INternship Journal
5/6/2020 (10 AM-5 PM)
Today was the first day working at Hour Media during the stay-at-home order. I met via Zoom call with Danielle Szatkowski, my supervisor, along with another intern. She shared her computer screen so we could follow along and learn more skills on Magazine Manager or MagMan. I took quick hand-written notes to help me remember some of the tools on the program. After the call, Danielle sent me a spreadsheet with over 2,600 names of mostly lawyers with updated contact information that are Oakland County Bar Association Members. I check to see if their names are in the MagMan system already to make sure their profile is up to date (address, email, phone number). If not, they are considered NIMM (Not In Magazine Manager) and I have to create a new contact. All contacts get added to the Contact Group, Oakland County Bar Association and the Laches Comp list on MagMan. In the spreadsheet, I label the status to “open” or with the initials of the Rep in-charge of the account. Today I completed about 50 contacts. It is a very time consuming task but I quickly got the hang of it.
5/7/2020 (10 AM-5 PM)
During my second day of work I continued working on my project I was given yesterday. I continued through the list of updated Oakland County Bar Association Members. I completed about 100 more profiles which was double the amount yesterday. There were come contacts where their information did not have a “company title” or other parts of their information did not seem correct due to further online research on the person. For those contacts I highlighted them green so me or Danielle could go double check those profiles. Today went a lot smoother than yesterday and I was able to find a rhythm.
5/8/2020 (10 AM – 7 PM)
Today’s task was different but used similar skills as my first two days. I was given a Wedding Vendors List on Google Sheets. They included caterers, venues, flower vendors, photographers, and beauty workers. I had to go into MagMan and search each company name then mark each as either “open”, “NIMM”, or if there is a Rep listed then the initials of the rep. I ran into some issues with either company names that were too general or some duplicates. For the general ones I decided to mark those in green and the duplicates in red. There were 512 and I completed all of those today. I was supposed to end at 4 PM to complete my first 20 hours of the week (on top of a short training session on Monday) but I offered to help Danielle for a few more hours. I helped her start creating mailing labels for the Top Dentists of 2020. I made 60 labels out of about 400. I was happy to help her get a head start on that task while she had many other projects to do.
5/13/2020 (10 AM – 5 PM)
Today was a little chaotic due to having to share everything online. The other intern and I had the same task to do which was continue working on the Oakland County Bar Association list. We often got kicked off of MagMan for being on at the same time. My supervisor tried to give me other tasks to do or ways to get around the issue but nothing worked out in the end. The intern and I dealt with the issue and continued to get as much work done as we could on the list. We split the list in half since there are over 2,600. Eventually we will complete that task and move on to other things.
5/14/2020 (10 AM – 5PM)
One of the issues yesterday was finding another Log-In username and password so the intern and I would stop being kicked out of the account. With no solution to that issue yet, my supervisor had we complete more mailing labels for the Top Dentists 2020. I did this task last week to help her out so I knew what I was doing. I completed 269 labels which was 8 label sheets. There are less than 100 left on the list. The contacts were listed on a spreadsheet and the labels were created on a Microsoft Word Template. I enjoyed this task because I don’t mind repeating the same task over and over again.
5/15/2020 (10 AM – 4 PM)
Today I finished the mailing labels for the Top Dentists 2020. My supervisor then gave me a new task of updating the Crains audit list which is new to me so it took me a while to figure out exactly what I was doing. I understood how to update the Reps but wasn’t sure how to figure out if the company had done advertising with Hour or DBusiness in the last 12 months. Some seemed unclear. I will probably continue on this task next week.
5/20/2020 (10 AM – 5 PM)
I continued working on the Crains audit list. I got a better understanding of what to do and how to label whether or not they advertised with Hour or DBusiness. Last week I only completed about the first 40 and today I finished up to 400! I would say that’s an improvement. Tomorrow I plan to finish the rest.
5/21/2020 (10 AM – 5 PM)
I finished the Crains audit list today and then continued on the OCBA list for the rest of the day. It was a simple day and tomorrow I have off because of memorial weekend! Should be getting a new project next week.
5/27/2020 (10 AM – 5 PM)
Today I received a new project to work on. My supervisor sent me a list of contacts for the Detroit 500 magazine. I looked up the reps in charge of the accounts and wrote down either their initials or “open”. Contacts that weren’t in MagMan I labeled NIMM. Tomorrow I will finish the list. I completed over half of it already.
5/28/2020
I completed the rest of the rep look up on the Detroit 500 list. I then added a few prospects (which I assumed was the same thing as a contact) into MagMan. My supervisor was then working on sending me over a new project that she said was big and important. With her own personal important work deadlines she was not able to send that over today so tomorrow I will be getting that new project.
5/29/2020
Today was definitely hard. I received my new project which was to create a list of “decision-makers” at school in the Grand Rapids area. I was given an email with extra information with what departments to look into along with the spreadsheet that had a few started for me. It seemed simple but once I started going on the college websites it became difficult to find the exact people to contact and list. I realized how difficult it is to learn while working at home. I didn’t get very far today but hope I can talk with my supervisor next week if I am continuing on this project.
6/3/2020
I continued creating the list of university and college “decision makers”. I did better than I did last week and I’m waiting to see what my supervisor has to say about my work so far. With her busy schedule I have not been able to get much feedback on this project. She did record a short video for me and Jilly, the other intern, regarding the next project we have. We will be working on the “Faces of Detroit” publication. As more customers choose their personal titles we will be updating a spreadsheet/document for the Reps. We will also be emailing reps that have customers that still need to choose a title.
6/4/2020
Today I worked on the new project, Faces of Detroit. I put together a google spreadsheet with a list of Faces of Detroit titles that were already taken. I found those by using a new tool on Magazine Manager under “Production Runsheet”. I listed the title, company/advertiser, and rep in charge of the account. I also included a box that tallied all of the reps and how many they had completed. I did this for Hour Detroit and DBusiness since they both have Faces of Detroit publications. I still have a few questions but it is difficult getting in contact with my supervisor during this crazy time of working from home. I will continue this tomorrow and maybe get my questions answered.
6/5/2020
I went through the Faces of Detroit titles again and none had to be updated. I then started going through the final version of the Top Dentists list to make sure all the names and titles and advertising sizes were correct by comparing the final PDF file and the spreadsheet. Next week I will complete checking the final version and then add more titles to the Face of Detroit spreadsheet.
6/10/2020 (10-5)
Today I worked on the Faces of Detroit again. I updated the titles that were taken but only one was added. My supervisor said we need to contact the reps and notify them of the clients that still have not chosen a title. I then had to wait for my supervisor to send me the updated Top Dentists PDF pages to revise and start from the beginning to check for any mistakes. I barely got started on that project because I think the first page was missing from the email so tomorrow I will work on that all day and hopefully finish it.
6/11/2020 (10-2)
I received the missing page of the Top Dentists 2020 PDF. I went through every name and city to make sure it matched with the PDF and I also checked all the information on the larger advertisements. I then updated the Faces of Detroit spreadsheet for the day. I asked my supervisor if there was anything else I could do and she said to take the day off early since she had a lot of work to do before the end of a publication was due.
6/12/2020 (10-4)
Today I did more work on updating the faces of Detroit spreadsheets. I also created a new spreadsheet with a list of all of the people who did not choose faces titles yet. I realized also after speaking to my supervisor that I was doing more work that I needed to when putting the lists together! Lesson learned. I also was able to help my supervisor out making calls to customers that had advertisements in line but had not contacted Hour with their ad materials. I felt very important being able to make calls and help out!! I think I did well speaking with the customers.
6/17/2020 (10-5)
Monday I was part of a sales rep meeting and met everyone via Zoom. It was really great to put faces to the names I have heard of. Tuesday I was in another sales call where I was given the opportunity to possibly make an income and train for a few weeks to learn how to sell digital to prospects. So the next few weeks I will be watching training videos and taking quizzes to become versed in that. Today I helped out a rep at Hour, Cynthia, correcting some mistakes in a clients digital profile. I was happy to help and offered my assistance with future work. I also started watching the first training video. I am glad to be excelling more in my internship and learning some new skills.
6/18/2020 (10-5)
I have been watching videos and powerpoints and taking quizzes all day to train for digital sales. I took 11 quizzes and did well on all of them. I have also worked on digital for hour media today and yesterday by helping out a sales rep, Cynthia, with making corrections on a clients digital profile.
6/19/2020 (10-4)
Today I attended a meeting with over 80 workers involved with compass, a digital marketing group. That is what my training is for. I heard a lot of information, some I understood and some i did not. Either way, it was very informative and helped me understand more of what I am working towards doing. I will try to attend these friday meetings as often as I can. Besides that, I continued watching more training videos. Next week I will continue that and hopefully get some more projects because the videos aren’t exactly the most thrilling thing to watch.
6/24/2020 (10-4)
Today I began a new project which had me searching wedding prospects online and adding in important information to contact them. That was all I did today. We now have 3 interns and one did not help today but said he would tomorrow. I’ve been attending zoom meetings every week just to gain experience and contact before we are all in the office. We are also supposed to still continue watching videos and taking quizzes for the digital training. I will do some of that tomorrow possibly.
6/25/2020 (10-5)
Today I worked on the same spreadsheet I worked on yesterday. I am on 70 out of 235 wedding prospects. I did not have any help from the other intern yet since he has classes/jobs and doesn’t have a schedule yet. I don’t know how long we will be working on this project but I hope to have some other things to work on soon. Tomorrow will probably consist of the same work as yesterday and today. Plus a zoom meeting.
6/26/2020 (10-4)
Today I continued on the Faces of weddings spreadsheet. I got up to 100 out of 235. I emailed Danielle with a progress report and informed her it’s only been me working on it. This week was fairly simple. I did forget to join the Compass meeting today but I think it’s mostly just an “if you can make it” thing. Maybe next week will consist of more projects.
7/1/2020 (10-5)
Today I spent most of my time watching the Digital Training Zoom Calls and taking notes so I can prepare for the “test” that is given at the end of training so I can go forward and make real sales calls! At the end of the day, I made one call to a client for Danielle asking to resubmit an advertisement for the Grand Rapids Magazine. That concluded my day and I will continue watching the training videos and taking notes.
7/2/2020 (10-5)
This morning I continued watching more of the Zoom call recordings and taking many notes. I also helped Danielle proof the Real Estate All-Stars section for Grand Rapids Magazine. Tomorrow I will continue watching and taking notes on the Digital Training Zoom calls.
7/8/2020 (10-5)
Today was a big day! We had a meeting with our supervisors and finally got the last bit of information we needed before beginning our digital sales experience. I began a list of prospects to send to our supervisors for Friday’s next meeting. We have to have 25 to start off. I began google searching small businesses and looking at their SEO and social media sights. I only have 3 but tomorrow I will work to grow my list and possibly even make some calls! Their advice was very helpful and they made it clear that we have nothing to lose so just go for it!
7/9/2020 (10-5)
Today I spent the whole day creating my target list to cold call. It was definitely more difficult than I anticipated. I don’t know if I’m putting too much thought into it or if there’s a more efficient way to do this. Hopefully I will get some feedback from my supervisor and/or learn more tips on this. I didn’t get around to making any calls but maybe that will be tomorrow’s task.
7/10/2020 (10-4)
Finished my target list to cold call. Also had a meeting with supervisors about how the list went. I think I overdid the notes but it’s better to have more than less. Next week I will start making calls.
7/15/2020 (10-5)
Went into the office today to pick up magazines for leads. I spent the rest of the day making calls. I hit the goal of 50 for the day. I am EXHAUSTED but proud. I got 2 leads that were fully successful. I wish I had gotten more but hopefully tomorrow I will.
7/16/2020 (10-5)
I made another 50 calls today and got 3 leads! I am very proud of myself and today went smoother than yesterday. I hope to get more tomorrow. One thing that is difficult is really keeping track of my sales and which ones are successful and which ones I still have to contact.
7/17/2020 (10-2)
Made 30 cold calls today. There was a noticeable difference on Fridays that you cannot get in touch with as many people because they start their weekends early. Will be picking up again Wednesday!
7/22/2020 (10-5)
Today I made 33 calls but did not set up any meetings. It was easier last week it seems like! I also helped Danielle with a sales rep look up and she also said we will be helping with the monthly audit this week. We also had our weekly meeting today. Tomorrow I will start with more calls and get some new leads and also wait for Danielle to send over the new project.
7/23/2020 (10-5)
Today I made 48 calls and began doing a sales rep look up for Danielle for the SEEN Magazine audit. Sadly I set up no meetings today either. It has been really hard compared to last week.
7/24/2020 (10-4)
I was able to work on the audit all day today. Did the sales rep look up and also marked whether or not they advertised with us in the last 12 months. I got to 325 of 566. I will hopefully finish that up next wednesday.
7/28/2020 (8-2)
Today I worked because I offered to finish the Seen Magazine Audit since she needed it done today. After I finished that she sent me some Top Lawyer mailing labels to make. Easy day! Tomorrow I go into the office for the first time.
7/29/2020 (10-5)
Today was my first day in the office! It was a great experience and I finally met the other interns. We made labels for the Top Doctors 2020 most of the day. At the end of the day my supervisor gave me the opportunity to write the opening for the Top Lawyers in the magazine. I am excited to venture into the journalism side of the internship at Hour. That deadline won’t be until October. Tomorrow I’ll be back in the office!
7/30/2020 (10-5)
I did a lot of work today that I am proud of! I was able to start writing the Top Lawyers opener for the special advertising section. Then Danielle gave me a project for the Faces of Detroit 2020. I packaged up 10 Hour magazines, a personal letter and packet and a client gift subscription paper. I did about 20 boxes of those. Then at the end of the day I was sent out to deliver some plaques to a client and then I dropped off some things for one of the account executives to DOBI real estate. It was a successful day.
8/5/2020 (10-3)
Today I hand-delivered the packages to the Faces clients. I did about 6 of them around the birmingham area. Beforehand I called each client or their business to see if there was a preferred time to deliver them. I was sent out again after I got back to deliver one more on my way home. I got off early but it was exhausting!
8/6/2020 (10-5)
I made 8 deliveries again. On the way to work, my supervisor asked me to go to the magazine distribution warehouse in madison heights to pick up 120 magazines. After I got back to the office, I started my deliveries again. It was a lot of work and driving but I felt successful after I completed my deliveries. At the end of the day I also helped do a sales rep look up for her.
8/7/2020 (10-3)
Today I spent the whole day doing a sales rep look up for the Top Docs list and also made sure their Top Doc 2020 category was checked off in magman. I completed 600.
8/12/2020 (10-5)
I did a lot of different things today! I made 13 digital sales calls which I haven’t done in weeks and I actually got another sale! I was really happy about that and I felt good having something good to say for the meeting at 1 with Jason Hosko. It was the other interns last day so there was a lot of good advice and talking. After I spoke to Jason in his office to discuss payment for the digital sales meetings I have set up. I also talked to him about future plans and he asked for my resume! I hope to hear from him soon. I then delivered 2 more Faces packages and picked up some plaques for Danielle from Ferndale.
8/13/2020 (10-5)
Today I created hundreds of Top Lawyers address labels. This took up my whole day. I am good at repetitive tasks so I did not mind.
8/14/2020 (10-4)
I spent the whole day assembling Top Lawyers letters. This was very crucial to get done for them today so I contributed all my efforts to this. These letters were what the mailing labels were for.
8/19/2020 (10-2:30)
I was able to start assembling and writing my internship essay today. Danielle came in late so I worked on that and then worked on the Top Lawyers opener section I was able to write. When Danielle came in she told me I had some Faces deliveries again so I went to Bloomfield Hills and Detroit. I ended the day early.
8/20/2020 (10-4)
Today I continued working on my internship essay while Danielle sorted some work out for me. I delivered some Faces plaques in Birmingham. It was my last official day at my internship but I hope to continue next week and discuss where this could lead me in the company.
Hours
Essay
My experience at Hour Media has allowed me to grow as an adult in the workplace. I have learned from my supervisors and found myself pushing to do better every day. Although this was not a typical internship experience with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting my ability to be in the office, I had found ways to stand out from the other two interns from Michigan State University. I completed my projects as efficiently as possible, worked extra hours, and completed unfinished work from the other interns.
Working from home was not what I had planned before the pandemic. Staying focused throughout the day was difficult, but changing the environment from my bedroom to the living room helped because it eliminated distractions. My organization skills helped me create an isolated work environment as well. I made sure to set aside an area for all of my work materials and create a checklist for my daily tasks. Zoom calls were key in communicating with our supervisor, Danielle Szatkowski. She would inform us of our tasks and we would discuss any issues or questions we had. If she had a more detailed project with specific instructions, she would record a video on zoom and send it through email for us to refer back to. These projects included creating mailing labels, updating audit spreadsheets, researching prospects for the Grand Rapids Magazine, calling customers about their ad materials, delivering Faces advertorial packages to clients and sales representative look-ups and editing clients in Magazine Manager. Magazine Manager is the program used to add clients into their system. Danielle has been an inspiration to me since the first time I spoke to her over the phone. She told me how she started out as an intern as well and that she could tell we had similar qualities. That gave me hope to someday work full-time at Hour Media.
When we finally came into the office this past month or so, I connected with Danielle more and I saw what her job entails as the sales and publishing assistant. She communicates with clients who advertise in the special advertising section to ensure the correct information is in Hour Magazine. Communicating with the creative team is critical for her work. She oversees a lot of projects in the company but she still did her best to guide us interns on whatever project we assisted on. Emailing and calling were two ways she let us contact her for whatever we needed.
I cannot say I’ve had any experience at a real company like Hour Media before so my views on the internship may be biased. I have enjoyed the people, the setting and the projects. Through the Zoom calls, I was introduced to many employees who made it known that we could contact them for any questions or advice. Some even reached out through email to introduce themselves. Jason Hosko, the associate publisher, gave us interns a huge and new opportunity to sell their digital media. He told us many times how he viewed us as an extension of their sales team and that motivated me to work harder every day.
The Hour Lead Generation program was an opportunity introduced by Jason that helped me build my confidence and become more independent. I believe this program will push me ahead with future job opportunities. I found my own leads and called small businesses to pitch Hour Media’s digital advertising packages. I found many businesses through local magazines and newspaper inserts. Some I gathered myself and some were given to me by Danielle. I also searched through downtown areas like Royal Oak, Rochester, and Detroit on Google Maps. The goal was to make 50 calls each day and to set up meetings with the account executives who would follow up with the businesses to complete the sale.
Our training consisted of two weeks of watching zoom recorded videos and 11 quizzes that were made for the account executives. They provided us with possible scenarios and practice scripts for the calls. One thing I learned is that authenticity is key with selling. Using the script for guidelines was okay but making it our own was important. We had the chance to make income by setting up meetings with account executives in the office. We were given a link to Hour Media’s website where the form was located to submit our meetings. Once we filled out the sheet, that was considered a sale and we received 25 dollars. Out of the three sales interns, I had set up the most meetings. We kept track of our work in a “cookbook” and on a digital spreadsheet. We separated the categories into “calls” and “talks”. Talks were only added if we spoke to the “decision-maker” of the business and received a yes or no for setting up a meeting. If the meeting was successful and the sale went through, we would receive one percent of the commission. Every Wednesday, meetings were held with Jason and Danielle to discuss our success stories and challenges we encountered during the calls. Some days were better than others and that is another thing I learned about sales.
The last few weeks I took a break from making calls and Danielle had me personally delivering Faces advertorial packages to clients. These packages contained 10 magazines, 100 copies of the faces advertorial page, a personalized letter and a discount letter. I would make 5-10 deliveries each day. Although it was exhausting, I enjoyed being the face of Hour Media for the clients and representing the company. Along with making these deliveries, I often picked up client plaques from the frame shop and brought Magazines to the office from the warehouse in Madison Heights. All of these little tasks were important to do because it showed Danielle and the others that I don’t mind working hard and going out of my way to get things done.
These were very hands-on projects that made me feel like I was contributing to the company. I hope to stay with Hour Media and learn more about their magazine. One downside of working at Hour Media during the pandemic was not being able to fully meet the staff in person. I would have liked to shadow more of the creative team. After speaking to Danielle about my larger interest in writing over sales, she gave me the opportunity to write an opener for the Top Lawyers special advertising section in the Grand Rapids Magazine. I am excited to showcase my writing skills and receive feedback in the process.
Overall, I have enjoyed and grown from my internship experience at Hour Media. I have pushed myself to work harder, developed an idea of my career choice and connected with new people. I believe this company is beneficial for any journalism or advertising intern. I plan to continue contributing to the company and hopefully find myself in this office in the future.
Samples of work
Below is my first 25 prospects I composed for the digital sales opportunity. I compiled small business I thought were good candidates and added useful notes for my phone call pitches.
Below is my overall list of prospects that I have called over several weeks. There are added notes, the prospects current status, and their contact information. This is the spreadsheet I would reference every day I made calls.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10W72kv5zxs4nqseDFOoIJnpufMVe3bG-y2NfYjHgT-E/edit?usp=sharing
Below is just a sample of the 12 pages I made of labels for the Top Lawyers 2020 letters. I had done this task for the Top Doctors 2020 as well. This is the template I would use.
Below is a sample of the Faces clients. This is one from the September issue for the Grand Rapids Magazine. I delivered packages to clients in Detroit, Birmingham, Royal Oak, Troy and other nearby cities.
This list below shows the Top Dentists special advertising section in Hour Magazine. I assisted in fact-checking their contact information along with creating mailing labels for their personalized letters from the account executives.
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