Hello everyone!👋🏻

Another busy week behind us. It was definitely a bit more stressful than usual because I’m slowly running out of time to finish my initial research for my university dissertation. Nonetheless, I got quite a lot of work done.

I think that clearing out the majority of tasks from Monday to Friday is helpful, while weekends are more focused on my academic tasks. Not very sustainable during the academic year with actual classes and readings to do every week but for now I believe it will work quite well.

The past 7 days have mostly been Plant Sumo focused as we are awaiting the design team to finish working on the ResumeCats website. On Monday, I have sent them the FAQ and blog posts update but now the progress of this project is out of my hands.

For Plant Sumo, I worked on the podcast with Rachael who just officially joined our team this week! I was responsible for getting the contact information for founders of other meal prep companies, while she will be the one texting and interviewing them.

Additionally, I looked at various blog posts and youtube videos of people reviewing different meal prep companies. Compiling it into one spreadsheet can serve as both a potential contact list of partners as well as an in-depth look into our competition – what people like about their services and what could be improved (which is where we will hopefully come in😁).

This week I also had a kick-off call with (almost) the entire Plant Sumo team. It’s very nice to actually see the people you talk to on WhatsApp all the time! They were all lovely and I am super excited to be working with such a talented group of people. I collaborate especially closely with Monique and Sahil on the social media strategy and I genuinely think we learn a lot from each other.

I also awakened my inner YouTube vlogger this week as I was filming a review and unboxing video of one of our competitors. It truly reminded me how fun creating content is and how much I missed it! Hopefully, I’ll get to work more on tasks like this in the future.

Here’s a blurry picture of me being very excited for my food✌🏻

Moreover, a lot of new people (four to be specific) have been onboarded this week! I have talked to each of them one-on-one to get to know their role and background a little bit better. I have worked with some of them while they were still on trial but it was still nice to officially welcome them to the team!

The best thing that happened this week was when I got to lead the team meeting though😁 I love attending them but to get to lead it was even more exciting! I always feel nervous when talking to people and question whether I’m qualified to be leading anything but everybody was so nice and supportive that I felt great about it and was definitely honoured to be the one doing it with so many new folks on-board.

I also had success doing the bulk of the work during the week so that I could work on university research during the weekend. I was still available on WhatsApp or email, and worked on quick wins, but had nothing major planned work-wise. Well, I went to check out a kitchen in Acton and meet a new prospective chef with Deepak, Salim, and Sarah on Saturday but it was more fun than work so definitely doesn’t count😅

One major thing I learned this week is how important the energy we carry is. I watched interviews that Deepak conducted with potential salespeople for Pearl Lemon and undoubtedly when you’re trying to sell something, you need to know the customer and be skilled in presenting your pitch. However, the energy and enthusiasm you project are probably even more important. That is the personal side that people like and can relate to.

In the week ahead, I hope that I get to work on ResumeCats again and move on closer to the launch. I also want to continue my involvement with Plant Sumo tasks. On top of that, I am flying home on Wednesday so I’ll be splitting my time between work, university, my family, and my friends!

The thing I’m most excited for next week though is definitely the announcement about the partner of the month! We all filled out a form in the past couple of days and results are supposed to be announced on Monday (aka tomorrow). I genuinely hope the person I voted for, wins, but to be fair, everybody on the team works hard enough that they deserve to get it!

On this note, you’ll have to wait until the next update to find out who won!

See you then,

Paula