I’m Out

This is the end. My only friend the ... Lemme stop. Everything is in the title, my personal adventure among Smiirl is coming to an end today. Well, not EVERYTHING is in the title, not really. I'm talking about what I've learned these past months, a period I consider one of the most enriching I've ever lived.

I've learned that social medias can't reach their full potential without physical & social interactions. Well, in the case of our counters at least. The counters are designed/made to encourage interactions between people, with the use of social networks. These two can't play without each other, and I've learned this by going on a "client's tour" in Paris to meet our clients based in the capital.

I've learned that an unhappy customer can become a happy customer by answering quickly and efficiently to his concerns. And that's what you learn as a Community Manager. During my time at Smiirl, I've been dealing with tons & tons of people asking questions about our products or pointing problems they had with them. And guess what message I got the most? "Thank you for your quick answer :)" (well that's not entirely true, I would say number one was "OK"). Rewarding as hell.

I've learned how to sell a product easily, without moving from my desk. And that's call Facebook ads my friends.  2L of budget, 100g of photos & videos, a lil dose of powerful headlines, one piece of a "buy now" call to action button, and there you go, you have your magic recipe. More seriously, it's not that easy because you have to target audiences in a perfect way. And you better not forget that you're responsible for a budget and if you ever miss a shot, you can make your company lose some money in a blink of an eye. And having these kind of responsibilities after 2 weeks being in the company can be scary, but it is effing stimulating!

I've learned that I have basically not learned a thing at school. Well, compared to what I've learned at Smiirl.

I've learned that I'm nothing without my 4 coffees a day. Some days it's 5 or even 6.

*I've learned to use a sht load of new tools. **Facebook Ads Manager, Tweet-deck, WordPress, Slack, Quip, Trello, Google Analytics... Do I even need to keep going?

I've learned how to put (at least) 3 English words in each sentence. Before Smiirl, I used to qualify this trend as the "sc*mbag language". Now, I can piss off my friends by doing that.

I've learned to talk & work with people 10000 times more influent than I'll ever be. But in a position of strength, because they wanted our counter badly, f*ck yeah.

I've learned that working doesn't help you quit smoking. Not at all.

I've learned that there were spearows and ratatas in the toilets. True story #PokemonGo

I've learned to hate 1 week per month. Or two, and these weeks are, you guessed it, my weeks at school. Bullsh*t EVERYWHERE.

I've learned that I freaking LOVE writing. And, strangely, that I'm more at ease in English than in French... Shakespeare wins against Molière I guess.

I've learned that I'd rather sell a product than a service. Noticing the counter in stores, restaurants, bars, offices, weird places, made me happy 100% of the time. Because it was physically present, it could be seen by everyone and you could touch it. And that's something to be proud of. I'd choose product over service any day of the week!

I've also learned that I kinda like to sell. Beating the turnover you made last week, a lil smile on your face when you see a new conversion... I might want to go deeper in this field in the future, maybe.

I've learned that some clients buy your products but don't give a damn afterwards. In fact, some of our counters have not been connected for 6 months or even more, but the users have never asked for a re-connexion. That's kinda sad.

I've learned that I need to be a little bit more careful with my spending. Sometimes, payday is not payday.

I've learned that I'll never have the balls to create my own startup. SO. MUCH. PAPERWORK. I hate paperwork.

I've learned to cheer some of my friends up. Some internships are like mine : great responsibilities, an entire freedom on what I can post/do/write, being part of the strategic decisions of the group. And some internships are, well, confirming all the clichés you can gather on what an internship looks like. And some of my relatives experienced that. So telling them how wonderful it is to work for Smiirl was, and reassuring them on the fact that there's probably a group made for them out there, a group that will make them happy like Smiirl made me happy, has been part of my daily life for the past 8 months.

I've learned that Monday mornings don't actually exist. Or if they do, they start at 11 am.

I've learned that working in a small team makes things easier. And faster! Need some help on something? Just ask out loud, the furthest people in the office won't be further than 3 or 4 meters from you. You don't have to send an e-mail to Mr.X who will send an e-mail to Ms.Y and finally will forward it to Mr.Z... Furthermore, Smiirl is part of an incubator and shares offices with Niland, another French start-up. I found this environment perfect to work in, because you're always in touch with people who can teach you something new everyday.

I've learned that you still have something to learn. And that's a saying, because this is simply one of Smiirl's valors : "We're here to learn". This point pretty sums up all of the above. My curiosity has never been entirely satiated, and that's satisfying to think that!

So to conclude, I just would like to say thank you. Thank you Smiirl for giving me the opportunity to live such a great professional, and of course, human experience. Thank you for letting me free to write whatever I want on the blog, it helped my creativity blossom like a butterfly (this sentence is the most girly I've ever read. Give me two seconds I have to puke.).

Now it's time to pass this blog to someone else, now I have to get some experience in a new company, a new environment, but I'm already thinking to come back, truly.

For the last time,

I'm out 😉

Val'