Final Day
The past three weeks have been the most valuable and meaningful learning experiences I have ever had. I have learned how to present myself professionally, refine my projects as best I can in the time allowed, create beautiful pieces of work that will be shown on a national scale and most of all, get myself prepared for my future based on the experiences I have had working with Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I have been given the keys to unlock the doors to my success and I will use the skills I have learned to walk through those doors, knowing that I have the knowledge to achieve in whatever I do. Never before have I had the opportunity to work with such professionals who are willing to push me to go a little further and try to extend the reach of my horizons. I have at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Today, I can now officially tell you what the major project is! The project is going to be hosted by Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, who is partnered with Sylvan Learning Centers to promote education in the poorer regions of the United States. Those will be chosen from the charity site, DonorsChoose.org. With that, voting will take place on a DonorsChoose.org "Giving Page" and on the social media site, Pinterest. This is only a preview! To know the full story, you will have to come and see me at the exhibition!
Today has been monumental, and I will never forget my LINK Internship and all that it has taught me. I know I will use what I have learned in the past three weeks for the rest of my life. I want to thank everyone who gave me this opportunity, from everyone at Animas High School and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, you have all given me one of my most valuable real-world experiences. Thank you all for preparing me for success. As of now, I feel prepared for the world - As an adult.
Thank you all so much,
Elizabeth
Today has been monumental, and I will never forget my LINK Internship and all that it has taught me. I know I will use what I have learned in the past three weeks for the rest of my life. I want to thank everyone who gave me this opportunity, from everyone at Animas High School and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, you have all given me one of my most valuable real-world experiences. Thank you all for preparing me for success. As of now, I feel prepared for the world - As an adult.
Thank you all so much,
Elizabeth
Photos & Promotions
Today, I can now tell you all that the announcement for my major project will be revealed tomorrow! The final checks are in order and all of the memos and press releases will be refined enough by the time of exhibition. Along with my project, I am furthering process on the newsletters set to go out in June for Father's Day and July promoting the Fudge for Troops campaign. That's a part of marketing, you are always ahead of the holidays, for example, now that it's spring we are all thinking about Easter but if you are in marketing, now would be the time to start thinking about how the Thanksgiving and Christmas designs are going to look like. It's been new for me, since I'm always focused on the current season, it gives me a new way of thinking ahead and planning out ideas in advance. In addition to the newsletters, I have also had some photos of the factory cleared by the company, so you all can see a small portion of the factory, mainly focused on caramels and the storage facility. Today was consisted of finalizing a lot of what I will show everyone at exhibition along with preparing for some future newsletters. I am looking forward to getting all of these final aspects done so that exhibition will be amazing!
Getting Close
Today, I have realized how close I am to the end of my internship. I have been working hard on finishing my projects by the time of exhibition, which is finalizing the press releases (so the project can be on display) - Super important! I am also getting newsletters ready for June an July, so I may have those on display alongside the others. But the most important is getting the press release and the memos ready, those are imperative when doing such a large campaign like the one I'm working on. I have been working on revising the press releases and memos based on the meeting I was a part of today with the partner of this campaign. So, even when it looks almost done, there are always revisions! That is what I have been doing most of the day, revising, changing and making sure everything is following the new plan seamlessly!
Refinement
Today, I learned a lot more about refinement when finishing a project. As the last week of my LINK Internship is here, I am now beginning finishing touches to my projects. The newsletters are getting prepped for delivery and the campaign is well on its way to being released to the public. I have been refining my projects today and that is mostly it, all of the work I have done in the past two weeks are now on their final stages and they are being looked over carefully and refined as much as possible. It's really quite a task, it takes a lot of focus and concentration to make everything look good. I will be able to tell you all what the project will be by the time of exhibition, but for now, it's still being refined!
Amazing
Today, I am amazed by what I am capable of getting done in two weeks. From day 1, I knew what project I wanted to do, and now I'm two weeks in and I'm constantly being amazed how much can get accomplished in that time. Never have I done a project that will impact so much people, in just two weeks. And you know what's amazing? I really feel like I'm a part of this company, just by making an impression to the people I meet and the tasks I accomplish. I was told today that one of the newsletters I created for Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory brought had a huge response, and helped them with their online business. That is what makes me feel like I have accomplished something. I created something that gave the company a boost in business and made people recognize more of the RMCF products available online. With the large project in full swing, I can tell you all now, this is going to be epic.
Collaboration
Today, I have learned the importance of collaboration in a large project. I noticed, that when I collaborate with my mentor about any questions I might have, I will do better on what I'm working on. It's a really important thing, no one can run a company without it, let alone get projects done. Collaboration has played a large role in making this project a success. What is really great about collaboration is, person to person interaction. E-mails are great and all, but when you are talking directly to another person, you can get so much more across than in an e-mail. Which is wonderful for those spur of the moment ideas that can change a project. I have been meeting with my mentor whenever I have questions and I am really benefiting from those meetings, I have been able to gain further knowledge of how to word certain aspects of a corporate memo I am writing. I am learning how to write a paper for a professional situation, and I know that the benefit of collaboration is helping me learn.
The Oil That Runs the Machine
Today, I have been working a lot on the groundwork of my project. One thing that is rarely seen in a finished marketing product is the large amount of work that needs to be done before it can be seen by public eyes. I am really amazed how much work something can take, even if it seems like a simple project. Groundwork has to be done in ways that is thorough and easy to understand. Many people seem to overlook this key concept to success. Everything needs to be thought through completely, everything that is being done cannot have any more room for refinement (I know that's almost impossible, but in a situation where you are giving information for the rest of a company to follow, it needs to be perfect). I don't think I have appreciated that aspect until recently when I have been working on those details. I am really happy to be involved with Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and being able to work on this project with my mentor, getting to know how marketing works. It's really interesting and I'm really glad that I have the opportunity to work at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and being able to be involved with the projects as well.
Creating a Promotion
Today, I learned how to pay attention to small details that can be easily overlooked, such as, if I am starting a promotion to go to franchises around the country, how will those separate stores know what to do? Well, there has to be directions to follow that are easy to understand and can answer any question they may have. For example, if someone who owned a franchise store wanted to know what to sell during a promotion and when to sell it, they can look at the directions to help run their store under the guidelines the company provides. I have been working out those details with my mentor and we are making progress. Also, I have been working on more newsletters! I have been working with the colors the company wants for the certain promotion and the pictures that go along with the promotion. From there, it is refined and perfected and it can be sent out! Overall, the project is making progress and I know it will be great!
Achieve
Today, I have completed a lot. I have my first newsletter going out to the public on Thursday! For this one simple newsletter, it sure took a lot of refinement before it got to a point where it can be published. That taught me a lot, I now know how important it is for something to be refined, especially in a larger company. Also, I am doing so much more work on getting my larger project done. I know now that I will be able to reveal what it is sometime next week. I have also spent more time preparing for both my mentor interview and my exhibition project. I have kept busy and I'm achieving a lot. Being that I've achieved a lot, I am going to end this post with a quote by Richard Simmons - "Believe to Achieve!"
Accomplishment
Here I am, one week in. I am amazed by the amount of work that was done this week. I am proud of my work that I have done and I can't emphasize enough how excited I am to show everyone the finished project. Until I have finished the press release, no one can know about the project. But I promise that as soon as the press release has been released, I will let everyone know what it will be. This week has been a time for learning and a time for working hard, but now that this week is over, I am looking past the difficult work and I am now seeing the huge potential this project has. Overall, it has been a great week and I'm really happy with the progress that is being made.
Through the Eyes of Marketing
Today I learned about the complex inner mechanics of how marketing works in a large company. I am finishing up the newsletter lineup and getting more focused on my secret project (I can't tell anyone what it is yet) and that is now beginning to come together nicely and I can't wait to show everyone at the exhibition! I have been doing a lot of planning and groundwork alongside my mentor, she has really helped me through the process of understanding how marketing works. That is a huge part of getting the project started, knowing exactly how to market a promotion, so when people see it, they know right away what it's for. That is a lot of what I did today, plan, plan, plan and lots of revisions both on the newsletters and on the secret project. The revision process is both a tedious and rewarding task, and I have been really enjoying my time planning both the project and the newsletters.
Perseverance
Today I learned the value of perseverance. I have had a couple of changes happen to my project since yesterday and I will have to re-think some of my original ideas. Along with that, I have also had to do many refinements to another project I have taken on, which is creating a lineup of newsletters which will be sent to national subscribers. I am responsible for getting those ready, which the lineup goes from now until Mother's Day. There is a lot more that goes into a newsletter than you might think. For example, when you make a newsletter, you need to get inside the mind of the reader, if it's too long, you may get bored reading it, if the colors clash, you may not want to read it and if the message is not quick and to the point, it can become confusing for people. Making newsletters are fun and also challenging, I have really enjoyed the process of making them, adding my creative touch to the internship.
Progress
Today, I learned a lot about why organizing large projects can be a piece of work! My project is in its early stages and growing fast. Although I can't tell anyone what I'm doing quite yet, I know that by the time we get closer to the LINK exhibition, everyone will know what my project is. All I can tell you is, it will be actively online and everyone can participate! I can't wait! Although, the process in which I am preparing the project is tedious and it requires a lot of sitting at my desk and strategizing the steps I need to take and the steps the company needs to take in order for this project to be fulfilled. All in all, it was a great day and I look forward to getting more done on the project.
First Day
Today was my very first day as an intern at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, and it was a blast! I have never been in a job position before so this was a learning curve for me, such as, learning how to act in offices and how to use company equipment and software. I was oriented with parts of the building I hadn't been to before and I learned a lot about the chocolate making processes along with how they work as a company. It was great to work with new people and get to be in a position where I can lead a project and accomplish something outside of the academic world. Part of that being, my final project. It is still being developed, but I know that it will be great!