"I was driving and saw a sign that said "blasting zone ahead", shouldn't that read "road closed"?" - Brian Regan

Is anyone else excited it's Friday? It sure has been a busy week, correction, ten weeks. I finished my analysis of the Q1 2009 and Q4 2008 marketing reports today, and I just got off a conference call with one of the marketing channel managers and a few suits from the bank we are working with. In an earlier post, I mentioned a project which I was lucky enough to help with from the beginning stages. We are creating a new product which will create a better customer experience online. The call I was just on was to discuss the best processes (possibly the hardest word in the English language to pluralize) to integrate into our project. It is amazing what kind of work goes in behind the scenes to make a customer's experience better! Anyway, I am excited to continue this project, and gain valuable experience working alongside the project manager.

Next week is the 2nd to last week, which means I have A LOT to get done. I still have a few things to help with for the HR intern, and I have to finish the creation and printing of the new HR brochure. This brochure will showcase my creativity and artistry, just ask the HR recruiter, I am sure she thinks I am akin to Monet... or Manet, whichever one didn't marry his father's mistress.

Aside from these projects, I still have to put everything together into my final presentation which I will be giving to management in two weeks. So, I better stop blogging and go to work!

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.

"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.

"I order the club sandwich all the time, and I'm not even a member."

My name is Ryan D'Arcy, I am the Marketing Intern here at Equity Trust Company. I work at our Berea office, one mile down the road from the glorious and prestigious Baldwin-Wallace College, where I am currently a student. As I approach my final two semesters at BW, I am starting to realize how lucky I am to take part in this internship program. In school, I have a hard time narrowing down the specific area of marketing I want to work in, and this internship has given me the opportunity to experience all of them.

This is not the type of internship where I am getting people coffee, doing my boss's laundry, or surfing the Internet in an attempt to appear busy. At ETC, I get to take part in real projects, most of which will still be around long after I am finished. And the best part is, each of my projects has given me experience in a different area of marketing. I have researched state specifications for lawyers, accountants, and financial ad visors to gain continuing education credit through the classes and webinars we offer. I have created a new HR brochure from scratch using Adobe InDesign and Photoshop, and also created a new logo for our Equity Trust Careers page on Adobe Illustrator. I have created marketing reports and analyzed how well each of our marketing efforts have been generating leads for the sales team. Currently I am helping promote and "re-create" our careers page and finding new ways to market it on Facebook and Twitter. I am also currently working with many of our high level managers to put a brand new online tax lien investment process into place. In my time here, I have had the opportunity to meet with all of the channel managers, and even the President and CEO of our company.

It seems my blog has only talked about the "work" I do, I did not even mention the fun. One of the core values of ETC is "We have fun at what we do", and it is no lie. If you work here, be prepared to laugh daily. You'll get to take part in Indians games, cookouts, and happy hours. All in all, this is a great place to work and be an intern.