Month: August 2020

The Armchair Economist’s Apprenticeship is a weekly series documenting my progress throughout my journey in the apprenticeship module of the Praxis program. I’m currently a market research analyst apprentice for a non-profit (my position is subject to change depending on the needs of my employer). At the request of my boss, I’ll be keeping the details of my employer under wraps for the time being.

Week 16: August 17, 2020 – August 21, 2020

What I’m Learning:

One cool thing I learned at work last week:
Learn to negotiate. Prices are always negotiable in a proposal, unless otherwise stated. Think like an entrepreneur and learn to haggle. The given price is never the final price; likewise this is more of a “flea market environment” than a retail store like Walmart.

My employer was offered a $400,000 proposal from a company looking to partner with us and provide educational materials and resources but the sticker shock is way out of our price range. I also connected with this company through a friend who works for them and my employer had been searching for an educational organization like them.

I suggested to our founder that we should ask the price for just the courses and nothing else (the company was offering a bunch of other things such as digital marketing services and career guidance to name a few, things that we didn’t need). Doing so would drive their asking price way down.

Our founder happily accepted my idea and thought it was an excellent idea. Right now, dialogue between us and the other organization will continue until we get an affordable price for the courses.

One cool thing I learned outside of work last week:
Hurricane season has been interesting this year. Last week, the Fujiwhara effect had been trending on the news because it explains the weird phenomenon that the Gulf of Mexico is currently experiencing.

Two tropical storms (potential hurricanes) have formed simultaneously, one in the Gulf and the other in the Atlantic heading its way to the Gulf, and it can go in one of three ways; dance around each other, absorb into one large storm, or repel each other and then dissipate.

The Fujiwhara effect is a rare event but can cause devastating damage if it morphs into a huge hurricane.

With that said, anybody got double hurricanes on their 2🌀2🌀 bingo card?

What I’m Creating:

One example of how I created value at work last week:
I managed to save an important negotiation deal and keep dialogue going between my employer and a potential partner organization.

Long story short, without blaming any coworkers, I talked over the phone with the founder that I’m working closely with and asked for his opinions on whether or not we should continue negotiating the proposal that was given to us.

He agreed with my idea of splitting up the proposal and taking only what we need, thus making it easier to negotiate for a lower price. Previously, our project manager made a decision, without our founder’s opinion, to reject the proposal and save it for later when our budget was more established.

I act as an ambassador between my employer and the potential partner since they are my connection. Likewise, my friend who works for them is also in a similar role so we discussed over the phone several times about my founder’s decisions and how we want to proceed. I’m happy to say that they’re more than happy to work out a deal.

What project I’m currently working on at my BP:
I’m currently working on a marketing plan with my business partner. So far we’ve hit a roadblock in terms of not knowing our exact launch date or any set deadlines because we’re relying on our tech guy to finish building our website and the necessary platforms that will be included.

The tricky thing about marketing plans, at least at my BP, is that we can’t market or “sell” anything once we have a product available. Our hands are tied for the most part and people can only wait so long before they either grow impatient or forget about us.

What I’m doing to become a better version of myself overall:
I’m staying on the lookout for ways to create value for my BP by offering my suggestions on things like our product offerings based on my market research.

The Armchair Economist’s Apprenticeship is a weekly series documenting my progress throughout my journey in the apprenticeship module of the Praxis program. I’m currently a market research analyst apprentice for a non-profit (my position is subject to change depending on the needs of my employer). At the request of my boss, I’ll be keeping the details of my employer under wraps for the time being.

Week 15: August 10, 2020 – August 14, 2020

What I’m Learning:

One cool thing I learned at work last week:
Last week I learned a new tool that resulted from a rather confusing exchange between my coworker and I, with me trying to figure out what my coworker meant by “rolling up a tweet.”

The tool in question, the Thread Reader App, has been around for awhile but it’s news to me and I think it’s a useful service if you’re looking to catalog threads of tweets.

Thread Reader App serves the purpose of stitching together tweets from a single thread into a long uninterrupted page. Check them out here.

One cool thing I learned outside of work last week:
Pro tip: if you’re into gardening and in search of fertilizer that’s effective and won’t burn your plants, use rabbit droppings.

The great advantages of rabbit manure is that it doesn’t smell, it’s rich in nitrogen and phosphorous (key ingredients in commercial fertilizers), and you don’t need to process it or wait for it to breakdown before using it. Bunnies also produce a lot of poop too. Like literally a sh–t ton.

If you’ve never seen bunny droppings it looks like hard round pellets which means the mess is minimal.

This article explains the benefits of using rabbit manure.

Maybe this is a good excuse to convince my parents in letting me adopt a bunny since they’re into gardening.

What I’m Creating:

One example of how I created value at work last week:
I finalized all preparations for the seminar that I helped saved from getting canceled by the pandemic. The venue I helped to book has been accommodating and we’re about to send our final payments next week.

But it was the post event social venue that proved difficult to find, again due to social distancing mandates.

After a month of searching, I finally found a restaurant that was willing to go out of their way to serve a party of 50 people, and it was less than 10 minutes away from the venue.

Persistence pays off and Google maps was my best friend when it came to searching for event venues.

It also helps to frame the way you ask a question about a restaurant’s capacity. Instead of asking, “Can you accommodate a party of 50?” try asking “Can you accommodate five parties with ten people each?” Doing so will increase your chances of not getting rejected. Also, talk directly to the manager since they call the shots and will give you accurate information.

What project I’m currently working on at my BP:
I’m currently drawing up a marketing plan that will be later unveiled at an event that my BP is hosting for their donors. I can’t give too much details about the plan I’m creating but I’m using the OGSM process.

What I’m doing to become a better version of myself overall:
Don’t be afraid to speak your mind during meetings even if you think your ideas are dumb. It’s best to be actively participating than contributing nothing to a conversation.

The Armchair Economist’s Apprenticeship is a weekly series documenting my progress throughout my journey in the apprenticeship module of the Praxis program. I’m currently a market research analyst apprentice for a non-profit (my position is subject to change depending on the needs of my employer). At the request of my boss, I’ll be keeping the details of my employer under wraps for the time being.

Week 14: August 3, 2020 – August 7, 2020

What I’m Learning:

One cool thing I learned at work last week:
The best way to promote a new nonprofit is to dip into your network and reach out to individuals, that have at least a few thousand followers, and have them tweet about your organization.

It’s a free and efficient way to advertise and you know you can trust the individuals to not sabotage your organization before it gets off the ground (cancel culture is all too prevalent, unfortunately).

Basically, the underlying principle here is use your audience to build audience. Find the micro-influencers within your network that you know are passionate about the industry you’re in, then create a social media posts kit along with directions on which keywords to say, and send it over to them in a Dropbox or Drive folder. Also, schedule how often they should post.

One cool thing I learned outside of work last week:
A friend of mine is a security guard for NASA at Cape Canaveral, Florida and he has federal power to arrest people but only on NASA property.

However, that’s not the most interesting fact I learned last week. According to my friend who relayed this info to me from other NASA security guards, the decommissioned Launch Complex 34 is haunted by the ghosts of Apollo 1 astronauts. Visitors and security guards have reported hearing bone-chilling screams and an ominous sense of fear.

Apollo 1 was supposed to be the first crewed mission to the moon but in January 27, 1967 a disastrous rehearsal test never launched astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee off the ground.

This photo of the three astronauts was taken in 1966 about half a year before their rehearsal test. The men sent this photo to their manager, Joseph Shea, as a lighthearted way to raise concerns about their spacecraft. But sadly, the astronauts’ concerns and the inability to make changes would be ignored by the pride of their superiors meeting deadlines and the endless bureaucracy within NASA.

It eerily foreshadowed their worst fears about the Apollo 1 capsule; it was full of highly flammable materials such as velcro, nylon netting, and pure oxygen, all of which were factors in the deadly fire that claimed their lives.

The fire was likely caused by faulty wiring or plumbing that sparked a flame which was quickly exacerbated by the pure oxygen pumped into the astronauts’ suits. It happened all too quickly, preventing the ground crew from saving them in time.

Today, a memorial stands where the disaster took place and you can tour the Apollo 1 launchpad and pay your respects at Kennedy Space Center.

What I’m Creating:

One example of how I created value at work last week:
I took the initiative and invited my coworker onto a Zoom call with me to discuss a marketing plan. It turns out he only specializes in paid ads and graphic design for social media but has a knowledge gap in making social media work. This is where I’ll step in and take over. Additionally, I’m creating a marketing plan using the OGSM process.

What project I’m currently working on at my BP:
I’m working on a marketing plan and finishing the first stage of the plan before we launch our new nonprofit in less than three months.

What I’m doing to become a better version of myself overall:
I’m not as shy in reaching out to contacts within my network for help.

The Armchair Economist’s Apprenticeship is a weekly series documenting my progress throughout my journey in the apprenticeship module of the Praxis program. I’m currently a market research analyst apprentice for a non-profit (my position is subject to change depending on the needs of my employer). At the request of my boss, I’ll be keeping the details of my employer under wraps for the time being.

Week 13: July 27, 2020 – July 31, 2020

What I’m Learning:

One cool thing I learned at work last week:
My coworker came up with the most beautiful metaphors to describe the entrepreneurial discovery process. We are experimenting with ways to accurately illustrate how an entrepreneur creates a business and describe it in a beautiful manner.

The first metaphor he provided for the team’s review was the Musical Composition; the entrepreneur acts like a composer and their opus is their business, with an audience who is their customer.

The second metaphor is Storytelling; the entrepreneur takes the role of a storyteller who plans out the course of a story and how it ends.

The last metaphor, and my favorite one, The Journey; the entrepreneur is like an astronaut exploring new frontiers and learns to adapt to changes in their voyage. Likewise, a business will adapt accordingly when a wrench is thrown into their plans, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic.

One cool thing I learned outside of work last week:
I have a confession to make. I absolutely hate spiders and I’m currently quarantining (I’m healthy, I just got back from a seminar that I had to attend for work and there were over 50 people) in a 110 year old house that is full of them. Big ones the size of my hand and I kid you not I saw one whose body alone was half the size of my palm.

Shelob the spider demon lives outside my bedroom window. Try that for nightmare fuel.

But I learned a cool and reassuring fact about cats. They eat spiders! Here’s a short article about it. I love cats even more now and I’m seriously thinking of getting one to ease my arachnophobia.

However, it’s important to note that certain venomous spiders can be dangerous and some cats are allergic to spider bites.

What I’m Creating:

One example of how I created value at work last week:
I finally finished transcribing all of my marketing research into my Google document. Additionally, I created a list, of 20 questions to ask a mentor, for my coworker who is planning to interview a top mentor from SCORE Austin.

What project I’m currently working on at my BP:
I’ll be embarking on a new project and start a marketing plan for our new nonprofit, which will be unveiled publicly this coming October.

What I’m doing to become a better version of myself overall:
I’m asking for help without feeling afraid and this week I’ll ask for feedback from my coworker about my work.