Groupon!

Last Tuesday (10/19) our class had the rare opportunity (it seems to be a recurring theme up here, don't you think?) to visit a company that is both young and extremely successful. "Groupon" (group + coupon) is a company that has spurred out of The Point. The concept of The Point was originally intended to be based on collective social activism, but never had the success Groupon has (and probably will ever have). Just to give you little background on the founder, Andrew Mason, here's his brief profile (halfway down) on Groupon's website.


Groupon is a fantastic upcoming business that has been launched in 2008 and has increased IMMENSELY during the two years since starting up. We were able to have a meeting with the president of Groupon, Rob Soloman, who was previously a vice president of Yahoo, and it was an amazing experience to talk with him. Since starting up, Groupon, according to Forbes magazine, has been the fastest growing company. EVER. Here's the article from Forbes. Even over Google, Yahoo, eBay, you name it. In 2008 there was a staff of 7 people, and today the company employs 2700 people. Walking through their building it was seriously like a small city living on that particular floor. There were ROWS and ROWS of twenty-somethings working (all on Apple iMac's) , but in a very laid back manner. The atmosphere within the "office" seemed more like a school's computer lab when the monitor (or student working there) isn't present. It was loud, dysfunctional, fun, all of which while the people were staying extremely engaged in their work. It was a perfect work/play combination. On the walls there were dry-erase boards where employees can draw and be creative within the office (there also was a lot of pranks that were being made between co-workers). At least from what I saw when walking through the office there seemed to be a comradery between the people working and there were cliques working within this "city" of Groupon connoisseurs...Grouponoisseurs!! Did I just come up with a new word? One last thing to add to this thought...Groupon has been hiring (according to Rob's recent figures) about 100 people per month, so if YOU want to be involved with this exciting and young company, drop in a resume to them! It's worth a shot!

Groupon features an unbeatable deal on the best stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in a city. By promising businesses a minimum number of customers, customers get discounts they won't find anywhere else. The theory is based off "collective buying power" and has businesses wanting to join because it is a way to get more customers that they have never thought possible. I've (and probably some of you) have experienced this type of "collective buying power" at my internship, working with the Carrotmob group in Evanston, Illinois (here's the actual link to the Carrotmob event in Evanston I helped promote). According to Wikipedia the Carrotmob is a:

A form of consumer activism where a community buys a lot of goods from one company in a small timeperiod to reward a business's commitment to making a socially responsible change to their operations. Often the changes are of an environmental nature, such as energy efficient upgrades.

From this idea, Carrotmob is a unique concept that is able to engage both the customers and the businesses because they each are seeking to have their respective needs/wants met. The businesses are trying to sell more products, become more profitable (through energy efficiency, as well as appeal to a demographic of the population that is environmentally conscious. The consumers are merely using their collective buying power to initiate socially responsible changes in the businesses they would, most likely, buy on a regular basis anyways. ANYWAYS, back to Groupon.

You can subscribe for Groupon for free and designate which city you're in (as long as Groupon offers their services to that city), then each morning you will receive a "Groupon" for a different product/service (typically a small and local business) where the deal is typically around 50% off the original value. The businesses use Groupon as new-age marketing strategy, where they reach many more customers (Groupon has around 25 million subscribers) than they would have ever imagined.

Groupon isn't a place that businesses are necessarily looking for short(er)-term profits because of how the profit-sharing system is set up. Groupon usually receives 50% of the profit, and the business receives the other half. The companies that are looking to do business with Groupon are looking at the longer-term growth of the company, because they often will tap into markets that have never been explored. In the short run, they're going to break even or make a small profit, but more importantly they get the publicity that conventional advertising (tv, billboards, signs) can't compete with. With Groupon, the businesses KNOW that they are catching the public's eye, while advertising (on posters, billboards, etc) can't be quantified in our society's new age of marketing. If a company puts up a new advertisement, it is difficult to attribute an increase in sales to that distinct advertisement. With Groupon, the company knows EXACTLY where an increase in sales would be coming from.

Isn't this such a simple idea?? If coming up with an idea like this is so simple, why can't I do it? Groupon also has been expanding to other countries, 26 to be exact, and Rob stated that he has hoped to grow to 35 within 6 months. Rob was referring to managing the fast-paced growth of Groupon as just "holding onto the reigns" and trying to control (but not limit) the growth of the company. With the status of being the fastest growing web-based company in history, the next few years are going to indicate how Groupon will maintain their "first mover advantage." Imitators have been popping up all over the place trying to offer the same service, but don't have nearly the subscriber base that Groupon has. Maybe you can expect to see the Groupon deals in your town sometime soon (hopefully Galesburg or Peoria too...where I'm from)!

Threadless! 10/14/2010

Today....well last Thursday (It's impossible to keep up with this Chicago pace) we were given the opportunity to visit Threadless, which is an innovative business based in Chicago that relies heavily on the concept of crowd-sourcing. For those who are not aware of the definition of this term, the wiktionary dictionary defines crowd-sourcing as :delegating a task to a large diffuse group, usually without monetary compensation.

The concept behind Threadless is simple, but is GENIUS. Threadless has been able effectively "crowd-source" (not to be confused with out-sourcing) the design and selection process. What this means is in laymen's terms is that...ANYONE can create shirt designs for them. Their website has an almost cult following (of mostly artists, designers, or fanatics of the company) where anyone who signs up (for free) can upload their design to compete against other designs. The Threadless community then votes for their favorites designs and whichever receives the most votes, well.... wins. The artist who uploaded the design then receives $2500 for winning the competition and a certain percentage of the t-shirt sales. This idea has been EXTREMELY successful for this business and is a great model for other businesses as well.

Threadless has also been able to grow organically and by the word of mouth, so they have been able to avoid any marketing costs associated with traditional business models. This has been possible because of the cult-like behavior of the current community. The marketing director for Threadless stated that the only mainstream marketing they've participated in was a 15 second commercial on Comedy Central, which didn't result in a real increase in sales. Since it's beginning in 2000, Threadless has been able to exponentiall grow. ALL WITHOUT ADVERTISING AND MARKETING.

Another thing that Threadless lacks is the structured work force/drone type business. The videos we watched in preparation for the visit gave me the impression of a very laid back feeling among the Threadless workers. They had videos of playing ping-pong, riding around the warehouse on go-karts, and throwing around a football while working; it looked like the dream job. Once we were in the Threadless warehouse/building, the atmosphere was far from what it had been advertised. This was largely in part to the fact that it is getting close to the holidays, so there is an increase in the sales for the company. The company has also been growing exponentially within the global marketplace, so the business has had to keep up with the demand for t-shirts, while still maintaining the cool and hip image in the eyes of the customers. This is one of the major limitations of the Threadless community. The people who are key in this business are the “Threadless Community” and they have been extremely opposed to the idea of Threadless becoming a mainstream t-shirt company. They pride themselves in the idea of owning “original” t-shirts and the idea of few people owning the same shirt. As Threadless grows, the Community will play an integral factor in what new markets are going to be “tapped into”. If the Community doesn't approve of decisions made by the management, then the company is going to lose the “soul” of what has made Threadless successful. Traditional business models (for the most part) had to deal with these issues, because consumers haven't been as interactive with the actual company. By creating a community that is extremely involved with the business functions, they have a level of emotional attachment to the company. This is like a double-edged sword to a certain extent. It creates an extremely dedicated following of people who help Threadless Community immensely because of their involvement within the company. The company is able to adapt effortlessly to the consumer demands because they know EXACTLY what the consumer likes through the structured voting (for designs) system. Threadless doesn't need to spend a dime on market analysis or market research, because the customers provide everything they need to sell the designs. The warehouse manager stated in our tour that Threadless always (most of the time) sells out of the t-shirts because they already know that the customers are demanding them. The benefits of having a very loyal customer base is obvious, however, once the business goes “out of line” and does something the Community doesn't approve of, there will be many disputes to deal with. Traditional model business do not have to deal any of this, because most people are not “attached” to the concept of the business. Most will view the company as an entity that is seemingly untouchable because of the bureaucratic nature of corporations. Most customers won't (often) complain if there any questionable decisions made by the management of the company.

Whew, well anyways. Threadless was a great visit for us (like most of our visits are) and is just another notch in my belt of learning about businesses here in Chicago. Peace.

Visualizing the BP Oil Spill

Well, this link is a little out of line in regards to my blog.....but that's the beauty of it being MY blog!! Muahahahaha! For all you that have been heated on the oil spill in the Gulf, here's something to add a little more fuel to the "fire". Good analogy for the oil spill don't ya think?? Check it out.

Get your name out there!

Networking. Easy concept right? Of course it is! This whole time of being in Chicago, it's been a GREAT time just to meet people because there are so many opportunities out there! Living in central Illinois, I never had an idea of HOW to get my name out in a positive way. There were opportunities, but they were limited because of how small Cuba (and Galesburg) is.

Before I get into what I have actually done, being here in the Business and Entrepreneurship program has given me enormous opportunities just to connect with people I would have never thought possible. Everything is about making a genuine connection with someone and finding some common ground to establish a friendship or relationship.

My personal belief is that one must ALWAYS be on top of their "game". I view networking as an extremely effective tool in creating a personal as well as professional connection with someone. Every field of profession can benefit from networking and is a simple way to stay connected with your colleagues. Establishing a network of professionals with the same career aspirations/goals is a great way to get advice into the industries. Period.

I prefer using the concept of "connecting" instead of the idea of "networking". Connecting with people has a much more personal and human feel to it. I believe this is a much better way to establish relationships between people. You must be able to find some common ground to connect with and be most importantly, to be GENUINE. The ability to connect with people as well as maintain those relationships is a skill that one must be constantly working on to improve.

In terms of networking in a professional field, exposure is one of the most challenging things to overcome (for most). For example, networking (in the right way) with many people will always prove to be fruitful. Also, pursuing the right types of networks will improve the “success” of that networking. A great example of this would be to connect with professors, friends, classmates from college, high school, grad school, etc. An important distinction to be made between business networking and social networking (LinkedIn vs Facebook) is that you will have a personal life and then a professional life. Of course there is some overlap between the two concepts, so finding the perfect medium between the two is key.

In the networking field, being shy or timid is one of the biggest obstacles for people to overcome. Being sociable MIGHT not be someone's strong traits, so practicing these skills to overcome them are going to be necessary. I luckily have not had that problem. Being a go-getter in regards to networking is one of the strongest qualities I possess. Attending networking events has been one of the greatest aspects of being here in Chicago. There are so many opportunities to get your name out, so why should you sit back and wait for people to approach you?? MOST people enjoy giving guidance to others, so the only obstacle is finding them. Asking for help or guidance in the professional field is not a sign of weakness and is sometimes how people feel. I think that is ridiculous. In this (student) stage of our life, learning from “elders” within specific fields is a sign of maturity and knowing that “you don't know” will open up doors you never would have known to exist.

During this past summer interning at Country Financial, I have been able to really broaden my network in the professional field. Most of the agents I have worked with are Knox College graduates and I can not stress how easily it is to network with alumni from your respective colleges. Using the resources you have available to you is one of the easiest ways to get help and guidance. Since being here, the Knox College connections have been invaluable. I have already been interviewed for jobs because of the recommendations I have received from these connections. Also, if you want to meet with someone to learn from them, then go do it! Pursuing someone about an interview or meeting will give you a great image of being proactive in your professional career. As an article I recently read, more than half of job openings are not advertised, so establishing connections and relationships BEFORE a company is hiring will give you a competitive advantage over other applicants for that job.

One last point I want to make is that networking is also two-sided. What I mean is that being a resource for others seeking information/jobs is one of the (I think) most rewarding aspects of establishing relationships and connections. This summer while I had been working at Country Financial, one of our company clients for our 401(k) plans was Advanced Rehab (physical rehabilitation company). As a friend and a trusted business partner, he was searching for a part-time student employee for this school year and would be looking to gain some insight to the physical rehabilitation field. It just so happens that one of my good friends is looking to become a physical trainer and I became that resource for my friend. What I am trying to say is that in establishing connections, you must have a give-and-take mindset where you're willing to help as well as receive help.

Now, it's all about YOU and how you make/maintain those connections. GO!

America's Dog!

So far, my Chicago experience has been one of the chaotically enjoyable times in my life and there have been SO many things to do while up here that it is so difficult to keep up (with blogging at least).

Throughout this whole program, we've been hearing about the concepts of innovation, entrepreneurship and the like...And in our "class" Tuesday, September 21st, we had the amazing opportunity to meet with the founder of America's Dog. This is a hot dog restaurant located in Chi-town that has been growing in size since it has started in 1996. He was such a great guy! It was a great to get his perspective on being an entrepreneur and as he stated, "I like making money" and well...I want to make money too! But his message to all of us was far from impersonal and cold. In developing his business, he has been able to keep a level head by realizing that there will be ups and downs and nothing will ALWAYS go as planned. You just have to be able to "weather' the tides of business because nothing will be for certain in the cut-throat world of being an entrepreneur. Aside from that, the food's great there! (He bought the whole class anything they wanted for lunch) I would definitely recommend the Tuscon Dog and the sweet potato fries were pretty decent. I think the part of his personality that allows him to be so passionate in the restaurant business is that is he completely GENUINE. He tells things as they are and doesn't sugar coat anything, which has been one of his strong suits in looking for investors in his business. Go America!

Friday Sept 17th

By now, most people (unless they are living under a rock) in the United States has at least heard of the corruption of the political system associated with Chicago and we had the opportunity to meet with one of the few "good guys" in that system. We (the ACM program) have a great contact with one of the Aldermen for the city of Chicago and he was gracious enough to give us a brief summary of the job he does. His name is Joseph Moore, who was a Knox College graduate (woop woop!) of 1978 and participated in the ACM's Urban Studies Program while at working on his undergraduate degree in Political Science at Knox. He is an Alderman for the 49th ward of Chicago, but let me give you a little introduction to what we have learned. In Chicago, there are a total of 50 different wards, where each ward is assigned one alderman. The aldermen of these wards are appointed by elected officials, so each aldermen are, in essence, mini-mayors of those wards. It was amazing to me the way this political system (in Chicago) is controlled, because it is unlike any other city in America (and probably why there is so much corruption. Joseph referred to the political system of Chicago as actually being in a Fuedal State. This is because the aldermen of the city are comparable to being lords over their "serfs" and the mayor would be comparable to the King. Each ward is populated by around 60,000 people, so each ward has equal political power, but we were told has had much controversy around this idea of equal power. In part of his speech, we were informed that EVEN DEAD PEOPLE have historically voted in Chicago as part of political fraud. In order to control more votes in Chicago, many corrupt politicians used dead people's information to win elections or they would "hire" homeless people to vote in many different wards in return for a cash payment. There was a lot of controversy of this when Mayor Daley (Richard Sr.) was in office. Here's a great article talking about the corruption when Richard Nixon was running for office if you have time. Another amazingly awful fact about previous aldermen in Chicago was...in the past 30 years, 27 (rough estimate) of the aldermen were sent to jail. Those odds are...well... not exactly too great.

Friday afternoon we went on a Chicago Film Tour, where we were taken around the whole city in a charter bus and toured the places where many of the famous films have been taken. The city of Chicago was not well known for movies during Mayor Daley's (Sr.) term. The big film industry in Chicago was almost non-existent until around 1970, when Mayor Daley died in office. He didn't want that kind of exposure on the city because he was afraid the film industry would attack and point out the political corruption within the city and didn't want Chicago seem like the gang and mafia (even though it actually was) center of the U.S. Aside from the corruption, the movie that really jump started the Chicago film industry was the Blues Brothers which opened many more opportunities for films to be hosted by Chicago.

September 16th: SENDaBALL

We had a great experience today where we hosted a guest speaker who came to talk about her business and is a "real life entrepreneur". She operates a home-based business that has been seen on the Today Show, ABC's Shark Tank, and was featured in Donny Deutch's book "The BIG IDEA" and started it all from scratch. The business she "stumbled upon" came from an idea in her everyday life. For her friends and family, she had a signature gift where she would send an inflated ball with a message written on it, which was like a novelty present. These balls she would send would often be funny and would get a laugh by the recipient. One day, she was standing in line at the post office to send a ball for one of her friend's birthday. While she was in line, another person saw the ball she was holding and thought it was a pretty clever idea. This person asked her to send one of those balls for him/her (not sure which) and would pay her $5 for it. That's when she had the idea that she could make a business out of it. It's a completely innovative and simple idea within the greeting/holiday/birthday card business and has a fun twist in it because...well, it's a bouncy ball! It was a perfect niche in the market that she saw and seized that opportunity. She started off very small and has been growing it since then. She opened a website where people can order these balls from the click of a mouse. It's not a very big and profitable business, but that's not what she's been concerned with and prides her business on. She enjoys it because it brings joy to people who send and receive the balls. That's it. She has had a lot of publicity and has grown her business from appearing on the show Shark Tank on ABC. Here's the link to that show (It is shortened, so you don't have to see all the boring parts). It still remains a business that is run from within her own garage, without any fancy equipment or technology because she really enjoys owning her own "destiny" and the soul of her small business. It was a really great experience to meet a "TV star", so to speak, and actually gave me a sense of empowerment if I would decide to own my own business. So far, I have realized the value of finding your own "niche" within a market and the meaning of entrepreneurship. It's about offering a great service that is feasible as well as something you really love to do. You can't own a business without having a passion for it... Plain and simple. You have to be transparent, ethical, and willing to adapt to the consumer's needs. Because frankly, they're YOUR boss. You have to have an open attitude to change and be humbled by the fact that in this field (of entrepreneurship), you need adhere to the never-ending desires of the consumer.

Internship at E-One!

So...I have yet to even mention the internship aspect of this program, which was one of the main reasons I decided to actually do this program..so I apologize.

Anywho, today was my first day of the internship at E-One, which is an environmental organization that is associated with the BASE (Business Alliance for a Sustainable Evanston). I am extremely excited to get involved with this business and to help them in their "vision". Let me start from the beginning..

The ACM program requires an internship experience which is probably the most exciting part of this term. During this past summer, we (students in the program) were to search the web for companies that we feel like would be a great fit for us, educationally. The best part of this is the fact that most students have much different backgrounds and want to get into a lot of different fields of work. Since I am trying to get some exposure into the environmental business field, I had been looking at many small environmental companies, while other students in the programs are getting into various other fields. Some of these are the music/record label industry, consulting industry, event planning, human resources....you get the idea. You look for something that you really like, then you let the ACM directors do all the contacting for you (Unless you already have something lined up before you get up here). E-One was one of my top choices when I was looking into this organization, because it was small enough that I could make a difference in the management of it, but it was established enough that it would provide something educational and worthwhile. So I'm really excited about the flexibility that is going to be given to me in the marketing and sales strategy to try and build their clientèle.


Off the subject a little, I came back downtown, starving, so I found the nearest restaurant to find something to munch on. Decided to go to this restaurant which was called Ronny's Original Steak House cause it wasn't too pricey and it looked pretty decent. It was right off the "El" and it smelled fantastic-ly greasy. Ordered a jumbo polish sausage with fries for around 5 bucks and they actually DEEP FRIED a polish sausage. Long story short, as I was eating that deliciously processed pork, I could almost feel my arteries and heart failing. But damn, it was amazing.

Chicago History Museum and Improv Olympics

September 13th,

Following a GREAT weekend I had with my newly discovered classmates in Chicago, Kate Latshaw, and the p-house girls, our "class" was to be held in the Chicago History Museum at 10:00 am. As much as it seems like a "tour" of the place, it was extremely educational. We learned many of the facts about how Chicago became the "great" city it is today. I never really have known the "real" history of the city and the image Chicago tried to portray to the world were completely opposites. Getting the architectural boat tour as well as the Chicago History Museum really has shown me how dirty the city actually was. It wasn't a grand town, it didn't have a particularly clean atmosphere, but the way it boasted it's strength actually made it believable. As my baseball coach, Les Hunter says, "you've gotta fake it until it becomes a reality", which I think perfectly sums up Chicago. I don't need to go into specific details about the city, but if you want to know more about Chicago....come on up!

Following our tour at the Museum, the next event we had lined up for the night was to do Improv at the ACM office at 7 p.m. Improv? For class? Needless to say I approve. The speaker that came in was a guy who has taught at the Improv Olympics, and for you who don't know what/who that is, let me hit with you some knowledge. You know Second City, right? (If you don't, take this time to Google it). They are the "improv" group that does more sketches than purely improv. Improv Olympics (IO for short) are completely focused on improvisation and do not participate in any of the sketches that Second City are known for. Anyways, the improv "class" was amazing. And the teacher of it completely GOT IT. He had the whole idea that improv could be used in more sections of your life than you EVER though possible. For example...one of the activities we did was to construct a story as a group, one word at a time. As much of a stretch of the imagination it takes, it actually is a very good drill to work on your team building skills. The concept he was trying to get to us was to "build a wall, one brick at a time" instead of trying to build it all at once (by throwing out really random, but seemingly "cool" words in a story). He brought a lot of different ideas toward teamwork to us which, in a business setting, has a lot of opportunity to help that business. Having an Improv class open to the workers of a business, I feel, would boost the morale of the workers and would also help the "team chemistry", so to speak. Anyways, I think it was a great day of studying and I am really enjoying the learning we are doing actually in the "real world". Fantastic.

Activities!

Activities! There's so many opportunities for activities! It's completely ridiculous how much chicago is booming and (if you're looking) there's always something to do. We got to take a architectural boat trip on Lake Michigan and the Chicago River with everyone in the program and got to learn about all the funny (sometimes messed up), facts about Chicago's history and the way it has evolved throughout the years.

For one of our "lessons" about Chicago, we were able to visit a place across the street from Wrigley Field where we were able to meet a lady who is a die-hard Cubs fanatic. I never knew it was such a big deal to be called a "regular" at Wrigley Field. She had written a book of how it is a community within the Cubs organization to be called a "regular" and at first it seemed to be a weird concept, but as she explained it, I understood more why Cubs fans are SO nuts (because I'm a Cardinals fan). It makes perfect sense to me now that people know the Cubs are going to be a bad team, but regardless of their record, they will still be fans and support the team. It is not so much about the literal game, but rather the good time people have at Wrigley. On one of our first nights in Chicago, we went to a Cubs game because the prices for tickets were ABSOLUTELY low. This is a good plan for the management of the team, cause well... we can be honest. They're awful this year (like most years) but Wrigley Field is such a great atmosphere for the fans. $7 for a ticket?? You gotta be kidding me! If I would actually be a Cubs fan, I could probably go to most of the games here. Our "cheap" tickets were actually one of the more expensive ones on StubHub. The cheaper ones that would be in the upper deck were $1.99!! That's CRAZY. I'm out-ti.

September 7th. Scavenger Hunt.

Today after our orientation, one of our "assignments" get become more familiar with Chicago's public transportation system, was to go on group scavenger hunts throughout the city. We were split up into 6 groups and the only stipulation for the scavenger hunt was that we could not use any modern technology (gps on phones, iphones, google) to figure our way around. We started this scavenger hunt at around 2:00 pm, and we were supposed to get done around 5 (if all goes well). The last location of every group's scavenger hunt was a restaurant where each group would bring back the food ordered by the ACM program. Our group was sent on out to the Hyde Park area and it was a pretty big difference from the area of town I live at (in Logan Square). We were failing at figuring out our first location and upon finding it, we had no idea that we were right across the street from the one, the only, President Barack Obama's house. We were standing right next to a church that had a barricades and a sign that said, ATTENION: By entering this area, you are consenting to a search of your person and belongings. We must have just not been thinking AT ALL to not think more of this, and it was like a light-bulb when we asked one of the locals about who lived there.... Duh.

We continued to the other locations (often on a very bad route) and we were directed towards many of the buildings on the University of Chicago's campus. Wow. some of those buildings we were at were ridiculously mind-blowing. The Rockefeller Cathedral was one of the most magnificent buildings I have ever seen. We took some pictures from inside of it, and it makes a single person seem incredibly small. The pipe organ was probably 2-3 stories tall, from what I could see. After we went there, we went to a few smaller landmarks, then ended up at a restaurant called Ribs and Bibs, where we picked up our order and headed back downtown. Each group had a different "genre" of food, for instance, one group had Chinese, one had Mexican, one had pita's and health food. You get the idea. There are basically every type of food if you look hard enough in this city and have a relatively good price.

Loving the city thus far, but I am not so convinced that the city has the self proclaimed "grid" figured out logically. We had an orientation over the city and how they were claiming it is set up very logically and is easy to get around....I disagree with that statement so far. Once I see the city more and experience the roads and transportation system more, then...maybe. Until then, I am staying on the routes I am familiar with.

My first post!

Sooooo......Hi! Welcome to my blog about my ridiculously awesome term "abroad" at the ACM program in Chicago! First off, I am a first time blogger and this is going to be learning process as I go with this "new concept". So bear with me.

So, whether you know me or not, my name is Jordan Ball and I am in the Business, Entrepreneurship, and Society program. This BES program is a very innovative approach to an "study abroad" concept where we are going to be taking classes in an office right next to the Chicago Theater, and where our classroom will be, well...anywhere! We will be going out into the "field" of Chicago and learn in the creative way of immersing ourselves in the business world!

So, for all you skeptics and naysayers, let me give you a run-down of our curriculum.

Part I: The Chicago Core Course is an interdisciplinary course examining the city of Chicago by exploring how business, arts, and socio-political issues intertwine. This course has all the groups of students involved and will be much more multi-faceted because the Urban Studies, and Arts programs will be involved.

Part II: The Seminar course is taught by Robyne Hart, and is absolutely amazing! She is one of the most interesting and fun to be around teachers I have ever encountered. Robyne has a lot of real-world experience to offer to our class and has created this VERY innovative approach to "studying abroad." This course has been focuses specifically on issues related to business and entrepreneurship, including opportunities to meet with innovators and entrepreneurs around the city.

Part III: The Internship is one of the most exciting part of this program and a unique opportunity for students to work for small start-up companies that are entrepreneurial in nature. My internship is a small start up company that I'm extremely excited for. The company (LLC) is e-One which is a environmental business consulting firm which helps businesses make strides to become more profitable while also reducing their carbon footprint (if you know me, this internship is PERFECT for me). The office I am working at is on 123 north Wacker Drive, right on the 7th floor. I EVEN GET A WINDOW VIEW! Nothing like the dreaded Office Space atmosphere (if you haven't seen that movie by now, shame on you. Go see it!)

Part IV: The Practicum is the course where we will be learning all the "in the field" knowledge. Our "professor" is named Tom Cassell, who has worked as a small business consultant and has helped many companies become more profitable and develops new and innovative ways to reach out to customers. Networking anyone?? This is one of the most exciting about both the Seminar and the Practicum section of the program because we're going to be exposed to SO many people who are on the rise and is an excellent to network. YAY!

The move in day last two days ago was extremely nerve-racking and exciting. My mother, sister, and I set out from Cuba at 6:00 in the morning to head to Chicago and the traffic couldn't have been better. We got to the apartment at 9:30 and got completely moved in by about 11:00. We had a little time to chill out and then get groceries after that because our first meeting about our individual programs was at 2:00 pm. When we looked for groceries, I was very shocked that Target was the preferred store to buy groceries. In central Illinois, Target stores are mainly filled with consumer goods, but nothing like it is here. MOST of the small, local, grocery stores are extremely over priced and surprisingly Target is cheap.

At our meeting at 2:00 pm, I met with all the other people in the BES program. There are a total of 11 students in the program, which was a little weird to have the "class" be so small. In the whole program there are 28 students (11 BES students, 11 Urban Studies students, and 6 Arts students) so it is a very nice transition to come from a small school (either Knox or Cuba High School) to be in a big city like Chicago.