Building a Community within Your Business: Through the Eyes of an Intern

To be a successful company in 2025, you must not only strive to strengthen your business but also the community within and around you. It takes more than just a single person to make a business succeed, so you must look at CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and the business itself holistically. In this blog, I will analyze the importance of nourishing relationships with those who work for the company and those affected by the company’s actions.

In my sophomore year of college at St. Edward’s University, I was fortunate enough to land the Operations Coordinator Intern position at a startup company, Waterloo Pickleball, here in Austin. From my first day to my last, I realized that I was not being treated as an employee but rather growing as a part of their family. Waterloo Pickleball was an expansion of Crossfit Central which had been in the building since 2005 and was founded by Jeremy Thiel, an entrepreneur with a focus on building a community wherever he went. With each day, my manager would take time to check in on me while giving me activities to do during my shift such as filling out the charge sheets or working on the court schedule for the day. After my first week, I had a feeling that I had never experienced at a job, I felt like I was at home.

A Pickleball Event that I hosted for Waterloo Pickleball

To explain this feeling, I must first describe why I believe this job was able to create this sense of safety. As I was being trained for the job, each of my managers took the time to get to know me and introduce me to each gym member who came in that day. The members all had a similar story too, that Crossfit Central was their second home. Mr. Thiel had been building this community since 2005 and had the same goal in 2024 with Waterloo Pickleball.

Mr. Thiel would routinely have employee vacation days, where he would pay for all of his employees and trainers to have an outing together. This allowed for team building that didn’t feel like an obligation but rather an opportunity to grow my relationships with my fellow staff. Mr. Thiel’s focus on building an internal family is one that I will continue to strive for in my future career and one that all business owners should be keen on.

He not only focused on building an internal community but the way he went about crafting an external community was exemplary. Over my 6-month internship, we hosted 3 events where Mr. Thiel invited startups and established companies to set up a tent for his gym members to try out their products for free. As I worked on these events, I was able to see firsthand how many people were brought together and how many products were able to be showcased. Through these events, I made many connections, and some of the companies ended up getting an offer from Mr. Thiel to start selling their products in the gym. Mr. Thiel was able to strengthen his business through this simple act of bringing both his internal and external communities together.

The Merch stand where products were advertised and sold in the gym

The days flew by as March became April and soon enough it was already the end of the summer, and I knew that my internship would have to end with my class schedule in the Fall. During the six months that I was taught under Mr. Thiel, I was able to see how businesses should be treating those working for and those affected by the business. His actions highlight the need for community building within companies, and it comes down to treating each person whether inside or outside of the organization like a fellow human being, striving to build a genuine relationship and not one based on making a profit. To conclude, monetary profit should be a secondary goal for businesses, building a community with those associated with the company should be the first plan of action for any business.