Success to me this quarter looks like putting on an amazing event, selling out/having a good turnout, and getting to know and establish good connections with all my team members. I know I like to stay on top of work especially with only 5 weeks until pitch and that can get annoying, so I will try my best to be patient with my group. For me personally, I would like to produce quality work under time constraints and stress. I have a lot more work from other classes this quarter and I know I can get overwhelmed easily. I want to try and combat that by making time for myself to go to the gym, do art, and see my friends this quarter.

I learned that I am more nervous to talk to random people than I was expecting. We also accidentally formed too big of a group which I think made it hard for us to feel comfortable going up to people and “bombarding” them with questions. I also learned that I have to be okay with people rejecting me/us when we approach them. Not everyone has the time or wants to answer questions. I wish I would have prepared some questions beforehand to give us some sort of direction. We stalled quite a bit because we weren’t ready with questions.

We went to Buffalo Exchange and Third Planet to try and find younger folks who may be interested in events to give us an idea of things they liked. We talked to a couple of college-aged girls who both said they liked music and enjoyed food trucks or snacks at events. I didn’t see very many people so I guess I saw the lack of people downtown. That was a little surprising, usually downtown has quite a few people wandering around. I have a feeling most of them were in restaurants which would be rude to go in ask people questions and interrupt their meal. I remember feeling like we were a little unprepared and had a hard time picking a direction of questioning. We managed a few interviews though! There weren’t many people in the stores we went to… maybe a weeknight was the culprit. I definitely want to try this again now knowing what to expect. I got a little nervous when approaching people, hyping myself up and then psyching myself out. I also remember being hungry and wanting food downtown, there were some good smells.

I think finding random people and not asking friends or roommates provides for more honest opinions and replies. But asking people I know is for sure easier. I would like to ask different people but I’m not sure if I will have the time most days, and it might be out of the way for me but I think I could try once or twice this quarter. Not much else has changed in my perspective. Coming prepared is the way to go for sure and not putting my own emotions into the interview. What I mean by that is removing myself from the project I’m working on so I don’t get “contaminated” answered from interviewees if that makes any sense. Just asking the questions with little to no regard to how it relates to myself and solely how it affects the project instead.

This weekend I hung out with friends on Chuckanut Friday and Saturday at the house she was house-sitting at. We goofed around and then Saturday morning we all went for breakfast and got matching rings downtown. We had a lovely weekend. it was nice to escape from responsibility for a couple of days.

Things went well! my team and I worked really well together. We had fun and the e1’s and I learned a lot about what it means to rebrand, this being our first rebrand venture. I had a lot of fun designing the logo and learning to use Krita which is a free drawing software much like photoshop. I am still messing with it for a separate project but I am having fun. For evidence-based entrepreneurship, not much changed since the last prompt. I feel like I know how to use it more and to tailor to the customer more than trying to just force my product on people. Discovering a new brand opportunity was fun, there are a lot more brands we could have chosen but now we have more ideas for later. I think We did a great job and created a new brand for Seven-Eleven we feel good about and created things we’d actually like to see happen for them. Overall I learned a lot in the very short very fast 2-week process.

I think I learned that I can do more than I thought workload-wise. Katie and I split up some of the process at the end simply to save time. We had a bit left to do after pitching beside the LJV but we got it all done and I think we can relax now that it has been sent it. I also realized that digital art is harder than I thought and very very different from pen and paper. It is rewarding for sure but the learning curve for me was steep for the first hour. Now I feel like I know more than I did and feel more confident in my digital art skills. I certainly am not where I want to be but that is okay! I also learned that pitch isn’t as scary as it felt last quarter. I feel confident in my presentation skills and rehearsing beforehand helps loads. Also, it’s only 5-10 minutes of my whole life so I think I will survive.

I will take my digital art skills with me and continue to perfect them, it’s something I have been wanting to learn for a while. I think it will be useful for further prototyping. I will also carry my confidence in my ideas and pitch skills with me as well as leadership skills for vp2. Something tells me I’ll need those. It is important to me because being confident in your ideas and yourself is half the battle. Without that, you probably won’t get very far on your own or even in a group. If you aren’t feeling confident in your ideas chances are other people won’t either.

This weekend was so fun. I saw a double rainbow. I hope everyone else saw it too. I went bowling with my best friend I haven’t seen in weeks. I haven’t bowled in ages but it was fun to watch myself get better with each round. Then on Sunday, I celebrated with my friend for her birthday. We found this really neat rope swing at the arb and got to catch up on life. I can’t tell you how happy I am to be out of quarantine. I’m also really excited to be in person this week!

Things are good! I really like my team a lot. We are getting along really well, and Katie set up an awesome poa that we have been following pretty closely which has been good. It is nice to see the progress and check off boxes. We have been getting good information back from our interviewees. I am excited about the project so far! I have been understanding Evidence-based entrepreneurship more and I think that has helped. I feel like I am understanding my customer more. And I think I will be able to tailor more to the customer and rebrand in a way that they want. I have been trying to pry more when I interview people, mostly my friends, (they are easier to pry answers out of). So my answers have been more in-depth which is helpful for sure. The more information they give the more I have to work with. Overall I think I can learn more and understand it better for sure, always room for improvement, but I definitely see a shift from last quarter to this one which is cool.

The brand opportunity has been super fun so far! We landed on 7/11. I think it will be exciting to transform, there are a lot of opportunities for rebranding on 7/11. I have loads of ideas and I think the customers/interviewees do too. It is always nice to not have to guess what they want to see. I also like that we chose 7/11 because it makes me giggle a little bit. It is kind of funny but I think that makes me like even more. I think 7/11 has a lot of potential, partly because people already like that store but also because there is a lot that could be different (as I am finding in my interviews). I am a loyal late-night 7/11 customer, the Slurpees are bomb, and they have good prices. I can’t wait to see how we can revamp them.

This weekend I got to see my friends!! It doesn’t sound like a big deal but after a 20-day quarantine (long story), I finally got a negative test and I was able to see my lovely amazing friends. Quarantine definitely put in perspective how much they mean to me and how much I rely on social interaction to help boost my mood. I am happy to be negative and to be going to the gym again too! Home workouts just don’t hit the same :/. They are great for quarantine but after a while they get old. I am relieved to be able to go shopping again for myself too. Quarantine really puts life on pause. Or at least it did for me since I was out for such a long time. It was crazy, but now it’s over!

(01/06/21)

(I am going to try and revamp my website over the next couple of weeks so bear with me as I clean it up. :))

Okay, so this is my very rough board. I chose some things about nature and travel because two of my big goals are to travel this summer and spend more time in nature whenever I can. Even I feel unmotivated to do so. I also put the friends cast on there because I really like the idea of having a group of friends that you can come to for anything and do anything with. I want to really solidify and strengthen my current relationships. I have so many lovely friends who are creative and talented and adventurous and I eagerly want to spend more time with them. (Covid and school and the snow have made that tricky in the recent weeks. I miss them dearly.) I put some dogs on there because anyone who knows me knows I. Love. Dogs. I want to spend more time with my pup.

The books and the paint palette represent my yearning to do more of both of those things. I think reading is relaxing and productive and it makes me feel nice so I have a goal to read more this year. I’m also an artist. It has taken me a while to consider myself one and think of myself as such but I finally have started recognizing that that’s what I am, that’s what I love to do! I have been feeling really unmotivated to create and I think I am starting to leave the rut I was stuck in.

Lastly, I have a random outfit I found. I think that clothing, for me personally, is really important. The way I dress directly affects my mood and vise versa. For example, if I am feeling bad I might opt for sweat pants and a T-shirt. But sometimes if I am feeling bad I will put on an outfit that makes me feel good about myself/body. I would like to find and work on my own style even more than I already have. I love the idea of upcycling clothes and making them into completely new items. I want to make my wardrobe original and make it so it reflects me and how I view myself.

An entrepreneur to me is someone who finds creative original solutions to problems they encounter. I am not sure what my role in it is. I think my current role would be a student. I am learning about entrepreneurship and how it can become a part of my life. So far it is helping me figure out who I am and what I want from myself and the world. I think in the future I will be able to call myself an entrepreneur and feel like one too. I think I have a lot more to learn and do before I feel like I can call myself one. At least for myself personally. I am an entrepreneur in training!