Drawing to an End

It’s hard to believe that the summer is drawing to a close and that my work is now done. I’ve had a great experience over the course of my internship and am more than pleased with how it all went.

This summer at Radiance my occupation involved providing assistance to a company with no expert source of English training. My primary goal was to help present a more focused and flawless outward image to the spa’s clientele, through both online and print sources. Among my responsibilities, I assisted in the groundwork involved with launching a new website as well as preparing for a future expansion. My responsibilities included managing social media, proofreading documents and the new website, researching and reporting on features regarding the expansion, and designing a guidebook for the front desk staff. Because of my work in these areas, I believe I’ve helped to provide a more organized and well-rounded community within the spa, a better image to the clients, and more readily accessible information to all involved.

As for what I myself have gained from this experience, I can say that I’ve had great practice in dealing with real-world projects and am pleased with the new content I can add to my portfolio.

My background at DSU absolutely prepared me for this position. My education through composition, grammar, rhetoric, and new media has made me equipped and ready to take on this role. The class which I consciously drew from the most was Informatics with Dr. Berry, where I first discovered the infographic and learned to process and present information in a way which is clearest and best attracts attention.

I would absolutely love to do this kind of work for a living! I have nothing but positive things to say about my employment at Radiance, and I’m thankful that I was given this opportunity to practice putting my degree to work.

Final Adventure

I wish I could share every detail of what I’ve been up to as of late. Unfortunately, at this particular time that’s not possible. I will say I’ve been quite busy indeed.

This week, I elected to write up a document of all the details a good employee should learn and know regarding the (mystery) treatment I hinted at last week. None of the other employees yet know of the new, novel spa remedy. This meant I had a lot to teach which I find tremendously exciting. My guidebook included a lengthy description of the process of the therapy, as well as information on the properties of the products used, contraindications, a portion regarding treatment during pregnancy, and the physical benefits of the process. I also gathered pre-session tips and advices for both staff and client and a comprehensive FAQ.

However, the main focus of my energy this week was in the making of an infographic. It seemed crucial that the information be made easily available for social media platforms and readily accessible to customers.

I’m very much pleased by the way this endeavor worked out. I’d learned all about the concepts and making of infographics last semester in Dr. Berry’s classes, and this made me very confident in my task. I think these infographics are the best I’ve done yet. I made two different versions: one with the spa’s name and one without. The nameless one is out there on the web somewhere, but I sadly cannot link to it when the name of my employer is readily available from this blog. Soon enough though the news will be made public.

Oddly enough, over the past week I learned essentially everything I now know about photoshopping. I’d never used it for much of anything before, and somehow I was able to pick up whatever skills I needed to make the infographics everything I wanted them to be.

My only challenges were living up to my own (rather high) standards and not letting myself become overwhelmed. I’m very much a perfectionist. I think mostly it just helped to power through what I was working on rather than become fixated on making each tiny detail exactly right. By the time I had every element I needed fleshed out, I was confident enough in what I was working on that I was able to go back and nitpick and make appropriate changes later.

My best experience was showing my work to my family and my boss. That’s always the most rewarding part to me, when people tell me ‘good job’ or what have you.

Top Secret

My experiences at the spa just get better and better! I truly didn't know I could be so excited about work! Well this week I got a new (top secret) project.

My boss has had a really remarkable idea for expanding the spa, and though it’s not yet finalized, my job is to put together all manner of information, visualizations, and public interest so that when the ball starts rolling there will be minimal setbacks. I've been working all week on researching a very exciting topic, taking rigorous notes, sketching out plans for infographics, and planning extensive web material for the spa’s website and Facebook.

After a nearly obscene amount of anticipatory jargon, including assurance that I was the only one in the business who yet knew of these upcoming plans, I finally became the sole confidant for the new expansion project.

Radiance Day Spa will be the first business in the area to implement the new procedure, and I wouldn't be a very good employee if I started blabbing about it on the web. There are many steps yet to undergo before announcing to the public. Also, Radiance Day Spa expects to be the premier innovator in this industry in Sioux Falls. Sheri let me know that the business is well established in Europe and growing rapidly in the States, and she is determined to be the first business offering these services in the area. So for now my lips are sealed, but be sure to keep a look out for new health and wellness ventures coming soon to Sioux Falls.
Sheri gave me a great book on the (secret) topic, several printed articles, and a list of spas in the country who use similar methods so that I could look up the information they had to offer and review the way they conduct their businesses.

This whole week has been a joy, and I've been working very hard to demonstrate to myself and my employer that no one could do better at this task. I truly believe I’m the perfect person for the job and I am determined to prove it.

Knocking ‘em Dead

I’m thrilled this week because my first big project seems to have turned out to be a smashing success. The new guide book for the spa looks better than ever and the functionality of it is immensely improved. I got my feedback first thing from the bigwigs and then showed off the work to some other coworkers throughout the week. I received many ‘oh-my-goshes’, and Sheri told me it seemed to be exactly what she was looking for! I must admit it is a vast improvement from the sorry state it was in.

This week I mostly caught up on some odds and ends. I did some more marketing research on my own and concluded that Google+ would be a great addition to the previous social media circles we were in. This took longer than I expected to set up since Google was no longer accepting phone verification, but I actually did get it rolling in under a week.

The other work I began this week was some editing and reorganizing of the new website (which has yet to be launched). I got to be the Managing Editor for the site and had a really good time exploring it since it’s such a big change from the previous website.

Before

After

I started by copy-pasting each branch of the website into Word, just to streamline the editing process. I found way more mistakes by using this simple method than I expected to find at all. It’s funny how easy it is to overlook easy solutions such as that. And they can really do wonders to improve the image and credibility of your website.

A Master Class in Editing

This week I am vastly excited since I’ve just received a project that seems to fit my interests and talents quite well. I was given a loose set of guidelines and some research to do, as well as a plentiful amount of editing and proof reading. (I actually love that stuff!) Sheri —the director— and I had a meeting first thing this week; she showed me an old guide book that the receptionists at the front desk use for training and helping customers. Let me just say it was not in very good shape, not in any way.

The information was very haphazard as far as I could discern. Pages missing, lines crossed out, the typos—oh the typos— and nothing in a logical order. Here’s a taste of what I’m talking about.

So, it was up to me to gather current, up-to-date information about the processes of each treatment, so that even a newbie could easily find all the information needed. Along with uncovering other copious amounts of missing information, I needed to find contraindications for each service— meaning who should not or cannot receive specific treatments. I also needed to research the benefits and possible drawbacks of each treatment. I learned an abundance of information this way!

The research was so much fun and made me really want to try as many of the treatments as I could. I also had a fantastic opportunity to learn more about some things I was already interested in, such as speeding recovery time after a workout or what kinds of benefits you may gain from using a sauna (something I loved to take advantage of in the Madison Community Center). It felt great to be in charge of a major research project outside of school and even better to be so trusted when it came to this sort of high importance training information.

(Here’s an after to go with the before. The finished product was more than 50 pages.)

I spent a few days working nearly nonstop on this book. What can I say? I just had so much fun with it! Some of my work I accomplished at the office, but I also got to do a lot of work from home this week, which was nice since it was so busy and hectic in the building.

Week of Exploring

To give you a taste of what I’ll be up to this summer, I should start by saying I’ve got one of the most exciting and revitalizing jobs around. This internship has been a dream thus far. From the workers to the clients to the general environment, happiness and energy saturate the air. And I didn’t think I’d feel so very welcome from the start. But what could be better than working at a spa? Don’t believe me? Just look at this gorgeous place!

First, I met the spa director, Sheri in person.  We had a few meetings to talk over how I could help the business. We discussed such ideas as the spa’s image and values and how it wished to be portrayed as well as marketed. Sheri struck me from the start as an exceptionally passionate and driven businesswoman. I’m quite excited to work with her and to see where this job leads.

This week was remarkably quick and painless. I got myself acquainted with the spa and everyone in it. I was able to ask a lot of questions and learn a bit about everyone’s job. Megan and I, since we were sharing a space the majority of the time, got to know each other particularly well and I gained a fair amount of knowledge from her. She taught me a quick overview of the products they carried and the promotions they had offered in the past. She showed me the ropes, and I listened to her answer the phones and talk to incoming customers. Megan seemed to have an answer for everything! I also learned much more than expected about all kinds of spa treatments I knew nothing about. Megan educated me on sugaring (which is like waxing but better because you the hair comes out in the same direction it grows and doesn’t remove live skin cells like waxing does) and eyelash extensions that last for months and all the new makeup. (Please forgive my sudden outpouring of girliness.)

I was expected to learn about each of the product lines carried and the spa treatments provided so that I could handle any write-ups and promotions that were sure to arise.

But I realized quickly that I could help in other ways as well. Just reading through the brochure I quickly recognized two repeated typos and pointed them out to Sheri. Finally, my largely unappreciated aptitude for finding mistakes in published works paid off. I also seemed to gain the occupation of Workplace Organizer. I had more fun than I should have working out a system for optimizing the receptionist resources. Since there will soon be new hires to train, it seemed like a great opportunity to help out.

I also got to meet Jessica. She’s the manager and very bright and quick-witted. She set me up with loads of reading materials to get me caught up to speed. I also gathered my own resources to research; brochures, fliers, product guides, and spa magazines. I wanted to get myself acclimated and that’s just what I did.

Then I flitted through the many web locations the spa occupies and got myself all the passwords to operate and manage the sites.

There were a couple of challenges this first week. Facebook, for example, labeled me a threat and locked the spa’s account from my laptop. This wasn’t a big deal except that I wasn’t able to post to the spa’s Facebook from home for a few days. Other than that, I mostly just had to fight through my nerves and rely on the help of my coworkers when I was unsure how to proceed. I tried my best to be as helpful as possible and ask frequently if there was more I could do for anyone. Overall, it was an extremely enjoyable experience, and I am especially eager to move forward in this internship.