I got a ton of rewards out of the internship that I never even considered when I applied for the position. I ended up with a boost in confidence, an understanding of small business, and I got to meet lots of wonderful people and learn about the spirit and practice of Aikido (the free intro classes were really great).
Hi, my name is Jason and I’m finishing up my 3 month admin assistant internship at AKSB. In this post, I’m going to reflect on my experience as an intern here at AKSB and what I’ve gained from it.
I found the AKSB internship while looking for accounting internships on Craig’s List. As an accounting student, I wanted to gain some experience in bookkeeping so I could be more competitive during the hiring season next fall. I felt like AKSB’s bookkeeping internship was a great fit for me because I love martial arts and I wanted to gain some work experience at the same time.
I was impressed by how organized AKSB was and how it bettered the community through providing low cost classes for all members as well as sponsors for lower income members. I have always felt that martial arts is one of the best ways to better one self and improve one’s quality of life, but the costs of classes causes martial arts to be out of reach for many people. I looked forward to helping out at an organization that addressed this issue.
Soon after meeting Lia Sensei and signing onto the internship, I began to change my mind about going into the accounting field. Lia Sensei was very understanding and put me in more of an administrative/office role. Throughout the internship, she made sure that I was doing exactly what I wanted to do, which really helped bring out my best work.
The most challenging part of the internship was making phone calls to prospective students. I had never made phone calls to customers before, so my confidence wasn’t great at first. I did much better than I expected and was able to speak comfortably with everyone I called. I feel like the ability to comfortably make lots of phone calls and convince people to come in and try out some classes was one of the best skills I learned during the internship.
I got a ton of rewards out of the internship that I never even considered when I applied for the position. I ended up with a boost in confidence, an understanding of small business, and I got to meet lots of wonderful people and learn about the spirit and practice of Aikido (the free intro classes were really great). After talking about my experience at AKSB during a job interview , I was able to secure a retail management internship for the summer. They were impressed with the sales and administrative work I did for AKSB.
I learned a whole bunch of skills during the internship, the most foreign to me being social media as a marketing tool. Having never used social media that much in the past, I was fascinated with how AKSB was using Google applications, Facebook, Twitter, Givezooks, and other sites to increase awareness about the dojo and AKSB’s vision. I learned how to do sales on the phone as well as a bit of bookkeeping from Yi Sun, another intern.
I really loved the atmosphere of the dojo because everyone there was friendly and in high spirits. I became friends with Lia Sensei right away and ended up talking with her about all sorts of things. Lia Sensei never really seemed like a boss to me, but more like a mentor, which I thought was really great. If I end up going into management, I hope I can take the same sort of approach with my coworkers.
Wes was a great friend throughout the internship, and helped break up the monotony of the day while we both worked long shifts on Mondays and Wednesdays. We ended up talking a lot while working, which made the day go by quickly. Oxana was another intern that I had fun talking to during and after work, and I enjoyed reading the blog she created for AKSB and hearing about how her dancing was going. I enjoyed working with Yi as well, and she did a great job of teaching me how to use Quickbooks.
I loved every second of work at AKSB. Sometimes the work got boring, but if it did, at least I could observe the class for a while and enjoy it. I feel like the experience helped boost my confidence and gave me a new outlook on life. As a somewhat aimless business student, still unsure of what I want to do after college, working at AKSB really gave me a lot of time to think and consider what I want out of life. Perhaps in the future I will open up a shop from which I can better the community and meet new people on a regular basis. It was really nice to meet Lia Sensei, the students, and the interns, who all work very hard to do their best at the dojo.
I hope AKSB grows and prospers as it continues to bring Aikido to the community and make martial arts an attainable resource for low income families. I’m sure that Aikido Kenkyukai Los Angeles will do very well, because the whole AKSB team is working very hard to make the dojo a success. I’m proud to have helped out and I wish the best for the AKSB team in the future.
