CEO Intern Cast Diary

Hi America I am back, sorry I left you for so long. As is always the case when we speak I have mountains share so sit, read, envision, and engage this blog for time is its spine and immortality is its reward. This past week has served to be another awakening for me, you may ask how many times will I wake? To that question, my response is simple; I will stop when the sun has finally set.

Lets move on to the details of this past week now. This week the five interns, Mr. Paulin and our producer Prescott started the city tours (Parker came too). St Louis was up first and in this city, we did two sales presentations one to a billion dollar military contractor known as DRS and the other to “a plant manager” of Omega steel. On a side note, I put plant manager in quotes because that is the repose I was given when I asked if making a trip to omega steel would be worth our time and gas. As you can imagine getting the door to DRS was no easy task, but thanks to some persistence as well as a few inside connections, we made it to a fancy conference room. Everyone needed to be an American citizen, and have a passport to get into the building, and that is one of the many reasons why Prescott’s camera was not allowed to enter the building. We asked the camera if it had a passport and got no response so we left it in the car with the king of the castle. Sorry we didn’t get the sales pitch on camera America, the presentation was textbook, take my word for it.

In the meeting with us from DRS there was a CTO, metallurgist, several other engineers, and a logician, oh my a logician (as he shakes his head and smiles). This sales pitch is exactly what school is supposed to be preparing me for but ironically, this experience can’t be taught in a class room America there is no simulating reality there is just reality so after graduation, at whatever level that may be remember one thing, school has started (another side note). Four interns presented a power point we created to kick things off.  From slide two our audiences was engaged and asking questions about information on the slides so, we had to pull out our terminator Mr. Paulin earlier than expected. He shot there question out of the sky as if he was shooting trap or skeet, PULL! After the slides were done, the questions continued and Mr. Paulin just kept loading shells.

When the meeting was finished, we made a stop toured Wachovia’s headquarters and continued to our 3’oclock with Omega. I had my reservations about omega but either way I look at it my resulting response is the same. It was an experience for the ages. Omega was like going into a large garage. There was no fancy table or leather chairs like DRS just a plant manager and an assistant in an office. We stood huddled facing the manager while Mr. Paulin politely engaged the man in conversation then bid him farewell. In one day we experienced both sides of the sales experience, one side exceeded expectations and the other was reality check.

Sales was not the only thing we learned about on the trip though, we also learned the importance of being prepared, polite, punctual, organized, aware, intuitive, energetic, dedicated and the list goes on America. The amount I learned in one day as been the theme of this whole trip and that is what  brings me to my current predicament, a question I have been struggling with since week two. The question is how do I say thank you to the Paulin’s for a summer like no other, one that has been filled with life lessons that currency can’t pay for, that a thank you letter alone cannot service. Let me put it this way I have taken a loan from the Paulin bank. My loan does not have an interest rate because the Paulin’s are not concerned with a rate of return but instead with the rate at which I learn. I call it a loan because I plan to repay. I know that I am deeply in debt and since time in this case is inflation, I will never be able to fully repay my debt. The answer then to the question posed above is time and service. The only way for me to make payments on my loan is to use my time and my hands to foster and maintain the relationship that has been established in my time here.

America you stay thank you for the intangible by giving of yourself and never leaving the thoughts of the ones you are indebted to.  Irie I, One Love. Charlie H.         

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Our producer deliberately kept us in the dark about how the phone system worked.  As a result, we had all kinds of funny solutions to get things done.  For instance, in lieu of hanging up a call on speakerphone properly, I figured out that hanging the receiver up five times in rapid succession would do the trick.  For the first two weeks this was the only way to ensure that we weren’t still on speaker with someone.

 

Today’s blog isn’t about this though.  Today, Charlie and I have it figured out.  We can park calls, we can call other offices, dial out of the system, we can make announcements!  Right now it’s just me, Charlie, and Prescott (our producer) in the office.  Charlie and I are calling each other, making announcements, and bugging Prescott over the phone.  I just wanted to share how proud I am that we’ve mastered the phone system and spread the word that internal phone systems are the BEST!

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Yesterday we started making calls to the companies that we want to deliver presentations to. You would not believe how easy it is to get shut down making cold calls. I just want to tell people that we save companies like theirs money every day. I don't want their social security number, I don't want their date of birth. I want to talk about deep cryogenic tempering, wear resistance, stress relief and stabilization, but some of the people that I called are genuinely skeptical that I am who I say I am and don't want to put me through to any of their engineers. I have some contacts in St Louis, but none at all in Indianapolis, and I know a guy from Chicago. This is going to be tough.

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Yesterday after working in the office I had a feeling that I could not explain but after CrossFit this morning I understand what I was feeling. CrossFit this morning was a seventeen minute workout designed to leave you on the floor. I completed the workout and stood just fine waiting for the next round, which obviously means that I didn’t push hard enough. I view this as a problem but I also see how this habit of mine works in my favor at times because on one end of the coin I have not seen my full potential and at the other end I do need energy to be able to be productive at work. I have experiences like this on a regular basis. Overall I feel that I am selling myself short but at the same time I may just be throwing all of my similar experiences into one pot and analyzing them as a whole, which means that I may not be considering factors unique to a given experience.

The conclusion that I have come to, which is not really a conclusion, is that I need to push myself, in the office, in the gym, everywhere. I was used to getting pushed by tough coaches and mentors in the past and now it’s all self reliance and motivation. This struggle is one that also applies to my responsibilities as CEO because there is no coach standing behind me screaming PUSH, instead all I have to hold to is my internal drive and individual passion for conquering challenges as I engage them. America, aim to leave it all out on the floor. Irie I, One Love. Charlie H.

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Yesterday we started researching companies that we can try to sell to in the area. We're going to give sales presentations to 5 companies in each of three cities. We have to decide what companies to approach and research them and their need for cryogenic treatment. There are hundreds of companies in every major city that would benefit from cryogenic tempering the only question is how large of a company can we walk into, talk to the right person, and sell them on the benefit to the company? If a company makes $1,000,000/year in sales? Probably. $10,000,000/year in sales? We could, but is our time better spent with a $5,000,000/year company, or should we try our luck with a $100,000,000 company? I can't really say at this point. I've never been on a sales trip...

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I mentioned in a prior blog that I got to do a short intervies with Jay lefler and Kenny Wallace.  I thought that this was a once in a lifetime oportunity, but I may have been mistaken.  Our associate producer has been calling some race teams that will be in the area in coming weeks and getting some promising responses.  I'm really excited, because 300 Below has been working with the race teams for over 15 years.  I would love to get the chance to interview more drivers.  I would also love to interview thier engineers and pit crews to.

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Well, I'm still at the office working to get everything prepped for tomorrow.  Everyone was a bit tired today from staying up until 2am and playing RockBand, and I certainly felt their pain after waking up at 5:30am for our CrossFit workout in Decatur at 6am.  We've had a very productive week on the production side and we continue to get help from entrepreneurs and CEOs around the nation.  Xerox continues to be most helpful (the new Solid Ink Phaser printers they sent are very cool) and I'm anxious to try and get Mike Porcaro at Intuit to engage our team.  Gary Swart, the CEO of ODesk, spoke briefly yesterday with the CEO Interns about working together to solve some of the IT problems here at 300 Below.  They are considering a switch to Linux for more security and Aladdin Systems has also been helpful in contemplating a new cryogenic processor redesign that will integrate HASP technology to prevent unauthorized copies of the new user interface.  I also had a productive phone call with one of the VPs at TidalTV.com about creating a new CEO Intern channel or integrating our programming with a network like MEN7.  We're currently in discussion to get MEN7 to film 300 Below separately in July for their MEN7 show's tech segment, which is geared toward an affluent male audience.  Hmm, what else?  Aside from contacting racing teams to schedule more NASCAR interview opportunities for Gabe (after he interviewed Kenny Wallace and Jason Leffler), we're also putting a new Amazon ordering system in place for the company so they can outsource inventory to Amazon.  I've been in touch with the AWS evangelist at Amazon, and we're anxious to see how that might play a role in our integration, too.  After analyzing printer logs for Xerox, I started to see some interesting correlations between 300 Below's productive employees and those that are not so productive.  I left the papers on the conference room table so we'll see what conclusions the Group CEO draws tomorrow morning, if they're more awake that is.  :)  As far as my wish list at the office goes, I wish we could set up a recycling program here like Babson had that would prevent so much paper from going to waste.  Is it good to create a sustainable initiative for this company?  I hope the interns confront this issue at some point, as I believe it's an interesting question, especially considering that liquid nitrogen is already from the air we breathe, so aside from the electricity consumed here, 300 Below is pretty much a green company.

 

Oh, and I'm working on getting video blogging set up!  The Group CEO has requested this and I think it's a great idea.  You'll notice when we finally figure that one out.

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Yesterday we received and assignment from the chairman. He instructed us each to research nine companies; three in Chicago, three in Indianapolis, and three in St Louis. After selecting the nine companies we are each responsible for selecting one company in each city that we will call and schedule an appointment with, for a total of 15 company visits. There are compensation incentives set out for us as well as being responsible for the dinner reservations after presentations. So can I get an encore, do you want more. Irie I, One Love. Charlie H.

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Today was the longest days by far and it was long because we went scuba diving into the financials. We did not complete our analysis and we are not ready to present a proposal for doubling the company’s revenue to the chairman yet. We are however mentally drained; I would like to share something with you that I said today on a phone interview with the Heralds review. The reporter asked me to share something that I have learned so far, I was taken by the question and hesitated because as I started to think about all that I have learned thus far I simultaneously reminded myself that I had only been here a week and a half. I felt that I could have ranted and raved for an hour talking about facing fears as an entrepreneur, time management, people management, planning, communication, foresight, seeing opportunities, and much more. That is why I was hesitant because I said to myself, is it possible to learn about an array of topics in such a short period of time?

The answer is yes, but my answer to the reporter was a bit different. I told her that I learned why this internship is like none other. I used an analogy to it to her, I said that the difference is that normally when taking and internship at a given corporation the intern comes in feeling like clay. Hoping to be molded into something grand and more defined than when they entered. This internship however makes you the potter. As the potter you are responsible for molding this experience in every way, shape and form. From planning to purchasing, from reading to leading, and from managing to…..well more managing. Ultimately this internship is what we make it, and that is the life a CEO.

Irie I, One Love, Charlie H.

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Today was an interesting day. We presented or findings on the company history as well as suggested industries to focus on. I apologize for the short blog today, just received a sales call. America staying in the office a little longer is not a bad idea. Irie I, One love. Charlie H.

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Today was the longest days by far and it was long because we went scuba diving into the financials. We did not complete our analysis and we are not ready to present a proposal for doubling the company’s revenue to the chairman yet. We are however mentally drained; I would like to share something with you that I said today on a phone interview with the Heralds review. The reporter asked me to share something that I have learned so far, I was taken by the question and hesitated because as I started to think about all that I have learned thus far I simultaneously reminded myself that I had only been here a week and a half. I felt that I could have ranted and raved for an hour talking about facing fears as an entrepreneur, time management, people management, planning, communication, foresight, seeing opportunities, and much more. That is why I was hesitant because I said to myself, is it possible to learn about an array of topics in such a short period of time?

The answer is yes, but my answer to the reporter was a bit different. I told her that I learned why this internship is like none other. I used an analogy to it to her, I said that the difference is that normally when taking and internship at a given corporation the intern comes in feeling like clay. Hoping to be molded into something grand and more defined than when they entered. This internship however makes you the potter. As the potter you are responsible for molding this experience in every way, shape and form. From planning to purchasing, from reading to leading, and from managing to…..well more managing. Ultimately this internship is what we make it, and that is the life a CEO.

Irie I, One Love, Charlie H.

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We agreed yesterday that blogging can take place the day of or the morning after so this blog is a morning after blog. Yesterday began with the 8-9am morning meeting where we discussed the upcoming visit from the doctor out of St. Louis.

We will be analyzing the books momentarily so I must be going, till the evening.

Irie I, one love, Charlie H.

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Today what we needed to do and how we needed to do it was felt by all. We sat down with Mr. Paulin today after lunch and it was his last fifteen minutes with us until the upcoming Thursday since he was flying to Washington D.C. . Mr. Paulin let us know that he was aware that the group was on idol but not because of lack of drive or understanding on our part but instead because there are so many forces between the five of us coming into contact with each other. The forces arise since there are five decision makers with five different walks of life.

The office and cabin are our crucibles and the soup inside is what Mr. Paulin referred to as a dynamic situation. His charge to us left his tongue with an aura of simplicity, disguising its complexity. What he said was that there are five that need to act as one and in order to do so we all need to first have the same understanding of what our goal is, the overall goal as well as task oriented goals. When we understand our goals we then need to all agree on a system aimed at measuring task related behaviors and actions, so that we can quantify individual contributions to the completion of a given task.

 

Please understand that in his charge to us he said an infinite more that I can explain or rather than language can express but his words served as a catalyst for the, much needed, group conflict mediation talk that took place after. I will not get into specifics but I will say that a fair amount of underlying tension was fleshed out today. We took steps towards each other talking through our differences and we started to put a wise mans call of duty into action. Irie I, one love.

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We've got most of our surpluss capitol on ebay now and its time to get down to buisness for real. We have untill thursday or Friday to make a plan to double the revenue of the company. There's no time to waste if we're to do a good job on it.

We watched the footage of me interviewing Jay Leffler and Kenny Wallace. It was clear that Kenny didn’t know that I’ve built part of a car that I later raced, but a majority of the people that he’s interviewed by are TV personalities and not engineers. Even more amazing than interviewing Kenny Wallace was meeting his father and seeing him with his entire family. I met his father! Do you know how many NASCAR babies that man has had? But seriously after that it was time to get to work, for real.

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I woke up this morning and did CrossFit with Charles and Beni with some varied dead lifts after running both forward and backward on a treadmill.  On our drive to the office, I called in to 102.9 FM and made an on-air suggestion for getting cryogenically treated golf clubs from 300 Below for father's day.  The host seemed to know about the process and underscored that it worked.  Later in the morning, the interns met with John Koucky to learn more about the cryogenic process.  I spent some time on the phone with our friends over at Xerox to figure out how to use their new solid ink MFP effectively.  The team then went to lunch at Mojo's Barbeque to meet a potential business contact and decided to head home early because they were feeling tired.  (See this link: http://tinyurl.com/4ycxdm)

I stayed at 300 Below until 6pm, closed the office and then left for the Macon County Fair, where we introduced the CEO Interns to tractor pulling-- which none of them had experienced before.  I left the race around 10pm to get home and prepare for tomorrow, when we will try to get access to the Macon Speedway to do some filming while Nick and Charles caddy at the Hickory Point Golf Course for the Futures Tournament.  We're all going to attend the world premiere of "Brothers at War" afterwards.  That said, Nick left steaks to marinate at the cabin and we're going to hit the sack soon so we can get up early again for CrossFit.

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Wow, what a day! Up until today, I thought we could function without any conflict. But any successful group must face conflict, and well, today was our day. Just as we entered the office and said our greetings, we began our first daily meeting. Within moments, we drafted a quick agenda and began discussing various topics such as our WiFi situation, our Ebay sales challenge, the possibility of hiring a Cryogenic’s specialist and creating a code of conduct for appropriating our work time, basically the daily tasks every CEO encounters. We discussed several styles of leadership with accomplishing each of these tasks such as appointing a head person for each job or attempting to tackle everything as a group. In the best interest of time and efficiency, we determined to appoint individual leaders for each job.

As the meeting continued, we decisively resolved each problem and scheduled any remaining tasks. However, when we began discussing the company policy for conducting personal business on company time, an underlying tension surfaced. Instead of directly pointing fingers at one another, the team chose its words carefully, and determined that only in cases of extreme emergency could personal “business” be dealt with. To further assist with developing this policy, we met with 300 Below’s Dick Mayberry, the veteran sales manager, to share his past experiences with personal company policies. In turn, we learned that employees simply know better than to waste the company’s time. Simultaneously however, in the adjacent room, the CEO interns’ office, was one of the interns conducting personal business red handed.

 

Overall, it was quite an interesting, exhausting day as usual. Sides and tensions are beginning to form. How long will these develop before dangerously spilling over and pull the other interns into the cross fire?

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                Today Nick, Charlie and I learned how to use a forklift.  We're no experts but we had a good time learning.  When we were done learning and gave up the forklift to a steadier hand, we started cleaning off all of the equipment that's been living in the back of the shop for up to 3 years.  With a little tinkering, I got the VW air compressor working again.  The kill switch failed, causing the engine to have no spark.  Right now it's just disconnected from the distributer, but we changed the engine from a ‘won't start, don't know why' to a spick and span machine that starts on the first pull every time.  We just need to track down the specs around the office and on the internet, before we sell them on Ebay for some capital.  I feel acomplished, considdering the fact that all of the manuals are in German.

I just discovered the scooters at the cabin and now obcessed with racing nick when we get home, but we've been getting home soo late day after day that I haven't had the chance to ride in the daylight.  But when we get the chance, he's going down on one of those little death machines.

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Everyone moved into the cabin over the weekend and we all went shopping for groceries last night.  Today marked the first day that everyone started work at 300 Below, Inc. and the students devised a schedule to meet individually with most all of the employees.  The students arrived before 8am and brought an offering of Panera coffee and two pastry rings.  Kit Paulin offered a quote of the day for the interns on her morning radio segment.  The interns then installed the new Phaser Solid Ink Printer, which was donated by Xerox to the company.  At lunch, everyone met up with Pete and Kit Paulin at the Decatur Rotary Chapter Meeting and were warmly received by several of Decatur's business leaders.  The interns then returned to 300 Below and discussed sales opportunities for several assets that are to be placed on EBay, with 50% of the proceeds being given back to the interns for use as their working capital for any projects they would like to create over the summer.  They then travelled to the Hickory Point Golf Course where they were hosted by Kevin Breheny on the WSOY News/Talk 1340 AM radio station.  Dinner was held at the Paulin household where, after a hearty midwestern style pot roast dinner provided by Bill and Dottie Stoutenborough, the interns played a round of pool.

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