A goal is a dream with a deadline.

For that past 12 weeks I have had the greatest experience of my life. I have always wanted to get into an internship where I can prove myself with the knowledge that I have gained in school. Here at Equity Trust Company I was able to do just that. As mentioned in my past blogs and interns blogs we all have had certain projects that pertain to our "expertise". I have done three projects that I feel that have made an impact with Equity Trust. My first project was a Channel Analysis through Database Consolidation, where I took two databases and consolidated them into one relational databases. The purpose of this project was to gain a historical prospective on how to maintain customers. My second project was to create a incoming call profile over a four month span. The purpose of this project was to use this data as a staffing model and a tool to plan meeting times. My last and final project was to complete a fee analysis to better understand the types of programs that our customers are a part of.

Other than working on projects being an intern has improved some other skills such as project management, time management, teamwork, and communication.

If your looking to be apart of a family and enjoy a small business like atmosphere then working for Equity Trust Company is the right place for you!

Pinning the Tail on the Donkey...

These past two weeks have been crazy. All of us have been running around in circles getting our Universal Training Presentation set up. We presented our project, “Setting the PACE,” yesterday and two days ago, amounting to seven, hour long presentations. Everyone in the company ended up seeing the presentation and I believe the end result was a great success. We based our program off of a survey that was sent to all the employees a little over a month ago. They claimed that they would like to hear about communication, leadership, teamwork, accountability and Sterling Trust. We tied it into the topic of PACE (People Achieving Common Excellence).

Emily and Max did a terrific job on Sterling Trust. Emily’s tidbits on the background of the company were very informative as well as Max’s explanation of the institutional approach that Sterling takes. Max really held the audience in the whole time and I think he did great! His presentation was neither too short nor too long, but just right. Lauren explained what it takes to be a leader in the workplace and I think everyone came out thinking that no matter what position you hold, everyone has an equal opportunity to step up and lead. Lauren Gates, the other sales intern, explained accountability and how it can cost companies billions and billions of dollars each year. All the employees now take accountability a little bit more serious as they contribute to the endless success that Equity Trust continues to have day in and day out.

I feel communication is a huge factor in “setting the PACE” inside of a company such as Equity Trust. I was able to pick up enough information to educate the employees on not only how to be successful in the workplace, but in social and personal relationships outside of Equity Trust as well. Lastly, Ryan and Josh put together a great teamwork activity where everyone participated and had a blast. It is hard to believe the imagination that some of the employees over at the Elyria office have! Ryan also tried extremely hard to spark the crowd with his humorous jokes. I am proud of him, because some of his jokes got shut down as everyone was silent after his punch line. But, Ryan, you never gave up, buddy. You are a true soldier and one of these days someone is going to laugh until they wet their pants.

Overall, we pinned the tail on the donkey with all of the employees of Equity Trust. Our mission statement was to make a long last effect on them as well as improve our presentation skills as students still in college. We drastically were able to enhance those skills, but were not able to do that without the undivided attention that each and every employee gave us. From the feedback that we received, there is no doubt that with the help of Amanda Thompson and all of the employees I can candidly say, mission accomplished.

“Time flies by when you’re having fun”

I guess time does fly by when you’re having fun. I can’t believe that we are already going into our 8th week here at Equity Trust. It just seems like yesterday that I was coming into my first day here.

Why is it so fun?

Everyday is a learning experience for me; I don’t know what challenge I am going to be faced with each day. I am currently working on two projects. My first project is consolidating some of our current database into one relational database so that upper management can analyze the information efficiently. I am building the database in Microsoft Access (which has given me some headaches but I have gotten over them). For my second project I am updating one of our internal websites (intranet), which I have to write some HTML here and there, nothing to strenuous.

Well it's been fun posting, now back to work I go! Have a good day everyone!

"Winning is overrated. The only time it is really important is in surgery and war." ~Al McGuire

In order to take our minds off of a busy work week, some of us in the marketing and sales departments decided to have a fun contest during our lunch break. We just finished the first annual "Arby's Roast Beef Sandwich Eat-A-Thon", and to my dismay, I finished last. There were five competitors, Brendan Hughes, Ken Barhoover, Josh Schinagle, Jeff Tippy, and myself. We each invested in the "5 for $5" deal from Arby's, and had a contest. The rules were simple, whoever eats 5 roast beef sandwiches first wins, and if no one finishes 5 sandwiches, whoever eats the most wins.

As the contest started, Josh and I dug into our first sandwiches neck and neck, while Brendan and Ken started slowly with the intent to pace themselves. Jeff, however, took a different, maybe smarter approach. He combined his first two sandwiches into one, and began to inhale. After the first sandwich, Josh had a slight lead, while I was staying close behind. However, this was the beginning of my downfall. I unwrapped my second sandwich and started to eat. By the time I looked over at Josh, he was finishing his second, I knew I would have to keep up. I scarfed my second sandwich down. While unwrapping the third sandwich, I realized I should have paced myself like Ken and Brendan. I slowed down big time. Ken had no trouble catching and passing me at this point. In only a few minutes, Josh finished his fifth, and final roast beef sandwich. He is crowned as the official "Equity Trust Arby's Roast Beef 5 for $5 Eat-A-Thon Champion". Jeff's creative eating style was enough for him to earn second, followed closely by Ken. They both finished 4 sandwiches. Brendan was able to take 2 bites out of his fourth sandwich, totalling 3.25 roast beef sandwiches, which was enough for him not to be tied for last with me, at 3 sandwiches.

Other than the horrible feeling we felt after overindulging on roast beef sandwiches and Arby's sauce, I would say the contest went well. We had a great turn out this year, and I hope everyone can make it next year. Congratulations to all the competitors, who all gave their best effort in this year's contest.

Week 6

Hello, my name is Josh Schinagle and I am a senior at the University of Toledo. I will be graduating from the College of Business Administration in December 2009, and my major is Information Systems. I try to stay as active as possible while in school, I am in Alpha Kappa Psi which is the oldest co-ed professional business fraternity. Along with being in AKPsi I am the President of Association of Systems Management, which is an organization which is open to all majors but puts a strong focus on Information Systems, E-Commerce and Computer Science and Engineering majors.

I started here at Equity Trust on May 18th, 2009 and have had the best time since. It is a very upbeat environment and everyone is always willing to help out if need be. The purpose of this blog is to give future interns an insight on how the week-to-week operations work. I hope you enjoy my blogs, lets get started!

The following took place in my 6th week (6-22/6-26)
--This was a pretty busy week but an exciting one as well. The week started off relatively well, I had a few items I need to finish from the previous few weeks which didn’t take very long at all. Wednesday of this week all the interns were given the opportunity to sit down with Rich (Vice President) and Jeff (CEO) Desich for lunch at Elyria Country Club. This lunch was very informative and fun, we all felt very comfortable talk with Jeff and Rich. On Friday Equity Trust set up and all employee fun day event where they got us tickets to the Cleveland Indians game!! There will be food, games and just an over all good time.