We have been writing about how three of our students – Kaspar, Liisbet, and Annika – are a part of the 150-year-old Southwestern Advantage program and are spending their summer in America. The booksellers’ have reached halfway through their summer. Liisbet has been leading the largest summer organization in the European Division of the Southwestern Advantage program this summer. We interacted with Liisbet and her team this week.
Halfway through the summer but life gets easier for our students. As they say, “The hard part is now over. We are used to the hot summer by now, sales texts are coming while we sleep, customers are already coming more often, and it is much easier to deal with cancellations”.
So far, an average student has spoken to 1200 – 1500 families and made 800 – 1000 product presentations. It is possible to have about 8-12 “sit-downs” on an average per day, and typically one out of five families ends up buying books. For more experienced students, these figures are somewhat better, and usually, every second or third family buys. Anything is possible when you practice hard 🙂
Although the Southwestern Advantage program is designed to be a summer job where self-development and experience come first, the program has a considerable commercial dimension. The organization led by Liisbet makes an average weekly turnover of $35000-$50000, which would approximately be half a million dollars through the summer. Out of this, students get to keep 40% as remuneration for their services. However, the students are more excited about the experience than the money, which can be seen from what they have to say.
Below are excerpts from the conversation we had with Liisbet and her organization.
Liisbet: “Today the team and I went on a river tubing excursion, and it was completely WOW. We glided for nearly 3 hours. I moved in with another family this week. We live in the countryside, with lots of animals, and there’s a pool where we can jump in at the end of the day. They are a lovely family, and they make such good food. Anna is also moving in with me soon. I am very grateful to Abraham who is a former bookseller. He attended our meeting this week and shared a lot of good thoughts. Everything is going great, and I am dedicating this week to my dear mother!”
Anna-Liina: “The summer is not a sprint, it is a marathon! And just like it, some kilometres are easy, others difficult, but you have to move forward, even if at a snail’s pace. Slow-Mo is better than No-Mo, because even a monkey is able to find a cool family on the turf when it sets its mind to it. So let’s keep going.”
Jaan: “Sixth week done! Talked to several people in these weeks. One of the most interesting was meeting an alumnus who did 3 summers with the program from 1969 to 1971. All that I heard from him, the thoughts he shared, and learning how different the brookfield looked during those years was an experience by itself.”
Helemeel: “What a week!! To begin with, there was a thunderstorm as well as a blue sky with a scorching sun. Every time I saw rain clouds again, I thanked the sky. I learned a lot this week, I feel like I’m discovering something every day. There were a few achievements this week as well. First, one mother told me “you know my neighbours better than I do”, I was very proud. And secondly, a father called me a cool college kid. This is an expression we use all the time, that we are the cool students, but when the father of the family himself called me that, it was a proud feeling.”
Lisanna: “This week was more difficult than usual, it was my attitude week! I had to train my attitude and learn how to tame my emotions. Being far away from home, I was a little homesick too. But with each day I got stronger, and now nothing perturbs me much. My “monkey list” did not increase much this week.”
Grete: “ This week was a complete emotional rollercoaster, so definitely one of the most difficult ones. But it’s okay, next week is going to bring a new opportunity and we still have half of the summer to go, so let’s keep going! I met some awesome families, grandparents and caring old ladies. One lady just gave $50 in appreciation and said I was doing a good thing. I met families from Ukraine, Sweden, Italy, Philippines and everywhere else, so there were many nice moments during the week that made the week nice.”
