BizAcademy Reflection May 2009
Sam Thompson participated in the 2007 San Francisco BizAcademy. He shares his thoughts on the program, his mentor and being an intern at salesforce.com.
Last year, I was working with MYEEP(Mayor's Youth Employment and Education Program); we came together weekly for a little training and for a weekly review. One week our boss had several opportunities for us to take advantage of. The opportunities were optional and we had never been presented with anything like them before. BizAcademy was one of these opportunities, and all of the youth including me, blew it off, we felt the chance of getting accepted was very little. My boss pushed me to fill out an application, because he felt I would do well in the program. I filled out an application and found out BizAcademy is a program funded by SalesForce.com which gives 15 youth a four-five day training on entrepreneurship. BizAcademy also includes internships and a mentoring program that are optional to the participants.
April 2007, was the spring break BizAcademy in which I took part. During the first meeting before the program starts, the youth and staff met and went over an agenda for the program. Julie T one of the staff picked three teams of five, reviewed the roles and got ready to start the program. When BizAcademy started, youth sat in teams with pretty matching shirts. Youth were trained from point A-Z on how to operate a company. We had speakers come share their knowledge, and then put what was learned into action. Julie T pulled me out of the room to talk about our company prices she said, "I was talking to friends and co-workers and they all said your prices($25) are too high and you’re competing with other companies that have very low prices." As president of the company, I had to talk to my team about pricing. Two out of five youth were thinking we should lower the pricing to compete more. I had the last say on whether to lower or keep high prices. I decided to keep high prices, we even sold some products at($35), and were the first to sell out! BizAcademy is a great opportunity to learn business skills by working as a team in a business environment. BizAcademy is a week well spent, that gives kids a chance to work as a team to create a business and pitch a plan to sell a product. BizAcademy was great because I learned some things I would have never learned. I met some people I would have never met. I was introduced to opportunities I would never have had.
Each BizAcademy team had 1-3 volunteers that worked for Salesforce.com. Salesfocre.com has a commitment to the youth who participated in BizAcademy and they try to pair each youth with an employee mentor. I met Lindsey, a volunteer who helped my team. On a lunch break one afternoon she asked me, "Sam, do you have a mentor?" I replied "no!" she then said " I don't have a mentee either," at that moment she became my mentor. Lindsey is a great teacher, I could tell from the first day I met her when she helped our team greatly, but more than help she made what we were learning clear. We email a lot just like good friends. We went to the park to catch up on life and have lunch. I went to my first Giants game with her and other mentors and mentees. My mentor relationship has continued which is important to me to have the support of a mentor/good friend. Later on, when I had an internship at salesforce.com she helped me renew my internship from Marketing to Human resources.
My first internship with salesforce.com was in marketing, the environment was quiet and very busy! I spent most all my time at my desk on the computer, doing confidential office work. When there began to be less for me to do over the course of my time at salesforce.com marketing department. Lindsey helped me renew my internship to Human Resources. My second internship with salesforce.com was awesome, the environment was diverse, fun and less lonely. I would drop off mail and pick up mail, put together packages for new employees, file things and do other office duties. My internship reinforced the skills I learned in BizAcademy, as an intern I participated in a workshop on presentation skills and these presentation skills I use daily. I also participated in a web design workshop and I am soon to use the web design skills. I know more about marketing hands on, now. I also know more about human resources hands on now, as a result of my internships and the knowledge I learned in BizAcademy.
BizAcademy taught me the skills I will need to build, operate and manage my own business from the ground up. My internship and mentor relationship were also valuable to me because they shaped the way I think and respond to decisions now, and they gave me better networking skills. I came into BizAcademy with no knowledge of entrepreneurship. I left feeling like a young entrepreneur, watch out world!
