Cold-calling. Do I need to say more? by Christy

Cold-calling. Do I need to say more?

With the upcoming launch of the magazine's new promotional campaign, Sip 411, a launch party will be help in its honor at Pearl on April 29th. Over 500 invitations were handed out to local restaurants, bars and pubs in the Philadelphia area. The event was originally supposed to be held at Denim nightclub. On 250 "Denim" was printed for the venue. On the other 250 the venue was Pearl. And as the intern and one of the members of the team working of Sip 411 I had the luxury along with the other intern to make phone calls to all 250 of the invitees who received an invitation that said Denim. Not only were we calling to correct the venue but we also were persuading the guests on why the should come. 500 invitations were handed out and we heard back from less than 15 respondents. I tuned into a sales rep for Sip 411 and called 150 of the venues and sold them on why they should come to the event. Out of the all the things I have done at the magazine this was my least favorite. Having good communication skills definitely is a plus so you don't confuse the hell out of the person when you're talking to them. Out of the 150 I brought in 43 more guests; some said they would think about it and call back. Not bad for a first timer.

Sip & Be Seen by Christy

"Sip & Be Seen"

The newest edition to the magazine will be something called Sip 411. Sip 411 will replace "Sip Scene" in the back of every issue in the special advertising section. The purpose of Sip 411 will be to let readers know about various happy hours and drink specials at local bars and pubs in the Philadelphia area. Through a new text-messaging system readers will be able to sign up for, all the information for the perfect happy hour will be right on their cell phones. There is so much planning being done for the launch of Sip 411. The event and launch party will take place on April 29th. All owners and managers of local bars, pubs, etc. are invited to come out and hear about the new program. Not only will this benefit the magazine but will help business as well. Along with the text-message option they are also able to run their ads in the upcoming issues. Getting the word out about the new program is half the battle. A MySpace page is currently being made to promote it. Several advertisements can be found throughout the past issue of the magazine to get readers excited and get them to sign up. I have been working closely with the advertising and marketing department to make sure everything is in order for the April 29th launch. I am been put in charge of designing the MySpace page for all readers and those interested to view and get more information.

Welcome to Internships: Insuring our Future by Chris

In the year 2006 I arrived at Cabrini College in Radnor, Pa. as a naïve freshmen. I decided to move 3,000 miles away from my home in San Francisco, Calif, to attend Cabrini, where I would have the opportunity to play college basketball. Although I did not know how to do laundry, make my bed or live without my parents, I began to take in the lessons life as a college student teaches an individual.

My early times at Cabrini taught me all the necessities of life; in addition I learned one particularly valuable lesson. I learned the importance of listening to our predecessors and not only gaining from their experiences in life but taking their advice and improving our lives.

I heard the name Tom Nerney constantly around campus. I learned about his legacy at the college not only as a talented student-athlete, but also as a loving father, husband and benefactor of his alma mater. To my delight he came to my basketball practice and talked to my team about the importance of working together and not playing as individuals, but as one united group. As he left the gymnasium I thought to myself: I would like to live my life like that man.

Mr. Nerney is the CEO of United States Liability Insurance Group, a Berkshire Hathaway Company. His success is immense, but his humble attitude and love of life are what I hope to find in my life. I stuck to my instinct and I emailed Mr. Nerney. He gave me the opportunity to have an internship at his greatly successful company.
Here is my blog on working as intern at USLI. Each day I work in the insurance industry I take away at least one important life lesson. I would like to share with you the knowledge I have learned, the knowledge I am learning, and my goals for the future.

My Big OOPS! by Alyssa

I had my first Oops today... and HOW embarrassing! This is what happened:

The first of every month, through email, CRS likes to send out what they call JUST Updates. It is basically a flyer updating colleges and universities about different topics to look out for, get involved in or learn about. On the flyer are snippets of information, links to go to and ways to get involved or receive more information. I have done three so far: Fair trade chocolate, PEPFAR and today I created one about the ongoing war in Colombia.

My flyer was the colors of the Colombian flag and it was very nice and eye catching. On it I had links and different events to look out for and get involved in. It was an overall nice piece and everyone in the office loved it. So, we sent it out on our email list to at least 30 different universities.

This is where my heart stopped. My supervisor immediately got an email saying " Don't you know how to spell Colombia?"

Here, I had spelled Colombia with a U! Columbia! WHAT WAS I THINKING? I panicked and could not apologize enough to my supervisor for making us look bad. We immediately recalled back the emails, hoping no one else read them or picked up on my glaring mistake, and fixed it and sent it back out again... this time with everything spelled correctly.

How embarrassing. The last time I made such a huge mistake was when I did a summer internship at a campground. It was my responsibility to create a scavenger hunt list for the kids. One of the items the children had to find was a t-shirt. Well, I handed out all of the lists to about 100 children and families, and all the sudden I got hell from the mothers. Here I spelled shirt wrong. I wrote SHIT instead!!!!

This just goes to show that you cannot always rely on spell-check to pick up everything, because even though it may not be spelled wrong, still does not make everything correct. However, if you ever find yourself in that kind of situation, you cannot panic. Both times I had apologized, admitted to my mistake, and then quickly take care of the problem before it because too big an issue.

Today I realized that I am not perfect and everyone makes mistakes. At the time it seems like the biggest thing in the world, but 3 hours later I can laugh looking back at it. I got off easy, sometimes those kinds of mistakes can cost a person a job; however I am under the belief that everything will go smoothly if you act smooth.