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It’s over?!

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

People always say that as you get older time seems to go by quicker and quicker as the years go on, I must be getting old then because I have no clue where the last 16 went! It is hard to even describe what has happened in these last 16 weeks but it seems that so much about myself has grown. When talking with all of my friends from college I said that I learned more in my time here than I did during 4 years of college. They would all laugh about this little “joke” they thought I was telling, but it was the complete truth. Leaving college I had a plethora of environmental knowledge and know how but I had minimal real world business knowledge. This internship has allowed me to learn some of the ins and outs of a small action sports company. This being said I am extremely proud of myself and to date I think this has been my biggest accomplishment in my “career” realm.

If you are interested in working within the action sports world this is the perfect stepping stone for you. This is an internship that will push your boundries and your knowledge, but in the end it is all worth it. You will spend hours setting up your excel sheet and studying for the midterm and final, but you will spend just as much time immersing yourself within the culture of the action sports world at events and outings.

There were moments when I thought I was never going to make it out alive but I stuck with it and pulled through in the end. I would like to thank all my fellow interns that made this an amazing experience and I’d like to congratulate Kyle and Tyler for finishing it off with style!

Thank you to everyone at BambooSK8 that made these last 16 weeks amazing!!

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Seeing Bamboo Everywhere!

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

It is absolutely insane that after this week we only have 2 weeks of the internship left! Although at times everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, the internshio has sped by. I don’t know if bamboo products are becoming more prominient, or if I am just noticing them more these days, but everywhere I turn I seem to see new bamboo products. Yesterday when I was Christmas shopping I came across the “bamboo bottle”. This is actually a really awesome idea they have come up with. It combines the strength and beauty of bamboo with the safety and renewability of glass. I think that it is amzing how bamboo, such a sustainable and renewable, is being utilized for a mulitiute of products in all aspects of our lives. Although it may be a small step, I think that this is definitely progress.

In other notes more related to the internship, we took our final examine this past week. I couldn’t help but think about how much knowledge I have gained during this internship. If someone were to hand me this final 13 weeks ago I would have run for the hills, literally. I had absolutely no knowledge of accounting, finance or even business until this internship. This program has established a foundation that I intend to grow  and develop as time goes on.

Oh, and I got a new tattoo this week which I am absolutely in love with :]

 

 

 

 

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Catalina Wine Mixter

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

I spent the past weekend at an event I never thought I would be at… a sorority informal. I was slightly nervous about this whole situation when my girlfriend invited me but as it turns out the ladies of Kappa Pi Zeta aren’t too shabby, in fact they may be bordering on great! This weekends adventure started off with one night in a hotel in Long Beach preparing ourselves to weather the storm, literally, on Catalina Island.

On Saturday morning we boarded the ferry to travel 2 hours to Catalina at the god awful time of 7 am. I assume everyone had a good boat ride because when I woke up from my Dramamine induced slumber everyone was in good spirits, and slightly tipsy from their morning mimosas. We arrived on the island with only sunny skies and the festivities began, whether it be beer pong or  the hookah people were all enjoying themselves very much. The day progressed and nap time began, but Katie and I decided it would be a much better use of time to play on the swings then go swimming in the icy ocean and retreat to a warm shower. After nearly dying of  frostbite in the freezing ocean we took off towards the showers hopeful we would soon be warmed up. Little did we know warm showers were not an option in our little camp! After many attempts to dry off and warm up we went to dinner with the rest of the gang. As the night progressed everyone became better and better friends and the pictures tell the stories of the night. We woke up the next morning to a threatening storm and we all wondered whether or not the ferry would vernture back out to  pick us up. In the end we were able to get home safe and sound.  All in all, I would say this was an extremely successful weekend : ]

In other news everything with the internship has been going really well. We were having some issues in regards to getting repsonses to emails regarding media contacts so we have done a little revamping in hopes of upping these responses. I think that that one of the tasks I have enjoyed a lot within this last week was creating a list of artists to contact in the hopes of using them to design decks. This has been really cool to see all of the artists that are out there, along with seeing all of the different types of art.

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Week 10

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

This has been a crazy whirl wind experience here at BambooSk8. I am learning so much about business, accounting and improving my person skills. The MPS system has been very good at showing me where I need to make improvements and grade myself on how I am doing while I am working on these areas. One area that I needed to focus a lot on was becoming more courageous and charismatic. I think that I have always been a relatively shy person and this has definitely hindered many of my experiences. I think that through working at events I have been able to break down some of the walls that I previously had around me. Another thing that I needed to work on was my time management, I have always been able to get my work done but many times it took me a lot longer because I didn’t have a system set up to get things done efficiently. I think that laying out a weekly time sheet has helped me to focus my attention and time in a better way.

To me, the midterm was as scary and nerve wrecking as if you told me to go surf Pipeline. I had no clue how to go about it or even where to start. During the weeks prior to the mid term Geoff k and Geoff C were able to assist me and walk me through the different sections of the income and cash flow statements, and why they are important. I ended up getting a good grade on the mid term, definitely refrigerator worthy, and I think that the understanding of this topic is something I will be able to carry with me throughout my life.

 

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Fall Garden and Home Festival

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

After my hectic friday with Jenn I prepared myself for a very eventful weekend promoting Bamboo Buddy! As it turns out the crowd that attends the Fall Garden and Home Festival is a relatively calm one. My day started in the dark at 6 o clock when I had to go pick up the truck full of all the stuff we were bringing to the event. I somehow managed to convince my brother it was a good idea for him to come with me, so he was there to keep me company and help us during the day. We made the hour long trek to El Cajon to set up at the Water Conservation Garden on the Cuyamaca College Campus. We were given a MASSIVE space, 27×12, which let me tell you is not completely easy to fill. We ended up bringing an array of products ranging from bamboo fencing and a tiki bar, to the Bodhi Loka dishware, to the bamboo carbon products to even some sample skateboards. Not only was our space huge, but it was also extremely wet from all of the rain the day before. This caused several issues when we were setting up and I even had to hang from one of the trees and shake it in order to get all the dew drops to fall off. Once our booth was set up the day was about to get much more exciting and much much warmer!

People that walked around were very interested in the Bohdi Loka dishware, and many people wanted to purchase it as soon as possible. My brother and I went to look around the different stations to see what all was going on. The garden section of the event was definitely more geared towards families than the home section, which was where we were located. Austin and I spent a good 15 minutes playing with the puppies at the adoption station and fell in love with one in particular (see picture below). Her name was Marisa and she was an Austrailian Shepherd mix and was absolutely adorable. Let me just tell you, we already have 2 aussie mixes at home and I swear we have the hardest time resisting them. We actually weighed out the pros and cons of bringing home this puppy. In the end we decided that it probably wasn’t a good idea considering we pretty much just came home with our other dogs and our parents weren’t entirely pleased.

After we were able to tear ourselves away from Marisa we headed back to our booth to continuing with the talk of sustainable living with all of the people walking by!!!

 

 

 

Oh, and I won a cool mustache from the vendor across the way…. sexy eh?

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Best.Day.Ever.

Friday, November 4th, 2011

On Friday November 4, Jenn and I embarked on an adventure going down to Kearny Mesa in order to display some of the Bamboo Buddy products on the channel 9 KUSI news. From the beginning of the day we knew it was going to be eventful. When we first got to the station we were met by a locked door and then an adventure trying to get through a barbed wire gate. We were finally able to get into the actual staion where we were met by the immediate kindness and enthusiasm of Shamroc. Shamroc invited us into the news break room where we were “welcome to any bagels we would like.” He then told us we were allowed to bring our car around back so we could unload the tiki bar we had broguht. Jenn and I approached the gate only to discover there was no visible button on the inside of the gate to let us out. Faced with this problem we decided if we made enough movement in front of it the gate would eventually open. We jumped and ran and pulled on the gate only to be met with no results. Suddenly a gardener came around the corner and we flagged him down to ask if he could push the button on the outside of the fence. He looked at us as if we were stupid and informed us very stoically “there is a button on your side, on that box”. After we were able to calm ourselves down after laughing so hard we were able to get and get back into the station to set up.

The other people involved in our segment were all running a little bit late and arrived only 10 minutes prior to the airing time! This caused mass havoic as everyone scrambled to set up and determine who was going to be talking. To top all of this off, there was a goat. Yes, you heard me correctly a goat named Melly was also going to star in the segment. Oh, and to top it all off it was raining.

BUT, in the end, the news segment was a success and our tiki bar got awesome exposure (as it served as the table for a smoothie and food demonstrations).

After the news segment successfully wrapped up Jenn and I took off on another mission. We were to pick up some bamboo boards from a printer in Mira Mar. This was a seemingly simple task but it was turning out that with us nothing would be. When we arrived at what we thought was the warehouse we walked in and politely asked for Frank. Two men were standing together and one of them turned to the other and asked “do you wanna be Frank today?” After some joking around between the two men they revealed to us that they were a school and they had no clue where we would be picking up the boards. We were finally able to located Frank at the warehouse directly next door and obtain the order of bamboo boards. But, have no fear it wasn’t a simple process. Frank started to ask us questions about whether or not we were taking all of the boards or leaving some for later. Figuring out what he was saying was not an easy task. Neither Jenn nor I were very good at understanding people with accents, and Frank’s was extremely thick.

We were beginning to discover that every trip this day would be slightly out of the ordinary, but that’s what keeps life exciting right?

 

Oh, and this is Shamroc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Lesson on Leadership

Monday, October 24th, 2011

 Every week each intern sits down with their mentor to discuss different aspects of the company and of being a part of any company. Last week Geoff and I discussed leadership and management. From these discussions I learned there is a very big difference between a leader and manager. Management is the discipline of getting things done right, while leadership is doing what is right for the good of the organization. Anyone can be a manager, all they need to do is follow the simple steps that are laid out on paper. Not everyone can be a leader, or has it in themselves to be a leader, because it requires  more than the ability to follow steps and rules, it requires a vision.

Leaders work to get people to believe in their ideas and what they will become. They do not sit out their high horse and dish out jobs to their employees. Instead they immerse themselves in the company and get to know the employees. They focus on communicating their vision with their employees, tying customer benefits to employee contributions, linking working to results and instilling passion in their employees.

Leadership is essential for all companies to grow into a successful business. Through this internship I am learning about how different leaders approach running a company and what is most effective.

 

 

 

 

 

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How is it already week 6?!?!

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

They weren’t lying when they said time flies when you’re having fun! These last few weeks have been a crazy experience, one I wouldn’t change for anything. These last few weeks have been a crash course in everything that I DIDN’T study in college. After spending four years immersed in environmental studies and sciences, the PR world feels like a completely different planet. I finally am starting to feel confident with everything that I am taking on and I hope that I will only be able to learn and experience more in my time here at BambooSK8.

Several weeks ago, at the Rerip Surf Contest in Cardiff by the Sea, my girlfriend Katie purchased a 42″ Double Kick Tsunami deck from our booth. She has grown up longboarding the hills of Oregon and was hesitant to give up her Sector 9 ways, but she loved what the boards stood for so she took a chance. Since then a day rarely passes that she doesn’t ride her bamboo board, whether its to lacrosse practice or just to class. She still attends the University of Redlands and has noticed that her board has been getting a lot of attention around campus these days.  People have asked questions about it and she has stepped up as a spokesperson, of sorts, in Redlands.

Each new rider that chooses bamboo over maple is becoming an advocate for our decks, taking on the responsibility to share their knowledge, their expereinces and their love for bamboo!!

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Grade Your Green-ness!

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

As we come to the close of week 4, it’s becoming more and more apparent that there is a whole world hidden behind the small front of a
skateboard company. One of my big projects is to work with the Outdoor IndustryAssociation and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition on creating an Eco Index for the BambooSK8 company as a whole. This is essentially a program on which we are able to score and grade how “green” our company actually is. This is a program that is still in very early stages and is still going through pilot test programs, which we are lucky enough to be a part of.

There are many different levels and sectors in which this index can be used, whether it be for a specific product or a company as a whole. As this program progresses and becomes more fine tuned, its uses will become apparent. Companies will strive to be a part of this program, because
people will understand and value the power of being eco conscious.

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The Wonderful World of Bamboo

Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

After graduating from the University of Redlands, with a degree in Environmental Studies, I thought I had my life all planned out. I was going to join the Peace Corps at the end of August 2011 and serve for 27 months in Nicaragua where I would be working with their current school system in setting up an environmental education program. The process of applying, interviewing and a whole lot of waiting took about a year and a half. During this long period life began to change a bit, which it tends to do whether you want it to or not, and I came to the conclusion that I no longer had my heart in the task at hand and kindly declined my invitation. It felt as if a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. This sense of peace was only momentary though because I began to realize that my life, which seemed to have a plan previously, had absolutely no direction. This is where my search for opportunities in my general area began.

I knew I wanted to focus on looking for a company that had environmental values and focuses similar to my own. I stumbled upon BambooSk8 when searching eco-conscious businesses in the San Diego County.  In the recent years it has been increasingly apparent that being “green” is no longer a trend but a necessity, that all people need to focus on. BambooSk8 is an extremely one of a kind company that is bringing to necessity of being environmentally friendly to the skate world. Bringing together two realms and proving that all  people from all walks of life can make changes in order to help our planet. I am very excited to be a part of BambooSk8 and I look forward to learning everything I can from the four amazing months in my future!

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