Week 11

$100 Challenge

I was out to lunch with a big group of people this week and someone asked if they could order more cookie dough from me! I was so excited! Even though I’ve officially ended my project, I’m still going to make her some because I want to be able to donate as much as possible, since I had leftover ingredients. The survey I sent out to those who’ve baked my cookies was a success…and not. Everyone liked them…but I didn’t get any helpful feedback. Maybe it’s a problem with my questions. 

Week 11

Lessons Learned

I found the case studies to be very interesting this week, especially the one on the dry-cleaning business. The lesson that stood out to me was that of doing research before getting into a business. These people went so far as to actually get jobs working at a dry cleaner for $6 an hour. They were both Harvard Business school graduates and could have gotten a much better job while they researched what business they wanted to go into. I want to always remember that you’re never too good for any job. Whether you’re doing research for a future business, or if you’re just trying to make ends meet, you should never think too highly of yourself that you can’t work in a lower job. There are lessons to be learned in every situation.

$100 Challenge

I’ve officially finished my business! I’ve learned so much, and want to continue doing these mini businesses throughout my life. I delivered my last orders and spent so many hours making and rolling balls of dough (totaling 350 balls). The good news is-I’m not sick of baking…yet! I’ve learned that I find baking very relaxing and I look forward to selling them to people. I did get lots of feedback from these cookies, and it’s mostly all great! One person did say she burnt them because they spread out too thin…but no one else had that problem. Anyway, I made a few alterations to the recipe and it’s even better. The decision to alter the recipe was very hard because I didn’t want people to get confused about what they were buying, especially repeated customers. I haven’t had any feedback with the new recipe, but I’ll give them a chance to bake them. 

Week 10

Lessons Learned

I loved learning about Steve Jobs-I didn’t know most of the facts about him. It was interesting to hear about his life story and what contributed to his success. One thing that I took away was how he used the thought of death to his advantage. He didn’t see it as, “I’m going to die one day so what’s the point?” But he knew that because he was going to pass on relatively soon, he needed to make the most of his time on earth. He never stopped learning and trying to grow. I want to emulate this in my life. While I would always like to take college classes based on my interests, I can try new hobbies and learn about things I find interesting throughout life. Learning doesn’t have to stop once I graduate.

$100 Challenge

This was a great week for my challenge! I delivered the cookie dough early on in the week…it was so nice to get a return on my initial investment of $20. A few days later, I even had one customer ask me if she could order more! I was so excited to get my first repeated customer! I also asked people to fill out a quick survey about my cookies, things they liked/didn’t like and how much they would pay in the future. It contained about 10 simple questions like that. It was really interesting to see the different views on my cookies-but I’m pleased that everyone said they liked them! I also took more orders this week and will get them out today! 

Week 9

Lessons Learned

I absolutely loved Roxanne Quimby’s story. It was amazing how she and Burt created this major company from literally nothing. This proves to me that if you have the right idea, you don’t necessarily need money to start making money. Furthermore, they were completely debt free, which is unique to come by these days. I believe that her poor past helped her understand how to spend and use money to its highest potential. It was quite funny how she become a millionaire but had to have her sister co-sign for a credit card! No matter what I decide to do, I know that it will be a goal of mine to be debt free.

$100 Challenge

I received 6 orders this week by posting on Facebook! I learned a lot about speeding up my baking process. Instead of measuring out each ingredient while I’m baking a batch of cookies, I measured all six batches at once. I put the ingredients in their own zip lock bags, one for sugars and one for flours. This helped me make batches when I was short on time. I already put in 9 hours of preparation work for this week. Now that I have all of the dough made, tomorrow I’m going to invite a friend over to help me make it into balls and deliver them to my customers. I’ve created an online survey where they can tell me their opinions of my cookie. I decided to do this in case I want to continue selling my cookies after this class is over. 

Week 8

Lessons Learned

I loved the article about hiring slow and firing fast. It is so important to really get to know who you’re hiring to represent you and your company. Many people wouldn’t trust others with their most prized possessions, so why should they automatically trust someone they just met to take care of part of your company? This is why so many businesses end up with rude salespeople or telemarketers…they didn’t hire properly. While they may think that hiring slow takes up more time and money, I think these unworthy workers are really hurting the businesses that hired them. Firing fast is also so important, and I need to prepare now. I get so attached to people and take into considerations their lives, families, etc. Letting your emotions get the best of you isn’t a good way to conduct business. This reminds me of times on the TV show Shark Tank. Someone walks in with a great and touching background, but a not-so-good company or product. Even though the sharks are touched by their personality or experience, they never actually make an offer based on that alone.

$100 Challenge

This week I tested out my product by giving samples to friends and people in my social circle. Everyone loved them! A couple people came to me asking when I’m starting to sell them. I told them this weekend, which is great because it will force me to start taking orders! 

Week 7

Lessons Learned

This has been one of my rougher weeks, trying to balance life, running a home, school, and taking care of my newborn. Not being able to fulfill all of the things I feel like I should, chores, school work, etc., has taken a toll on me. However, the group discussion board question: What actions are you taking to build your weaknesses into strengths? has brought me peace. Ether 12:27 states, “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” Even though I’m weak in many aspects, I can always (and often, sadly, forget) that I can and should lean on my Father in Heaven for help. I have definitely been humbled this week. I can’t do everything on my own, but with the help of my Father, I can. I know that with lots of hard work on my part (daily scripture study, faith, trust, being humbled) He can take my weaknesses and change them into strengths.

$100 Challenge

This week as a learning experience for sure! I bought all of the necessary ingredients for my product. The total was $12, which I was extremely happy about. I made the cookie dough balls and tested them in my kitchen. They took 16 minutes to bake beautifully. The trick with my recipe is that you have to take them out of the oven before they look done. They will still look gooey. I took some frozen dough balls to my friend’s house to test them in her oven because I want to see how they would turn out when baked by someone else. She left them in for 19 minutes because she said they didn’t look done (even though I told her the trick). They were completely overbaked and didn’t taste as nice. I have a feeling that most people won’t heed my instructions, resulting in cookies that aren’t as good. I’m worried that the work will get out that they aren’t very good and people will stop ordering them. I don’t know what to do…I wonder if fully baked cookies freeze well. However that would take up more time and resources if I have to bake all of them!

Lesson 6

Lessons Learned

My favorite part about this week was learning about how Zappos hires their employees. They put everyone through a lengthy hiring process and then offer them a few thousand dollars to quit. This helps to weed out the people who aren’t dedicated or have a passion for what Zappos does. These people would rather take the money and find a job elsewhere. I think this is a great concept to apply to any business. Even though it may be more costly, I’m sure they’re better off with the employees who truly see themselves working in the Zappos culture and environment.

$100 Challenge

Unfortunately, I haven’t progressed much on my small business. Last week I realized that people are willing to pay more money for a product if they know the money is going to a good cause. This is great, but I also want people to want to buy my product because they like it. Maybe once they taste the baked goods, they’ll start to want to buy them ‘just because’. I have decided that I’m going to sell 18 very large cookies for at least $10 because they’re homemade from the finest ingredients. I also use my homemade brown sugar, which takes time but dramatically adds to the taste and wow factor.

Lesson 5

Lessons Learned

This week I appreciated learning about how to upsell and bundle products. Before I had my baby, I was a sales associate at a high-end retail shop. Every day we were encouraged to upsell products. If someone came in wanting a jacket for the cold weather, we would suggest ‘add-on items’ like scarves, hats, and gloves. We would do exercises where we would pretend to be shoppers with our coworkers. Many of us got the concept and were able to put it in practice during our shifts. We were always told to give the customer what they wanted, and not try to push a sale. They would appreciate the comfortable service and return when they needed something. I believe these tips made me a better salesperson. I wish all of my coworkers could read those articles!

$100 Challenge

This week I got the chance to conduct some casual interviews with friends about my $100 business challenge. Explaining that I’m going to start selling baked-frozen goods, I asked them how much they’d be willing to pay for a dozen cookies. Their answers were not what I was hoping for. Most of them said about $3 because they could just buy cheaper cookie dough from the grocery store. I quickly realized that I won’t be able to make much profit if people won’t be willing to pay more. Towards the end of our discussion, I mentioned that 100% of the profits will be donated to the Kiva organization. Almost all at once, they said they’d be willing to pay more if it was going to such a great cause. This taught me that I really need to angle my product to appeal to the philanthropic side of people. I need to make it very clear, before anything else, that they’re not just buying baked goods. They’re buying supplies for a woman in Zimbabwe to start her own business and support her family.

Lesson 4

I thoroughly enjoyed Elder Wirthlin’s talk, “Earthly Debts, Heavenly Debts”. He talked about how we should pay our tithing before anything else. Maybe it’s because I’ve never started a company of my own, but I had never thought of tithing as being a part of business. It made me ponder about where and when it should come into place. I decided that we should pay tithing on all revenue that comes in, even if you’re putting that money back into the business. I don’t know it there are any church guidelines or not, but I’ll just go with that. He ended with saying how we should teach our children to use money wisely. Since I am a new mother, this was a great message. I thought that it would be nice to always teach my children about business and finances by having them create their own. We could do simple lemonade stands, growing and selling our own vegetables, and things like that. This would teach them about business and how money should be valued.

I can’t believe that I’ve already changed my $100 challenge business idea! While I initially decided to create and sell canvas art (transferring photos onto canvas), I decided that I wanted something that I could scale and grow. With canvas, each project would be unique and take many hours of my time (which I don’t exactly have due to my precious newborn baby, school, work, and basic household duties). Instead, I’ve opted to create a frozen goods line. I’m going to sell frozen, pre-shaped cookie dough and frozen pre-made brownies and cake that just needs to be thawed and enjoyed. 

Lesson 3

This week I wrote a business plan for my $100 Challenge. It was a very eye-opening experience and I was able to learn a lot about the type of business I want to create for the next three months. It was actually really fun coming up with how I want to price and promote my product. I used this equation: Cost x 2=wholesale price. Wholesale price x 2=Retail Price. I was surprised at the ending price I’ve decided on…but I can always lower it once I feel out the market. Concerning promotions, I tried to think of what some of my favorite small businesses have done in the past. I came up with a contest idea for the first few people who place order with me. I’ll have a drawing for one free canvas of their choice. Hopefully this will encourage people to place orders with me sooner rather than later.

I really appreciated the Heather Evans case study. I was able to learn a lot about the process of gaining investors through her written experience. It is way harder than it sounds, especially if you’re starting a business that is relying on your unproved and untested creativity. It also gave me a chance to think about what I can offer to future investors. It can’t be all about me and what I want, but I have to make people want to join me instead. 

Lesson 2

A quote by President David O. McKay in The Creative Journey powerpoint really stood out to me. He said, “Meditation is one of the most secret, most sacred doors through which we pass into the presence of the Lord.” Meditation is such an important partner to prayer that is so often forgot about. We should take the time to meditate before and after we pray so that we’re giving an opportunity for the Spirit to speak to us directly.

I loved being reminded of Tom Monaghan’s story. I am still in awe of his dedication to his faith and how far he has taken it. There aren’t many people who are so touched by a book that they completely change their entire lifestyle so dramatically.

The Entrepreneur Report, while very lengthy, was so interesting to me! I read it over a few days in my spare time and I’m so glad I did. I realized that I love learning about business in other countries. It was funny to me how China has simply copied all of our popular websites to use over there. But the point was right, you don’t have to recreate things that already work. Sometimes you just need to make it better and easier for the public. I’ll have to keep that in mind when I start my business. It doesn’t have to be revolutionary, just better than everything else.

I’ve decided to do canvas art for my $100 challenge. I believe that there are lots of people in my circle of friends that would buy them, especially since the money is going towards such a great cause. First, I’ll have to buy the art supplies needed and make a few example canvases so that I can show people what they’d be buying. Then I can start advertising!

Lesson 1 - Small Business Creation

I know that keeping this online journal will be beneficial to me from experience. I’ve been required to keep one of these before, and while I haven’t journaled in it for a while, I’ve loved going through and reading my old posts! I can’t wait to get back and read them once I’m in the thick of my business!

I was excited to start working on my ‘points of pain’ assignment because I thought it would just be so fun! While it was fun, it was so much harder than I expected. After about five ideas for the $100 challenge and my ‘big idea’, I was at a loss. After a while I started just jotting down every idea that came to mind, even if I knew it was lame. The experience was great! I thought of new ideas in different and unique categories that I never thought I would be interested in. This taught me the importance of brainstorming. Even when I have my perfect idea, I should never stop brainstorming on how I can make it even better.

My favorite thing that we did this week was look through a bunch of business and entrepreneur blogs to find our favorites. I found so many that I believe will not only inspire me business-wise, but in everyday life. These bloggers dedicate so much to help others do what they love and I’m sure it’s great for them, too. It’s like their entrepreneur journal, just for everyone to see.

I’ll include my post: “I’ve had the hardest time choosing just one blog to write about. I eventually narrowed it down to Guy Kawasaki’s entrepreneur blog and Penelope Trunk’s business and life blog. While I still don’t have a favorite, and plan on following multiple blogs throughout this semester, I believe that each is very useful in its own way. These two go especially well together. Trunk’s blog headline caught my eye, “Advice at the intersection of work and life.” This blog is perfect for anyone, especially women, who is trying to balance their life, family, hobbies and work. One article reiterated the fact that life isn’t a race. We shouldn’t be competing with others based on our personal bests. Kawasaki also taught me a very important lesson based on business. Our business plans should be based on our ‘pitch’, not the other way around. The plan is the whole story, and the pitch is like an outline. Who writes a book without first writing an outline?”