I was finally able to meet with Catharine for our final mentor discussion. It had been a while since we spoke, mainly because she has been very busy and so have I. We talked about my future goals, which is always an interesting experience, mainly because it is difficult to put yourself out there in that was for others to comment on. The most interesting point that Catharine made was that she believes we should always start with the long term goals and work backwards from there. While this is not an extremely novel idea, it shifted my focus from the now and got me thinking more about the future. By defining the long term vision, we are able to determine how the short term goals will fall into place. The vision stays the same, the methods cha

It has been nearly two months since I started my new job with Harris Management. It has been quite the whirlwind summer and the mentorship with Catharine has been a big reason why I have found my way into the position that I am in. I have created 10 facebook pages, 10 twitter accounts and created three websites since starting my new job. I manage those accounts and that aspect of the marketing outrea

It seems that I have run my full race (pun intended)! I have completed the 200+ hours required by the mentorship and I have learned a ton about marketing, management and online environments. I am really enthused about social media marketing and while I know some companies are reticent to launch a program of this nature, I have really started to see the benefits of interacting with the customer base.

I am still interacting with race directors as some of the leads I was working to generate are still coming through. Hopefully I can sign up a few more races as icing on the cake as I wrap up this experience. Unfortunately, the company is not in a place financially to offer me a position, even through Catharine has expressed a desire to do so. She thinks that within the next month or so, the work we have been doing will increase sales to a point that will require a new full time position. It feels good to be considered in this way, even though I have not been offered future employment at this time. I'll keep working on the leads I have now to finish up as strongly as possible.

The running project continues. I have contacted races through the month of June and continue to follow up with possible leads. I have a phone call scheduled today with a possible lead out in California and a couple other email leads as well. Things at the home base seem very busy and we are continuing to push for more and more exposure through the race partnership program. Still no update on the continuance of my mentorship after the 200 hours, which is approaching very quickly. I will most like continue to work on the leads that I have now, even after I have reached the time goal, but as time winds down with my job as an athletic director at the Hyde school and we head towards graduation, it is getting difficult to find the proper time to devote to EnergyBits. This is certainly something that I will need to discuss soon with Catharine.

The running project continues and I have started contacting races that will be happening in June. The races in June seem a little bit less likely to sign up at this point, judging by the initial feedback I have received. Perhaps that is because people are more inclined to run races in the summer and thus the other sponsors are also more inclined to the summer months. Either way, the first contacts in June have not been positive. I'm still working on many of them, though, because I think the other reason people aren't jumping to sign up is they are not feeling the pressure of a looming date.

The really exciting news is my most recent success in signing up a race. I contacted a 4 mile race that is run by a race management company and they decided to sign on....for all eight of the races they manage! This is a huge accomplishment for me, because it will get the product in front of hundreds of people and it brings my race partner total up significantly.

I am very near the end of my 200 hours of mentorship work, and will most likely wind down those hours still trying to sign up more races. I will also continue to work with social media platforms to reach out to potential customers. No word yet if Bits of Health is interested in bringing me on as a full time employee, but there have been a few talks of that possibility. Even during this remote mentorship process, my hard work has been noticed and that makes me proud of what I have been able to accomplish.

The events of Monday, April 15th at the Boston Marathon were both tragic and scary. While I was not at the event, I did know people running in it. Also, the EnergyBits team was at the race handing out samples. While I knew that the team was in Wellesley, a ways from the finish line, it was still difficult to know how close all this was striking. It certainly put into perspective how fast everything can change. With a company built on social media, some of the first news reports that I saw about Monday were through EnergyBits. They posted information is a simple way. The posts were no longer looking to sell anything, but help in any way possible. While our company was not alone in this, it was impressive to see just how quickly and effectively messages can be passed along. It was, and still is, a difficult event to understand. However, the courage and leadership shown by Catharine was helpful and encouraging. We have a powerful impact on the social media world, and while it can seem fleeting, it can make big change happen fast. The message of strength and endurance was a message about Boston. EnergyBits will continue to be at races around the country and we will be at the marathon again next year.

This week has mostly seen me contacting and corresponding with race directors in hopes of getting more races signed up for the partnership program. I have also been re-discovering Facebook, as a lot has changed in the last year and a half. Between those two things, it is amazing how fast the hours are piling up towards the goal of 200+. Next Monday, the company is running a marathon promotion for the Boston Marathon. While I can't be there to be a part of it, I get a chance to see the inner planning and execution of a promotional outing like this one. Between contacting different people that might be interested and trying to get people interested, there is a good amount of work that goes into this project. We are also looking for temporary interns to help pass out samples on race day.

Not too much new to report. I am continuing to log hours contacting races from various states in hopes of signing them up for the partnership program. I am starting to see better results and I am more confident each time I talk to a race director. Our brand is getting out there and we are on the cusp of really taking off.

I have been asked to follow on twitter any company that might be aligned with the running community and I need to start a personal facebook page. While I went off facebook a couple years ago because I was not really finding the connections and information beneficial, I can't really continue to work for a social media based company without being on one of the biggest social media sites. I will be re-joining the ranks of the Facebookers soon. I am a little reticent to do so, but it makes sense for this project and also in the long run.

I am now up to 3 races signed up for the partnership program! One of the races has 1600 runners which is a great accomplishment for me. I am getting some great responses from my attempts to contact more races also. Catharine has asked me to start working on other states besides California. I am now contacting races in Massachusetts and Maine, as well as still working with the California races. I knew this program had some serious potential when we first started with it, and it is really proving that! Now that I am not stuck at 0 races signed up I feel a lot better about my efforts towards getting more. This project will continue and I will keep updating.

We also had an ambassador call last night. This is a call for all the individuals that are personally promoting the products. I was not able to make the call, but I was able to listen to the recording and it was really cool to listen to the different perspectives and stories about Bits! This company really interacts with its customers on a different level than I have seen. We have an intern call on Friday (when all the interns get on the phone at the same time with Catharine) and I hope to be able to bring up this customer service aspect of the company for conversation. Keep running!

So I got my first race to sign up! Sort of. It was more of a tag team with my boss and myself but they are signing up and it is cool to get my first taker. I learned a lot by being able to tag team with Catharine. I saw the answers to some important questions moving forward. I know that soon I will look back at this point and laugh about how hard it was to get the first couple races signed up. For now though, it is still pretty tough to get that ball over the goal line and get races signed up. My focus is being shifted away from data collection and focused more towards contacting races. I will be getting the information from others so that I can contact races all across the country! I know that soon I will be able to post about all the races that I have signed up for the partnership.