Advice from a “BE Alum”
By: Leah Howard
If there has been anything I’ve learned during my time at Braathe Enterprises, it can be boiled down into five words: take initiative and work independently.
If you do not take charge of your precious time and just wait for something to come your way, you’ll be waiting a long while. Connect with as many people as you can on LinkedIn. Join as many projects as you can. Go to as many meetings as you can. Work as hard as you can. Take. Action. It is very easy to get lost in the crowd and to go through the motions. However, you will get absolutely nothing out of the internship and learn nothing during the four months you are here if you do so. That’s a pretty long time to get nothing out of and essentially just a waste of your time.
So, start that project you are unsure about starting. Write that blog post that may or may not be appropriate. Do whatever you have to do to make the most out of your time. This is a very safe space, and you will not have room to “fail” at BE. Rather, you will just be guided in the right direction. Do not let failure be the stopping force from taking charge of your time here!
While taking charge and being able to collaborate are two important things, the other thing that is of equal importance is keeping yourself disciplined by working independently. Before I even started at BE, I knew I liked working on projects independently rather than in a group. My time here not only solidified that, but it also helped me perfect my independent working skills.
If you are someone that only ever works as a part of a group or prefers to work in a group, you should begin to dip a toe in the world of working independently. Working as an independent person is a very valuable skill that you are going to need down the line, and BE is a great place to start. Ask for projects that you can work on by yourself. If you get confused; ask questions. There is no harm at all in asking questions. In fact, it is better if you do ask questions, as that means you truly care about what you’re doing and want to perfect it as best as you can.
These are just two of the big lessons I have learned during my time at BE. I am so thankful that I was given an opportunity to be a part of such an amazing group of inspired, driven, and passionate individuals, and I feel blessed that I had Robert as my mentor for the last few months. Your time at BE is very precious. You have room to try out everything, you can figure out what you like and what you do not like. Most importantly, there is always room for you to make mistakes and learn from them. To me, this is what all good internships should be.
