{"id":990,"date":"2019-02-12T00:00:44","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T00:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/?p=990"},"modified":"2020-04-21T23:52:42","modified_gmt":"2020-04-21T23:52:42","slug":"dijak20190212","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/2019\/02\/12\/dijak20190212\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Dijak"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Michael Dijak (2018)<\/p><\/div>\n

Originally from Nebraska, Michael is a proud 2012 graduate of Truman State University and a successful entrepreneur in the Kansas City area.\u00a0 He is currently the Managing Partner of SGC Enterprise Holdings.\u00a0 His professional background is in business management, relationship selling, operations, and strategic acquisitions.\u00a0 He\u2019s proud to be an Eagle Scout, board member of Truman’s Kansas City Alumni Chapter, and an active volunteer with several local philanthropic organizations focused on serving the homeless.\u00a0 In his free time, Michael enjoys competitive shooting, traveling, and hanging out with his 9-year-old rescued English Bulldog, Murphy Lee.<\/p>\n

What year did you graduate and what was your concentration?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I graduated in 2012 with a major in Political Science<\/a> and a minor in Communication<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Michael at a Student Senate meeting (2011).<\/p><\/div>\n

What extra-\/co-curricular activities did you do?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I was a member of the Pershing Society<\/a>, Truman Media Network<\/a>\/News 36 (now TMN-TV<\/a>), Student Senate<\/a>, Student Ambassadors, and the\u00a0Political Science Students Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Did you go to grad school? If so, where?\u00a0 Was it immediately after you left Truman or did you wait?\u00a0 Why?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No.\u00a0 I chose to get involved in several business opportunities immediately after I left Truman.<\/p>\n

What was your first job after graduation?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

After selling my interest in Trumascape, <\/em>a Kirksville landscaping & development company that I helped operate & grow during college, I moved back to Omaha and opened a Farm Bureau Financial Services<\/a> franchise.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Michael (left) and his partners at Trumascape’s first office (2011).<\/p><\/div>\n

What work do you do\/What are you doing now?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve continued on an entrepreneurial path, acquiring and selling service-based businesses in small communities. Currently, I\u2019m Managing Partner for SGC Enterprise Holdings, which owns Stonegate Crematorium and Complete Cremation & Funeral Service<\/a> (just outside the KC Metro).<\/p>\n

How has your Liberal Arts\/COMM education helped you?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

People are often <\/em>surprised that I do not have a business degree. I tell them that because Truman\u2019s focus is on developing broad critical thinking, writing, and communication skills regardless of major. I was more than prepared to continue in business & entrepreneurship upon graduation.<\/p>\n

Which class did you dislike at the time you took it, but now you\u2019re grateful you took it?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

JINS 332: Death & Dying<\/a>. Overall, I was not thrilled vis-\u00e0-vis the JINS part of my degree, but this class turned out to be particularly relevant to our current businesses.<\/p>\n

What was your greatest accomplishment at Truman?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

My involvement in Trumascape<\/em>, including being instrumental in growing its annual revenue from $250k to over $2M before I left Kirksville in 2013.<\/p>\n

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Michael (in the Royals gear) and Truman friends at the K (2018).<\/p><\/div>\n

Why is Truman a good place for a student to study?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truman is a world-class education at an incredible value.\u00a0 The Liberal Arts model and the faculty cultivate an environment that helps students develop critical thinking, writing, and communication skills applicable to any professional environment.<\/p>\n

What would you say a COMM student should absolutely<\/u> do while at Truman?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Get involved with the Truman Media Network<\/a>\u00a0somehow! I\u2019ve had the chance to visit the media programs at other universities, and TMN is world-class.\u00a0 There\u2019s something for everyone to get\u00a0real media experience.<\/p>\n

What advice would you give someone who wants to go into the same line of work as you?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Entrepreneurship is an incredibly challenging and risky kind of work to do, but it is incredibly rewarding!\u00a0 My advice would be to START NOW.\u00a0 Take that idea, product, service, whatever it might be, and make it into a business NOW, even while you\u2019re in school.\u00a0 Ultimately, experience (and money) are two things that are incredibly valuable being an entrepreneur, and you can get both by starting your own small business while at Truman.<\/p>\n

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Michael in his first office when he sold CUTCO (2010).<\/p><\/div>\n

What do you miss most about campus\/Kirksville?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I often refer to my college years as a \u201csuspended reality\u201d when I was technically <\/em>an adult, but still being somewhat supported by my parents and without most of the responsibilities of a \u201cgrown up.\u201d\u00a0 This was a hugely valuable time for me in discovering what drives me, the kind of person I want to be, and most importantly what\u2019s possible for my life.\u00a0 All of that happened at Truman.<\/p>\n

If you could come back to Truman and teach a class for a semester, what would be its title and what would it be about?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Millennial Entrepreneur:\u00a0 In today\u2019s business environment, the playing field is more level than it has ever been for those that aren\u2019t afraid of hard work and have unique and marketable skills.\u00a0 I think more people our age would become entrepreneurs if they had the necessary tools and early exposure to entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

What did we not ask that you think is important for people to know?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I fully believe that everyone on this planet is destined for great things if he or she makes the decision <\/strong>to be great.\u00a0 So many of us have succumbed to learned helplessness, thinking that we are subject to the decisions\/thoughts\/feelings of others around us and that we can\u2019t control our reality.\u00a0 That\u2019s just not true!\u00a0 We are all in control of our destiny, and there\u2019s no reason every single one of us can\u2019t go on to do great things in our careers and communities.\u00a0 But it all starts with a conscious decision: to be great.<\/em><\/p>\n

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LEFT:\u00a0 Michael and business partner\/friend, Alex (2018); RIGHT:\u00a0 Michael’s bulldog Murphy Lee (2018).<\/p><\/div>\n

As a member of the Kansas City Alumni Chapter<\/a>, you should know that we have a wide range of events over the course of the year.\u00a0 For anyone from KC (or locating here after graduation) we\u2019d love to see you at an event!<\/p>\n

If you would like to learn more of Michael’s story, you can follow him on LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you want to learn more about the Department of Communication, contact us!<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally from Nebraska, Michael is a proud 2012 graduate of Truman State University and a successful entrepreneur in the Kansas City area.\u00a0 He is currently the Managing Partner of SGC Enterprise Holdings.\u00a0 His professional background is in business management, relationship selling, operations, and strategic acquisitions.\u00a0 He\u2019s proud to be an Eagle Scout, board member of … Read More →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":497,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50608],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-watdn"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/497"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=990"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1865,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990\/revisions\/1865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.truman.edu\/commspotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}