My internship began the first week of July, and is coming to a close this week. It has been an outstanding experience. While applying for internships this past spring, I was searching for one that would provide me with a well rounded, yet in-depth business experience with an accomplished Wabash Alum. I'm glad to be sitting here in August, with classes right around the corner, knowing that the internship I completed proved to be everything I was hoping for and more.

 

The work in which I was involved reached across the spectrum of business activity. I began by learning about the company. This included reading Mr. Shelton's extensive business plan, learning about the product, and speaking with Mr. Shelton about the company's current and future objectives. I was happy to hear that marketing was going to be a large part of my internship, as marketing is the part of business operations that interests me the most. Mr. Shelton taught me an enormous amount about SEO, otherwise known as search engine optimization. I've spent a great deal of time throughout this internship learning about the online tools that are available to search engine optimize, and utilizing them with Mr. Shelton to ensure that the company's search engine keywords are most authentically representing the company and its product, as well as most efficiently attracting the best group and of consumers to the website. Factors that we use to determine this efficiency include online consumer intention (OCI), cost per click (CPC), and global monthly search volume. The knowledge that I have gained from this project and related ones is invaluable marketing knowledge that I will use in the future.

 

Another large part of my internship has been researching and implementing social media marketing techniques. I've learned more about Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter than I ever thought I would. I put together reports on the uses of these social sites for marketing purposes, going especially in-depth with Facebook. A lot of companies are using Facebook Pages to promote their brand today, and the possibilities for brand growth and reinforcement on Facebook are endless. Mr. Shelton and I made a Facebook Page for TrackPack Coolers http://www.facebook.com/trackpackcoolers?ref=ts , and have been exploring the different techniques and tools that are available to reach our demographic and spread our brand awareness. One of the ways we have done this is by promoting fan engagement. We have had a number of fans engage the page and post videos and pictures, which is a good start in the online social media marketing process. Also, many of the companies that have executed successful Facebook Marketing Campaigns have integrated coupons and promotions into their page. Mr. Shelton has updated the page with a coupon code for use at www.trackpackcoolers.com, and the company has had sales in which the Facebook coupon code was used.

 

There were really so many things that I was involved in during my internship, and resultantly so many critical learning experiences. I did retail merchandising store visits to local Kroger stores, organized warehouse inventory, shipped orders using online tools, spoke with potential wholesale buyers, assisted in writing a promotional sales letter, made comparative competitor analysis spreadsheets, learned about website management and development, and sold and promoted at TrackPack Coolers sales events. This internship was absolutely filled with difficult projects. These projects required me to think differently than I would if I was researching a topic in psychology, writing the thesis for a Spanish essay, or solving a tough calculus problem. I had to apply what I had learned about business and marketing through speaking with people, reading, the Marketing Immersion Program, and so many other ways, in an actual business where the decisions needed to be made today and the ideas felt like they needed to be implemented even sooner.   I feel that I have begun to see the big picture of business, and more specifically entrepreneurship. There is so much that is involved. In business, within every task there are subtasks, and within every detail there are sub details. When running your own business, your attention to that detail and those subtasks must be at a high level. Whenever I would have an idea, or begin to solve a problem, Mr. Shelton would remind me of remaining internal and external factors that needed to be considered, and in most cases research and documentation would be necessary before the ideas could be implemented. 

 

The in-depth research, careful planning, drive for knowledge, and extremely hard working attitude that Mr. Shelton practices are several of his keys to success. I have undoubtedly further developed these characteristics, skills, and attitudes in myself over the course of the past 8 weeks. I know that I will be a better Wabash man and a better businessman because of it. My first year as a Wabash student taught me to think outside the box more than I had before, and my first summer as a Wabash student taught me how to think even more outside of the box, how to really utilize my mind and resources to apply knowledge and solve problems.

 

This internship has absolutely given me more business experience and insight than I expected. In many ways, it has gone farther. Mr. Shelton really pulled my mind into the real world of business, entrepreneurship, and life. He showed me where hard work, attention to detail, a desire to learn, and dedication will get you. He just gets it, and by working with someone that utilized their mind and motivation to such a high degree, I am driven to do the same. That's what Wabash men do. Being an entrepreneurial intern this summer, and working with a man that had an idea for success and executed it has motivated me to do the same. I am constantly thinking of new products and services to be offered, or current ones to improve upon. Although I find many of them to be already patented or not as great of ideas as they originally sounded, I won't stop thinking. I shot a lot of ideas at Mr. Shelton this summer, and he just tells me to keep shooting, because that’s how a product is born. If you don't shoot, you'll never score.