Entrepreneur Journal Entry 6: Going Once...Sold

The most significant part of this week's class time was discussing the specifics of the "Sell Anything" challenge we've got to do next week.

The three other members of our group that were present all seemed very passive on deciding on what they actually wanted to sell. I immediately suggested t-shirts since I've had first-hand experience with that in the past. The other group members didn't seem keen at the idea, so I didn't try pushing it too hard. However, the reason I was so brazen and blunt suggesting my idea is because you need to do that as an entrepreneur; you need to be assertive, make decisions, and speak up if you have a problem or idea. Another group member suggested some more specific goods we could make and sell, but I didn't think the audience to sell to was very large. While niches are significant and can be very profitable, I was thinking of this particular project's scope. We only have 24 hours to sell something; we've got to find something popular that everyone likes.

After much deliberation, we ended up going with a strawberry dessert; one of our teammates informed us she'd be getting her food handler's license next week and therefore could legally sell food. I suggested online advertising and selling our dessert at Porter Park. Then the boring stuff happened; we talked about pricing and what ingredients we needed and such. I personally didn't feel it was very important at the time, but I have an aversion to planning things and try to avoid it as much as I can. This isn't a good strategy when you're trying to put together a project as a team.

But we've got one day to pull this off. I hope it'll be as sweet as the strawberries.

Entrepreneur Journal Entry 5: What's In a Name?

"Sugar Bowl."
I think of a candy shop, but apparently, it's a bowling alley... I don't quite get it.

This week, the adventures of Shelby Givens continue. She's not giving up on this bowling alley, and I think she should. Like seriously, she needs to let it go. It feels as though she's treading water with this old bowling alley. She should move on to bigger and better things! I think Givens ought to tuck the progress on this project into her portfolio and move on in her career. At the end of the case study, she's offered a good job. As a class, we "voted with our feet" on whether or not we thought she should take it. I thought she should!

But the biggest thing that stuck out to me about this case study was the name, hence my opening reflection.

Sugar Bowl.

Sugar Bowl?

I've been trying to think of a good name and logo for my media production company for months. It takes effort, but anyone could have picked a better name than Sugar Bowl. That doesn't jive well with the vibe she's trying to create, which is a higher-end bowling lounge/club.

As one of my classmates pointed out, a name is a huge part of a company. To a return customer, a lot of emotion and memories are tied to a company's name. These can be good or bad; a positive or negative reputation. To a new customer, a name could be a significant factor in their decision to do business with said company. So changing a name has its pros and cons.

But anything besides "Sugar Bowl."

Entrepreneur Journal Entry 4: A Numbers Game

I absolutely hate math. In my mind, Satan does math as a hobby. I dropped Math for the Real World after one class period at the beginning of this semester; I looked at the first day’s homework and thought I was looking at Chinese. But the cold, hard truth is this: A lot of entrepreneurship is dealing with numbers. It’s a numbers game.

Reviewing the case study of Shelby Givens and Westlake Lanes was a healthy reminder of the importance of finances and strategy. Looking at those numbers on the last few pages felt like a smack in the face; a bucketful of ice-cold realization dumped on my head. I’ve had to file my taxes for the past three years and each time I did, I had to complete the “business owner” section of it. While my freelancing started out small, it’s grown into my sole source of income. Keeping records of business expenses, income, and tithing is crucial for thriving success, and I have to admit I’m not doing very well at that aspect of business. I’ve got to learn to play the numbers game.

Heck, when Brother Wasden asked us the total number of customers needed for Westlake Lanes to break even, I didn’t even know where to start. I felt like an idiot. But I think if I learn to handle the numbers I have, I will slowly begin to process and understand them despite their growth and complexity. Unfortunately, running my own business can’t only consist of putting my talents out there. It’s hard, stressful, tiring, but so worth it.

Entrepreneur Journal Entry 3: Business and Bacon Numbers

LinkedIn confused me for years. As I was getting started with video production, some of my mentors talked about LinkedIn and told me to get on it. I signed up, but I didn't really take it seriously. I hardly knew anyone, and the people I did know (usually just distantly) worked for companies that didn't interest me at all. To me, LinkedIn seemed like Facebook for old boring people. I ignored it and didn't invest any time in building my connections or profile.

When I started college, however, the topic of LinkedIn started coming up again in my classes. I got annoyed; I thought, "I've already got an account on there; it hasn't helped me at all!" Well of course it didn't--I simply had no idea how to use it.

This week in my Intro to Entrepreneurship class, Steve Davis gave us a run-through of LinkedIn, taught us how to use it, and (the most significant part) shared some success stories of people he knew personally who used LinkedIn.

The presentation was awesome! I was interested the whole time. Wheels started turning in my head; adding one person could give me hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions of new connections--new potential opportunities. It's like the Bacon Number on steroids!

The Bacon number of a person is how many connections they are away from actor Kevin Bacon, a connection meaning starring in the same movie. So if Kevin Bacon and Bruce Willis starred in a movie, then Bruce Willis and Steve Carrell starred in another movie, Carrell's Bacon number would be two.

On LinkedIn, the connections of your connections are called your second connections, or "seconds." I thought it was an intriguing and well-designed system. It avoids totally random strangers from connecting with you since you can only connect if you're seconds or thirds (or obviously firsts).

I hope to use LinkedIn more effectively with my new knowledge!

Entrepreneur Journal Entry 2: One Man's Success

"One man's trash is another man's treasure," the saying goes, reminding us that value is all relative. But this idea expands beyond just physical items; I would venture to say "One man's failure is another man's success."

How could this be?

In my Intro to Entrepreneurship class this week, we discussed an article about successful entrepreneurs Chip and Joanna Gaines. The author of this article argued that the Gaines family couldn't possibly be as family-centered as they claimed while still running multiple businesses and product lines. Our teacher then asked us, "is it possible to have it all?"

The room separated into three main groups. the middle ground, those in agreement with the article, and those against it. As comments and points of information started darting back and forth across the room, I started to ponder the term "successful," which was being used as if it was a set definition that everyone understood.

My own conclusion is this: it is possible to "have it all" (meaning have success in life/business and put your family first), but that depends on your definition of success.

Some people's idea of success may be running a multimillion-dollar company. Perhaps to others, it's creating a non-profit organization that feeds thousands of children in Africa. Maybe some just want to make enough money to buy a house, a Lamborghini, and a maid service. But none of these things are my desire for success.

Success to me would be making a comfortable living for my family doing what I love. That's it. I want to continue producing quality content for others. If I'm doing that, I'm not working a day in my life--I'm living a busy, fulfilling, happy life with my family.

If that isn't success, I don't know what is.