Journal

How’s traction going so far?

I think this question means traction in general with the class… so that is how I will answer. I am having a great time. I can’t wait to keep working on VP2 with my group. I think we have a fun idea and it’s something we all feel passionate about which will keep things interesting. I am really liking this class so far. It is stressful for sure but not in a detrimental way. The more we get on in the quarter the more I feel like I can do this and that I am capable of more than I thought, which is always a nice thing to realize. As for the actual traction journals, I am learning more about word press so hopefully, I can clean up my site a bit more as the quarter/ year progresses.

I also gave my boss my 3 weeks notice so I will be leaving Brigadoon Service Dogs at the end of October. I am sad I have to leave because I really do like my job, all the smiley puppy dog faces are such a welcome part of my day. But I need to make school a priority right now, which is a very reasonable thing to do. I told my boss that I would love to stay on call to help cover shifts here and there but a full schedule isn’t going to work for me anymore. Plus, they deserve someone who can give 100% to the dogs and the trainers, my mind will be preoccupied with school for a while. So I think it’s for the best for both parties. I hope I can still help out and visit the pups from time to time. 🙂

What have you learned so far from Design Thinking and Creative Confidence?

I had to look these things up on the website if I am being honest. I showed up a few minutes late to the last zoom meeting so I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything. What I took away from the videos I watched by Meg was that these two things go hand in hand. Design thinking involves getting into action and prototyping and being open to the process. It also means conducting empathy interviews and connecting with your target market to ensure you get the best possible outcome. Creative confidence is needed to do those things! Thinking creatively and being confident in yourself/ your ideas will help the design thinking process go much smoother. Creative confidence is a great way to solve problems and empower yourself. Both are needed to have great success in this class and entrepreneurship in general.

 How might you apply this week’s learnings to your venture?

After the zoom meeting, I felt like I had a good idea of what my main values were. In this venture, I will try to make sure I am respecting my values and enforcing them upon myself. After learning about creative confidence and design thinking, I think I have a good idea of how to proceed with the venture. I will continue to remain open and enthusiastic about our project and try not to let the little things get in the way. I will try to solve problems creatively to the best of my ability. I will also try and come up with more prototypes than in VP1. I think having more prototypes or making them early on will help make our idea even stronger because we can conduct surveys or interviews based on said prototypes. I also won’t let failures slow us down either, it just means we get to pivot if our idea wasn’t as solid as we thought. It’s all a learning process and I am excited to keep working on things!