BRC Internship: Day 3
Today was a productive day even though the person I generally work with was out; he came in this morning and was having this weird allergic reaction, so he left after an hour or two to go to the doctor. As far as I know, he is doing okay, so hopefully he’ll be back tomorrow.
Before he left, he showed me how to put together the sample boxes that we send out to bloggers, webmasters, potential clients, celebrities, etc. Yes, celebrities. I was sitting at my station when I noticed a box on the desk with some sample chips and a piece of paper that had a famous celebrity chef’s name on it. I asked him about it and he told me that they didn’t want to pay for the overseas shipping, since he was currently in England (hint, hint…), but that he does call up agents for celebrities to see about sending out samples. I thought that was so cool!!!! I actually might influence them tomorrow to spring for the shipping. Come on, if this particular chef is really doing a lot to get healthy snacks into schools everywhere (another hint, oops) and, better yet, if he likes them… zomg, that would just be cool.
After that, I was assigned to work with the person who is in charge of the bookkeeping (managing the accounts, doing payroll, making invoices, processing the orders, etc.) and she is great, a real hard worker; I had a lot of fun talking and working with her today. She let me call some clients to follow up on invoices that have been open for more than 30 days. After I was done with that list and was able to secure payment from two clients who sent checks out in the mail today, I started at the top of the clients list and worked my way down, calling to make sure their contact information was up to date and asking if they had additional information (website, Twitter account, Facebook page) to add to our records.
During those calls – and most people were so friendly! – I spoke with one person who was able to give me some really great information. She gave me the names of two potential contacts in Sarasota and Des Moines, two places where we don’t have a lot of stores and contacts yet, and told me to take a look at their raw food Meetup.com groups, both of which are very active in their respective areas. She also told me that the one person actually received a sample package of chips that we sent out and wrote (or might write) an article about the company that will be published in Purely Delicious magazine, a popular raw foods magazine. While researching the other day, I actually came across that magazine and jotted down some information to see if we could get an article written, so that was really great news to hear. The founder and other employees were really happy to hear that, and the founder himself actually might call her to talk about it with her. We’re all interested to see the article and the magazine, so I hope she comes through and gets it to us.
Part of my job is to be on the lookout for potential guest bloggers and webmasters/bloggers that we can send sample boxes to for them to try and write reviews about on their sites. There was an individual today who emailed me, expressing interest in sampling the chips and writing a review about them on her blog. Apparently someone contacted her before about that and I unknowingly got in touch with her again, so she emailed me and brought it up. I replied and asked for some information so we can send samples out to her, hopefully tomorrow if she gets back to me soon. Oh yeah, for stuff related to this business and commenting on blogs, I signed up for a new email account with Gmail on Monday when I started. I got a forwarding address from the business’ domain: anna@bradsrawchips.com. (It’s so great that I have yet another email account to try and check daily… *sarcasm*)
Speaking of bloggers, if anyone who reads my blog is a vegan, vegetarian, or raw food enthusiast; a person who really likes vegetables and stuff made with vegetables; a person who is looking for healthy snacks for their kids, or him/herself; or a person who simply likes to try new and different things, leave a comment or shoot me an email at that above address with your name and website/blog URL. We’re really looking to get the word out more, especially in areas where we might not have a strong presence. Chances are pretty good that if you contact me at that email address in the next few weeks, I will check out your site and maybe contact you about sending you some chips to sample and review.
While all of this was going on, a TV crew came in today to speak with Brad about him and his company. Apparently they were from a local news station, but I didn’t recognize the channel name. Most of us stayed in the back and just did our work. Brad, on the other hand and as founder of the company, soaked up the limelight and entertained them by showing them the chip-making process, stopping to visit everyone at their stations, and explaining his history and how he came up with the idea of the company.
So tomorrow is another day with more to come, I’m sure. Hard to believe the week is almost over. I think these next few weeks are going to come and go fast.
Internship 
June 23, 2010 8:04 pm
