Niko Lang invested in his entrepreneurial business selling fireworks, managing every aspect of the business from partnering with wholesale distributors and staffing to legal and tax administration.
What is unique about your situation that influenced your internship experience?
My internship experience was a pretty unique situation. First, because my internship was entrepreneurial and spanned across two semesters, and secondly because of how I got into the firework business. I sell fireworks for a living, which sounds simple, but there’s more background to how I got to where I am. Long story short, when I was younger I knew people who sold fireworks each season and that quite literally sparked my interest in the firework business. Because of that connection, I had access to some of the best products on the market and over the years I was getting better products for cheaper prices and got to the point where I started selling them out of my house. After doing that for many years, I decided with my partner that the best next step was to turn it into an actual company.
What kind of work did you do throughout your internship experience?
My specific internship has a very seasonal workload. The work in the second semester of my internship was quite different than in the first. In my first semester, it was a lot more paperwork and preparation alongside legal battles to try to secure permits and make sure we are ready to operate once the summer rolled around. However, this second semester was a lot more hands-on, stressful, and fast-paced. It was interesting describing the experience from my first and second semester of internship because the polarity was crazy. The first semester was all behind the scenes administration work, while the second semester was hands-on physical labor, on-site operations and problem-solving.
What skills did you gain that you think are required to successfully run your own business?
You may find it surprising, but this job requires a lot of social skills. I’ve learned many great things throughout this journey. My abilities to network have significantly increased through constantly practicing outreach while trying to sign contracts for big displays. I also learned how to build better connections with people so they become return customers in the future. Experiencing all this also helped me become better organized because the paperwork and legal issues can pile up quickly when you have your own company. Unfortunately I had to learn that the hard way.
What was the most satisfying part of your internship?
The most satisfying thing to me was seeing all my hard work pay off. When following an entrepreneurial route, there are often many bumps in the road that you don’t expect. There are often no guarantees of success in your endeavors which can cause doubt. However, after going through much trial and error, seeing all the work you pour into your business pay off means a lot to me.
What is the impact of your internship experience?
This all had a big impact on me because a lot of the values I learned while going through all of this I’ll apply to my everyday life. For example, the value of reaching out to people who might have something to add to your network, staying organized, good communication, and establishing credibility.
This experience only strengthens my passion to scale my company in the future. It also shows me that I’m capable of accomplishing what I set my mind to, which motivates me to open up other companies in the future and continue growing at an exponential rate.