Week Ten: The End

My final week has come to a very interesting end. This week the team has left the state to go participate in the first of three competitions. The day before they had to leave, the president, Jason, called me begging for all the interns to come help them. They were rushing to try and finish up the car since they were behind schedule. Although the place was hectic, I was able to learn how to vinyl wrap a car as well as grind cut large pieces of metal. I really hope the car this year exceeds everyones expectations. I'm not sure when I'll be able to post a picture of it, but trust me it looks amazing!

I am still a little disappointed with the fact that I wasn't able to help the team out with the presentation aspect for the competition. I tried my best to get them to make time for it, but they were too busy and far behind schedule on the car. Maybe I'll be able to come in in the future and help them for the future competitions. As for the online fund raising, that will continue to be up and running. It has already collected almost $1,000 in only a few weeks. It may not seem like much, but every dollar counts, and in the long run it'll be very beneficial to the team. The more the fundraising page spreads to more people, the more money it'll be making for the team. It's almost like an investment; put in some time and effort into it and let it make money for you. 

Is online fundraising more effective than the regular means of looking for donors? It honestly depends on the context. If you are a small group that is still trying to get on its feet, then yes online fundraising is a great way to raise money and get yourself known. But if you are already a stable group or company that has a good reputation, then it is a good idea to build those strong connections with larger corporations. That is what happened with a Baja Team last year. I'm not sure which school it was, but it was an Ivy League meaning that they were already well known. This allowed them to get a large sum of money from only one donor, and that was their only donor that year. So long story short, it all depends on your network and what connections you have.

Overall, it was a good experience. I learned a lot about cars and I learned a lot about how stressful it is to be in sales, so you will not find me majoring in that next year. I wish I was able to do more, but not everything goes the way it's planned, but thats how business is! Just got to stay on your toes and adapt to the situation.