Week 2

June 17th 2013 - Monday
8:00am - 4:45pm

Today all of the FOCUS team interns and our team leaders had a meeting with Melissa Price, the head of FOCUS. She had all of us explain our skill sets and placed us into task groups. She explained that as of right now we work for a branch of Quicken called FOCUSed on Imagitivity but by the end of the summer, our team will be a separate company called"dPop!" dPop! is a design company that combines Dan Gilbert's wife, Jennifer's business "Doodle Home" and our FOCUS team. The company will branch out into commercial real estate. dPop! will handle many aspects of moving and relocation (to Detroit) including design, social media, website design, budgets, advertising of services and products, and etc. The groups I was put into are copyrighting and social media. I am one of the leads of the social media team and will lead the Twitter/Facebook core section of our sites. Content creators will send everything to me for review and I will be one of the final sets of eyes before posts are released. (For me, this shows my strength in social media and gave me a lot of confidence in what I do.)  The company officially launches in 45 days so it is crunch time to get everything started. I will be working on developing new social media sites, transitioning over some old sites, and developing web content for the company and other key writing aspects such as mission statement, about us and bios, and email templates.  I learned that if there is something you need help with or are interested in trying out another team or section of our team, all you have to do is ask, which is great and really provides for growth in your career. We also broke up into groups involving an intern from each department of the Focus team including marketing, mail, facilities, and inventory. We have a group of 6 and will be planing a project to improve or enhance Detroit and Quicken Loans. We are meeting tomorrow to figure out more of a plan. Today was a very busy and very informative day and now I have a much better idea of what is going on and what I will be doing. I also received my company laptop today-- a Macbook air! 

Yes, there are scooters in our offices.

June 18th - Tuesday

8:00am - 8:00pm

Today was the longest day I've had since I've begun working with Quicken. Since we received our company laptops yesterday, we begun working in our "non-traditional" office setting. We work at one large table in a lounge-type room. It is very conducive to teamwork and working in groups. I worked on out of office messages, along with some slogans for dPOP! in the morning and began working with my social media team to plan some of our content which we would like to have partially established for all events through Christmas. In the evening, all Quicken employees attended the Gilbert Award ceremony which was 4-8 in the Opera House. It was a black-tie event that showcased outstanding employee performances over the past year and also reflected on some personal letters and videos from clients, saying how great working with Quicken was for them. It was another moment of pride in my company.   It was great to see how many outstanding employees there are in our family of companies and how proud each employee is of their company and their team.

The Gilbert Awards 2013!

June 19th 2013 - Wednesday

8:20am - 4:30pm

Today I used Workspots for the first time. Workspots is an app that was developed by Quicken Loans employees that allows for employees to work outside of their workplace and learn more about Detroit in the process. You check in at certain locations and than can connect to secure Internet and work remotely. We went to an outdoor patio on the 10th floor of the Compuware building. It was a beautiful view of the city and I really got to bond with some of my fellow interns. We completed the dPOP! mission statement and I begun constructing a solid plan for the content of our social media. 

Social Media
dPOP uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Linked In as current social media platforms.
 ·      Twitter  - Character limit 140
Used for short blasts of information, such as trivia about us (we can move 1,000 people in 4 hours), a quick tweet about a new furniture piece/product
Goal: 3 tweets per day·      Facebook -
Used for more in depth articles, events, and overall fun stuff
Goal: 1 post per day·      Pinterest – pin board of online images
We use Pinterest as a way to generate online buzz for our spaces, inspiration which we like, and a Good Design category – think Good Housekeeping seal of approval. (If you’re in our Good Design, you must be really good.) J Would also like to show before/after shots of our spaces.
Goal: 5-15 posts per week·      Instagram – photo feed from contacts / can also search through hashtag
Images of our spaces, and sights we see of Detroit
Goal: 5 photos per week·      Linked In – workspace group created by our team for open dialogue of new workplace design
Includes portfolio and our ‘resume’.
Goals: 1 discussion point per week ·      Vine – Similar to Instagram, but uses video clips instead of still photos
Will be used for short video clips of our spaces and the fun stuff we do
Goal: 1 per week  -REMOVED AFTER INSTAGRAM RELEASED VIDEO FEATURE!
Will be used for short video clips of our spaces and the fun stuff we doGoal: 1 per week  -REMOVED AFTER INSTAGRAM RELEASED VIDEO FEATURE!
 ·      Monthly email blast – similar to Cup of Zup’s daily email of all things fun, our weekly blast will include updates of our spaces and information on projects that we are able to share.
o   Featured spaces / projects / furniture reviews
o   Possible articles on workspace
o   Detroit ‘happenings’ geared towards art/design/architecture. 

Workspot-ing!

June 20th - Thursday
7:15 - 3:30pm

Today I worked on some more email templates. When I say email templates, I am reffering to emails with "fill-in-the-blanks" that will be used to connect with clients after an initial interview. Here is an example of one I wrote for move services.

(Move Consultants) Dear [Company Contact / Representative], Upon your arrival to your new space, challenges still lie ahead. From moving computers to worrying about space reconfiguration, we understand this process can be stressful. That's where we come in. We know the stages inside and out—every aspect! We've perfected the complex moving process to total simplicity, and thrive on relocating companies. Our experience has prepared with efficient response time and quality service. Please let us know your challenge and we'll prepare for a simple yet comprehensive solution.

Aside from writing email templates, three co-workers and I spent time to space reviews. Space reviews are essentially when you go from one Quicken (or Bedrock) property to another and enjoy the space. You take photos and really explore all that space has to offer. When you return, you write up a review about what is working and what isn't working within that space.  Today we reviewed four spaces. First, we went to the Campus Commando's offices in the First National Building. This is an office space that was designed by our team and features a "camp"theme, as they are a Gorilla Marketing company. After that we reviewed the "feel" of the 10th floor in the Qube building. From there we headed down to the M@dison building to review the rooftop and the coffee shop - Chez Zara. We had delicious Nutella lattes (paid for by the company!) and really enjoyed all of these spaces. In the afternoon I spent sometime working with my intern group - Group 4 - working on our enhance/improve project. We decided to develop an idea to install some kinetic energy tiles around Quicken buildings and Detroit to help power some of the lighting and cut down on costs for the city while being green and helping the environment.



June 21st - Friday
8:10am - 6:00 pm

Today we completed our email templates and sent them in for approval. Having such a large role in this project and now submitting it to leadership to get approval makes this job feel so important and so real - not that it isn't, but it is a real confidence boost to be apart of something like this. Hopefully they get some good reviews, and if not - well, back to the drawing board!  Our afternoon was spent a little differently than usual. All of the FOCUSed on Imagitivity team was invited to go on a bus tour of art in Detroit. We were invited as inspiration and to show how art and a persons environment can really change their productivity and perception of their work. We visited sites such as Russel Industrial Center, The Pioneer Building and Pewabic Pottery. We saw high-end galleries and personal studios. It was a great way to see the city, learn more about art and Detroit, and get to know co-workers even more. I even got to grab one of my favorite cookies from Avalon - Sea Salt and Chocolate Chip! 

The FOCUSed on Imagitvity Team at Pewabic Pottery!

All in all, I would say this was a week full of learning experiences. I am seeing myself grow overtime as far as my skill sets and really getting a stronger feel as to what I want to do career-wise and with my future. Next week is going to more intense with meetings and projects so I am hoping to get some sleep this weekend. We're also trying to find sometime to move to our new house... which feels like it will never happen!


Total Hours worked: 45.75