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VIRTUAL REMOTE Internship - Entrepreneurship Intern - ANY Industry

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NO COVER LETTERS, PLEASE!
NO TRANSCRIPTS, PLEASE!
PLEASE ONLY SUBMIT YOUR RESUME & ANSWERS TO OUR QUESTIONNAIRE
(minimum 200 characters per response, most accepted applicants submit 5-8 sentences)

MINIMUM 200 CHARACTERS PER RESPONSE, MOST ACCEPTED APPLICANTS SUBMIT 5-8 SENTENCES, ALMOST EVERYONE SUBMITTING MORE THAN 8 SENTENCES IS ACCEPTED INTO THE PROGRAM
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THIS IS AN INTERNSHIP WHERE YOU WILL CREATE A REAL BUSINESS. THIS IS NOT A CLASS. THE PURPOSE IS TO MAKE MONEY AND OPERATE PROPERLY.
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Overview:
On the Entrepreneurship Team, you will create a business (fot profit or non-profit)...a REAL business with a REAL legal entity, and you will try to make REAL money that is YOUR money. There is no fee to participate, but you will have REAL expenses (detailed below).

This role is not so much of an internship for KW as it is an internship for themselves independently. There is a huge opportunity to garner FREE professional consulting advice from the program administrator who is a professional business broker and consultant and who regularly introduces interns to other relevant mentors. There are twice as many reading/listening assignments (Sales and Marketing team combined), and we meet once per week to just chat about their activity building a real business of their own. While the program administrator hopes to one day sell the business of the intern, there is no obligation to do so, and the intern does not sacrifice equity either.

Time commitment: minimum 5 hours per week, 120 days

Payment: see below

Benefits:
  • guidance on how to start and run a business, from incorporating to bank accounts, from payroll to expenses
  • access to data sources like Bizminer and Deal Stats
  • access to discounted subscription to Dialing Software
  • discounted pricing on buying phone numbers for driving B2B sales (B2C is too highly regulated but guidance is still provided)
  • a real project with ownership of your own impact
  • letter of recommendation
  • access to the valuation team resources to help you plan for healthy financial goals
  • eligibility for scholarship/grant for post-graduate degrees, certifications, or designations

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Unique Disclaimers for your University:
see below for disclaimers from the following Universities:
Florida Atlantic

Location Requirements:

This is a VIRTUAL / REMOTE internship. However, if your school requires you to visit a physical commercial location, it can be arranged for you to visit almost any Keller Williams branch that is convenient for you on a weekly basis. There is often extra space available in a friendly and professional atmosphere.

Career-related learning goals

  • Incorporating a business entity
  • Managing expenses
  • Creating a living business model
  • Networking and Sales coaching
  • Business structure and management
  • How to sell your business
  • How to seek funding from venture capital and angel investors
  • How to file a trademark (optional)
  • How to start a franchise (not required)

Example Expenses:

If you are not already incorporated, your state will require a fee (to the state, not to me) to incorporate your business. If you are not already incorporated, this will be one of the first actions we do together in this internship. You are required to be incorporated to participate in this internship. THERE ARE ZERO FEES PAID TO ME IN THIS INTERNSHIP AND I DO NOT TAKE PART OWNERSHIP OF YOUR BUSINESS. A grace period of 2 weeks is given to interns who are not yet incorporated to give us time to evaluate where you should be incorporated.

  • $40-$500 Incorporation Fee to the Secretary of State in the state of your choice (link)
  • Additional $240 fee to the IRS for non-profits applying for 501c status
  • $0 registering your legal entity with the IRS
  • $10 for 500 business cards (not required)
  • $20 per month for access to the dialing software (not required)

You do not have to be incorporated in your state of residence. However, depending on your situation, you may want to. For example, if you are located in Massachusetts where the community is locally proud, you may want to incorporate there because you may want to let your customers know that you pay and collect taxes for your state. However, if it doesn't matter where you are incorporated, then you might do it to reduce your sales tax. All in all, most of the businesses in this program will not make much money.

Grants may be available for certain individuals. Individuals needing this type of financial assistance will be granted an additional 2 weeks for a grace period of 4 weeks to find, apply for, and receive funding for this purpose. The Bernstein Foundation, the private 501c3 nonprofit sponsor of this internship program can also facilitate tax-deductible donations for donors that YOU solicit for YOUR expenses. You will also be encouraged to check with your state's economic development agencies, who may have unique resources including angel investor tax credit and micro grants.

Taxes:
All interns are required to file quarterly taxes during this internship program. During the 120 days, this means you will file at least once. Sales taxes for those who sell products are also required to collect sales tax from customers and remit it quarterly as well. If you fail to file your taxes, you will be given a 2 week grace period. (link)

Supervision/Mentorship

  • Intern will work directly with CEO, who also has an MBA, which makes it possible for interns to get course credit
  • Intern will be asked to perform work on real projects with real deadlines. The challenge will not be to complete projects within a deadline but rather to communicate the intern's inability to complete some or all of a project so that it can be completed by other interns or the CEO.
  • Intern will speak on the phone with the CEO and other interns once a week for 1 hour and more frequently if the intern is available. Communications will also be via email, GroupMe, and Google docs
  • Each task will be recorded in a task list that will record a variety of metrics including time spent, time to complete, etc, which is helpful for quantifying the level of impact on your resume
  • Flexible Time commitment aligned with intern's personal and professional needs. For each task, the intern is asked to self-assign a deadline. If that doesn't work for the Supervisor (a more experienced intern), it will be assigned to another intern or the Supervisor or CEO will perform the work. THE ONLY THING that the CEO desires is for the intern to communicate when he or she cannot meet a deadline with as much notice in advance of the deadline as possible.
  • Internship Duration is ongoing

Internship/Volunteer Option:

  • The role is listed as an internship because it's the student's choice. The CEO does not want to make the promise of money if the student wants course credit instead.
  • Many universities have an independent study program or courses to help accommodate course credit for internships
  • The course is likely 1-4 units based on the number of hours expected inside and outside the class per week. For example, a one-unit internship would mean a commitment of one-hour meeting per week and 1 hour of work per week
  • You likely need to get a professor at your university to sponsor your independent study. The purpose of this professor will be to approve the internship scope, activities, and goals and to help ensure that you are meeting those goals and that employers are not taking advantage of your time. Many business professors would be happy to sponsor you if you come into a meeting with them with a proposal prepared. The CEO will be happy to help you design that proposal.
  • Some universities do not require a professor to sponsor you, but they may require the direct supervisor of the employer to have a Master's degree. Our CEO has an MBA, which will satisfy that requirement.
  • In the case of universities with this mechanism in place, unique considerations may have to be created, and the CEO is happy to speak with your career advisor about accommodating your school’s systems and protocols to get you the credit you deserve.


About the CEO:

The CEO, Russell Bernstein, is a Certified Business Intermediary AND a Certified International Property Specialist. The CEO is likely to be the only CBI in the world who is also CIPS. He has lived AND worked on 3 continents, traveled to +30 different countries, and studied formally in school (but is not fluent) 5 languages including (Spanish, French, Italian, Hungarian, and Korean). He has an MBA in Finance and International Business where he wrote a group dissertation on Sales Practices in Asia.

International Business is his passion.

In terms of education, he has 3 years of experience teaching not English as a Foreign Language but Critical Thinking skills in English as a Second Language to Korean students in Korea. For 2 years, he had been a head teacher at the main branch of a company with 1600 teachers nationwide that was publicly traded in Korea. During this time, he had also been on the Executive Council for the Association for Teachers of English in Korea.

When it comes to coaching multiple interns at once (noting the Top 10 languages requested), in addition to his teaching and leadership experience in large multi-faceted organizations, he also has almost a decade of experience in sports. He was the Captain of a Championship winning team in both high school and college, he taught clinics at every age group, and he even coached the Men's Korean National Water Polo Team as well as Louisiana State University Co-Ed Water Polo Team.

Intern Testimonials
~ Molly Scafidi, Arabic Specialist, North Texas University ~ 
One thing I was a bit surprised about when I started the internship was how much freedom we have to do what we want with this internship and figure things out on our own. This is great for people like me who love self directed learning and figuring stuff out. This internship definitely has a good structure, and the interns are certainly taught things (sometimes from Russell, sometimes from other interns). Also, for some reason I was a bit surprised to find out that the only other people Russell had working for him were interns like me, and at first I was a little skeptical about how much value this internship could offer me. Of course, I’ve now learned that there’s a ton to be learned from Russell and the other interns. I’m not 100 percent sure what led me to believe all this from the role description, maybe it was simply my own preconceived idea of what internships are like. The internship is suited for people who are motivated, self-directed learners, and who won’t be scared off by lack of traditional organization. A huge part of the internship’s value comes from Russell’s mentoring, which kind of guides our learning, but if an intern is expecting things to be handed to them in a highly laid out kind of way then the actual internship will surprise them.

~ Naomi Beirne, Japanese Specialist, San Jose State University ~ 
I appreciate how flexible this internship is for people who work and study. The program is ideal for individuals who are interested in working with an international team with real world time zones and cultural differences. The translation portion should have a disclaimer in that it should be less of technicality and more of cultural fluency. Sometimes communications with Russell and other interns can actually go over 2 hours weekly, which may daunt some interns who are trying to just do hands on experience with the assumption of the remote work = no contact whatsoever. While financial compensation is not offered, business advice, etiquette, and a recommendation letter are offered.

~ Jenny Schneider, Japanese Specialist, Baldwin Wallace College ~
I really like how this internship is flexible with time and if you happen to not make the hours, you can always make them up. I also like how it is remote, so I do not have to worry about commuting or other things related to that. This is my second remote internship, so I have gotten used to not being in a physical place. I like having the team action list to keep track of what I need to do, along with the extra documents. I love reading, so I like looking at them to make up time. I also like having weekly meetings with interns from other teams along with one with Russell. It gives me the chance to practice having meetings, as well as leading them. It also lets me be able to share ideas and come up with them with others.

~ Yuliya Maslava, Russian Specialist, University of Illinois ~
During the first week, I thought that the internship had a pretty strict structure, but moving further along, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that we were expected to take our own initiative and were allowed to kind of create our own tasks. I don’t like to be micromanaged, and I actually enjoy the freedom of achieving the desired results at my own pace. I like the Google spreadsheets concept because it allows the interns to leave comments and questions for review and to also observe what other interns are doing. The Results tab is also really helpful to keep track of the ongoing progress in the internship. I am very glad that I got to meet the people who are on the marketing team with me and take over the leadership opportunities (there are plenty of them). I feel that this internship has turned out to be exactly what I expected and maybe even more. I am having a positive experience so far and enjoying the process very much.

FLSA Compliance Notice according to USDOL Factsheet #71

  1. The extent to which the intern and the employer clearly understand that there is no expectation of compensation. Any promise of compensation, express or implied, suggests that the intern is an employee—and vice versa. THERE IS NO PROMISE OF COMPENSATION. IF YOU GET YOUR REAL ESTATE LICENSE IT IS POSSIBLE TO NEGOTIATE A COMMISSION. HOWEVER, COMMISSION IS PERFORMANCE-BASED. YOU (AND WE) EARN MORE WHEN WE SELL AND YOU ( AND WE) MAKE ZERO IF WE DON'T SELL. PLEASE CALL TO DISCUSS GETTING YOUR REAL ESTATE LICENSE
  2. The extent to which the internship provides training that would be similar to that which would be given in an educational environment, including the clinical and other hands-on training provided by educational institutions. THE PROGRAM IS HEAVILY WEIGHTED TOWARD LEARNING. 20% IS FOCUSED ON TRAINING OTHER INTERNS, EXPOSING INTERNS TO LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES ONE WOULD NOT BE EXPOSED TO WITHOUT ACHIEVING DIRECTOR LEVEL ROLES IN A REAL WORLD WORK ENVIRONMENT. 40% IS FOCUSED ON REAL WORK, AND 40% IS TIME SPENT WITH ME FOCUSING ON THEIR LEARNING. ADDITIONALLY, AT LEAST 20% OF THEIR TIME IS SPENT WRITING ABOUT THE ACTIONS THEY PERFORMED. EVERY ACTION IS RECORDED IN INCREMENTS OF 30-60 MINUTES, AND EACH ACTION MUST HAVE A LEAST 200 CHARACTERS DESCRIBING WHAT THEY LEARNED. THIS DATA IS ANALYZED STRICTLY AND THOSE ACTIONS MERELY SUMMARIZING SUBACTIONS WILL NOT BE APPROVED. THE CEO HAS BOTH TEACHING AND COACHING EXPERIENCE AS WELL AS CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AS WELL AS A MBA. IF YOU ESTABLISH A FORMAL INTERNSHIP FOR CREDIT, YOU WILL BE GIVEN A GRADE AS PRESCRIBED BY THE UNIQUE INSTRUCTIONS OF YOUR UNIVERSITY.
  3. The extent to which the internship is tied to the intern’s formal education program by integrated coursework or the receipt of academic credit. THIS IS UP TO THE STUDENT TO ESTABLISH
  4. The extent to which the internship accommodates the intern’s academic commitments by corresponding to the academic calendar. THIS IS LEFT UP TO THE STUDENT TO DEFINE, AND OUR PROGRAM CAN BE TIED TO IT OR ALLOW FOR THE FLEXIBILITY TO DO MORE OUTSIDE OF IT. WE CAN ALSO ACCOMMODATE LAST MINUTE AND EARLY STARTERS WHEREBY THOSE STARTING LATE (FOR EXAMPLE AT A UNIVERSITY REQUIRING 120 HOURS IN 15 WEEKS BUT STARTING IN WEEK 10, THE PROGRAM ALLOWS THE STUDENT TO KEEP TRACK OF ONGOING WEEKLY PERFORMANCE IN AN EFFORT TO ACHIEVE THAT GOAL.
  5. The extent to which the internship’s duration is limited to the period in which the internship provides the intern with beneficial learning. THIS IS LEFT UP TO THE STUDENT TO DEFINE. THE PROGRAM IS 120 DAYS. HOWEVER, SOME INTERNS DECIDE TO STAY LONGER. THE PROGRAM IS ALSO ONLY A MINIMUM OF 5 HOURS PER WEEK UNLESS OTHERWISE PRESCRIBED BY THE UNIVERSITY OR OPT OR CPT STATUS REQUIREMENTS.
  6. The extent to which the intern’s work complements, rather than displaces, the work of paid employees while providing significant educational benefits to the intern. MORE THAN 50% OF ANYTHING CONTRIBUTED BY THE INTERN IS REDONE BY THE CEO. THE FOCUS OF THE INTERNSHIP IS ON 2 THINGS. FIRST, THE INDUSTRY OF BUSINESS BROKERING IS SO SMALL THAT IT IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO RECRUIT EXISTING BUSINESS BROKERS WHO LARGELY WORK INDEPENDENTLY. THEREFORE, THE PRIMARY FOCUS OF THE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM IS A RECRUITING MECHANISM TO EXPOSE THE INTERNS TO A POTENTIAL FUTURE CAREER IN BUSINESS BROKERING AND THUS THE POSSIBILITY THAT IT MIGHT BE A SUITABLE FIT FOR THEM AND SPECIFICALLY VIA THE DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE CEO'S PROGRAM. THE SECOND MAJOR REASON IS THE LONG TERM RELATIONSHIPS THAT THE CEO WANTS TO DEVELOP WITH GRADUATES WHO MAY BE INTERESTED IN RETURNING TO THE CAREER IN THE FUTURE OR MAY SIMPLY BE A GOOD REFERRAL PARTNER IN COMPLIMENTARY CAREER PATHS
  7. The extent to which the intern and the employer understand that the internship is conducted without entitlement to a paid job at the conclusion of the internship. THE INTERN IS NOT ENTITLED TO A JOB AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE INTERNSHIP. EVEN IF AN INTERN GETS A REAL ESTATE LICENSE, THEY MUST STILL INTERVIEW WITH THE CEO'S BROKER OR WITH A BROKER IN THE INTERN'S CHOSEN STATE OF LICENSURE

Unique University Disclaimers:

Florida Atlantic
If the student is interested in receiving academic credit, please contact the FAU Career Center. The FAU Career Center can provide advice on enrolling in the FAU Career Center's Professional Internship Course or will refer to the student's academic department if this is a better option.