We've had a different week: we were only in school for three days rather than five due to parent-teacher conferences and we had two important sales on our days off. I say important because the sales were crucial to inform parents about our product and generate the further integration of the community. Yes, we sold a lot and were successful, but most important of all, we made mistakes, faced challenges and learned. The most salient aspect is that we're flexible and adapt successfully to unexpected situations. For one, we were supposed to be four people at the stand during each shift but due to communication issues, we weren't. So, for the first part of my shift, we were only three people working: two smoothie makers and the cashier; we were missing the delivery person in charge of taking smoothies to teachers who had pre-ordered. For this, the three of us had to adapt as well as we could in order to satisfy our customers, so we switched up roles: the cashier delivered and the smoothie makers turned into cashiers. This was not our ideal situation but we had to make do with who we had at the moment. We had another hiccup. We only had S/. 5 coins and bills as change, not the S/. 2 that everybody seemed to need. There is nothing more annoying than going to a store, trying to buy something and getting asked "tiene sencillo" by the cashier, resulting in the impossibility of making a purchase because you don't have small change. We were in situations in which we had to owe customers their change or customers even ended up buying more smoothies than they intended to. These situations were not 100% negative for us because it was an opportunity to start building trust with our customers but they also had the chance of giving us a bad rep for being unorganized and unprofessional. After these two situations and challenges, we realized that we can adapt in situations were it is necessary and make the best of what we have. After each sale we have, we make a list of what went well and what not so well. In my opinion, we don't use these to their fullest potential. First of all, they're not looked at again after we have finished talking about things. Second of all, they should be compiled into one big list that can be turned into a checklist we follow each time we have a sale. Yes, we have used checklists before but they tended to be one general checklist, something that was not efficient. What we really need are short checklists that focus on different aspects of the sale such as setting up, things the cashier needs, materials the smoothie makers need, etc. I have been reading "The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right" by Atul Gawande, a surgeon, author and public health researcher. This book focuses on the use of checklists at a personal, daily level and at a professional level. I have always been a fan of using checklists because they allow me to become more organized regarding things I need to accomplish. But when it comes to using checklists for Blendz, we either don't make them detailed enough or just disregard them because of the basic connotation they have. Yes, they are basic but they are crucial to getting things right.
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When I think back to August 4th and see all that we've accomplished as a team until now, I can only say I am PROUD. We've definitely had our ups and downs as individuals and teams but we've been able to push through them and succeed. We've accomplished to establish a brand at school by starting our own business on campus, the first time any student or group of students has done this. Most importantly though, is that this semester has been all about learning. I've learned things not only about entrepreneurship and business, but also about myself. These 3 months have been very valuable regarding what I've learned about myself. First off, I like to learn in an environment of doing and applying theories into practice. I had never considered myself a hands-on learner but as theories got more complicated, I realized that I understood concepts better when I put them into practice. I knew this from previous experience but was able to enforce it this year, especially while reading The Lean Startup; having book talks and applying the theories talked in the book to Blendz, was a great way to actually learn things. This is valuable for me to know because it makes me realize what type of college I want to look for, a potential career path and future job. This also makes me realize why I was so interested in studying medicine and becoming a doctor and why I'm now interested in interior design. Another characteristic I've learned is that I am able to adapt in new situations. I have been in the IA for almost 3 months and I feel, as well as been told by my peers, that I've adapted well into the class and the culture. This surprised me because I was scared that I was not going to blend well due to everyone already being together for a year and knowing each other really well. Realizing this is valuable for me because rarely do I step out of my comfort zone; this was a perfect way to do that. In the future, I know that I shouldn't get as worried as I do about being placed into new situations because I know that I will be able to adapt. One last aspect I've learned about myself is that my reputation is different to what I think of me. For example, I have been told that I write well and that I have my own writing style which is not something that really considered because I never considered myself a good writer, let alone have my own writing style. This is valuable for me to know because I am very hard on myself and when I am told of what I do well it makes me realize that I might be doing better than I actually am. One thing I definitely have to learn is to be nicer on myself. Regarding Entrepreneurship, I think of Blendz. What I find the most valuable lesson I've learned this quarter is that we always have a level of uncertainty about what we're doing. This is due to the fact that we don't have a plan that we know already works and we go head-first into projects not knowing if things are going to turn out right or not. This is important for us to know because we have to learn to not be scared of doing things. If we know that we won't always know, then it's a way for us to have our own piece of mind. This will allow us to go into projects and ideas head-first, not caring so much about the outcome but more about the learning. Another concept that I've learned is that we make assumptions all the time. We made the biggest assumption that people want smoothies on-campus; then, that they would like certain flavors and not others. Many of our assumptions have turned out right but there have been others that have not turned out to be right. This is okay because when assumptions are turning out wrong more times than right, it is time to make the decision to pivot or persevere. Pivot or persevere, another important concept I've learned this semester. When the company is not growing and there is no more potential growth, it is time to pivot. This means change and it’s not something to be scared of. This is valuable because we have our own piece of mind knowing that if things don't turn out the way we want them to, then we have the total right and freedom to change our path. Lastly, I realized that there are different ways of organization that help us accomplish our projects. When we first started out, we were working in teams. We had the Marketing, Product Development, Finances, etc. At first, this was working out fine for us but eventually, we weren't being as productive as we could be so we changed into Project teams, meaning that we would work in projects such as set-up team, second prototype team, etc. Now, we are separated as Directors such as Director of Architecture and Building, Branding, Operations, etc; everyone is in charge of a specific thing that needs to get accomplished in order to create a successful business. These three months have definitely been a challenge to me because I am learning things as I'm doing, realizing what I know well and what not so well. In the past I have "learned" something and then had the knowledge tested during an examination and if you did badly, you failed. In the real world this is not going to happen beyond college, if that; we will learn things and be able to apply them as we go. We will learn things about ourselves and we will learn things about life. We will have room for failure but definitely more room for growth.
For the past 12 years, I've acquired class grades because of the grades I have gotten on assignments and, essentially, because of how well I got along with my teacher. But these grades never actually measured how I was doing as a student in this class, let it be doing well or poorly; they basically just measured how well I could research, cram for a test, follow a rubric or BS my way through the year. These numbers gave you a reputation and no matter how hard you tried to improve, in the end, the teacher almost always gave you the same grade at the end of the year. On the other hand, this year I have gotten feedback rather than a number, and although we do have to have numbers for midterms, report cards and all that jazz, it's the feedback that counts. Two Thursdays ago, we started crowd-sourcing our grades for midterms. I knew a little bit about what was going to happen because of what Karen had told me last year, but it was a totally new experience. I had never been in a position where my classmates helped determine my grades for my courses. But, essentially, what really mattered was the feedback we were receiving from our peers. I remember Corey asking me what I thought of it, and although I hadn't thought of it much, on the spot I came up with the most genuine answer I could muster: "I really like it because I get to hear what my classmates think of me, of my work and what they think I deserve rather than basing my grade on just my assignments and what my teacher thinks. I also like to hear people's perspectives of me and of what I strive in, what I need to improve on". My answer really surprised me but it is the whole truth "I really like it because I get to hear what my classmates think of me, of my work and what they think I deserve rather than basing my grade on just my assignments and what my teacher thinks. I also like to hear people's perspectives of me, of what I strive in and what I need to improve on" We first looked at English and I liked the feedback that I got, agreeing with almost all, if not all of it. The feedback went from "you speak and write really well but need to work on presentation skills and switching up your writing techniques" to "you need to be more emotional and less like Spock". I had never been compared to Spock before but this was really interesting for me to hear because I had a character who I could compare to and see what things I did that are similar to him and I could also strive to be less like him (although he is a cool human/vulcan hybrid, who wouldn't want to be like him?). Although I really enjoyed crowd-sourcing our grades and getting and giving feedback, I also found it to be a huge challenge. I have never been one to reflect much on what I do, let alone on what others do. Giving feedback to others and having to think about what they do well and how they could improve, was complicated for me, especially when giving feedback for Media. During our talks for this discipline, I felt like I was at a disadvantage from everyone else simply because they had already been together for a year and had seen everyones process of making the documentary, the piece that I consider the biggest Media project yet. Also, in my opinion, giving feedback for Media requires knowing each other on a more personal level that I have not yet acquired with everyone. I say this for two reasons: one, media is about balancing time between producing and consuming and it seems to me that it takes a deep level of familiarity with someone and their work in order to know that they are balancing between production and consumption; second, media is also about being able recognize bias, being skeptical and basically just evaluating a wide range of sources and I feel that I have not been in a situation where I have been able to see this for most, if not all, of my classmates. The point I'm trying to make though, and I feel that I've gone somewhat off topic, is that numbers don't really measure how you are doing as a student; rather they measure assignments and your ability to research or how much of a teachers pet you are. Feedback is better, more helpful and more effective. Although we do get teachers' feedback and comments, I consider them valuable only for that one class that you are struggling so much in or for that one class which you know you can do a lot better; I have realized that getting my peers feedback is most valuable of all because I get to see myself through others' perspectives and I learn some things about me that no one else had thought of or realized, such as me being like Spock.
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Author"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." Archives
June 2015
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