Friday, May 31, 2013

Newbie Day 2


I can only stick to this "Newbie" title for so long so i might as well milk it as much as i can lol....anywho..

Today is day #2...once again the days here fly by. I was assigned leads and Social Media assignments and i must say i enjoy them. Feels good to be productive this summer, i have a lot of plans/goals and I wont achieve them by sitting on the couch or even going to work. This is my first official internship and I realized early on that internships are all worth it in the end.  


-Gee
Back at Esente after my day off on Thursday, and I am excited about getting to look at the sort of comments that got posted on my designs yesterday. Critiques can be stressful, but they are good things ultimately and the post-it note process allows people who are not really used to being directly critical to someone's face be more honest. On Wednesday the critique seemed to go well, with the main criticism being of the words on the poster which is why I'm so interested in hearing from the PR interns since that is more their field. The first poster is pretty much done art wise, so I'm looking forward to taking their advice to finish it up. The second design is coming along, but I think that the idea was clear enough from what I had to get some helpful ideas for it.

Christine

what fuels my leads? Iced medium mint chocolate chip coffee!

helloooo again,
   
     Today is my third day, and I am getting the hang of how things work. I have got a hang out leads, and got a great system to do them, and a lot of them.  I think most of my success with leads has to be credited to the Ice coffee I got before work...think the buzz might have helped a lil.  It is super hot out, broke a sweat commuting this morning, not a good thing to do at 7am!  I am pumped tho for once to be stuck inside all day, I would like to play out in the sun, but the office, or as I like to call it The Igloo is super nice on a day like this.  I got some serious work on my anti-bullying poster yesterday, for the annoying pen tool OF DEATH, over with...so that's good. I have to work out some execution kinks today, hopefully printing a draft today! My stomach has been eating itself I think all morning, not helping, doing leads on restaurants...I started to salivate!  Pumped that it's Friday! Tomorrow I'm going to the Aquarium with my boyfriend, and Sunday im getting my country music on at the Luke Bryan concert!!!!!! (a little excited...can ya tell?) Well, not too sure what else to write other than I loved my first week at the internship, and can't wait for next week! Wonder what Design projects I will get to do...who knows!  Here's to the weekend!!
Meghan Connolly
  (Dunkies, the official fuel of a design Intern)

Thursday, May 30, 2013

(Insert clever title here)-Part 5

Fifth day of work in May here at Esente, if only it was Cinco de Mayo. Things have started to pick up. The Graphic interns have posted their first drafts of artwork, which are now hanging up upon a wall for review. As a PR intern its my and others job to edit and create the headline and body copy for the posters. I think this is my favorite part of the internship. Drafting designs, figuring out copy, slogans, trying to figure out the best way to convey what the art piece is saying in as less words as possible. I'm excited to continue this process along the coming months, and waiting to see what we can create. Well, this post was a little boring so here's a little factoid for you all. They're called "Lucky Charms" because if you're lucky you'll get more marshmallows than those god-forsaken oat pieces. 

-Peter

New-ness

I needed a break from my first poster design. I've been trying to think of a new concept for an anti bullying poster so I spent the rest of my day yesterday just doodling to try and come up with something. I liked the idea of incorporating headphones into my design to tie in the whole "fight bullying with music." Then I remembered the timeless proverb with the three wise monkeys; see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. So this is what I've come up with.


Obviously it's just a rough sketch right now, so I'm going to spend the rest of my day fine tuning it. In the US, the general belief of it's meaning is to be turning a blind eye or feigning ignorance. The "hear no evil" figure will be in the beginning of changing their ways with the help of music.

Ingrid Parena
Graphics Intern 2013

Back to Health, Back to Esente

This is my first day in to Esente this week because unfortunately I've been quite sick the past week. At least I wasn't feeling well when the weather was bad though! Sunshine and 80s-90s is exactly what I need right now. I usually don't come in on Thursdays but since I wasn't able to make it in the past couple days and on account of me going on vacation next week, I figured I should at least come in today since I was free!

Anyway, it feels good to feel better and be back at Esente where I know I am doing something productive. We worked on leads all morning and I feel I'm definitely getting into a "groove" with them and found what works best for me to get the most done in the time allotted. Unfortunately due to my 'about to crash' laptop, I had a couple instances where my entire screen would freeze for almost ten minutes. So frustrating! Luckily I just bought a new laptop but I haven't installed pages/word on it yet so I wasn't able to use it today. Once I don't have the issue of waiting for that stupid rainbow circle to go away I'm sure I'll get even better at leads! I'm not sure what I'll be doing for the remainder of the day but I look forward to finding out.

So I won't be able to come in at all next week because I will be in FL...Disney World actually! With my sister and 3 nieces. I'm excited...and nervous that these 3 little girls are going to run me into the ground haha! But I'll be back to work as soon as I get my picture taken with all the Disney Princesses and return to MA. And then I look forward to starting some more exciting projects here at Esente!

Kimberly Wilson

Internship Moving Along Smoothly

Hey guys, so this is my third day of the internship and I am getting the hang of it quickly. Today I generated a new record of 65 leads. I'm finding it easier to do leads if I look on the website first for the email address. Last time I was ending up with some leads that were incomplete and was assured that the email address was a deal breaker in terms of getting leads. The leads I did today were based in Arlington and Peabody and they were mostly Arts & Entertainment, Community Services and Automotive services.

I like how leads make the day go by faster and I can listen to full albums at a time (today I listened to Iron Maiden's Fear of the Dark and the new Black Star Riders album which is awesome!). I haven't really done anything new today but I'm guessing most days will be the same, which I don't mind. I am finally getting a hang of the commute and where to park so I should be on time for the remainder of the summer. I just wish the internship involved more musical aspects besides listening to music. I'm really looking forward to the weekend since I will be playing 3 Tall Boys shows in 3 days! Anyway I'll be back next week.

- Randy McGravey

Round Two!

Hello Again!
         Today is my second day as an intern at Esente.  I spent the morning working on my anti-bullying poster a little bit, tedious pen tool work. It is an upgrade from the first day of researching, I've never been a fan of researching, but it's necessary.  I am not starting to execute some of my ideas onto actual posters, hoping to have a framework down by the end of the day.  Also, today I learned how to do Leads! It is actually pretty cool.  Looking up the information about certain businesses in Wakefield where I am focusing and recording their website info, contact info etc. Once you get the rhythm down, you can do them pretty fast and enter them in. I think its safe to say that if I found myself in Wakefield, I would know my way around the shopping.  I don't think I have ever been to Wakefield, but they have a lot of little 'mom and pop shops' which is cute.  It is nice to see that they are all pretty much different areas of business too, not just 5 different ice cream stores, for example.  That is pretty much what I have done today so far...don't know what the rest of the day holds.  Only downside to today is that is gorgeous outside and I'm stuck inside. on the plus side, the office is nice and cool, much better than the 90+ weather outside.  I think it is going to take a little used to blogging everyday, thinking of things to write, trying to sound interesting... It is kind of cool that there is a different bunch of interns each day, and the number varies so today is nice and spread out.  Next week I will get into the usual days of work Monday-Wednesday, this week was crazy, working Tuesday, not Wednesday, today and tomorrow. I think I can chalk up the choppiness and randomness of this blog to the ice coffee I had this morning which apparently has not worn off yet! It is nice to have a Dunkie's under the office, so I can grab a coffee before work.  On the negative side, no morning coffee meant falling asleep on the train this morning...whoops! I consider myself lucky that I didn't wake up in Rockport...and for that I am thankful! Well back to work, Peace out until tomorrow!
Meghan Connolly

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

(Insert clever title here)-Part 4

Today was rather uneventful. I woke to gray skies covered with grey clouds like something out Tim Burton's mind. The Toaster Strudel I had for breakfast did not come with an icing packet. I took my first first walk from my new apartment to the office, which took all of three minutes. It was odd starting a new routine in a new place. I've woken up everyday and left for school, work, or soccer, but today was different. This was the first day I had truly started the day by myself. Not to say that I wasn't able to before today, what do you take me for a child? But, today if I had slept in no roommate or mother would be there to save me. It's odd to think that for the past twenty odd years there has always been some sort of direct physical support. I guess it's the first step in the transition from being a student into an adult, that actual physical separation from our childhood tendencies. Not that I'm not mature enough to be an adult, though I still don't have taste for coffee or smooth jazz or rum raisin ice cream. But then again who does?

Graphic Design... Better Than Sliced Bread? -John Matthews

  I drew an award winning stick figure this morning. I'm going to call him Larry. Each brush stroke, from Larry's big, broad smile, to his little toes, was hand-crafted with precision and finesse. If you were lucky enough to witness his creation, you were most likely also present for his hasty demise. Yes, Larry is no longer with us; however, my work of art will no doubt live on in the young minds of 2 or 3 Esente Music Group Interns for years to come.

  Seriously though, sometimes I wish I were a graphic design wizard like Ingrid, Gabriella and Christine. I'd design a silver-plated rocket ship, packed to the brim with cotton candy and giraffe-shaped Beanie Babies. Full amenities included of course; one must never plan an excursion to the moon without the comforts of home. Kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, music studio and full service spa. The works. I'd sleep in one of those race car beds, just like my friend Jake when he was 5.
Jake was the man
  I'd design a little puppy named Excalibur. He'd join me on our quest into the deep, dark unknowns of the solar system. In fact, he'd fly us there. Pilot Excalibur. Hey if I'm a graphic design hero, I can do anything.

Except conclusions.

The Newby..

So I am officially the new kid on the block.

Today is my first day and i must say that it doesn't feel like work, partially, because this is an ideal job for me so the day is flying by!

I was asked to do a quick review of some of the artists that this music group represents, research the ways in which various corporations can use/benefit from Social Media sites, as well as search 3 articles in connection to Drunk Driving, and write a simple summation. Cool! What makes this experience better is that i can listen to my 90s music playlist while i complete the tasks.. :)


While interning at this facility, I hope to get a great idea of what the job of someone in the Public Relation's Department of a Record label would entail.



-Gee



We Know Social Networking

I've never realized how much we take for granted our skill with social networking. By we, I mean my friends and I. I use Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest regularly just for fun. Something I've wanted to do in my free time for years has helped me become a valuable asset to a company. Just the other day my father asked me to upload a picture to Twitter. I had never done it before but despite that, I had no doubt that I would be able to do it immediately. Even if I haven't done something on the Web, I've done enough that I'm confident I could figure out anything quickly (short of actual coding).

Upon uploading, my dad thought I was a wizard.

A friend of mine from high school has 31,000 Instagram followers. I have no idea when she decided to be an Instagram celeb but it's crazy to look at her photos and see up to 4,000 likes on a single one. She has linked her Instagram to her blog and her unique branding is already apparent from her choice of picture, captions, and the fact that she responds to every single comment on her photos.

There are a lot of different things we can do to strengthen a social media appeal. Yesterday Amanda asked me to look into a new feature of Google called "rich snippets." Basically, rich snippets are an attempt by Google to help authors claim web content as their own. It has been easy for identities to be passed around on the Internet; there are multiple fake celebrity accounts on every social networking site and it can be difficult to determine if the person creating content is really who he or she claims to be. Rich snippets are an enhanced response to a Google search that includes a picture and more creative detail. They can be obtained through several different ways, like verifying your email and linking your Google+ account to your website and vice versa. Performing all the actions that claim to get you a rich snippet boosts your chances of receiving one, but even if someone does all the different things a rich snippet is still not guaranteed immediately because Google hasn't rolled out the programming for everyone, just a few random accounts. Social networking is kind of like that. There are a lot of different things you can do to reach out and when combined the effect can be stronger but sometimes even that doesn't work right away. Companies need to think diversely. Social networking is a contrary creature and there's no one answer but we groovy young things know and actually enjoy navigating the instability.

I hope everyone has an awesome day!

Hanna

Day 6...

Didn't get as many leads done as I did yesterday, but I at least made the quota. I also started on them later than I did yesterday, so I guess it evens out. I was a little worried about today when I realized I had left my charger at home when I was on the train, but luckily Gabriella let me borrow hers. I feel like I am maybe coming down with something, so I took some Nyquil last night which has the unfortunate tendency to make sleep through my alarms which is why I was in enough of a rush to forget my charger this morning.

After lunch the graphics interns are going to start talking about working on a project together involving making comic strips, so that should be cool. I don't really have much else to say so I guess this is it for today.

Christine
Graphics Intern

Back At It

It's been a long weekend. It was Memorial Day last time I was supposed to come in and I couldn't make it last Thursday due to technical difficulties. To get the ball rolling again, we went straight into finding some leads.

Project wise, I think I'm at a good spot and finally ready to move on to a new project. In my eyes it's as done as it's ever going to be. Here's the final version of my anti bullying poster.


Ingrid B. Parena
Graphics Intern 2013

I have nothing interesting to say

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait.......... nope.

It's going to be in the 90's all weekend but hey, the clouds decided we didn't look enough like drowned rats. Someone's really got to re-evaluate the phrase "April showers bring May flowers.." at least in New England. I highly recommend going to Good Harbor beach if you've never been (this weekend I mean, not today). It's beautiful and the sand doesn't have any annoying rocks or broken shells to destroy your feet, and at low tide you can walk right over to this big island and explore and go cliff diving (just don't get stranded at high tide!). Hey, if you have the car, I'll bring the lifeguard certificated skill and some snacks.


Today is my last scheduled work day of the week, you have absolutely NO idea how ecstatic I am to sleep in tomorrow. I didn't realize how tired I really was until I fell asleep at 7 last night and woke up this morning so exhausted it was like I had just spent two days locked in a closet with a bong and an endless supply of green. Needless to say getting myself through the 2 hour commute here was quite the struggle. I guess it's a good thing I moved out of the home I was housesitting, I don't think my poor body could handle another weekend of party hosting. Agh, but I got chocolate from France this morning.... tre magnifique.



my final words: WATCH THIS VIDEO
http://www.awsm.com/13883/now-this-is-how-you-use-a-go-pro/

x Gabriella

It's a Learning Process

After spending yesterday afternoon writing blogs on flipping houses I really have learned a lot about the business.  I feel like I could flip a house today! Kidding I'd probably need some money first....but my point is if I hadn't been asked to write on this subject I never would have learned about it. This whole thing is a learning process.

The learning process doesn't end inside the office.  Yesterday I joined the parking ticket club when I learned that the parking lot I thought was free (thanks mom for telling me it was..) is apparently only free if you park in certain spaces.  There goes $20.00 :(.  Lesson learned.

Learning creatively is a huge part of working at Esente.  Today Ron has asked us to brainstorm after lunch about ways that different categories of businesses can use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, Instagram, Google Plus, etc. I have started to think of ideas on how certain categories of companies can use different social media to enhance their businesses but need to continue to expand my thinking and generate some new innovative ideas! 

Hopefully I can come up with some great new ideas and beat the exhaustion that this gloomy day is making me feel.
87 degrees and sunny tomorrow!

-Rebecca Miller

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

(Insert clever title here)-Part 3

My second week work was scheduled to start today (Tuesday) at 9:00 a.m. Though my day started at 1:00 a.m. this morning, because what better ways to start the week than a four hour midnight drive to from Glens Falls, NY to Beverly, MA?  I literally just got an apartment in Beverly, so this past weekend I traveled back to the secluded homeland that is upstate New York to retrieve my things for the summer.  Not wanting to hit Memorial Day traffic, the genius that I am thought to leave at three a.m. to avoid the impending clogging of the Massachusetts highway arteries. While my intuition was not wrong and thwarted any possible road rage, upon arriving at Beverly I realized, by golly I am exhausted. I had slept maybe four hours over the past forty eight. My last couple days home were filled with so many last minute goodbyes, hangouts, and packing the little part of my brain that says “Hey you should probably go to sleep!” had took the weekend off.   Needless to say I’m quite tired but, this is my friends is why caffeine exists .

-Peter

Summahtime

Happy Memorial Day! We go to the Cape every year to celebrate this weekend. It’s my favorite place and there’s nothing like getting older to make you appreciate vacations and family. Check out our beautiful island!







I had a great weekend but it is nice to be back as well. I like having relaxing time and working time to balance each other. The leads are going better than I thought they would. I wasn’t sure if I would have the focus to sit and search for one set of information for hours at a time but it’s actually kind of relaxing. You get into a rhythm. I’m going to motivate myself with my own numbers. I collected 60 in 2.5 hours today so I came in a little over our quota.

I like putting a whole album on shuffle and zoning out to that. Today was My Head is an Animal by Of Monsters and Men. Thank you, Iceland. Everyone knows Little Talks and it is a great song but everyone should definitely check out the whole album, too. I love the idea of a concept album and am sad that they’re disappearing because singles are all the rage. We can have Call Me Maybe and albums, people! I read a great analogy for music the other day. The online discussion was about people who pass judgment on others based on musical taste. One responder compared music genres to movie genres-you watch movies based on your mood, and music should be much the same way. Sometimes you want something light, while other times you might want something sad or action-packed. That makes a lot of sense to me. I wonder why music is thought of so differently. Interesting to think about.

Have a great day!!

Hanna
Day 5 at Esente, and I have definitely gotten much faster at leads. It's not so bad once you get into the swing of it. As long as I have my headphones in it's not even that boring.

I've been working on the anti-bullying posters some more, the hardest part is always coming up with the idea. I've mostly been going through bullying statistics and such to get ideas for what the words on the poster should be before getting into the image. So far everything seems to be going well. I feel like I'm starting to settle in here and that I'm being productive. The other graphics interns are pretty cool, so hopefully we'll get to work together more in the coming weeks.

Christine
Graphics Intern

How to make myself not sound like a bad match.com profile!

Hey!
 My name is Meghan Connolly, I'm a Graphic Design intern at Esente music group and today is my first day! The initial commute to work from Walpole, if you know where that is power to ya! (Most people don't). Not to sound like a little kid but I could barely sleep last night, I was like a kid on Christmas Eve....so excited!!! Getting to work this morning was a little less crazy, taking every form of transportation less than a camel! Just kidding, little sarcasm sprinkled there. Ok so who am I...I apologize if this gets too dating website like, I like long walks on the beach and....oops there's that sarcasm again! Ok name, check, what I do, check...school, right! I am going to be a super senior at Umass Dartmouth, where I study Graphic Design, and have me a fancy minor in marketing. Graphic design? Why do it! Ok, so much like most art kids, I love all aspects of art, dance, music movies, you name it, I LOVE IT! More specifically, I love music art, posters, CD covers, flyers! That is actually why I decided to go to art school, I figured I would just make CD covers and boom done! Oh side note, I apologize for any grammatical errors, crazy run on sentences; I've been known to be a comma lunatic! Ok back to all about me. This is my first day as an intern and its been great! I first acquainted myself with what the company does, looking at some links and such, then I started on my first project as an intern! I am working on anti bullying posters which any graphics kids knows...research, research, and MORE RESEARCH! I loved the cause of the posters, all gun-ho for that, but have to be honest the research is brutal! My concepts I want to be very hitting home, emotionally a slap in the face, if you will, and the best way to do that is to tug on them heartstrings! However I realized that if my concepts do see fruition, oh they'll pull alright, due to the fact that I had to throw on the Disney Spotify as background noise. Oh another side note, I ramble, and tend to use capital letters to express my excitement, as if you didn't notice yet! Next thing I did was start my first intern blog, quickly realizing that I know NOTHING about blogging, so hopefully these get better...fingers crossed. Well I think I've rambled on a lot about today...and it is only 12:30! Can't wait to see what the rest of the day brings!
-Meghan Connolly

My New Best Friend

What's up guys,
I started Esente one week ago today, and so far it's going very well. I found a solid amount of leads today and I'm about have some lunch. 
Most importantly, I found this dog under the table.

Seriously, how could you not love this dog? 
Pete's OK I guess.

BUT THIS DOG IS AWESOME!





Day 4 of the Blog

I think I'm finally catching up with the lead assignments. Well I hope I'm doing it correctly is what I'm hoping. This is a different feel for me in terms of searching things I mean its not like I don't know how to search its what I'm searching which is the issue. Its gonna take some getting use to but at least I'm in the right direction now. Day to day I'm having more and more conversations with my friendly neighbors Gabriella and Christine in terms of language of Art but thats another story. I finished most of my poster and now just trying to get some other work done for now. I like the fact that even though you may be doing things a bit wrong this isn't the company to put you down but instead to encourage you to do the work correct and for that I think this is an amazing company. I learned a new tool today by the way which is the liquefier in Photoshop between us graphic artists. One thing in life that your always gonna need is a challenge and a Boss who is tough because without those things you'll never reach your goal of being good or great at anything. I like the fact that this intern isn't all about designing because then I would come in doing the same thing over and over. Multi-Tasking is a great advantage that you don't really get to have in other companies trust me I know. Any-who this is Jeffrey signing out and telling you ladies and gents go for the struggle in life because that your best bet to being successful throughout your life.

Hingadingadurgin

Don't you hate when Tuesday's really Monday? But then when you think about it Friday's so much closer and you didn't have to do a thing about it... so I guess that makes it ok. Can't stop yawning but the Leads are coming along quite nicely now and I squeezed in a graphics project. BUT OH HEY let me tell you about this fantastic man to my left, Jefferey. This man just gifted me Narnia at the affordable price of friendship; I got the whole CS6 Adobe Suite yo! I'm happier than toast lathered in butter and jelly.. but don't be jelly, you're welcome to take my CS4 lol.

Out of curiosity, would anyone think it'd be fun to have a line of cartoons to promote ourselves? If we made them unique enough (maybe a mixture of Adventure Time, and some blasts from the past from Nicktoons?) people could get really into it and it would be a fun little display of creativity both with the art and writing. Also, giving us enough room for a story line will give us a plethora of options better than would be possible on standard 8 by 11.5 letter paper. This would also give us all a chance to actually speak to each other (gasp! no, not the headphones! anything but those!) and combine brainpower. I know we all have more to offer than our titles, this could be a great chance to find out what that may be.

Look forward to talking to your faces. Tootaloo

- G. Ktm

Week Three

Today begins my third week at Esente and I'm still not completely used to waking up so early, even though I usually consider myself a morning person. Then again morning in college is more like 9am or 10am not 6am or 7am. Even thought this is my third week, I am only going to be here one day this week. On my first day at Esente I was so nervous because I had to tell Ron and Laura that I had a previous engagement on May 29th and 30th. For previous jobs, it has never been easy to ask for days off, and my past employers have always gotten very annoyed when I would ask. So especially coming in here on my first day my heart was racing when I asked Laura for the days off. To my surprise she smiled and said of course it was okay, here at Esente they understand that we have other things going on too and that life happens. This was such a nice change that helped set the tone for my entire experience at Esente so far. This is such a laid back, fun, and welcoming environment I couldn't have asked for a better experience. Don't get me wrong, we still always have work to do, but the vibe here is just relaxing. I truly believe that environment is key to productivity, and because the environment is so comfortable here I am more productive during the day.
This morning we did leads again and one of the towns I had was Stoneham Mass, which I actually really enjoyed because I used to live in Stoneham. It was cool being able to recognize the palaces that I was researching. Unfortunately one of the places that I was researching was food and once again I'm starving and looking at delicious menus and pictures of food doesn't help. I don't know what to do to not be ravenous by the time its 930. Maybe eat a bigger breakfast, but that would mean waking up earlier or I could just bring snacks and eat them all morning long. There is no doubt in my mind that there is something wrong with me and that I am the type of person who needs to eat like every hour and a half. I think I'm gonna start doing the snacks thing because when I get hungry, which is often as you can tell, I get grumpy and unproductive and thats definitely not the best way to be in the workplace.
I'm not sure what we'll be doing this afternoon, but on Thursday Amanda sent an email about updating a blog about flipping houses, which I know nothing about...The only thing I know about flipping houses is that Cam and Clair did it on Modern Family a few weeks ago. So that should be fun to learn about and it will keep me busy too!

Shayna LaHaise
UMass '13
PR Intern 

Back to Work

Memorial Day Weekend went by in a flash.  Seems like that's how fast the rest of the summer will go by as well.  Hopefully the weather will be better than the past weekend because it is May 28th and I am getting impatient for summer.  My weekend was filled with Netflix watching Season 4 of Arrested Development in 1 day, some more Friday Night Lights, and a family barbeque.  Now it's back to work!

As I discussed in my last post leads are extremely important to this company and Ron hit that over the head with his speech this morning.  I think it really made me more determined and made me work faster and harder because the amount of leads I collected today surpass the amount of leads I have collected any other day.  This is proof that I am improving every day and becoming a more efficient worker.

Today I am going to continue working on some blog posts that I have yet to finish from last week.  I have learned you have to fake it until you make it.  My new best friend is Google.  Googling terms can spark ideas of what to write in blogs and give me a new outlook on the subject matter.  In future jobs I may not always know how to do something that I am told by my boss to do.  It is an important skill to be a fast learner and know how to use tools (such as Google) to my advantage.  I am starting to be able to see how this internship is shaping my knowledge and preparing me for future jobs I may come across.  It has definitely been a great learning experience so far and I can't wait to continue learning!

Enjoy the nice weather,
Rebecca Miller

2nd Day of Internship

Hi guys, this is my 2nd day of my internship and I'm starting to get the hang of it. I worked on leads today mostly with arts and entertainment as well as insurance agencies. This past weekend was fun since I played a show Friday night at British Beer Company in Franklin, MA with Tall Boys!

I learned where I need to park without getting a ticket today. I also figured out the best route to get to the building with very little traffic along the way. Ron gave us a speech about doing leads today and it was very informative and entertaining. I actually like the lead work more than the social media because I don't have to think about it too much and I can easily listen to music while I do it.

There are a lot more interns today than there were last week and it makes the experience more enjoyable. I expect that the numbers will only increase as the weeks go by. I'm having fun so far and I'm looking forward to what is coming in the next few weeks.

- Randy McGravey

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Leads and Sales Calls


Today was the first day that I came to Esente and did't get lost on the way. It was literally a minor miracle that I made it here without adding 15 minutes to my commute. I don't know why I was cursed with the worst sense of direction known to human kind but I have learned that when driving, to never trust my instincts. I was so proud of myself today that I think I'm going to buy myself something after work. So not only did I not get lost on my way to work, but I also got here early. Another thing that I am really proud of myself for is eating healthy while being here. I have been really good about not buying lunch from the delicious restaurants
So what are my thoughts after my second week at Esente? So far I am really looking forward for what the rest of the summer will bring. Every day after we leave I am more inspired and excited for what will be next. I hope that soon we get to do more hands on experience when dealing directly with drunk driving awareness and anti-bullying. I have a lot of ideas about ways to help promote these two topics and can't wait to learn about what other interns have to say too.
Today ended up actually being very fun filled, I went on a sales call with Ron to Lexington to a Stationary store. It was extremely interesting learning experience. We talked with the store owners about building up their cliental to the entire country, rather than just Lexington, Mass. The owner of the store was extremely unsure about what he wanted, but Ron found some way to make it work. I hope we end up getting the client, but if not it was still great to be able to go on a sales call and see how that aspect of the company works! I really like how working at Esente gives you multiple opportunities  even just as an intern.

Shayna LaHaise
UMass '13
PR Intern

Fourth day blogger

What to say today? Hmmm besides my stomach talking to me, I gotta say from last conversation with the Boss in terms of what I want within this three months he still has me a bit mind boggled. I mean aside from him telling and asking the group, I also heard it from my fiance and it's great that she sticks by my side through out all my struggles and obstacles. Learning is the best that I can say for today. Sometimes you have those days where its gonna be fun and jokes and other days your just gonna have to accept being in a grumpy moody day and today I can say I'm a bit moody but more focused on my work. I'm starting to get the hang of this search criteria that I've been doing and I never realized how difficult marketing really is. I cant wait to actually make it in this world not only for my own well being and life but for my photography skills and my graphic design skill plus marketing will come in handy once My friends and our clothing line starts rocketing. Life is a building block of knowledge and I can't wait to learn more stuff and because a wiser man in the aspect of graphics and marketing through this company Esente Music group.

Hey everyone!

Hey guys, my name is Randy McGravey and I am a new intern at Esente Music Group as of today 5/23/2013. I am currently a PR intern and so far I have been doing social media growth and writing a few articles. My interests for this internship include marketing, PR, and promotions. I am a senior at UMass Lowell and I am a Music Business Major. My hobbies include playing music, watching sports, running, etc. I play guitar in my band Tall Boys and I play bass in the Poison tribute band Flesh N' Blood. I am really looking forward to learning all about marketing and PR in this internship and hoping that it will lead to some great opportunities. Take care guys!

What's it All About?

What I've realized by day 3 of my work at Esente is that this company is all about networking. The importance of reaching out and talking to others is something that I have began to realize is a fundamental part of this company.  About 3 hours a day is devoted to finding information about different companies so we can later contact and sell to them.  Although this isn't the most exciting task, by listening to those who work here talk to clients in person and on the phone I have realized its importance.  This process allows other parts of the company to run and become successful.

Networking is an important skill in life.  Knowing how and where to get information from companies in order to contact them in order to connect is something that is helpful at any job.  The skill I am using now is going to be important in the future.  Even if it makes my eyes slowly close and put me back to sleep I understand the necessity of these 3 hours.  They actually go by pretty fast when you are working on a computer which is good because it brings me straight to lunchtime where I can take a break and eat (one of my favorite things to do).

Another form of networking that I worked on yesterday was following different people and groups on Twitter. This widens the network of people that see the Twitter account and allows them to discover the account and hopefully follow us back.  The same goes for Facebook, posting and liking other pages makes it more likely to receive likes and brings the page to the attention of others.  Without being taught to do these things I probably would have never thought to do that myself.  This is an important tool because it puts the company out there in the social media world for others to see.

Well almost lunch time!
Have a great memorial weekend (despite the crappy weather),
Rebecca Miller


Wednesday, May 22, 2013

This is my third day at Esente and I somehow missed the blog handout before, so this is my first post. My name is Christine and I am a rising senior at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. So far everything at Esente has been pretty interesting. I've never really done art in a job environment before, so I think this will be a good experience for me. I've been working on an anti-bullying poster, and I think it's been coming along well. Here's what I have so far:



I think the text is what needs the most work, I'm going to play around with it some more before finishing up the drawing.

Christine
Graphics Intern

So Far, So Good

Hi everyone!

My name is Lindsey and I'm really excited about my first day here at Esente - just five hours in!  I'm a rising senior at High Point University in North Carolina, studying marketing.  For as long as I can remember, I have had an unyielding passion for music.  To each person, it means something different.  Yet the majority of us hear music every single day: from jazzy elevator music, to the tunes we wake up to when our alarm clocks wake us up in the morning; from the melodies coming from self-expressed musical street performers, to the fun yet repetitive theme songs we hear before the start of our favorite TV show.  To me, music is a necessity - which is why I created my own music blog about a year and a half ago.  I created this blog in hopes of sharing my passion for music with the public.  My hope is that fellow music lovers will visit my blog and widen their musical horizon, all while enjoying the tunes that I share!

I'm not so sure if I have a "dream job" in mind yet - however as of recently I've been particularly interested in learning more about a career in the A&R division of a record label.  A&R stands for "Artists and Repertoire", and this area of work is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists/songwriters.

Anyways, I'm super excited to be here at Esente and I'm eager to see what the coming weeks have to offer!

Lindsey D-M

Get me off the bike.


Pedaling a bike for three hours is tiring. Well, figuratively and literally. Figuratively, Ron refers to our job of finding leads as “pedaling the bike”. It's kind of the boring, redundant, but necessary work we will do as interns. Ultimately finding leads is just internet research work. We are assigned specific locations and areas of business and then enter a variety of information into a Google Doc for each business. For example, today I was researching schools, seasonal services and services in the Milton area. It’s easy work but it’s also very repetitive work and that can be a little tiring. Although collecting leads isn’t the most fun thing I’m assigned to do here at Esente...it is relevant. Wanting to work in the PR field, research and organizing research is something I’m going to be doing constantly--so it’s actually good practice and experience having to dedicate some of my time here to that. 

I tried to be all healthy by accessing my caffeine from Green Tea today but I was already tired and these past 3 hours on the bike are definitely pedaling me downstairs to the conveniently located Dunkin’ Donuts during lunch.

Kim Wilson

My Dream Job...For Now


Ever since our "inspirational" talk we had yesterday I haven't been able to stop thinking about what I want my future to hold. I know that I want to work in marketing or public relations and that it would be awesome if I could travel. Traveling has been a major part of my life for as long as I can remember. So I began to think wouldn't it be cool if I could travel all over the world and promote local "hidden treasures" to hotels all over the world? So that is my goal, and the aspect of working here at Esente that will help achieve that goal is "pedaling the bike"as they call it here, or chasing leads. Basically, we have been chasing leads all morning and I'm not gonna lie, its definitely not the most interesting thing we've been doing here, but it is useful. It will also come in handy if I want to be able to go to foreign places and contact small businesses about promoting them. This whole idea could change in the fall once I start grad school or it could change in a week, but right now this sounds pretty good to me. I could incorporate my love of travel with my newfound marketing and public relation skills.
Right now it's 12:18 and we eat lunch at 12:30, before I started blogging I was chasing leads for food and dining places in Newton, Mass. This was a mild form of torture for me. Every time I came across a website with pictures of the food the serve I died a little inside. I am beyond hungry and it may be because I'm always hungry or because the pictures of food on some of these websites looked so heavenly. I'm not sure what we're gonna be doing after lunch but at least if I have to look at pictures of food I'll have already eaten.

Shayna LaHaise
UMass Amherst '13
PR Intern

I'm sleeping at Esente tonight...

I just received the final mix of my band's two singles that we recorded in March, so I'm pretty pumped.  Other than that, today has been full of leads, leads and more leads. I actually found a pyramid scheme in there, which kicked off an entertaining YouTube tangent about cons and scams.

On a side note, I finally parked at a non-metered spot this morning in front of a sketchy house on Thorndike. I feel like I'm just asking to get towed. At 4pm I hope my car is still where I left it; if not then I guess I'll pick a room and sleep here. Perhaps Ron's office?
John


Leads, leads, leads!


Today has been all leads so far! It’s a little mind numbing but whenever my eyes start to glaze over I bring myself back by thinking about how the website I’m on could actually be a future client. Laura mentioned that you become sort of a “website-snob” after pedaling the bike around here and I’ve already noticed myself subconsciously critiquing the websites I as I peruse them. It seems like the businesses with no websites would be the best to contact-instead of potentially insulting one place’s existing site, we could simply set up a business for much higher success by giving them one-but not having a website makes you pretty inaccessible.

Like I mentioned in my last post, a lot of times I’ll go off a simple Google search. The quality of websites determines what I think of the business and if there is no website it may as well not even exist. Even the General Store in my town (I live in a really small town) has a Facebook page and they update it every day! I’ve also noticed how much I take the quality of huge websites for granted. They must put a ton of money into the site. Huge companies do a lot of their branding just with their website and little places still need to compete.

I’ve learned so much already, I actually feel like part of an office. When I thought about starting on Monday, I was nervous and didn’t know how I would be able to help. It was kind of like when Michael Scott said, “Sometimes I’ll start a sentence and I don’t even know where it’s going. I just hope I find it along the way.” I gathered 36 leads today. It’s good to learn.

What’s the difference between garbage and not-garbage? Garbage is in the trash can; organization. Organization is what keeps the things we use and need away from that which is unnecessary. 

This is why craft is so appealing to me. The time and love that it takes to build or make something is evident in the item itself. Take a simple wooden kitchen spoon. If made well, its clean, hard lines and pristine finish will give way to years of loving use and will wear a soft, well rounded finish with a deep color to match the love imbued with every stir.

Information takes the same form. I used to spend hours tidying up my music library. Finding new methods for utilizing the system and when necessary changing the rules to make things fit. Esente has elements of this. The more organized a system, the better it runs, this is no secret. 
Adam Sergott

What Will I Accomplish Today?

I've recently learned this company is about more than music. Yesterday I worked on some drunk driving articles to post on the blog deadlines.stopddnow.com.  This is an issue that is important to bring to teens awareness because it is far too common to hear of drunk driving accidents.  These accidents take away lives due to something that is easy to prevent.  I also began working on some tweets for the month of June to post. The challenge was getting them to fit into 140 characters or less. Follow @stopddnow maybe you'll see some of my marvelous tweets in the month of June!

What will today have in store? Hopefully more things to keep me busy.  I have come to realize that now that school is over and summer is here, even if it has been nasty weather, I have absolutely nothing to do in my life other than watch Friday Night Lights (my new favorite show which I highly recommend to anyone) and play with my miniature dachshund Simon.  It may seem like long hours here at Esente 9-4 but the hours pass quickly and time just flies by.  It is definitely waaaayyyyy more fun than sitting through my geology class and learning about rocks...don't ever take geology.  That's all for today's update!

Until next time,
Rebecca Miller

Rainy Wednesday

We kicked off today with leads searching so I didn't really get much work on my anti bullying poster, which is fine by me. I needed a distraction anyways. I don't like getting too into my work because I tend to focus on unimportant details. Here's what I have thus far...
I've been working on getting the ghostly image in there. I haven't quite decided if I like it or not. Maybe I'll ask around for critique and get to know my fellow interns.

Ingrid Parena
www.ingridbenette.com
Graphics Intern

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Sock Hair, Don't Care


I prepared for my second day at Esente by fueling up on caffeine and Dunkin’ turbo shots as an attempt to keep up with Ron’s enthusiastic energy today, and good thing I did! Ron called me into his office about an hour after I arrived and said he would like to take me on a sales meeting with him. He had an appointment scheduled for 11am at Toscana’s Ristorante & Cafe in Peabody. He explained I would join him and act as his “marketing assistant” as I sat in on his meeting with a potential client.

I wasn’t sure why Ron chose to bring me along but I was thrilled to be invited anyway! So then Ron announces his reasoning for my tagging along... which was based on the account that I was dressed nice and “not slob-looking”...thats a compliment I suppose haha. 

Could be the collared shirt I’m wearing, or maybe it has to do with this “schmancy” sock bun I have in today--so professional looking right? ;). And for those of you who don’t know (probably the boys) there is actually a sock in my hair. Which is a funny concept if you think about it. Putting a sock --obviously intended for a foot--in your hair is oftentimes looked at as a more professional hair style for women? haha. 

It is a clean sock by the way.

So then Ron humored that he couldn’t bring Adam today because we weren’t meeting with a hiking client...but I don’t know Adam, your rocking a nice bun today too ;)

Anyway...to my relief Ron’s driving is normal speed contrary to his speaking pattern and during the drive he gave me some great advice about how to get where I want to be professionally. He also expressed interest in helping me get there  by giving me some relevant projects to work on which was encouraging.

We arrived at the newly renovated Toscana’s and sat down with the owner Angelo. Angelo was interested in purchasing a website and other marketing tools and tactics to promote his restaurant. Seeing Ron work with a client first hand was a great learning opportunity and in fact proved to be an eye opening experience for me. It helped me realize that sales might be something I want to get more involved in. I really enjoyed being able to sit in on the meeting and had fun simply observing Ron work. 

I left the meeting with appreciable insight into the sales/marketing world. Ron wasn’t just selling the idea of a website or other media and marketing tactics in that meeting. He was selling himself. I watched as Ron made this client (Angelo) like him, believe him, and potentially want to hire him. That kind of sales is something I think I would be good at and might want to do one day. 

One thing I like that Ron said is that he has great confidence because he doesn't care. He doesn't care if he gets the client or not. He doesn't care if someone likes him or not. I think it's a logical way to act/feel because you know what...some people aren't going to like you. Some people aren't going to want to hire you. It's all part of the business and the game. So in many ways, yah we need to know when it's the right time to have and utilize that "don't care" attitude. 

So, I guess a collared shirt can go a long way. In this case, it got me a front row seat to the educational experience of watching and learning how to professionally work with and sell to a client. 

But seriously, Toscana’s was beautiful inside and their food looks delicious...oh and I believe I recall Angelo mentioning something about $10 off their newly revamped wine list! Intern outing perhaps? ;)

So just to wrap up, the assignment Ron gave us in our intern meeting today is figure out what we want to get out of this internship in the next three months, and even more so what we want in the long run. So I’m off to figure out what I want in life...and right now it’s Italian food.

Till’ next time! 

Kim Wilson