Month: December 2024

Kevin

And welcome back to the Content Machine podcast. We’ve come to that time of the year where we get to hear from our interns about what they’ve learned and what they’ve enjoyed about their internship at Adelsberger Marketing. This semester, we’ve been joined by Ben Paulk and Lainey Fox. And we’re going to hear from them, too.

Kevin

Let’s start with that. So, Lainey, what is something that you’ve learned during your internship at Adelsberger Marketing?

Lainey

One of the things that I had to learn through this internship was how to take correction a lot better and being able to really take those learning moments and use them to their best advantage. I came into this internship with a whole lot more confidence than I probably should have had, thinking that, Oh, I got this. There’s not that much that I’m going to be learning here. It’s just going to be gaining experience for the resume. There was a lot of instances where maybe I wasn’t able to achieve the goal that you all were setting, or there was moments where I needed to learn something new and being able to take you all’s really good correction and be able to sit there and be like, Oh, that’s really good advice, or, Oh, I see why they’re right, and be able to implement that. It’s been a really big life skill that I’ve really had to learn into.

Kevin

Yeah, that’s a very mature response. Ben, good luck following that up.

Ben

I think for me, it’s really been learning to seek consistency over perfection, because while perfection is good, it’s ultimately unattainable. And really, your best work is done when you’re consistently doing the grunt work day in, day out, and learning those basic skills and then stacking those on to the more difficult projects or things that are harder to learn. Yeah.

Kevin

Well, speaking of projects, tell us about what your favorite project has been this semester.

Ben

My favorite project this semester has definitely been working with the AC Furnish Repair Company. It brought with it its fair their share of challenges, but also definitely some triumphs, being able to work with just in general, a field where there are so many logos and so many different variations. And trying to come up with something that feels original and feels fresh doesn’t feel overdone, because a lot of the logos that I’ve seen whenever I was looking it up on Google, they all look the same, if I’m going to be honest. And so I think what me and Katie and working with her has been fantastic. And I think what we came up with just feels fresh, and I was very proud of that.

Kevin

Yeah, and the client liked it, too.

Ben

That’s a bonus.

Kevin

You think that’s a bonus? That’s actually the most important part, but yes, as Absolutely. Lainey, how about you? Favorite project you got to work on?

Lainey

I really enjoyed, honestly, delivering socks to… Delivering socks to you all’s past clients in celebration of the company’s 10-year anniversary. Anniversary. That was so much fun.

Kevin

You’re not being sarcastic?

Lainey

No, I had so much fun with that. I got to drive around and meet just the broad scope of clients that you all had, and being able to chat with them was a blast. But on a more work-related note-I did not anticipate you saying that. It was a lot of fun. No, on a more work-related note, I had a lot of… I guess fun is a good word. I I really enjoyed getting into the nitty-gritty of different types of professional writing and the different tones and things that go into that. For instance, the press releases that I’ve been helping on a little bit. There was a lot there that I had no idea how they worked. And it was very interesting looking at you all’s past press releases and trying to learn what goes into that and the tone for it has been very interesting.

Kevin

Yeah, and that’s a skill you’ll be able to take with you wherever it goes. Yes, very much. And so So we’re talking about where you’re going next. So Ben, I think you’re heading towards graduation, right? Yes, sir. So what are you hoping that your future career trajectory looks like from here?

Ben

I think for me, I’ve definitely found my home here in Tennessee. So I was actually born in Tennessee. Then we moved to Texas, then Alabama, and now my family lives in Georgia. And there’s something about Tennessee. It’s where my grandparents were. So I definitely want to stay here in Tennessee, either in this area I potentially move to Nashville or Knoxville. I love Tennessee. I love where it is just geographically. We get snow, actually, and I’ve lived further south. And so I love the snow. But I also like Nashville and Knoxville. I’d like to live there one day, hopefully. But I think the main thing for me, and this is going to sound funny, but being here at college, I haven’t been able to bring my Lego collection with me.

Kevin

So So wherever you go, you got to get enough square footage to put your Legos. Exactly. I need a Lego.

Lainey

So Nashville might be off the list, actually. He has so many Legos. Okay.

Ben

I do.

Kevin

He has so many Legos. All right. And professionally, what are you hoping to do now for work?

Ben

Professionally, I’m hoping to work as a graph designer. I don’t think currently for me working solo is going to be for me, frankly. I think it’s too volatile, and I don’t think I know enough I want to learn under somebody. I’m not ready to do it by myself, I don’t think.

Kevin

Well, that’s a good realization to have. Lainey, how about you? Because you’ve got a year or two of school left.

Lainey

I got another year of school.

Kevin

Another year of school. So career-wise, what are you thinking for your future now?

Lainey

That’s the question, isn’t it? Yeah. So, yeah, like most college students, I think the distant future of career goals is a little a little bit nebulous sometimes. I do know that I really enjoy working either with customers or with other people. I really enjoy what you all do here of trying to take what a client is looking for and be able to make that an actual attainable goal and bring their ideas to life in a way that’s going to be productive. I think something in that field, I haven’t narrowed it down super well yet. I do think that being in this internship has very much opened me up to the scope of things that I could go into, and I think that that’s been a huge takeaway.

Kevin

Ben and Lainey, thank you so much for interning with us this semester, and we are glad to get to know both of you. If you are watching this and you are thinking about, I would love to have an internship at Adelsberger Marketing, we have new interns cycling through on the regular. So check out our website for that application. And look at these two for career opportunities as they hit the job market not too long from now. So thank you all for watching the Content Machine podcast. Stay subscribed for episodes about business and leadership and-And I don’t think I know enough yet. Culture building in the small business environment.

I am a person who normally defaults to action. I sometimes describe myself as an action-oriented person. I don’t sit still well, and I do not like a meeting that does not end with a to-do list. I once saw a poster in a co-working space that read, Doing things can be a sufficient strategic plan. And in some ways, this poster may have had too much influence on my life. But ultimately, I believe a good plan now is better than a perfect plan later. Despite these personal convictions, even I, at times, find myself allowing others to dictate the tone in some situations. Situations where it likely should be me setting the tone. So what do I mean by setting the tone? In every relationship, in every exchange, in every situation, someone or something dictates the tone of that. So the definition I’ve got to set the tone is to establish a standard in a particular interaction, personally or as part of a group for attitude, intensity, communication, and/or excellence.

Now, this analogy might be most obvious in sports. If you think you are getting together for a fun pickup game of soccer and three minutes in, some dude having just finished aggressively chugging his pregame monster slide tackles someone? In that moment, the tone has an opportunity to change. Either someone takes Gary off to the side and takes him down a notch, or the entire game becomes more intense. Gary was setting the tone. In competitive sports, it can be set an example for the rest of your team about how much the leader is willing to sacrifice to win. For example, Southern Illinois University men’s basketball team in the mid 2000s earned the nickname floor burn U. This mid-major college outperformed larger programs because they were willing to outwork their talent level. All out intensity was the tone. In practice, you would get points for effort plays. So are you willing to dive out of bounds into the stands to get the ball? Are you willing to outwork everyone else? Or are you taking plays off? These are the questions that set the tone in that situation. At work, maybe this is the leader setting the tone for the standard of what will be acceptable or how we will treat a certain type of customer.

This last year, we experienced a particularly difficult client. Each meeting was something that everyone dreaded. Eventually, we reached a point where this client was openly hostile to us in a meeting. Now, this is weird for us because normally clients love us. We are used to smiles and maybe at most some constructive criticism. In this situation, however, I feel I abdicated my responsibility to set the tone. I had allowed the client to set the tone, and we all paid for it. As I wrestled with the situation, this year’s theme was born. Set the tone. The first step to solving a problem is admitting that you have one. In this sense, we’re going to first recognize the need to set the tone. I believe this first starts with you and I on a personal level. What tone are you setting for yourself? Are you setting yourself up to win? Or is there an internal voice too critical or unsupportive, setting yourself up for failure. Are you doing the right things to be successful? It’s not only the boss setting the tone, you do not have to be in charge to set the tone. Leaders lead. But whatever level you are in a meeting or at a team, you can work to set the tone. When someone sets the tone, we can either match it or set a new one.

Customer engagements, internally with ourselves, or on the field at a pickup game. I am someone who often finds myself to be the leader in a room. When I’m the leader in the room, I want to work to not destroy the tone set by others if it’s appropriate for the situation. This is especially true if I’m in a room where I am not the leader. If the leader in a situation has set a tone that’s appropriate for what’s going on, I want to work to keep that tone in my interactions and not undermine that leader. Before you have a meeting or an interaction with someone else, especially if it’s important, let’s think about the tone with which we wish to carry the interaction through. The other party will have thoughts, but with intentionality, we have the opportunity to set the table with the proper tone before the meeting even starts. So this is my question for you. Who’s going to set the tone in 2025? Because the opportunity is ever present for it to be you.