Week 4

Although I do not see myself staying at my internship as a career, it has opened my eyes to new information. As I have stated in previous posts, I want to ultimately work towards being my own boss and starting a business of my own. I know that this is not something that is easily done and to be successful is even that much harder. At my internship I have the opportunity to work directly with the owner on a day to day basis and get to see what is necessary to run the business. Until now, I have only really worked with children as an assistant teacher during summers or as a kid’s club counselor. Going into my internship I had no knowledge about working at a business involved with retail. I have been able to learn about the different computer programs that are used for running the business as well as gaining experience in using them. Learning the technology that is used will be helpful if I want to consider working in retail in the future. I have also had the opportunity to interact one on one with customers which has helped me understand what goes into making a sale. Also with working directly with customers I have had to deal with people who are dissatisfied by our service. This has shown me that you have to be able to make adjustments on the fly and work with people to make sure they are satisfied with our business and to make sure we keep theirs. Another thing that I have seen while working at my internship is how much time and effort the owner has to put in to make the business work and it has showed me how much is involved in running even a small business. Although I see my boss working harder and longer than anyone else, I also see the enjoyment of being your own boss. The only real downside to my internship is that there isn’t a way I could move up in the company, at least not at this time. Although this is a downside, I am enjoying my time and will be able to take the skills that I have learned where ever I go next in life.