Impossible Foods – Apprenticeship Weeks 16 & 17

Every week through (at least) April 2020, I will be outlining my apprenticeship experience as an Inside Sales Rep for Impossible Foods. Each week’s post will recap what I’m learning, what I’ve accomplished, and overall how I am growing and progressing as both a professional, and as an individual. Writing these posts is not only a great way for me to document my experience to look back on in the future, it also allows me to publicly share my successes and failures during my first venture into the professional tech world. Let’s do this.

Week 16-17

For some reason, I can’t seem to get time to slow down. Not really sure why, it’s pretty inconsiderate if you ask me. How is anyone supposed to stay on top of work, home, a relationship, and friends/family all while finding time for hobbies, recreation, and relaxation? 

Trick question: you’re not. Some people definitely are better at spending their time than others, but everyone can be better in some way or another. I’m learning quickly not to get tripped up by these doubts. It’s the pursuit of knowledge, relationship, and a multitude of learning experiences that inspires me to keep trying everyday. If I keep trying every day, naturally some days I’ll fall short. That’s not a failure, it’s a lesson. The more lessons I learn, not only can I make adjustments and progress as a person, but it allows me to be more empathetic with other people who have similar struggles. All of this to say — I’m back on the horse. As long as I keep doing my best to move forward, because I’m firm in the understanding that acknowledging and wielding my shortcomings only makes me stronger, I can only progress forward. 

What I am learning at work:

Day to Day

An exciting new development occurred this week, we’ve officially added our newest onboarding advocate to the team as he started his orientation/training on Monday! I’m really excited about this addition — not only am I looking forward to no longer being the “new guy”, but bringing in someone to provide a unique perspective and contribution to what we have started here is a galvanizing feeling. I’m eager to strengthen our team and begin teaching Christian wherever/however I can, and I’m confident that I will learn plenty from him along the way. 

Big Picture

Last week we had our official Customer Advocacy onsite training. We brought in our entire remote team (about 17 people) and were able to spend the entire week meeting with numerous cross-functional teams within Impossible Foods that we will begin working more closely with now that our rebranding/restructuring is taking shape. A representative(s) from each team stopped by and spent 30-60 minutes providing a brief overview of their operations and answered all of our questions — this insight was so incredibly helpful! A small part of me has felt that I’m working in a vacuum, not really knowing how all of the moving pieces at Impossible are intertwined, and I’m confident that my work will improve and I can demonstrate a firmer understanding of what each situation calls for and how to communicate different issues/ideas through the appropriate channel. Even while our company is growing every day in size, the team and community itself feels smaller which truly helps connect me to our central mission of working together to save the planet one burger at a time. 

What I am learning outside of work: 

Touching more on this a bit further down, but I’m learning how to incorporate physical exercise into my daily routine. I’ve not prioritized my health too much over the last few years and am finally making strides to remedy that. Gotta get ready for the beach, right?

What I’m creating:

• Consistently making contributions/edits to our playbook and content pieces to accurately reflect our process and our values.
• Updates to my website, LinkedIn page, and other socials to correctly reflect who I am and what I’m doing.

What I’m currently working on at Impossible Foods:

Leads, leads, leads! We’ve just announced a couple exciting tidbits that should significantly improve our conversion rates. With a couple new tools, I expect to be able to problem-solve more often for operators and actually provide services/products that meet their specific needs. Also, one exciting anecdote from this week: I had a call with an operator who loved the product and sent me up the flagpole to speak with their VP of operations. In a matter of minutes this lead went from 1-unit to a large chain — something that scared me at first, but this will be an incredible learning experience for me as I contribute to what is hopefully the conversion of a larger lead!

How I’m improving myself:

I recently began making time for physical exercise again! I know it’s not revolutionary by any means, but it’s been longer than I’d care to admit since I was committed to an exercise regimen, and I’m actually psyched to get back into the swing of it. I think for a while I was in denial about how crucial exercise is to not only my physical well being, but my mental as well. Between running in the beautiful California weather and hitting the provided gym at work (along with eating healthier/more protein), I have the tools to get into shape with the added benefit of not having to spend a dime.

Weekly Praxis Monday Recap: 

Last Monday, Praxis and Crash founder Isaac Morehouse stopped by to impart some wisdom and insight of the startup culture from a CEO’s perspective. I guess you could say that topic is slightly within his wheelhouse, and it should be no surprise to anyone that it was chalk full of knowledge. He spent some time talking about how these startup businesses work, but spent a majority of the time talking about how to stand out at a startup and really impress a CEO. Knowing who and what to align yourself with is a great first step, but really the most important takeaway I valued was fairly common sense: No one is responsible for you. No one is going to be a better motivator for yourself than, well, yourself. No work is too good for me, and if I keep my head down and show that I’m committed to my team and our purpose, recognition and progress will follow.

What’s Next: 

As I mentioned briefly, Impossible made some pretty exciting announcements this week so I’m pretty sure I will be spending a lot of time in conversation with leads about these changes. I have some scheduled training sessions with Christian, and I really look forward to getting to know him as he makes his mark on our team. Once he is done training, he will be going back to his home in Chicago, and eventually he’ll be working in our new office as soon as it opens there. Which leads in to my final thought for this post — I’m seriously considering making a move to the Chicago area myself to get started in an exciting new office, and I meet with my supervisor this week to discuss what that move would look like and if it’s at all feasible. Wish me luck.

Until next week!