Varsity Final Paper

09/16/2013

I’ve finished writing Varsity Final Paper today.

This is what I experienced.

The following is the report I wrote.

I wrote real results and what I felt and learned.

I’m delighted to summarize my summer internship.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • –

Bookman field in Varsity Internship Program provides me the confidence to become a leader. Every single day I have something trouble to deal with, like selling, emotion, related car, police officers, and so on. For instance, slam the door made me emotional, but I get used to people’s objections. During summer, every day, I went through the Mississippi River to go to the destination. At first, I was scared of selling a book to Mrs. Jones. I was too nervous about explaining books. For the first 3 days, I was afraid of parking a car in from Mrs. Jones’s house! However, after 21 days, I get used to the job, and I went everywhere, like restaurants, going to a city hall to show books to the mayor!

Let’s talk about my challenge in the summer. Mrs. Jones tends to say “No” when she doesn’t understand something. I realized that Mrs. Jones wouldn’t get a book from me without a good setup because she regards me as a “Salesman.” I notice that “I” am the best product. Also, my closing was terrible because of my laziness. I cut the important points of sales talk. So, I reread the Sales talk from week 7. Also, Pardeep, my roommates, helped improve my closing by showing the 3C process: Calculator, Calendar, and Check process. Also, it took time to sell “Set.” I became confident to sell the set from week 9.

Overall, I was at the bottom in the sales ranking. I passed the vision only 3 times, on weeks 5, 11, and 12. But I’ve believed myself. My best day was to sell 6 books the last Saturday. After that, the last week, delivery days, I sold $1935! Since I had car problems several times and spent money to rent. I got $308 as a set. But I saved the summer expense, and I achieved my goals.
I had 7 goals to achieve during this summer. First of all, I want to improve English speaking skill. During summer, I use English as a business language. Sometimes I did not understand what people say because of the language barrier, but my listening ability improved greatly by talking with many Mrs. Jones. Also, since I used the same words repeatedly, I became confident to talk, even the words are not grammatically perfect. I think it’s a great step.

The second is driving a car smoothly. Although I had a driver’s license in Japan, I didn’t often drive. So, through this internship, my driving skill improved a lot too. The first long driving from Wichita to Oxford was so scary for me. However, after that, I drove at least 60 miles every day. Now that I have become confident to drive everywhere. After the check-out, I’m glad to come back to Stillwater safely by car. I also had many car troubles, like tire flat, stuck, break down, etc.… So, I learned how to deal with car-related problems that I will face in the future. Additionally, I can ask a favor to a stranger if I need help.

Third, I want to know the Real World. School life does not tell us about reality. So, the bookman field showed me many things: How people react when they talk about money, what kinds of house people live, what kind of jobs will decide your choices, and how people spend their lives. Some Mrs. Jones will probably finish his or her life without achieving a goal. On the other hand, others will challenge something new every day and will succeed in their lives. I learned about how to spend life by meeting many real people.

Fourth, I want to fight in a tough situation. There are 2 types of obstacles. One is a physical challenge. Since my headquarter had several limitations, like no electricity and water on the first week, taking a cold shower for 3 months, no refrigerator, and so on. Such a survival situation gave me a chance to think differently and get used to living without equipment by creating new ideas. The other is a mental challenge. I was thinking too much about work, especially in the first quarter. I cried several times because I could not work hard. I overcame that situation by reading books, like “Life is tremendous,” and reading loudly about my goal list. Moreover, since I didn’t sell well, the fact tended to make me emotional on a day. Sometimes I became angry with my roommate with a small thing. It took time to handle emotion. After that, although I become emotional sometimes, I learn how to change my mind quickly.

Fifth, I want to laugh with wonderful people! This internship provides me to meet 3 categories of amazing people. The first group is managers. They showed us how to solve a problem and how to motivate people. In particular, I appreciate 3 managers. Ivan, G.T, and JK. I followed Ivan and G.T to learn how to do this job. I learned from the importance of “Keeping schedule” and “Be confident” from Ivan, and “Enthusiastic” and “Passion” from G.T. Also, fortunately, I lived with JK. As a result, I learned lots of things from him, such as to become a leader, how to solve a problem, how to control emotion, how great people think, how to use time effectively, even how to talk with girls! Next, the second group is friends. Every Sunday meeting gave me the energy to work more! It was fun to talk with friends, especially the same rookies. Everyone has a different goal and do this job. We shared what we learned in the book field and what do we want in the future. The final group is Mrs. Jones. I could not imagine what kind of people I would talk to before the summer. But, I’m surprised at how nice, and friendly most of the people are! I became friends with a mayor, pastor, and nice Mrs. Jones. For example, one person called many people who might be interested in a book, and I followed her car to go to a Mrs. Jones house! Furthermore, I enjoyed eating southern food by Mrs. Jones, like a pork chop, fried chicken, catfish, red been rice, sweet potato pie, spaghetti, and so on. On the delivery days, I ate so many nice foods.

The sixth is to prove that I’m a hard worker. I understand what hard work is. I worked about 10.8 hours on average every day. I did call about 800 times and showing books to 433 people this summer. I’m astonished that many friends and managers work more! On Sunday meeting, JK told us that “This work is simple, but not easy.” Now, I know the meaning. Continuing to work energetically in “Every Single Day” is a great thing. Thanks to finishing the bookman field, I’m ready to work after graduating from university!

The last goal is I’m willing to fail. For example, if I’m afraid of going to a big house or pastor’s house, I told my mind that “Congratulation, Takashi! It means Go!” If I could not sell well and don’t feel like working,” Knock” the next door! I motivated myself many times by saying, “Have a Screwed up.” I’m happy to fail rather than ignoring since I don’ want to regret it in the future.

I enjoyed this summer internship. It was a tough challenge for me. I’m not satisfied with my sales results. Since I had car problems several times and spent money to rent, I got $308 as debt at the check-out. However, I saved summer expenses, and I got a lot of things from this internship. First of all, I become confident. I achieved most of the expected goals before the summer, like improving speaking skills, driving skills, and meeting wonderful people. I learned how to talk with people. As a result, I proved that I’m a hard worker by this experience. I can do more about everything because I understand the meaning of “Hard work” by this Varsity Internship Program.