For my poa, I tried to set out an easy-to-follow and achievable timeline for myself. I took a break over the weekend to rejuvenate mostly because I was sick all week and I really needed the rest. But I think it was a smart move. I haven’t made any progress on my venture yet because I took time for myself which I have been learning to prioritize lately. I know I will be able to do a good job on this project this quarter so I feel okay about starting a smidge later.

To stay accountable since it is just myself, I will check it weekly to make sure I am following it close enough and I am on track to meet deadlines. I may even have my roommates help keep me accountable by doing homework with them.

Overall I feel good about VP2. I like the concept of just learning about my customer instead of immediately trying to come up with a product while also trying to learn about my customer. But, I am a little confused about how to approach my target market. I think my customer/group of people are very spread out and don’t necessarily have a huge community. A big challenge for me will be finding people to interview. I feel good about my plan to get there though!

I think the space we were in was super cool. I like the idea of having a place strictly for collaboration and networking. I drive by that building all the time, so it was cool to finally go inside. I don’t think I can afford a membership there but hopefully, I can use her as a resource anyway.

This weekend I spent time at home and in a hammock with my friends. I feel like I have been doing things nonstop. Plan after trip, after outing after hike blah blah blah. It was nice to just relax and recharge. I hope everyone can take some time to do the same!

This quarter was good! The prompt felt more challenging. But I am feeling very burned out from fall and winter quarters I feel like I don’t have a lot of motivation right now. It was hard to find a problem to fix. I don’t observe a lot of disability or accessibility problems on a day-to-day basis. My team was good this quarter. I definitely think we could have met more often and maybe tasks could have been more equally distributed but overall it went fine :). Every quarter I learn more about entrepreneurship and what means to find quality evidence.

What I have learned about myself is that I need to put less on my plate. I also think I need to speak up a bit more as well. I can only do so much and it is important to work with my team!

For my next venture project, I will listen to my needs and work on getting quality evidence from my customer as well as learn more about them in the customer deep dive which I am excited to work on. This is important to me because it will help me build skills so in the future I don’t get taken advantage of and will help me build more confidence as well. Diving deep into the customer is important because it can be tricky to know if you really know all there is to know about the customer or not. It is important to make sure you are giving the customer exactly what they want and not shoving something down their throats.

Something extra:

I went camping on the beach this weekend. It was beautiful and so nice to get out of town for a bit!

How are things?

Things with my team are good! Slow-moving but that is okay. I am not feeling very motivated this quarter, I think it is burnout and the nice weather. I feel like I don’t have a lot of energy. But at the same time, I have offered to do a lot for our group so far. I’ll get it done. I am excited to work on a solo venture soon though. While I really enjoy team projects and getting to know folks, I am eager to get started on something personal and work with myself.

As for evidence-based entrepreneurship, I feel like I have a better grasp of how to write interview questions and how to provoke more answers. Honestly, most of this has come from my journalism class where that is a huge part of the course. I think we have found a cool place where accessibility could be increased on campus. We have found that many students, ourselves included, have a hard time finding opportunities for jobs, scholarships, internships, etc. I like our idea so far.

I feel like I need to take on less in group projects. this happened last quarter too when I got anxious things weren’t going to get done so I put a lot on my plate. Partly because I didn’t want to feel bossy and ask people to do things, but partly because I knew what I wanted it to look like so I just decided to go ahead and do it myself. I think I need to develop more trust in my team members. This will be a work in progress. It is nothing personal for my team whatsoever just to be clear. It is my own anxious brain that decides that I should just do everything.

This weekend I went to see Tyler The Creator in Seattle with some friends. it was a great show. I don’t really listen to him but I love his personality and the energy he brings to the stage.

I am Sophie Bechkowiak (bich-ko-v-ak). I am a third-quarter student in the minor and in my career at Western. I transferred as a junior from Whatcom Community College and I am studying philosophy! I am thinking I might change my major to journalism and have philosophy become another minor instead. I would probably be really close to having a philosophy minor completed. I really like listening to podcasts about real-world stories, like This American Life, being a reporter for them has always been a secret hope of mine. This leads me to my hobbies, I really enjoy listening to podcasts and drawing and painting, but I haven’t been very inspired recently. I also like spending time outside especially at the beach.

I am in the entrepreneurship minor to get discover what I want to do as well as receive guidance and help along the way and hopefully graduate with a somewhat developed venture project. The first day was pretty good, very relaxing and chill. I was really hungry though because I didn’t time my meals so I dipped out a few minutes early while they tried to figure out socrative. I don’t think I need any more clarity. The cute tunnel we did for the e1’s was funny, I am sure we embarrassed them a little bit but I think if they come back next quarter will remember it.

To prepare for this quarter I am going to do what I normally do and keep up to date on my calendar and continue to use my whiteboard as a reminder for projects and homework. I might get a planner too and actually try to keep it up to date and use it regularly.

I don’t think I have any questions right now! So far so good. I expect to learn more about the tools in the program and how they work. I also expect to have a better understanding of my customer and how to actually do that. I also hope I will have a good idea for a venture because I have no ideas right now. But that is okay. 🙂

Out of E&I: I had the amazing opportunity to spend some time in Hawaii over break! I am super grateful for my trip, it was much needed after Winter quarter.