I was thrilled when I received the news that I would be the marketing intern at Whizbang Ideas.  Just from my interview, I loved the atmosphere; dog friendly and easygoing.

Before I interned here, I believed that I would want to work for a large corporation in the future, but interning at Whizbang, has definitely changed my mind about that.  I enjoy knowing and working closely with my co-workers.  I also feel that working in a smaller environment has made it easier to learn new things.  There is always something to do, which is good for me because I like to stay busy.

I have been learning a lot of things about marketing and what Whizbang Ideas/Recipe does for companies.  Before this internship, I never thought of how much goes into starting and maintaining a business.  There are so many different aspects, such as looking up data on competitors, creating a name/brand, developing a company logo, having social media, and much, much more.

I am very thankful I have had the opportunity to intern here and I believe that this internship has given me a lot of new knowledge that I will utilize in the future.

As the email about Whizbang’s Cadet Program came through my inbox I was both excited and intrigued. My mom always told me that internships are what set you apart, internships are what get you references, and internships are what help you get your foot in the door. They’re an insight into what the “real” world expects of you and what you can expect from it. They also allow you to find what your real passion is and what you would rather not do again.

I had never really absorbed the importance of them until this past summer, which is why I jumped on the opportunity at becoming a Social Media/PR intern at Whizbang.  Here at Whizbang, it is evident that both Frank and Ellen have found their passion providing high quality marketing services to San Luis Obispo and the surrounding areas. As I come to the end of my experiences here, I can say that I will truly miss everyone here, including the furry, four-legged counterparts Roscoe, Duke and Coco.

The atmosphere at Whizbang is one of nonconforming, imaginative, free thought. It’s a family full of Macs (which I had to get used to using as I am a PC person), oversized wine glasses, forks and spoons, where the stuffy suit corporate world meets the SLO life. As I come down to my last few weeks here the most important thing I have learned is you have to love where you work and most importantly what you are doing.

If you try to make something fit just for the money or geographical location, or any other reason, you just won’t get the end result you were hoping for. Having passions in life and finding them is the greatest reward a person can reap. So I am off in search of my passion, but I am a few steps closer thanks to Whizbang.

While it may be a month into my adventure in the wonderful world of Whizbang, as a design intern I’m still in progress. Not only in the myriad of my projects, from logo development to illustration to Facebook tab design, but in the progress of becoming a full-fledged designer.

Interning as I see it, is an insight into what the real world expects from you, and also into what you’re expecting from the world. Whizbang is untraditional, open, dog-friendly, and most of all, creative. I meanwhile, am straight-forward, analytical, aestheticly driven, and artistic.

The creative is our commonality and what drew me to Whizbang. Is it everything I’m looking for in a company? I don’t know, I’m still figuring that out. What I do know is that this experience has been valuable to me in my exploration of design, and I will always remember being a part of the Whizbang crew. Everyone is at a different stage of life, and I myself have taken steps forward… I like where I’m heading.

When I first got the news that I would be the newest intern at Whizbang for the summer, I was extremely happy… this happiness didn’t just stem from the fact that I desperately needed something to do during my summer days, but more so because I was actually going to be getting my first internship at a real company!

The working environment at Whizbang is unlike any I had ever seen.  I had never heard of dogs coming to work on a daily basis, but it was pretty darn cool! Although it may appear as a relaxed open environment with dogs everywhere, everyone is definitely busy at work as if they were in their own cubicle.

My first project I started working on was a self-promotion mailer for Whizbang’s food and beverage division, Recipe.  This was more secretarial work, but definitely a good learning experience.  My first challenge came when I could not figure out how to mail merge.  This was definitely the most frustrating task because I was so close to getting it after 3 hours of searching! Thanks to Whizbang’s office manager, I was able to figure it out and she showed me how to do it for further reference.

My second assignment was quite a jump from my first, it required me to actually work on a marketing plan for a real company… Bonipak! To kick it off, I started working on the competitive analysis, which was pretty fun to do.  But, the coolest part was actually going to Bonipak in Santa Maria and sitting in on a meeting and sharing my findings with them. After the competitive analysis section was done with, my next project was to do the market needs and market segment section. These sections definitely were a little more challenging, they required a ton of research, but at least I found it to be somewhat interesting! Luckily, other Whizbangers were there to answer any questions I had which made me feel way more comfortable. Overall, I pretty much just took my experience working on the Bonipak marketing plan as if it were for school, considering that in the fall I would be working on my first business plan and need all the knowledge I could get!

My internship ended on September 14, right in time to start my last quarter of college! I had a great experience here at Whizbang.  It has been very cool to have been able to put my knowledge I’ve learned in college to use on real life projects.  I’m definitely going to miss everyone and won’t forget about all the dog licking from Duke.

At first glance, Whizbang looks like an ideal creative space for any aspiring designer — an open room sans-cubicles, dogs lazing around the office, Mac computers. Ah, how lovely this place looked to me — a third year graphic communications student and hopeful web designer. “Macs!” I thought. “They have Macs!”

Yet within a few days, I was slapped in the face with what was a real job. Inspiration from the trendy environment was replaced with pressure to impress my superiors and the client; I needed to adjust fast.

In college, grades are the final frontier — we work on projects for a few weeks, try our best to perfect them, and end up with a grade and maybe a portfolio piece. And if you don’t achieve the grade you’re looking for, no worries! Just make up for it on the midterm.

Here is where the transition (and anxiety) ensues: grades become client approval, and there’s no option to settle for a B. Kiss mediocrity goodbye, and let the pressure settle in.

After a few anxious phone calls to my mommy and hugs and kisses from my boyfriend, I realized that I had to adjust to my new job; after all, I wanted to get the most out of this experience and make a good impression. So one morning, I went to a coffee shop and worked on my first Whizbang project for hours. After a few cups of coffee, I was pretty satisfied with my work. And, to my delight, the client loved it!

Alas, fellow students, here is my advice: Get an internship. That’s it — just do it. No matter what it is, you’ll learn something valuable about how a workplace functions.

I don’t know if Frank knows this, but I tend to ease drop on a lot of his conversations. Sometimes you can’t avoid hearing what he has to say (he yells here and there), other times you have to strain your ears to piece together what he’s muttering to himself. I haven’t known Frank long, but the guy is crazy.

Ironically he reminds me of a guy at Smart and Final while taking my two full trash bags of cans to the recycle center on a windy Friday afternoon. He has a brushy, wooly, coarse beard. His hands tanned and leathered, green eyes half sunken in. His voice is stark, a little raspy. His name is Christopher. He looks kind of crazy.

It was nearing closing time and people continued to arrive with recycling. He had to start turning them away, and he felt guilty having to do so. “I’m sorry we’re closed, I didn’t get out of here until dark yesterday. I’m sorry sir, thank you for your patronage, thank you.” He really appreciated everyone taking the time to properly recycle. “Jose brings about a thousand pounds of glass to me every weekend. He already brought me about a thousand pounds this morning”.

I was the last, lucky group of seven: A leathered man and his pack loaded- sun tried bicycles, a latin mother, father, and their son chasing escaped cans taunted by the wind. The bald 40-something year old Harley Davidson rider who points out every good looking girl who walks by. Jose, the recycle center regular who guards his mountain of cans and plastic; all interacting within this incentive based recycle program, patiently waiting for their ticket for the extra cash.

How does Christopher remind me of Frank? Well for one, they both have that Star Wars Jedi-depth look in their eyes when they blankly stare at you. They both smell a little like dog (just kidding Frank, labs are naturally really oily), and they’re both crazy. Comparing and contrasting Frank and Christopher prompted me look closer at how I develop my own perceptions of people, places, emotions…etc, and further reflect on how these perceptions shape my experiences. Acknowledge why they seem crazy to you. Confront yourself why you’re uncomfortable. I argue flirting with the fine line between street crazy and professional crazy holds value to creative thinking. Crazy is hostile. Crazy is volatile. Crazy makes you look. Crazy makes you listen. You just have to pick the good crazy from the bad, which is subject to an infinite set of variables largely associated with time, culture, and context.

Generally most businesses react to weird, wild, and crazy as threats. Whizbang sees them as comets entering the atmosphere, comprised extra-terrestial compounds that offer potential to new discoveries, links, and ideas. Whizbang encourages outlandish ideas and honest feedback; reinforced by the creative staff and methodology of assessment, idea generation, development, and deployment.

Humor never fully circulates out of the office, and Frank’s pranks and stories theme my days at the office. The creative soil at Whizbang has made me more passionate about my projects, more prone to ask questions, and more adept in how to approach and solve problems. If I were to imagine an appropriate portrait for Whizbang, it’d be a cartoon collage of Frank, Ellen, Duke, and Rosco: Star Wars movie poster style, all gazing in opposing directions under a full moon with a piercing rocket on fire entering the atmosphere. The caption would say, “Let’s Get Weird”.

Before interning at Whizbang’s food and beverage division, Recipe, I already had some experience with food and wine. I love drinking and eating. No, just kidding. I actually did have real experience in the industry. At my last internship I did PR for small restaurant and wine business in downtown SLO. After finishing up there in March, I realized that as much as I have learned about wine and great food, I still craved working in a big, fat agency setting with the goal of moving to LA after graduation in mind. You know, yelling over phones ringing, running around, and meeting deadlines. Sign me up.

Ironically after meeting with Ellen to discuss my internship, Winesday© fell right into my lap. Recipe’s online virtual wine tasting event was my next project and, although I didn’t think I would want to look at another wine, I was excited. I knew I had experience doing similar projects at my last internship and was prepared to take on the job. At least I thought I was prepared.

The first few weeks were a little different than I expected. Two black labs jumping and licking you and a little barking ball of fuzz, Roscoe, probably aren’t found in traditional marketing agencies in the big city. Even though I still can’t tell Humphrey and Duke apart, the dogs are part of what makes this office so fun. Last week, as we all said our goodbyes to Caitlyn, our project coordinator, we opened our bottle of wine for Winesday early. (Side note: I’ve found that drinking on the job is very helpful during the creative process.) As I sipped on the delicious Sauvignon Blanc I realized that I really knew wine. Then, it hit me. Am I a wine expert? I have had two internships with the main focus being wine. I can officially tell the difference between two-buck Chuck and an aged Rhone from Paso.

I ended up getting exactly what I wanted from this internship. I experienced the things I wanted to in a more-than-crazy environment. I heard yelling over phones ringing. I ran downtown and picked up our Winesday bottle each Wedneday. I also got a reality check. Maybe I don’t want to work in a big, fat agency setting­­­­, unless I can bring my dog and my wine.

When I first interviewed at Whizbang four months ago to become an intern, I was intrigued by the foosball table, endless supplies of Coke and Reese’s Pieces, and their three furry companions.  My real focus and motivation was to gain some marketing knowledge, but Frank swears that the fun and games are what really drew me in.  I learned quickly that while the atmosphere is light and cheery, it’s not all fun and games all the time at Whizbang Marketing Firm.

My first day on the job was routine: office tour (the foosball table went MIA and the Reese’s Pieces looked a little low since my last visit), staff and four legged friend introductions, employee handbook, confidentiality agreements, then WHAM! Caitlyn, my own personal Commander-in-Chief, gave me my assignment. My task: Create an entire marketing plan for a REAL company.

Are they crazy? Did they really just give all that responsibility to a 2^nd year agribusiness student?

Needless to say I left that day a little overwhelmed.

Luckily, Caitlyn was right there by my side through the entire ten weeks.  She was instrumental in helping me complete my marketing plan for Kingsbury Gardens and LavMANder.

In those ten weeks I became a lavender aficionado, learning all that is lavender.  I can probably name every lavender company within a 500 mile radius and tell you all of lavender’s wonderful uses.

While my focus was on the marketing plan, I did get to take a field trip with Charity and Ellen to Bonipak for a client meeting.  My future plans are to go into produce marketing, so it was a step in the right direction.

Ten weeks doesn’t make me an expert in marketing, but here are some of the things that I took away from this experience:

1. Take advantage of every opportunity.
2. Think critically. Everything happens for a reason.
3. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, especially when you know nothing.
4. Have confidence in your abilities.  They hired you because they believe in you.

And finally…

5.  If you bring any fast food into Whizbang, buy extra fries for Frank (it’s a rule).

I began my adventure at Whizbang as a meek cadet, lacking “real world” agency marketing experience.  Now, over a year later I have grown up, received my stripes and acquired a few cadets of my own.

Since I benefited greatly from my internship at Whizbang, I wanted my interns’ experience at Whizbang to be more than filing and coffee runs. I oversaw their work on marketing plans; however, I didn’t realize that this would be a learning experience for me too.

Overseeing interns required some teaching on my part – I explained Whizbang’s approach to marketing plans, and defined each aspect of the plans.  Since I have been working on marketing plans for a significant period of time, teaching someone new about specific parts of a marketing plan forced me to reexamine why I would recommend certain approaches.

Moving up in the ranks and instructing interns of my own gave me a sense of accomplishment, but this adventure of teaching the cadets surprised me because it provided me with greater insights about my own projects.

From my experience, Facebook is typically used in three different ways:

1. To stay connected with friends.
2. As a form of procrastination.
3. A tool for stalking people.

As one of the early adopters having been active on Facebook since it was exclusive to universities, I’ve always used Facebook to stay connected with friends.  Throughout college I found myself on Facebook instead of studying for a test.  Or occasionally “Facebook stalking” an acquaintance’s photo albums for a solid 45 minutes, just out of curiosity.  Knowing these habits exist, I’ve always made sure to set all the maximum privacy settings to protect my personal information.

So what does it mean when your boss begs you to friend her on Facebook?  Well first off, you can’t deny her – so it’s time to step up and add your boss on Facebook.  But secondly, it means that Facebook’s privacy settings actually work – so well that my boss, a Facebook expert, can’t even find me on Facebook.

I believe that my boss wanted to friend me, solely for the purpose of being friends, since you’re not really friends until it’s Facebook Official.  However, I can see the benefits it provides a boss to friend their employees.  For one, you can have more of a personal connection with your employees.  And secondly, it notifies you if your employees are procrastinating during work hours since their activity shows up in your newsfeed and Facebook puts a time stamp on everything.  My boss definitely did it for reason #1.