I think it can be considered a tiny miracle that I am actually writing right now. I should really be rushing out my part for L’Oreal Brandstorm, but I felt like I needed to take some time to pen down my thoughts before they get lost forever in the deluge that is my new working life.
That’s right. I’m working now.
A Brand & Communications Intern at SUTL Group. I don’t blame you for not having heard of it. I didn’t before I googled it. Even after I did, I was still sketchy on the details of what the Group did. Well, now I have a better idea I guess. We are mainly a distributor of wines and tobacco, but the part of the Group that I deal with is mainly in Consumer Retail. We are the owners of Nike-Only retail stores, nydc, and FootWorks. Admittedly, they are 3 very distinct operations. But somehow they work, I guess.
Work is only beginning to get interesting since I am finally exposed to more than data entry for the loyalty card database. You know, sometimes I study so much and do so many recommendations in my Marketing projects, that I forget that someone out there has to execute all that is being said. In my Asian Markets course, we covered intensively about KBox’s loyalty card programme. Now I have a first hand experience of what it really takes to actually have such a programme. No mean feat, especially if you don’t already have a CRM software to help you out. That’s what I have been doing for the whole first week of my internship – keying in data.
Other things that I am exposed to are the store operations. It is interesting to hear the difficulties that a retailer faces when we do not own the brand. That means there is a definite limit to the things that we can do, and the promotions that we can run under the brand. Well, I shouldn’t go into much details here, but I think it would be fascinating to see how it all works out in the end.
This post, after all, is also about new routines.
It has been rather difficult to see all the tweets about returning to school and people complaining about having to bid for modules or to drop or swap them when I am not myself in the fray. I feel like I am somehow left out of the fun, even if it feels like chaos to them. Last semester was one of the best semesters I have had, and I am honestly quite worried that spending one term away from school would affect my studies.
On top of that, this new waking up early and sleeping early routine has taken some getting used to. I almost always feel tired waking up these days, and I get tired really quickly at around 10 pm at night. That means that I can’t really do much outside of work, no matter how hard I try to keep myself awake. That can only mean that Brandstorm gets jeopardized.
Kai has been very understanding about my not spending enough time with her as well. That’s something I must figure out – how to do the things I used to do while juggling work life. This is definitely not how I want to lead the majority of my adult life.
I am actually looking forward to next week when my Boss comes back from her holidays, because it can only mean more challenges and more tasks for me to do. I have been rather reticent these two weeks because I am still getting used to the job, but I think it’s about time I stretched myself a little and used more of my brains in my work. It’s getting rusty.
Well, let’s see how it goes! I’ll keep you updated =)
