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To New Beginnings…

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

I still can’t believe our internship is coming to a close. I’m sorry to see it go. The experiences and experience I’ve gained through this program were absolutely amazing. I’ve talked about these before on the intern blog, so I won’t bore you with the same story.

But with every end there is a new beginning. I really didn’t have any idea what PR actually included but I’ve had a blast trying to figure it out and being a little creative with it as well. I will definitely pursue a career in PR just because it isn’t your typical behind a desk nine-to-fiver. I feel I have a certain knack or talent in it and I just enjoy everything that comes along with it; going to events, meeting cool and interesting people, creative writing and trying to “hustle” my way with certain publications to get us some exposure. It’s a blast!

Going into my BambooSk8 internship, I didn’t know what I would be doing. I was given the option to do what I am strongest at and it helped me and it helped the company. I gained  tangible results and received some experience points to mark up on my resume.

In years to come, I know I will look upon my days at BambooSk8 as a truly fun and rewarding experience. And truly life altering. In this crazy economy no one wants to take chances on new college graduates. Employers want people with experience and get results and now thanks to BambooSk8 I have the experience to get a decent career started in the PR field.

And to quote Whitesnake “Here I go again on my own…”.  – TJ

Here’s from an earlier post:

From Unremarkable to Marketable

 

I have to admit, going into the BambooSk8 marketing internship I didn’t know diddley squat. It seemed like everyone else in the program was a Marketing major in College and I was just had a seemingly pointless degree. But the first day of the program I immediately found my niche in the program. I was “creative one”.

 

Let me go through my story a little bit just to let you know where I come from. I graduated from a four year college with a degree in English. Originally, I wanted to be a teacher but decided against it by my second to last semester. So when I graduated, I found myself with a degree that was worthless for the types of jobs that pay above minimum wage. So one day, I was perusing Malakye.com and came across a job posting for Bamboo Buddy. I’m not going to lie, I was a little skeptical of the whole thing. But after meeting with Geoff and his enthusiasm for the company, the product and helping people out who are willing to work to get where they want to go, I decided this was the gig for me.

 

The first day of the program, we all went to the X-games to pass out fliers. I had a blast! I got to see many skaters that I had only seen in the magazines and videos like Eric Koston and Corey Duffel up close. Then we got kicked out for guerilla marketing in an un-authorized guerilla marketing zone. But that was alright, I laughed all the way out of the competition area.

 

In the upcoming weeks, I got to see what I was really talented at. I chose the public relations route of the program and truly felt like a natural at it. I already knew how to write pretty well; so I decided to make some absurd Blog posts (if you scroll down you will see the Marty McFly blog; that one was mine) Also, did I mention we didn’t even have the first shipment of boards in! So I had to be creative to be productive. Geoff saw the creative potential in me and had me doing all sorts of art direction things to work on from criticizing the website and throwing in my two cents to make it more useful to our target customers.

 

I also got to use my talents by writing and sending out pitch-letters left and right and writing all sorts of blogs and editing magazine articles and press releases. It is amazing to see how a guy with no experience suddenly started seeing his ideas turning up all over the web. 

 

This all turned into great information on my resume and not just padding to BS my way into a decent position. I actually have the ammo now to take to an interview and make the interviewers coo at my coolness (inside joke there).

 

Local Time-Traveler Endorses BambooSk8

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

Hill Valley, Ca — Marty McFly, local skateboarder and time traveler, announced his endorsement for bamboo skateboards. According to McFly, age 17, “Bamboo is the next step in skateboarding’s future. Trust me, I’ve been to the future.”

In a recent time traveling adventure to the year 2015, McFly encountered what seemed to be a hovering skateboard. The “Hover Board” , used by McFly, will supposedly be produced by Mattel in 2012 and will be an imitation of BambooSk8′s legendary design from 2008. The incredible lightness and pop of the board creates the illusion that the board hovers across all surfaces, including water.

“I owe it all to BambooSk8 for helping me stop Biff Tannen from ruining Hill Valley and helping my parents get together in 1955″ stated McFly.

Dr. Emmit “Doc” Brown, local scientist/inventor, announced to reporters “BambooSk8′s incredible design is beyond anything I could possibly dream of. [BambooSk8] shall go down in the annals of time; alongside Jules Vern, Albert Einstein and of course, Me”.

Biff Tannen made no comment due to a recent collision with a manure truck.

The Added Bonuses…

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

The past three months have been loaded with various events; The X-Games, ASR and GvR.

Looking back on these past three months, I have been in close proximity to more professionals in one area than I ever have before. Seeing Danny Way make his insanely epic fall only to get up and try again from basically the first row was inspiring. Seeing Bob Burnquist winning the X-Games Big air event close up was way better than television. Standing next Brayden Safranski at the High Ollie contest at ASR was a cool little bragging right. Actually skating the mini-ramp at ASR was surreal. And hanging out with the real fans of skateboarding at GvR in Lake Forest, was truly fun and entertaining. And being able to see Bad Religion for free was an extra added bonus to this internship.

It’s been a crazy, fun, and educational experience. For all future interns at BambooSk8. I hope you get as much out of this program as I have.

A Twist of Fate and BambooSk8

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

Getting an internship at BambooSk8 (as cheesy as it sounds) was an amazing twist of fate. Let me give a little bit of my story. I graduated from college in May of 2007 with a degree in English. Originally, I wanted to be a high school English/Language Arts teacher but as my schooling went on and on I suddenly realized that teaching may be a noble profession and summers off are an added bonus but it wasn’t for me. With one semester left, it was way too late to change majors to a more marketable degree, I decided to just to finish up and get it over with.

The following year was an “introspective nightmare” to quote Hunter S. Thompson. I moved back home to live with my parents for what I thought would only be a month or two. That was a culture shock in its own. I was used to having parties all of the time and just having all of my stuff around me. But moving back home that’s when the parties stopped and I had to find a…. a….JOB! Cruising monster.com and craigslist for every type of job that would pay enough for me to get out of my parents house. I eventually found one going door to door selling AT&T fiber optic cable. I hated it and failed miserably at it. I went into some serious soul searching after that. I didn’t want to live my life slaving away at some desk job and fall in line like every other corporate tool bag. I wanted to work with something I was absolutely passionate about. So began a new adventure.

I had been working for a comic book company as a warehouse guy all throughout college (I have to admit I am a geek) and I had some strings pulled for me by my old boss to meet with the editor-in-chief of Dark Horse Comics up in Portland, OR. to see if I could get an assistant editing position. Also, my best friend from college moved up to Portland after graduating college, so I stayed with him for a month with plans to live there. I was so sure that I was one of those rare lucky people that was able to live the dream. Unfortunately, Dark Horse didn’t have a position open for someone with my qualifications or should I say lack of qualifications.

I have been skating more years of my life than I haven’t and it’s always been a passion of mine. Another bonus about Portland was they have the best skateparks and one of the most active skate scenes in the world. So I spent the rest of my time in Portland patrolling the skateparks all over the Northwest with some new found friends. I had the time of my life skating places like Burnside and Battleground but I had to go back home because my funds were running out and though Oregon was fun in the summer, there was 9 months of cold and rain that a California kid like me could not handle.

I had no idea what to do with my life at that point. Here I was twenty-five years old with a pointless degree, no relevant experience and had no more options. My mind began to wander and soul search even more. I wanted to do something that was interesting and exciting, so I came up with the idea of joining the Air Force. With my degree, I could become an officer and my dad who was an staff sergeant in the Air Force during Vietnam had been trying to get me to join the “Force” for a long time. So it sounded like boot-camp would be my next stop.

The same day I had “The Talk” with my dad about joining the Air Force, I found a post on Malakye for a marketing internship for a bamboo skateboard company. So I randomly applied because I figured I had nothing to lose and gaining experience in a field I was interested and passionate about was worth more than a job Enterprise Rent-A-Car could ever be worth.

A couple days later, the same time I was looking at recruitment offices near my house, I received an email from Geoff from, then, Bamboo Buddy regarding an interview. I was so excited I actually now had a chance to get experience and perhaps find a career in something I was passionate about. I had very little to no marketing experience but I did know skateboards. I was so worried that I wasn’t qualified to get the internship.

Needless to say, I got the internship! I figured well maybe this is a sign from a higher power saving me from some terrible fate in the military. I was stoked.

My experiences at BambooSk8 have been great! Like the time we got kicked out of the X-Games for passing out fliers (trust me, it was funny) and the whole experience at ASR was fantastic. Even as an intern, I have had so much say in the company like a real employee should have. Everything from the littlest comments on the website to future product designs are taken into great consideration. I feel like I went into this internship with absolutely no experience in marketing or PR but I feel like all of the stuff I’ve learned from the other interns and Geoff has given me enough knowledge and experience that a year working at a shitty corporate company could ever teach.

Thanks to all you guys at BambooSk8!

-Taylor