Week 14 Final

This week’s post is supposed to be a kind of “final lecture”, but I can’t seem to think of anything that I would say to anyone. I can’t really give specific advice since everyone has different circumstances and personalities, so what works for me may not work for anyone else. I can’t tell people to not mess up, because some of my best learning experiences have come from my failings. Like last week’s lesson, I have learned a lot from “failing forward”. It’s good for everyone to have that little touch of humility amid the successes that come in life. Maybe the best advice that I can give is to just keep trying to improve. Whether it is a product, yourself, or a skill, keep trying to improve. Figure out what works best for you and what doesn’t. Sometimes knowing what doesn’t work is just as important as knowing what does. There are always changes that can be made. Products can always be improved, because time has a way of making yesterday’s perfect product into an antique. No person is perfect, except Christ, so improving one’s self is an ongoing, eternal project.  Skills can get close to perfection, but each skill has its tributaries to master as well. Keep trying to improve.

Week 13

Failing Forward is the title of the lesson this week.  It’s very fitting since it’s about failures and how overcoming them can help us get to where we want to be in life. Usually we think of failures as set backs, but really we are taking a step forward. Through failing, we learn what doesn’t work and become one step closer to finding something that will. If a business fails, you are then closer to finding a business that is needed, you enjoy, and can be successful with.

This is really something that I need to keep in mind since my $100 project was such a failure. It’s embarrassing that I actually lost money with it, but at the same time, I learned so much from it. I learned that I don’t actually like being in the food service industry and that, while it’s convenient to live near the schools, it’s not a good place for a business. I also learned that I prefer to have a business that people come to me when they need my service and not having to try and convince people that they need some product that they might not really need. Basically, I prefer the service industry. This is huge for me because I can now focus my energy in a different direction than the one I had been looking into.  So, looking back, my failure was a step in the right direction.

Week 12

While I’m extremely glad to be done with the $100, I was able to learn a lot from it. Selling baked goods just wasn’t the business experience that I had though it would be. Too much of it depended on the schools and people walking by. The timing should have been different in order to get people when they weren’t in a rush to get kids and get home. Now I know that if I want people to have time to stop and look, I should pick a place where they aren’t in a hurry. Picking a spot around the  tourist attractions would have probably worked better. Having a building to work out of would have been good too because it was raining for several of the days.

Learning about franchises has caused me to actually look into those more. Some of them are very expensive, but others aren’t. I am looking into starting a dry cleaning business and buying a franchise might be the way to go. Our town really needs one, but I don’t know where to start. A franchise would train me and help with setting it all up, which would be ideal. There has been a lot of assignments to get done though, so I haven’t had time to do much research but hopefully I will have time soon.

Week 11

This week, the schools have been out for spring break. This means that I had lots of help from my kids, but nobody to sell to. This reiterates my discovery that I need a business that isn’t dependent on the kids being in or out of school. Which brings me to my “big idea”. I’m very seriously considering a roller skating rink. My kids could help run in and it will give other kids something to do besides getting in trouble. My husband is doubtful about its viability in our area, but I would like to try.

Steve Jobs’ life and career was part of this week’s reading. I have mixed emotions about the fact that he dropped out of college but was still incredibly successful. It would give me more of an incentive to finish myself. I can’t blame him for dropping out when he realized that the college path wasn’t as productive as he was hoping for. If we only took the classes that was part of our major, we could all spend less time in school and more time in a profession. At the same time, there seemed to be a great work ethic and motivation to actually make something of himself. This show that it’s not really about what you know, but your drive to get there that can really make a difference.

Week 10

Week 10 was a very busy week for our family but not so much for my $100 project. I missed a couple of days on account of Parent/ Teacher conferences and the schools got out early several days. I think my next short-term business will need to be something that isn’t dependent on the schools.

The week’s readings were about Roxanne Quimby and how Burt’s Bees got started. It’s interesting that something as simple as bee’s wax can be made into a large and successful business. They stayed with the business and kept growing it until it outgrew them. By the end, I don’t think it was really the same business she had started. It used bee’s wax but not to make the same products. I don’t think it was a fun thing for her anymore either. Her story made me think about what I want my business to become. Do I want it grow? How big should I expect/plan for it to get? I don’t want a big corporation. I would prefer to be successful in a small town kind of way;large enough to make money, but small enough that I don’t want or feel the need to move and expand. Success for me isn’t making lots of money or having a large business. I just want to help the people of my town.