First Day on The Job
May 16, 2016
Today was my first day at ProCamps. For the first day I was introduced to my supervisor who's name is Alex Land. He is a Cincinnati native and graduated from Xavier University. He took me and another girl named Taylor Yach who he was also a supervisor of and went into the conference room to check get to know us and also went over in detail how ProCamps network is run and how you're able to create these promo codes for different youth leagues/teams in order to give their kids who sign up a discount on the camp along with their league getting a kickback to their league in the form of a check that is 10% of their total purchase of kids who sign up using the promotional code.
Phone Call Simulation
May 17, 2016
All of the interns who are in the camper sales division were gathered up and walked through the proper way to answer the phones when someone calls in with a question along with giving us some tips on how to properly call and talk to someone about possibly signing up for a promotional code. We were told that we would meet every Wednesday a couple weeks into working where we would do "call training" so that we could once again learn the proper way to communicate with people on the phone and how to keep potential clients interested.
First Assignment
May 18, 2016
Today my supervisor came to me with my very first official assignment. There was a camp in Arizona for Pro-Bowl wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald where ProCamps had their biggest turnout in history. They had around 800 campers who registered for the camp and my job was to call and thank them for coming and also how their kids experience was at camp along with also offering them the chance to go to a Patrick Peterson football camp which was being held in Arizona as well. I called around 40 people today which for my first day on the phones doing this kind of work wasn't bad.
Overwhelmed with Numbers
May 19, 2016
Today is my second day of calling a list of people where there were 6 pages front and back single-spaced and 12 point font. So altogether I probably had around 400-500 people still left to call to finish the list. With the deadline for this offer being Friday May 27 I had a lot of work to do. So one way I was able to cope with the amount of people I had to call I decided to set "calling goals". My goal was to call around 75 people a day in order to try and hit every single one of the names on the list because I know if I had the opportunity to hear about a special off or a discount on a camp I would at least want to hear about it.
New Task, New Strategy
May 20, 2016
With my first week at my internship coming to an end Alex (my supervisor) came to me with another task on top of calling the list of people who attended the Larry Fitzgerald camp. This new task was to contact youth leagues and coaches and offer them promotional codes to help save money on the Patrick Peterson camp, while also being a fundraiser that kicks back money to their league. At first I thought that both of these things would be sort of difficult especially since I wasn't able to start calling to Arizona until around 11 o'clock because of the 3 hour time difference from Arizona and Cincinnati. However, I decided to dedicate half my time from 11-5 to calling the past campers from the Larry Fitzgerald Camp and the other half went to calling youth leagues.
Second Week
May 23, 2016
In my second week I decided to get right back to it looking up youth leagues for the Patrick Peterson camp in order to be able to call them once the clock in Cincy struck 11:00. My first few phone calls people seemed very interested in the offer of the camp for $99, however many of the parents that I called were not sure if they would even be around for the camp due to a busy schedule/vacation. I began calling a couple hours later back to my never ending list of Larry Fitzgerald campers.
Deadline Approaching
May 24,2016
Since the deadline is Friday May 25, for me being able to call the Campers who attended the Larry Fitzgerald camp, I dedicated two hours to calling youth leagues and teams on the discount for the Patrick Peterson camp and the other 4 hours to calling the still hundreds and hundreds of campers who attended Larry Fitzgerald. The list is still never ending but I am getting through it one day at a time.
Sticking to My Plan
May 25, 2016
My plan seems to be working by dedicating most of my time to the Larry Fitzgerald Camp since the Patrick Peterson one isn't until June. There are still probably around 300 people still left to call and hopefully I can get to every camper on the list. I hav ealso recently learned how to create flyers for potential youth leagues that sign up for promotional codes to get a discount on camp. There was one lady that stuck out to me though today. When I called she was so greatful for my call that she actually informed me that she drover her son all the way from Canada to Arizona because they enjoy our camps so much and love being apart of the atmosphere.
New Hours
June 1, 2016
Today is the start of my new hours. I decided to ask my supervisor if it was alright to start coming in on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays now because I recently found out the internship was unpaid. There was a mixup of communication and I thought I was going to be paid for this internship. So due to the mix up I will now be working part time from 9-2 everday so I will be able to work at my second job that pays on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Will Take Some Getting Used To
June 3, 2016
It is only the second day of my new hours and already it is starting to feel weird. I now have a lot less time in the day to get work done which isn't a terrible thing. I just have to figure out a way to adapt to the new work schedule. I have been working on making a spreadsheet for the Dexter Fowler Camp in order to have the right information when we start calling the youth leagues. It is a very time consuming process and requires a lot of research.
The Warehouse
June 13, 2016
Today I was sent to the warehouse to help out the warehouse manager since he was shortstaffed. I have never done warehouse work before but all I can say is that it is very hot!!! Also the warehouse manager ended up being from Findlay Ohio so he knew all about Tiffin and seemed pretty excited when I knew where Findlay was since most people would have no idea. He really appreciated my help and i actually enjoyed doing the work becauce it made time go by alot faster than normal from the office setting.
Back in the Office
June 17, 2016
I am back in the office and I am enjoying the air conditioning. It is a lot cooler compared to the warehouse and it is back to making my spread sheet for the Dexter Fowler camp. I am about a quarter of the way through of double checking the old contact list from the year before and have found many more new ones to add. When trying to find these different teams and leagues its a lot of repetetive searches in Google, but just in different cities depending on where the camp is actually located.
The Billy Hamilton Camp
June 20, 2016
I was given the opportunity to help out with one of the camps that will be going on in a week for one of the teams here in Cincinnati. It turned out to be the Billy Hamilton camp. I was so excited to be asked to be apart of the camp becasue it would get me out of the office and out where I enjoy everything which is on a baseball field and helping out children with the sport. I could not wait for next Monday to role around.
Phone Call Training
June 22, 2016
Every Wednesday it was scheduled to have what they called "phone call training sessions" in order to help us better understand how to speak to parents or individuals in charge of youth leagues on the phone. I felt this was very important especially for me since I haven't really had much on the phone training trying to sell something to anyone or trying to get them to join our camps. One of the more important things I took away from the session was to be respectful, and do not be afraid to talk up the camp. When people here about an offer and here how great something is they usually tend to get even more excited about it an become more and more interested in buying whatever it is you're trying to sell them.
Calling for Dexter
June 24, 2016
I began putting the training we had on Wednesday to use and wrote out a little mock up of what I would say on the phone to the owners of youth leagues that way I wouldn't stumble over my words on the phone. I asked the opinions of other interns to see what they thought and added some of their input to what I had. I improved as the day went on and got a few leagues to think about whether or not they wanted to sign up and I also got a few of them to actually sign up for a promo code to give a discount to their kids for the camp which was a great feeling. This is because I knew that I was helping them achieve better success in the game that they love which was in this camps case.... baseball.
Finally Billy Has Arrived
June 27, 2016
Today we had to be at Syccamore High School at 6am in order to start setting up for the Billy Hamilton Camp. We were given the run down of how things would go through out the day and told that our main priority was to always make sure that the water coolers were filled up because the kids hydration was the most important other than the kids having a good time. Billy and the kids arrived and the look on their faces were priceless. They were so thrilled to see one of their heros that they were jumping with joy and couldn't wait to get the day started. I was pretty much a fill in guy for the day so where ever they needed me I went. I mostly filled coolers with ice and water and walked about 40 kids to the bathroom because we were not allowed to let them walk alone due to safety. By the end of the day I was exhausted and sun burnt but overall it was a pretty sweet day.
Back in the Office Again
June 29, 2016
I spent the morning of my day running down town to pick up flyers that were made to send out to kids for the upcoming camps. The boxes didnt look very heavy but let me tell you around three hundred or so flyers stacks up to be a lot of weight. When I got back to the office I fininshed up my calls and emails for the Dexter Fowler Camp and began working on research for the Tony Parker and Anthony Rizzo Camps. I worked on the Tony Parker one first just to mix it up from baseball to basektball and see if I couldn't get more youth leagues involved in order to compare the two.
Another Day in the Warehouse
July 1, 2016
I was sent back to the warehouse once again which I didn't mind because sometimes you just need a break from the office. This time I met a guy named Brian who ended up pretty much taking over the warehouse for the rest of the time (at least he did until I was finished with my internship). He was a goofy guy and liked listening to Star Wars Music while we were working which was pretty fun and extremely different. I basically just helped move and load vans with stacks of stuff in order to get them on their way to the camps.
New Interns
July 6, 2016
After a great July 4 I was back in the office and met some of the new interns that had just showed up out of no where. They brought in a girl who was helping with different graphic design stuff who ended up being the daughter of a great great Cincinnnati Line backer back in the day David Fulcher. I couldn't believe I was working with a girl who I had her dad's autograph from when I met him at a huge event in Cincinnati that happens every year called Redsfest. She ended up playing softball at Mount St. Joe which is a college in Kentucky and apparently has great success with it.
Warehouse Again
July 8, 2016
When I arrived at the warehouse there were a few more interns from the office who got sent over to help out Brian as well. He was really behind due to the lack of workers so we got to work sorting and counting t-shirts and these little memory foldr type things that the campers all get which includes an autograph from the athlete and a team photo of the group of kids they had been put with because of their age group. We also get to be the ones to put the autograph cards and pictures in these folders which is the worst time in the world because it takes so long and because they have to be done by the end of the camp if you are on that job for the day.
Back to Research
July 11, 2016
I have contined doing my reseach for the Anthony Rizzo camp for his camp in Chicago. This was a lot easier to do since Dexter Fowler's camp was in Chicago as well. The only bad part about the camps being in the same area is the fact that a lot of the same youth leagues are the same as the ones I contacted for the Fowler camp so because many of the kids went to the one, they weren't very interested in going to Anthony Rizzo's because it is not cheap to go to these camps.
Major Packing Day
July 13, 2016
There were a total of 3-4 vans that needed to make the trips to their camps, along with a couple of vans returning from camps that happend over the weekend. So that meant a few of us at the office had to go back to the warehouse to help Brian unpack vans, then repack the other vans with the appropriate stuff for camp while also trying to do it as quick as possible because one of the vans was going to Jacksonville and that isn't close at all. It was a pretty stressful day however we managed to get it done with nothing being broken or damaged.
Fantasy Camps
July 15, 2016
I recently found out about these camps that go by the name of "fantasy camps". For these camps you pay aroun $600-$800 in order to participate in them. The difference between these and the camps for children is these are for adults around 30 years of age. It gives the adults a chance to have a little fun to interact with certain atheletes because adults enjoy that sort of stuff too. Pretty much every single one of the interns agreed that if we ever got the chance to go to one of these camps whether it was working it while doing the internship or attending one when we were older, we would all try and go the first chance we got.
Last Priority
July 18, 2016
The last little project to come across my desk was the Thomas Davis Camp. Myself and many of the other interns were in charge of calling the campers who were to attend this even and explain to them that Thomas Davis has post poned his camp due to illness. Many of their parents to start out were pretty upset due to the conflictions of their schedules for the later date that was yet to be determined. This caused even more issues because the only reason there was no set date for the camp to be set on was due to the fact ProCamps was not sure how long he would be sick for.
More Phone Calls
July 20,2016
I continue to make phone calls and also had to keep track of whether or not anyone answered on the other end to ensure we had a tally of who knows about the camp being post-poned since it was on a such short notice. I probably made about 40 phone calls to the households and once again people were confused why we had not had a different date for the camp to be resuned on which a reocurring theme and inconvienience for both us and them. I just had to keep reasurring them that once Thomas Davis got over his sickness and we spoke with him about dates that worked for him that we would immediately let them know.
Last Day of Calls
July 22, 2016
I finished up my list of calls for the Thomas Davis Camp that I was given and then went to the other supervisors to see if they needed anything else. They responded my giving me another list that wasn't as big as the last one to continue making phone calls which I finished within an hour. I then began finishing up my lists for other camps and sent a few emails and made a few phone calls about them.
Odell Beckham Camp
July 25, 2016
I find myself again working in the warehouse today where I began unpackaging boxes of blue nike dry-fit t-shirts (camper shirts) and keeping tarck of how many of each color depending on the coaches shirts (gray) and the athlete shirts (red). There were hundreds of them. Myself and another intern began using a system where I would unpackage and he would put them into the piles with the right sizes so it would be easy for us to tally them at the end. We did not finish the first day so that means I would be back there on Wednesday.
Odell Round Two
July 27, 2016
I had to finish up the last of the shirts on my own because the other intern was needed at the office to help out his supervisor with finding sponsored camper lunches for an upcoming camp. It took me the rest of the day to finish unpacking the tshirts because I was not able to use the system we did when there were two of us. There were also shorts and hats that I had to unpack two which doubled the work load.
Finally Begin Counting Shirts
July 29, 2016
The counting of the shirts did not take too long. I ended up counting them multiple times to ensure my numbers were correct. The only reason why it took longer than normal is because I had to also help with loading and unloading vans and had to also put away the equipment as well. My day came to an end and it was on to boxing the shirts the following Monday.
Bunches of Boxes
August 1, 2016
Boxing shirts was a very mind numbing process. I had to rummage through used boxes in order to find ones that would be big enough for all of the sizes and numbers of the shirts. I also had to label them all with the correct sizes and number of shirts on the box so when they got to the place where they needed to go to get labled it would make life easier for them. Once I got done I put the six boxes out front and then I actually got roped into taking the boxes to the printing place and had to bring all the boxes to the 3 floor of the building. Luckily they provided me with a two wheeled dolly and had an elevator that I was able to utilize.
Helped Out Wherever
August 3, 2016
After I worked in the warehouse and was done with the Odell camp I came back to the office and did a bunch of random tasks. I took flyers that needed printed to FedEx, helped out with carrying boxes from other workers cars that they had picked up, and also helped with making the lanyards for the campers. All that entitled us doing was just simply making a hole punch in the top of the flyer and putting it on the end clip of the lanyard. It was not very hard at all just took a while cause once again there were so many to do since there were alot of campers that would be in attendence.
Ashyln Harris Camp
August 5, 2016
I began working on finding contacts for a new camp that ProCamps had acquired which was with Ashlyn Harris. She is the U.S Women's National Team Goalkeeper and she was having a camp in Charlotte North Carolina. Since they have not had a camp with her before I had to look up on Google Map with in a 60 mile radius of towns that could potentialy have leauges that would be interested in going. I had to make the entire spreadsheet from scratch.
Finding info for Ashlyn Harris Camp
August 8, 2016
Once I found potential candidates of youth leagues for the camp I inputed them into the spreadsheet with emails and phone numbers in order for myself or another worker to start calling. I found around 60ish youth leagues that I thought would be a good fit for the camp and began emailing and calling them in order to get them interested in her camp.
Out to Eat
August 10, 2016
Today my supervisor took me out to eat for lunch. Its something that I noticed a lot of other interns doing with their supervisors as well, but myself and some of the other interns last days are not until the 12th of August. Along with going out to eat we went to the Warehouse and i was allowed to pick out 3 shirts from the camps throughout the various years. I picked out a Dwayne Wade, AJ Green, and Mariana Rivera shirts that are one of a kind.
Last Day
August 12, 2016
Today is my last day at ProCamps Worldwide. I have learned a lot since I first started working here. The main thing I learned is you have to be resourceful when trying to figure out how to get a job done. There may be some ifficult times where you cant figure a certain oroblem and you feel like you've looked everywhere for information. You have to not be afraid to ask for help and no matter the situation you have to remain positive at all times.