B283 - Capstone

Here are my final thoughts after completing B283 - Small Business Creation:

·         Size
Contrary to popular belief, size really doesn’t matter. If you can make $50 profit a month with your small business idea, go ahead and run with it! As long as you enjoy what you do and you end up in the black have a go at it! You never know what your “small” business is going to turn into and in addition, most successful entrepreneurs are serial entrepreneurs. That means they gave it a try more than once and got better every time! Some things you can only learn from experience.

·         Joy
As stated above, aside from making a profit, the most important part of running your own small business is that you have fun doing it and it gives you joy! If it starts turning into “work”, just stop and find something else to do.

·         Branding
Nobody else in the world will care as much about your small business brand as you do. Remember that! To succeed in this increasingly competitive global market, you have to stand out from the crowd and that means you have to know who you are and what makes you special. You can try to incentivize others to care about your brand, but as soon as the incentive is gone, so is their passion.

·         Rest
Make sure you take enough time off to regularly recharge your batteries. If you only focus on your small business, you will eventually run out of juice and most likely miss impressions around you that could help you be more successful! Have you ever noticed what great ideas you get in the shower? It’s because you are relaxing and treating yourself, so your thoughts can wander and find new solutions to your problems!

I truly enjoyed this class and it gave me back some of the lost passion for starting my own small business.

B283 - Week 11

This week I was reminded again how important it is for a manager to hold effective and to the point team meetings!

Every month my boss calls an early team meeting. He seems prepared, but he repeats himself every time and keeps reviewing basic information that every one of us should be doing on a daily basis to begin with. In my opinion when you keep treating your team as if they are little children who constantly need to be reminded to wipe their nose, soon enough your team will act like they are a bunch of children. Fortunately for our team, most of them are extremely professional and independent and along with myself simply ignore our boss. However, that’s probably not what a manager wants from his team either!

All cartridges sold for my $100 challenge have been delivered. I always worry sending product out for eBay auctions, as you never know if the recipient is going to make a stink about anything minor, which could result in a ding on your auction feedback. I only have one cartridge still listed and I’m not sure it’s going to sell. I’ve reached the $100 goal, though, so I am not going to worry about it.

B283 - Week 11

Coming back from vacation last week to work was actually quite easy, since the trainee that had been riding with me previously had been sent off to work with another manager. Finally I was by myself again, without somebody constantly looking over my shoulder and questioning what I was doing. While I like having fellow employees ride with me from time to time, it does cramp your style, especially when said person acts like they know how things should be done, but really doesn’t understand the company’s inner workings. It is also once again a reminder for me to stay quiet more often, rather than immediately sharing my opinion how things can be done better without first comprehending the complete picture. It is even more important to be quiet when nobody has asked for your opinion!

On the other hand, I realize that I need to be more open to advice and other people’s insights, especially when it comes to starting my own business. Yes, at the end of the day it will be me whose responsible for the direction of my business, but it never hurts to have open ears and absorb what others are sharing with me.

The $100 challenge has been met! I sold two more cartridges this week and they are about to be shipped off. They sold within just a few hours, which probably means I could have charged more money, but probably would have also taken much longer to sell. Two more cartridges are listed on eBay, patiently waiting for a buyer. If they don’t sell by next week Saturday, I will either lower the price or just list them auction style at 99c and see what they sell for.