Week 2 at TLC Tech Solutions felt like the moment where everything became real. The honeymoon phase of launching had passed, and now we were in the thick of it—training, troubleshooting, onboarding, and most importantly, proving our value.
This week wasn’t just about expanding—it was about adapting, facing challenges head-on, and learning what it really takes to turn an idea into a long-term, sustainable model.
When Scaling Gets Real
Two interns quickly turned into a test of how well our training model could hold up under pressure. Our first intern, once the eager student, was now in a mentorship role, guiding our second intern through their first PC build. This was an entirely different challenge—teaching is a skill in itself, and we were learning that fast.
Some key takeaways from Week 2:
✅ Interns learn that not all technical skills translate into teaching skills. Learning something is one thing—explaining it clearly is another.
✅ AI increases productivity exponentially. As we scaled, we used AI to make onboarding smoother.
✅ Real-world IT problems don’t wait. Our interns weren’t just working in a classroom setting; they were encountering actual nonprofit IT challenges and learning to troubleshoot on the fly.
An Unexpected Surge of Interest
Something happened this week that caught us off guard—the outside world started noticing.
🚀 Volunteer applications spiked. People weren’t just watching; they wanted to be part of it. IT professionals, nonprofit leaders, and even people outside the tech space were reaching out, asking how they could contribute. The challenge wasn’t just accepting help—it was figuring out how to channel this support in a way that strengthened, not complicated, our mission.
📢 Nonprofit partners started referring others. We had assumed that nonprofits would take time to warm up to our model, but word was spreading. Suddenly, organizations that had never heard of us before were reaching out, asking how they could get involved.
Reality Check: The Challenges We Didn’t Expect
Of course, with rapid growth comes growing pains. Some of the biggest challenges this week included:
- Refining how we communicate our value. We knew we could reduce IT costs for nonprofits, but explaining our model in a way that immediately resonated? That took more work.
- Balancing structure and flexibility. Every intern learns at a different pace, and every nonprofit has unique needs. Sticking too rigidly to a system wasn’t the answer—but neither was winging it.
- Finding the right nonprofit partnerships. Not every organization was the right fit, and we had to start being more selective about who we partnered with.
Where Do We Go From Here?
By the end of Week 2, one thing was clear: TLC Tech Solutions wasn’t just working—it was taking off. But with growth comes responsibility. Now, our focus was on:
🔍 Fine-tuning our training process to ensure each intern, mentor, and volunteer could contribute meaningfully.
📢 Developing stronger outreach strategies to communicate our impact in a way that nonprofits, donors, and volunteers could immediately understand.
📊 Tracking our metrics carefully—because while we knew we were making an impact, we needed clear data to prove it.
This week wasn’t just about keeping up—it was about making sure we were scaling with intention.