Episode 2: Don't forget the small stuff

The glamorous life of an intern can be shrouded by the nuances of learning the business of account coordinating. An examples could include: stuffing envelopes, labeling, and then hand delivering them. Not very glamorous, especially when the temperature is 900 degrees out, but learning how to do anything as an account coordinator can be hard work, and not very glamorous.

BUT WAIT! There's good news

I like to compare the subtleties of a infant learning to walk, to those of an account coordinator. There are three stages to an infant's journey down the hard wood: crawling, standing, walking.

Crawling

An infant starts his journey toward walking by learning to crawl. Boring as it seems, crawling is the first step toward building the coordination to stand. Though, everyone wants to skip the crawling stage and get right down to walking, the child takes great joy in exploring his surrounding and taking in all the sights. As an intern / entry-level person, this stage is VERY important in getting to understand your surroundings, people you work with, clients, and a slew of other seemingly unimportant things. Don't underestimate the crawling stage.

Standing

You've suddenly understood the power of crawling and now you've graduated to standing. You've learned how the small things help in your day-to-day dealings. Now, armed with this knowledge, you're able to take on bigger responsibilities and brighter projects. The standing stage, though still not the full blown, front-stage star of advertising, you're one step closer to walking.

Walking

You've paid your dues and work hard at all the little things from crawling to standing; now you're ready to take on that big projects with lots of responsibility. Just like a child, walking is that grown-up stage where you're one step closer to taking the diapers off. You know the business, you understand the daily dealings, now it's time to put the seemingly irrelevant stuff to work and get out there and walk.

Like the stages of an infant walking, an account coordinator can benefit from the small things. Whether the small stuff makes sense, take pride in it. Treat all the little things like they're the most important part of the business. Because, learning to crawl helps you to stand, and learning to stand teaches you to walk.

Now get out there and start crawling.

More to come as I learn it.