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.