifts, scissor lifts both practically and in a classroom.
Ben’s Objective
Ben knows the ins and outs of the construction industry, and has met several workmates who have also expressed their interest in building their own company.Ben is aiming to take on projects on the side to supplement his current income. By accumulating additional experiences, Ben can better the outcomes of building out a partnering company with his co-workers. At his current age, he has family commitments and wants to be able to build on his current net-worth and build a path towards retirement.
Ben’s Way Forward
Ben has decidedly determined his goal and is now looking to draft-out a blueprint to set things in motion. Drawing from his technical knowledge and know-how accumulated over the years, a first important step is to find an online-based documentation tool. This allows Ben to document all the technical knowledge in his head. Ben is also looking at the enrollment of web-based computer classes and jump start his usage in basic areas in Microsoft Word and Excel spreadsheets. These are critical areas, for instance, the utilization of excel spreadsheets enables Ben to oversee budgets, expenses, inventory of materials, and pay-roll. Microsoft Word allows him to create a sturdy business plan.