It's been a little while since my last post but the running project has been all consuming. I am either contacting races or researching more races to contact. I haven't been very successful in signing races up for the partnership program, but I know that it will happen soon. I have made my way through all the races in April and have started on May races.  I am getting some great experience in talking with people about the product and learning how to get people excited about it, but still no sales. It is a bit frustrating, but my boss Catharine is staying very positive and that is helping me to stay positive also.

I have been spending most of my time calling and talking to race directors about the race partnership program that we hope will bring us lots of exposure. The reception is much better than with the soccer calls and people are very interested in our product. I have yet to get a race to "sign up" but I am close. I was calling races that were only a week away, and people were pretty hesitant to sign up for something so close to their race date. However, as I work my way to races that are further away on the calendar they are pretty interested in what we do! This is the project that I will continue to work on as we sneak up on April. Between finding

So after my first round of calls and very little success, I was not really looking forward to my next round. However, because the company is so small, when a project gets big and is showing success, more resources are allocated to that project. Right now, the running project is taking off like crazy. Catharine has decided that we need as many people working on this project as possible and that this project will give Bits the greatest visibility. It is a little disappointing to be shifting away from the soccer project, but it is also very exciting to have the chance to find some success in my calls and efforts. I am still working on the California races, but now I am taking a more active role in signing races up for sponsorship. So far the efforts have been hugely successful and I am hoping that I can have the same success!

I have been working my way through the call sheets that I created for the soccer teams. My job was to find the contact information and now it is to use that information and follow up. I'm glad I spent the time finding good numbers because I have been able to get through to most of the clubs, however I am still spending a lot of time on hold, being transferred and working my way to the person I want to speak with. This is made more difficult by the fact that many of the people I want to talk to are trying to play soccer, plan for practice or games, and get others ready to play. I've left a lot of messages and learned a lot about talking to people in the industry. "Talk fast," is the message I am getting from most of them. I learned that I need to keep asking questions in order to keep people on the phone and get my message across. My very first call went straight through the the trainer of the Chicago Fire. It was a very short conversation - the I'm not interested conversation - and even with my script ready I wasn't able to keep him talking. Still, I got better as I made a few calls and left a few messages, but still nothing super exciting.

I have been continuing to compile races for the running project. I will admit, it is not the most fun task but I am learning a lot about how road race events disseminate information. I'm also learning that there are many different types of races, sometimes in the same city at the same time. Growing up in Maine, when there was a road race, there was that race and usually no others in the state on that day. In California, on the weekends, there are 10 to 20 races on the same day. More people means there is a bigger market for racing, it is just interesting to learn about as I gather the information. It also means there is a wider pool of possible customers for Energybits in CA as compared to ME. This is not an earth shattering revelation, but rather an affirmation of something already known.

I have written my calling script to help me remember the important information when I get on the phone with the soccer teams. That will be happening very soon.

I was able to finish my assigned section of the March running project, but it was no small feat! In the state of California this month, there are 135 races taking place, all with different contact information and websites. Some races make it very easy to find the information, other races make it very difficult. Either way it took a long time to compile, but we are already seeing results! Some of the races that we have contacted are already wanting to have the product at the race. It is a very exciting time.

The MLS season started last night. We are still in the contact phase of trying to get bits into the MLS but we are slowly moving forward. Hopefully more news coming on this front soon.

In other company news, an NHL player with the Montreal Canadians has started using the EnergyBits and loves them. He is doing quite well this season, scoring a couple goals in the last few games. He is trying to get his line mates to use them so we might be moving gaining some ground into hockey as well.

In the last post I introduced the new and exciting running project and the fact that I was working on the month of March. I mentioned that this was a MASSIVE undertaking and I may have under-estimated just how much work this project entails. After spending some serious hours compiling I slowly came to the conclusion that there was little chance I would be able to complete the work by the end of this week. I could work 8 hours a day for the next week and I still would not have the whole picture completed for March. Unfortunately I don't have that much time to devote to the mentorship process over the next week.

If there is one thing that I struggle to do, it is ask for help when I am feeling overwhelmed. I usually over compensate by working harder and longer, a trait that has gotten me to where I am now. I hate the feeling of asking for help, because I sometimes view it as not being good enough but I have learned a lot through asking and I have found that I get more done by working with a team. So, a quick email to Catharine and we redistributed the month of March to hopefully get everything done. I am fighting the feelings of not being good enough, with knowing that the work needs to get done. Ultimately I think I made a good decision to ask for help and I have to continue to communicate if I feel I need help. I know intellectually that a team is better than an individual, but it is something that is engrained in me that I need to actively work to overcome.

I have been working on better understanding the product of Energybits. In order to better market the product, I have been better acquainting myself with it over the past couple days. The literature that comes out with the algae recommends that first timers, like me, swallow the bits whole, or mix them with other foods. I would also highly recommend this type of use because the taste is definitely "acquired." I have been studying the literature throughout the week and working with Catharine to make sure the letter to the soccer project is on track. Next week I will start making calls about the samples.

This week we embarked on a new and MASSIVE collection of possible leads. The running community is a big avenue for the company, as we are marketing to athletes (not just pro athletes!). I have been assigned the task of collecting all the races and the information on those races in the states from Alaska to New York (alphabetically) in the month of March. While Alaska is not hosting many road races in March, other states have quite a few. I need to collect simple information such as the name of the race and the mailing address of the race director so that we can try and get our product to the races. This is a huge project and has been broken down into different parts (other people are working on other states and months). Off we go a' running!

This week was another faced paced week in Bits of Health Inc. Early in the week I spent time working with Jonathan via phone on the social media aspect of the Bits strategy. I will be responsible for tweeting for the Energybits line (along with others) and Jonathan is the manager of the accounts, wanting to make sure that I am following the correct strategy. Bits focuses on content based tweets rather than self-promotional tweets. This basically means that the tweets that come from this account are linked to articles related to the health and wellness industry beyond the algae that we are marketing. The idea is to generate conversation that will lead people to the product. It seems to be working really well because more and more people are picking up the conversation. Part of my job is to research those articles that would make for good content based tweets. I will continue to do this throughout this experience.

As for the soccer project, I complied the complete list this week, combining the eastern and western conference lists. Right now I am in a holding pattern waiting on the go ahead to start contacting the people about samples. I have been researching the industry further throughout the week, trying to be ready to interact with those members of that community when it is time.

Moving forward, I will be trying to join in the team meetings via phone or skype in the coming weeks. As I have mentioned before it is tough to stay connected because the company is based in Boston and I am working in Maine. However, the company is technology based at its core so things are going pretty well. I am learning a lot about marketing strategies and in particular social media marketing,

Today is the end of my first "week", and what a week it has been. I use quotes around week because I am taking into account from the first of February until now. I have solidified my responsibilities at Bits of Health Inc. and have started working. I am in an interesting position, working full time in Bath, Maine while also working as an intern for a company based in Boston. The majority of my work will be set up and executed over the phone and online, which is great for me, but also creates its own challenges.

Friday, February 1st, 2013: I participated in a conference call with company personnel. Due to the nature of my mentorship experience, the best way for me to learn will be to participate in these calls. I learned about the product most, gaining some important knowledge as I begin to become an ambassador for the Bits of Health product.

Sunday, February 3rd, 2013: Preliminary research. I found that there are a TON of "professional" soccer teams in the United States and Canada. I am parring down the list with the help of the company to those we want to focus on right now.

Wednesday, February 6th, 2013: We decided that I will focus on MLS teams and another team member, Sam, will help me get the information by the end of the week. I will focus on the Western Conference Teams while he does the East. We found out that the teams are already in pre-season, which from the company's work in baseball, they have found is the best time to get a new product into the athlete's hands.

Thursday, February 7th, 2013: Today I had a phone conference with Jonathan, one of the social media managers for Bits. We talked about how Bits goes about marketing its product to new industries and he sent me off with some guidance for research.

Friday, February 8th, 2013: I set about getting as much information on the Western Conference for the MLS as I could. This is a LOT of information.

Sunday, February 10th, 2013: I spent much of today continuing to work on gathering contacts and compiling them into a spreadsheet. I sent the spreadsheet to the company and will connect with them on Monday about the next steps. Those steps will most likely include more searching and reaching out.

In all, this first "week" totaled 16 hours of work to kick things off. I will continue to research more contacts in the soccer industry over the coming days and will begin the social media marketing aspect of my position. The plan for this week will be to collaborate with the team and hopefully get samples out to our new contacts!