Skate Blog Intern Blog

It doesn’t seem possible that it has already been 8 weeks since I first stepped foot into the office to start this challenging journey here at BambooSk8. From that first day until now, it has been anything but easy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. There have been a few times I have wondered “what have I gotten myself into??” But with the support of an amazing team and some pretty awesome mentors guiding us along the way, it is all coming together piece by piece.
I think it’s safe to say that this week has been pretty hectic, to say the least. From frantically trying to meet our goals for week 8 to preparing ourselves for our midterm, I am more than looking forward to jumping into week 9. ”When the going gets tough, the tough get going”.
Geoff and Mark are continuing to push us to our limits and, let me tell you, doing a great job with it! This continues to be one of the greatest learning experiences I have had the privilege of being a part of, and am doing my best to take full advantage of it!
This weekend is the 3rd contest of the O.G. Jam Series, which will be held in Santa Monica at Cove Skate Park. I am hoping to get some free time so I can make it down there, because the last stop in Simi Valley was ridiculous! Big thanks to our PR team Oliver and Virva for getting us into these awesome events!

Until next time,

Travis

WOO HOO! We’ve reached the halfway point in this race! What a crazy two weeks it has been since the previous post, as quite a lot has happened!

A Day for Dad in Carlsbad has come and gone, which Oliver, Gavin and myself attended. It was unfortunately not very populated, but the weather was gorgeous and we got to speak to some great people and spread the word about BambooSK8.

 The following week, Corey, Mark, Geoff and myself all attended Thief Presents’ Psychotropic Summer art/music show, featuring local bands from San Francisco. It was a new experience for all of us, but a ton of fun, too! Of course, Panda made two appearances; courtesy of Corey and myself—our debut performance in the Panda suit. I wasn’t prepared for just how impaired our vision would be in that thing (and also how HOT), but we managed to guide each other through the crowd while capturing some great pictures. I was so glad Corey was there—in addition to playing a blind panda, I am not sure how I would have survived the bludgeoning I endured from the overly-enthusiastic (and probably ‘chemically enhanced’) attendees! “WHOOOOAA! IS THAT A PANDA?! LET’S HIT IT!”

Aside from events, this was also the week of the Midterm. I can speak for all of us that we are SO very glad it is over with. I know as a class we are very proud and worked very hard to earn our respective scores, even if we did meet a sleepless night or two.  Good marks aside, I can honestly say I am pleased with the vast amount of knowledge I have acquired in the process; for I know it will be tremendously useful in the future regardless of what industry I may find myself in!

Next week I am most looking forward to us having an “out of the office” office day. Since most of us are spread out here in SoCal, we have all decided to meet in Newport at a local cafe, since it is equidistant for most of us. It is going to be a fun yet productive day, where we can enjoy the close proximity of each other, delight in the outdoors and become supremely caffeinated! It’s going to be great!

As for the next 8 weeks, I am ready to embrace what new challenges await us. I know there are going to be some major changes in the program in addition to more tasks and goals that need to be completed. We all have done so much work and are anticipating even more ahead of us. For the second half of this internship, I am sure the depths of our limits will become even more palpable. After all, let us not forget it is summer…. and we’re about to feel a heat wave.

So quickly we are approaching the half way point here. With so much going on it has definitely been busy in the past two weeks. Just a week and half ago I had to get my appendix removed so the last week was really a push for me while trying to get back to normal. That seems like a month ago already! All the interns seem really focused and more comfortable with the things we have going on, the new affect of the internship has worn off. This experience is truly extending any existing business knowledge that I had by far! Well we have made it to the half way point, and I’m certain we’re all about to turn it up in the second half. It is still a goal of mine in the next 8 weeks to drive down to Oceanside area and put some faces with some names. Sometimes you just need to get up and go outside.

So, we’ve been involved in this internship for about a month and a half. The tasks and assignments expected of us are becoming more familiar everyday. Naturally, with familiarity comes efficiency. It’s becoming apparent that we are becoming more efficient at completing our tasks, managing our time and working together as a team. There is that delicate balance that exists between people when they find their natural rhythm in their interactions. I can feel us getting closer to reaching that equilibrium; as we shift our actions and communications from one side to the other. It’s quite exciting!

This week, 4 of the 6 of us made it into the office on Tuesday. It was such a fantastic day full of productivity. Corey, Oliver, Nick and myself were able to work on our commitments individually and collectively, as well as had an AWESOME brainstorming session for campaign ideas. We were bouncing off ideas of each other and really gained a nice momentum. This really got the perpetual hamster wheel turning for me, as never before had I needed to contribute ideas related to marketing. For me, it was like my hamster ditched his wheel and was allowed to explore the foreign territory outside the comfort of his wheel–fully utilizing the majesties associated with plastic-ball travel! In the end, I think we all were very proud of what we were able to contribute and produce. HOORAH!

After a long hard day, we decided to take advantage of the close (and rare) proximity to each other and had a mini group-bonding session at Norte Cantina. Taco Tuesday will never be the same! The session consisted of relieving a lot of stress, some stellar analogies contributed by Nick and laughing a ton while washing it down with some awesome drink and taco specials. We all had a blast and only wish the other two interns, Jacob and Travis, could have joined us.

In addition to the usual activities and group bonding session, we were also faced with a formidable opponent—the midterm practice exam. Yikes! Talk about a daunting and tedious task, especially to those of us who never (and I mean never) had taken any kind of business/accounting/finance class. Many, many hours were devoted to reading over the prep provided to us by Geoff, in addition to creating the excel file itself. Despite the many hours consumed by the task and the many whoopee pies consumed by me,

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I honestly enjoyed it. I learned SO much! In a 48-hour period, I learned a TON about finance and accounting. So many different variables go into managing cash flow and income statements for a small business; I can only begin to imagine the magnitude of these on a corporate scale! Whether my sheet is flawless, has yet to be determined, but I feel so very proud of myself. It’s like one of those problems you encounter in Calc 3 or DiffEQ: one problem could honestly take hours and pages to solve, but when you do and you see the bigger picture, it’s truly glorious!

In addition to my excitement of Accounting 101, I am also excited for our event tomorrow in Carlsbad Village. It’s the “A Day for Dad” event, and Oliver and myself are going to attend. Go Team PR! I’m excited to lead this event as a team, to educate the public about BambooSK8, sell some decks, see some great art, listen to some live music and meet a lot of people. We will definitely be posting our experience on the social networks via verbal and pictorial posts (I personally am partial to Instagram). What dad wouldn’t want a new deck?

-Virva

Can’t believe we’re already wrapping up our 6th week of the internship! The pace is really starting to pick up and everybody is working hard to keep up and stay on the grind. Currently we are all frantically working to get our midterm preps finely tuned and up to par. Judging by our prep work, this midterm and final is going to be no joke!

Got the chance to make it to the O.G. Jam series last weekend, it was a blast! Those old guys shredded that bowl to pieces.

Well, looks like it’s that time to start the weekend and celebrate the BIG 23! And with that being said..until next time my people!

-Travis

The weeks are going by faster and faster here at Bamboosk8 but the process is becoming easier. Everything is starting to fall into place and I’ve been able to turn my focus to selling decks and promoting the brand. In the earlier weeks I found myself slightly overwhelmed trying to hit goals while still growing accustomed to the weekly assignments and doing everything properly and on time. However, at this point I’ve gotten on track with the regular assignments and have been able to spend my time going to shops and focusing on deck sales. Remember that whenever you think you’ve done everything you need to there is always something to be done or something to double check. Learning a lot about myself and what I’m capable of with this internship. keep on keepin on.

After five then comes six. The fellow interns and I have made it to week 6 and there’s no slowing down. I spent last week in Michigan visiting family & friends I hadn’t seen in a while which was nice, but traveling can be exhausting. It feels good to be back home and back into the regular swing. During the visit I was also able to get a few friends on to a bamboo board which is good for sales but also good to get the word out in an untapped area. Overall I’m glad everyone who I got a board to was hyped about them, got positive comments about the shape and the pop.

But here goes another week, although things become more and more clearer as I go I am still experiencing the unexpected road blocks. Every week I am certain I will experience something that may slow me up but it’s all about the follow through. In the end though I am learning a knowledge that I don’t know how else I would have acquired. Prepping for this upcoming mid term is really taken me through subjects I didn’t know I would ever go through again, and then some. I find it’s experiences in life such as this that will have an impact on the people we are.

This past weekend there was a couple of events in which BambooSk8 was participating in. It’s super cool that the interns who live closer are able to make a presence at these events. I’m hoping to make it possible at some point over the next couple months.

Keep On Keeping On.

Jacob

Custom BambooSk8 Deck and Promo Code Coupon.

Knock knock at the door, what do ya know? It’s already week 4. It may sound cliché but seriously, where has the time gone? As this internship continues, I meet more challenges and struggles. One thing I’ve come to learn is that with this internship and life, there are roadblocks. The question is: are you just going to sit there hoping it’ll disappear, or will you get in your car and either find a way around it, or just drive straight through it and tackle it head on? To be successful in this internship and life alike, you’ve got to make moves. This is something I’ve taken with me, and strive to remind myself. Through constructive criticism and misunderstanding, POSITIVITY is the key. For me, to stay positive is what perpetuates me to fight through these roadblocks. I’ve never taken on such a high intensity and fast paced program until now. Sure, I’m struggling; but I’m also learning, and that’s what makes this experience valuable. I’m growing up and finally getting my feet wet in the real world. I’m learning the business side of the action sports world and BambooSK8, but most importantly I’m learning a lot more about myself. The head honchos here at Bamboosk8 are full of knowledge and life lessons.

  One major lesson I learned today is to make yourself valuable. If you as a person and worker are valuable, you’re just as easily desirable. This may sound very elementary, but maybe I failed to learn this earlier. Now that I’m more conscious of this, I will take it all with a grain of salt. This all relates to our week’s lesson and review of the “What is Strategy?” article written by Michael Porter. I learned that it’s important to find your niche in the market. What makes Bamboosk8 unique is their position in selling bamboo short decks. There really is no other company that has set the bar for distributing bamboo decks. It’s amazing to be a part of a company that’s pioneering in bringing sustainability in the skate world.
 

Well, week four has come and gone. We are officially a quarter of the way through this internship.  As expected, there have been a few more bumps on the journey as I navigate my way through the BambooSK8 forest.

Life happens, as we all know, so I certainly had to pick up some extra shifts at work this week. It’s remarkable how significant 5 hours is when you remove its previous designation from BambooSK8 duties to working a shift.  Don’t get me wrong—I certainly made the right choice to work my shift, but what remained was a deficit in time to complete BambooSK8 tasks. To account for this deficit, I have resulted to borrow hours from sleep; like so many professionals and students do when urgency warrants it. It almost seems necessary.

Most of the time, this kind of behavior is a result of poor time management or procrastination. I can honestly say I could possibly be guilty of the former but certainly not the latter.  I’m slowly learning that time management is as much an art form as it is a science.  By this, I am referring to those of us who overload our schedules; spreading ourselves too thin in the tasks we set to accomplish. We neglect to be mindful of accounting for even the most mundane and primal of activities, like eating, exercising, commuting and especially sleep.  I have set my schedule, rather unrealistically, to working for 10 hours at a time. Consequently, after this was put into practice, I lacked the scheduling acumen in not only completing my goals but also accounting for daily human living. My social activity was monopolized by sequestration, my eating habits had adopted a capricious rhythm, and my sleep was far too ephemeral.

Despite this, I know I am only learning and improving on managing my time better. It’s been great speaking with the other interns whose concerns parallel mine. I cannot emphasize how intrinsic it is to cultivate these personal relationships, especially in regards to professional and personal growth. I am so very grateful for their support and suggestions, and will certainly put them to practice in the future. Week five, here I come!

¡Hola!

Week 4 is coming to an end…and each week is proving to be a challenge. I had the pleasure of making the trip down to the office this week. It was nice to be able to put a face to a name with some fellow interns. Welcome to the cave:

Got my intern deck this week and I’ve been skating it at the local park here in Oxnard. These boards are no joke! The pop is noticeably better than any maple deck I have ever ridden, and you can feel the strength of the bamboo on those heavy landings. Get your feet on one of these!

Getting stoked already for this weekend, got the Bud Light Lime Surf Series going on in Oceanside and then the O.G. Jam Series at Skatelab up in Simi Valley on Sunday. Yupp, gonna be sick.

Make sure you guys are are keeping up with our Facebook page, you never know when the Panda is looking for some trouble!

Keep it real!

-Travis