Why you should take care of your interns
A couple of weeks ago an interesting article in the American Express Open Forum discussed guidelines for how to get the most out of your interns. I completely agree with all the points presented in the argument because having a well planned structure in place for both your interns and the company will surely benefit both parties.
However, I am a firm believer in giving your interns some sort of compensation. Whether it be a stipend to pay for gas, free stuff meant to recognize the intern for his/her hard work, or ideally an hourly or weekly set amount. During my college career, I’ve been very thankful to have had several internship opportunities. Some came with notable compensation plans and others were unpaid. Before I move on, I want to make something clear, I am not saying an unpaid internship didn’t give me any valuable experience or shouldn’t be the main reason you chose not to take on a new challenge. My argument is for those businesses looking into an intern program to clearly examine the risks of not compensating their interns. The following is why you should have some money set aside for your interns:
We need the money
College students have bills to pay also. We are giving our time and energy to gain valuable experience/learn from the best in our industry. Unfortunately, this dedication hurts our wallets if no compensation is involved. We have lives outside of your company and bills our parents do not cover.
Your interns are adding to your bottom line
Many companies are asking interns to complete tasks in the executionary stage of a project. Many would agree these tasks are adding to a company’s profit margins and bottom-line as a company moves forward in the market. Isn’t that sufficient enough to say that your interns deserve something in return? Your business would probably not be where it is today without those passionate and hard-working interns executing strategies from long drawn board meetings and conference calls.
NO FREE WORK
You don’t offer any of your services/expertise for free, so why should your interns feel they should offer their services for free? You don’t make money by giving away the essence that makes your company profitable. Whether we like to admit it or not, nothing is for free unless it is going to make someone rich someday.
Your interns are your PR
Think about all the things interns (college students) talk about publicly. Now think about where you go to recruit for new interns? If any intern is not happy with how your company treats them or doesn’t believe you are fully utilizing the intern’s time and passion, what makes you think they will speak well about your company? This is especially painful for a company that has hired an intern with a prominent online identity. Think about the repercussions one tweet, Facebook status update or blog post relating to your company’s intern program will reflect on your company as a whole and your reputation. (Hopefully this will not discourage a company from hiring an intern well versed in social media!)
Although, I understand it is a rough economy, it is also important to understand that your interns are a valuable asset. I’m not asking for unreasonable compensation plans, but something set aside so that it shows you appreciate your intern. They are as valuable as any other full-time employee you bring on board.
What an independent book publisher has taught me
When people start talking about publishing a book, they think they know everything about the process. Many people have this glorified imagination that a publisher will pay you millions of dollars to write a book and take care of everything else for you. This is mainly true, if you’re a celebrity, but if your just like anyone else, publishing a book takes a lot of time, money, and patience. I have to admit I was one of these very naive people that thought I knew everything about the industry, but let me tell you I was completely wrong!
Having the opportunity to work for Greenleaf Book Group last summer, I have had the ability to understand how the industry works and what it takes for a book to become successful. Although I have only interned here for two months, I have been able to work with different parts of the company to understand how these pieces come together to create a bestseller. In my opinion, the following are four aspects of the book publishing industry that many people need to understand.
1) Understand that your book may fail. An estimated 1,500 books are published each day. There is no guarantee that your book will become a bestseller or it will sell 10,000 copies. When you invest in your book, there is a chance your investment will not break-even.
2) Listen to the advice of your publisher. Publishers realize that you put a lot of time and work into your book and your passion overrides anything. They want you to be successful because it makes them successful. Many publishers have hands-on 
experience in the industry, so listen to their expertise even though it may hurt your feelings on what they have to say.
3) Going along with number 2, be open to any criticisms about your book. Many authors approach a publisher thinking that they know what is best for their book and no changes need to be made on it. Take note to what your publisher advises you about your book and understand it is meant to improve the overall product. But, don’t just agree with everything that the publisher asks you to do, compromise on the things you can agree on and stick to your guns when you absolutely can not change something in your book.
4) BE PATIENT! Getting a book in the stores sometimes becomes a long process because of the different steps a book has to go through. But, if you show a high degree of patience and trust in your publisher, I promise the process will be smooth and the end product will hopefully be a money-maker for both parties.
Do you as a publisher or author agree with my thoughts? Anything you think is also important?
[Disclaimer - The above post is strictly my observations and opinions after working with a book publisher. The opinions do not reflect those of Greenleaf Book Group. I suggest speaking with your own publisher about the topics I discussed. Thank you.]
Being a Campus Catalyst & Glass
For the past month now, I have been tweeting about a new product called Glass (a collaborative add-on to your web-browser, still in production but will be released soon). As mentioned in my “About” section, I recently acquired an internship with BorderStylo as a campus catalyst helping to get the name out about Glass. The company has hired 16 other interns from other colleges across the United States; all with the same mission and objective. The challenging part about this internship is that it is a remote internship, because the company is based in Los Angelos, California. But, I see this to 
be more of an opportunity than a challenge. I think this is a great opportunity for me to use the different tools I already use in order to build relationships with people I may likely never meet in real life. For example, I plan to use social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Gchat, and this blog to connect with people using Glass. My goal is to use the different tools to share ideas, problems, and methods with the other catalysts. In addition, I want to use these tools to build a two-way communication channel between those using Glass (our customers) and me (the company representative). The other catalyst and I have already started communicating and throwing around ideas about promoting Glass on our campuses by using Facebook groups, Gmail chat, and a Twitter list. We are not only conversing about our new job but we’re creating friendships along the way. We really couldn’t ignore these channels because from the start we had to use them to locate one another. For example, our first task was to identify the other catalysts around the nation. Here is a great description about Task 1 from one of the catalyst at Tufts University, Jenn Bollenbacher.
The best part about the internship is getting a chance to learn the business benefits of Facebook and Twitter, and not just the leisure side of these social networks.
Now, the company has been a little secretive about the product, but they have been slipping some hints about its functionality and uses. I see nothing wrong with this because the high-level of competition tech companies engage in. But, they have recently released a sneak peak of Glass. I wasn’t able to embed a video from Vimeo, but please click on the link and watch the short video (less than a minute). I would be interested to here your responses about the application and if you think you would ever use it (Please let me know if you know how to embed a video from Vimeo to WordPress.)
I personally am looking forward to using Glass and writing a review about it soon.
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