My STEP Project was a summer internship at a company called Fund That Flip, a real estate startup in Cleveland Ohio that provides hard money to loans to real estate investors. As a Demand Generation Intern, I worked closely with the marketing team and was able to explore various areas of marketing throughout the summer. My main focuses during this internship were social media management and content creation, which included a wide variety of tasks such as market analyses, blog posts, and graphic design.
This internship was able to give me my first true professional experience and the chance to see what it’s like to have a full time job after graduation. While I have had some professional experiences in the past, this was the first time I truly felt like an adult in the business world, and it was definitely intimidating at first. Being at a startup, I was expected to learn a lot in a short amount of time and was often given minimal information regarding tasks in the hopes that I would develop a stronger sense of critical thinking and independence. While I struggled at first, I feel that I made immense progress by the end of my internship and was able to complete a project that I presented to the entire company. This real world experience helped me see that I really do enjoy marketing and could myself working in a similar job upon graduation. I was also able to form great connections with some of my coworkers and learn that a full time job doesn’t have to be work 24/7 – there is actually a lot more enjoyment and genuine friendships that can be built if you are able to find the right employer.
Additionally, I really valued this experience as I was able to prove to myself that I have what it takes to succeed in the corporate world, and I believe that this will give me a much greater sense of confidence in my abilities moving forward. I struggled with confidence early on in this experience, but through time I began to see that I have the knowledge and capabilities to be an asset to the team. Overall, this experience really helped me to see that marketing is not only something I enjoy, but is also something that I feel I can be successful in.
The connections I formed with a few of my coworkers, particularly the marketing team, really helped me to succeed this summer and grow as a marketing professional and on an individual level. Throughout this internship I often held one-on-one meetings with my boss where we discussed the areas in which I felt I was succeeding, areas that I felt I could improve, and what some of my recent highs and lows were. These conversations really helped me understand some of my weaknesses and insecurities which allowed me to work on these aspects of myself, and they also allowed me to recognize some of my strengths and reward myself for a job well done. I think this transparency between myself and my boss was one of the main aspects that helped me to grow as a professional and as an individual.
On a bigger scale, the marketing team met every single Friday to have a ‘Retro’, where we discussed what feelings we experienced that week, our ‘goods’ and ‘bads’ of the week, and shared any new ideas we had. I was surprised to be part of a team that felt so close and bosses that seemed to actually care about our development and wellbeing, as the corporate world often has a reputation for being cold. These weekly meetings once again helped me to tap into how I was feeling and learn how to effectively communicate this to my team, and this helped us all understand one another better which ultimately creates a stronger team.
Lastly, the main activity I worked on throughout the summer was my intern project, which was a Fund That Flip Content Library. For the duration of my internship, I created a content library that was able to be used by the entire company and was meant to be particularly helpful for affiliates or territory managers in the company. This content library included a photo library, an events calendar, social media content ideas, market analyses, and an affiliate calculator. At the end of the internship, I presented this project to the entire company and was met with incredibly positive responses. This aspect of my taught me so much about marketing and helped me provide a tangible result that the company will be able to use. These three aspects of my internship allowed me to learn a lot about myself and use this knowledge to become a better coworker and a better marketer.
The transformation I had throughout the summer is incredibly valuable for my life as I am now a graduating senior preparing to enter the professional world. Prior to this, I felt very out of my element and often thought that I simply wasn’t good enough to be a successful marketer. This internship helped me grow a lot more confidence in my abilities and allowed me to gain experience in various areas of marketing, and this will undoubtedly be a huge help through the rest of my professional journey in life. Luckily, I was offered a full time job from Fund That Flip and will be joining them upon graduation. I am so excited to stay with a company that facilitated this amazing growth, and I’m confident that I’ll only continue to grow and improve in the future!