Category: Traction Journal Winter 2021

This quarter went great I thought. Coming into this quarter I knew a lot more about the program then I did in the fall. This time around I already knew the basics and focused more on refining and mastering these skills. I hope by next quarter I fully understand it even better. One thing I think I really improved on this quarter would be my team based work. I realized last quarter that is a key component to success in this class, so this time around I really focused on creating a streamline team dynamic. One thing I wish went differently? Probably just going about my VP2 at the start. I had never seen a consulting project before, I had the basic idea, but when it came down to it I did not think I knew enough in order to obtain an A on the project. I had to do some of my own investigating, but I was able to figure out through the help of others what needed to be done. Other than that it has been a great quarter and I am ready for the spring!

This week I really liked hearing from our guest speaker. I really liked how she said to know your own worth for charging people for services. I have been debating charging people for a service in my own ventures and It was reassuring to hear I should just go for it at market rate. If I am not mistaken I do not think we did anything workshop related this past week, so nothing resonated with me unfortunately. I enjoyed hearing Adam’s presentation in the shift and share. Adam I know you will be reading this, so I just wanted to say nice job, and if you actually made it into an app after some more prototyping I bet you could get something going.

This week was great, I really liked hearing from Rebecca and Jonathan again. It was great to hear from them last quarter, and even better this time. The JTBD statement really resonated with me this week, it helped my group and I better align our ideas and get on the same page. I will use my new JTBD statement going into the coming weeks to do things like, create interview questions, a new BIC, and VPC. Looking forward to next week!

Instead of talking about my customer i’ll be talking about the company we are consulting instead. Currently we are just meeting with Honey salon and hearing from them what is working and what isn’t working. From there we will work hard to best serve them and potentially make the day to day a little easier going. Our group got some great advice from others during the ugly but tasty, so that is the learning I will be applying to our venture. Getting the feedback really helped us come up with some good ideas that we will ask Honey if they are interested.

This quarter is making me much more knowledgeable in the business research section, due to the fact that I am consulting a local company for VP2. I would say, as of right now, I have started to develop more empathy this quarter because I am helping a business that has been affected by covid-19. It is causing me to see how bad some of these companies are doing right now, which makes me feel bad for them. I thought the exam went great. Nothing to hard. At first I was slightly confused on how to approach the work. I learned quickly I was pretending to be a consultant for the company, and after that everything seemed smooth sailing. I learned some very helpful info about our VP2 consulting project from Tara on Wednesday, so I will take that new knowledge into my work this coming week.

Well, in order to develop empathy for my customer, or in my case the company we choose to consult. I plan to locate an issue first and work to help them with that problem. From that problem solving and working with the company will result in empathy for them. I plan on responding to the needs of whatever company we work with by simply listening to them and letting it be known that we are there to help. Then fix or improve whatever is given to us. Overall this week went great and I can’t wait to see what this coming week has for us!

Out of what we did this week I’d say I loved doing the pitches the most. It was very fun to be an E2 going into VP1 and having a lot more knowledge about the minor than before. I probably would have loved to been able to achieve the first place spot on VP1, but I am still happy we got second. This quarters VP1 project went great. This was my second VP1 and I feel that I got a really good idea of how it all works now. I plan to just keep carrying over what I learn from the past project into the present. Not facing any challenges currently.

When I read the culture of belonging statement in the syllabus, it makes me feel reassured that the new students understand they belong. I never had that problem as an E1, but I know how this class can become overwhelming at times. When students first join the minor and feel overwhelmed, I can see how they would think, “well maybe this class isn’t for me”. So having the culture of belonging is a great way to help them stay in the program. I feel prepared for this quarter, it’ll be my second time in the class so I am feeling great and ready to get started. I hope my journey as a E2 is just as great as E1. I have the same sparks and inspirations as last quarter, just excited to get to work and become a better entrepreneur. I would say the culture of belonging really stuck out to me more this quarter since last quarter was my first time in the class and I was still getting a feel for it.