Like an onion, peeling does not end for internship
My name is Yeeun Oh and I had one of the most marvelous opportunities to intern at iBluein over the past five months. As an advertising student, double tracking in art direction and account management, working at a small firm opened up a new view to the working field for me. I will never forget the first day of my internship at iBluein, which was in early November. As soon as I reported to the office, Joshua Kim, who is in charge of the business department of iBluein, took me with him to sales meeting. We were to sell advertising spot on our main website, www.ibluein.com., to local pizza store. The website is for Korean community in Philadelphia-offering Korean restaurants and business in Philly and their information, with Korean related news as well.
Although I cannot say I was not nervous at all, feeling of excitement, to gain a real world experience, overwhelmed my body. Unfortunately, the sales meeting was not very successful yet I learned and gained living experiences with practical skills about how to convince and sell myself to the opponent—it is totally different than indirect experience earned just by reading the book. After the first sales meeting, I often ask myself to practice how to sell and make others to realize the need for product.
Other than going out for sales meeting and cold calls, for entire month of March, I had an extra ordinary experience of posting flyers to Korean market bulletins. This experience helped me to develop actual sense of market size and the feel about real target audiences. On top of Google Analytics, this direct experience that I had under my skin aided me when I had to manage budgets and price sheets on account management plan for new launching service at iBluein, Business QR Code Service.
While we try to chase and reach to what others want as the first one, we easily forget about the fact that we have to think in consumer’s shoes first. Working my internship at iBluein gave me this great habit to continuously think about how to improve business for company. Through countless cold calls and communication skills within them, I witnessed a huge opportunity in advertising market. This internship found me unexpected yet fun aspects about advertising field. Learning again about what I’ve learned in the book with real experiences taught me unforgettable and valuable lessons.
