Hello Everyone,
To those who have just begun their
internships I hope you have thoroughly enjoyed your first week and I wish you
all the best for the weeks to come!
Over the past two weeks I have been
working by myself and corresponding with Julie whilst she’s on retreat in
Kerala. It's been a daunting but exciting experience working with Journeys of
the Spirit at home base alone but I am looking forward to working alongside
Julie when she returns.
It has been daunting for a few reasons;
1. I have never run a tourism business by
myself before
2. Any calls that Julie would usually
receive during a business week were diverted to my phone
3. I had to learn how to sell a
tourism/travel product - this meant I needed to thoroughly research each of our
retreats that are being held this year so if I received any phone calls
regarding the retreats I would know it off the back of my hand
For my part time job I also work at
Anaconda so I know about customer service and sales. However, I have learnt
this week that tourism marketing can be very difficult if you don't have the
experience or knack with dealing with a variety of customers. Travel and
especially Journeys of the Spirit is a very personal product so you can't be too
pushy, nor can you forget about the "what’s in for me?" sales point.
Although I only have received a couple of phone calls regarding the retreats,
from those few minutes spent on the phone I have realised that to work in the
travel/PR industry I will need more practical experience.
On a positive note, working with Journeys
of the Spirit has given me the kick-start!
It has also been an exciting experience
for me working alone because I have had the opportunity to work independently.
I may have mentioned in previous blogs how good it is to work alongside Julie
because she allows me to contribute my own work to the business and work
creatively. This week I started a web design project, which involved giving a
"new look" for the Journeys of the Spirit website.
This is where I need to thank the Public
Relations Techniques unit and tutor for teaching me how to work with Microsoft
Publisher! I produced 15 pages of the proposed website using publisher to show
the exact changes I would make to the current website. It took me the entire
day to get it done (small breaks in between) but it was a lot of fun. I
informed Julie about it before she left for Kerala and she was thrilled to hear
about the idea. If all goes to plan I may be liaising with Chris Bishop who is
a photography expert and web designer.
When Julie returns from Kerala I believe
we will be super busy with several projects lined up. I hope that I am prepared
for it, but only time will tell.
Until next time!
Chiara
1 comment:
Hi Chiara,
WOW! Your last fortnight sounds thoroughly terrifying, you've done very well to handle it by yourself - fancy being put in charge of a business after such a short time! Julie must have had plenty of confidence in you though and you've obviously proved her right. I completely agree that practical experience counts for a lot in PR and I would guess in particular in travel/tourism - I guess that's a good excuse for you to go on a holiday! :P
I might suggest though the 'fake it until you make it' technique - sounding confident (even when you really aren't) can count for a lot, especially in an industry driven by image and communication. I've found so far throughout my internship that a confident demeanour is the best tool for taking on more responsibility - people trust you if you trust yourself.
All the best for the rest of your internship, I hope the website upgrade goes well!
Thanks,
Beth
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