COURSE REFLECTION

 

For the entrepreneurship portion of LeADERS, I chose to take ENTR 301: Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship. This course combines logic and creativity, as it inspires the students to use business and economics knowledge to inform innovative thinking. This course was my first experience with entrepreneurship, and I have learned a plethora of information and created many outstanding projects within the semester. For instance, we had to come up with an original idea for a product, service, or business as individuals. I came up with the idea of the "Scoop Loop" (which I will explain more in-depth), and after conducting a feasibility analysis as a group, we decided my idea was the most viable for a new business. Since then, we have created financial projections, a business model, a business plan, and a presentation for potential investors. Samples of my contributions to these group projects are given below. 

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WORK SAMPLE GALLERY

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In the above slides are seven pieces of work that I spearheaded, all tying into the main goal of creating our original product, the Scoop Loop. Many formula users and gym rats share one common annoyance: reaching into the protein powder container or the infant formula canister to try and find the scoop. The scoop always finds its way to the bottom, forcing us to dig around to try and find it beneath the powder. Introducing: Scoop Loop! This product is a silicone loop that can be easily mounted to the insides of these canister lids (with the included adhesive strips), and the loop is the perfect size to slide the handles of the scoops into-- keeping the scoop at the top of the container at all times. This product is the first of its kind, and the idea came from my innovation. 

 

As seen in the samples of the work, our group first conducted a feasibility analysis to determine which ideas of the group were most viable, eventually choosing mine. We filled out quantitative charts to determine a scoring system and made individual comments about each idea. After deciding on the use of the Scoop Loop, we then began to create a business model. We concluded a standard, manufacturer/retailer model would be most conducive to our idea and fleshed out the details on how the business would be run. Following this, we individually had to create pro forma financial projections for the first three years of operations (including conservative and potential projections, as well as IRR and NPV calculations), and we decided my projections were the most realistic and detailed. The first year of the realistic projections is included as a screen capture. Lastly, our final project for the course was a full-length business plan, including bits and pieces of all the work we had done for the product/business so far. Alongside this is a presentation we will give to the class (asynchronously), so I have included some of the slides I created, showing charts and diagrams I designed to best demonstrate our ideas. 
 

SKILLS DEVELOPED

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As stated prior, I had no experience in entrepreneurship or business before, and this course does not have prerequisite requirements in either of these fields. So, more often than not, I felt ill-prepared for this course, as if there was no way I would make it through. Time and time again, I did make it through, surpassing my own expectations for myself. This course has taught me problem-solving skills, as the idea for the Scoop Loop would not have come to me if it weren't for my own experience with the problem of the sunken scoop. After finding a solution to the problem, I then had to put my ability to analyze quantitative data to the test, which is best seen through feasibility analysis and financial projections. This refreshed a lot of mathematical skills for me, and applied them outside of the mathematics discipline, showing me how they can be used in real-life ways. 

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One big skill this project really honed in on was my technical proficiency with software programs, specifically Google Docs, Google Slides, Word Excel, and Google Spreadsheets. It started somewhat simple with me designing working tables of contents since each project was several pages in length. I kept each project organized accordingly. Then, we moved onto more technically challenging platforms, using spreadsheets to calculate profit/loss, interest rates, and more. Lastly, we collaborated on Google Slides to create our final presentation, and I was able to create diagrams and flowcharts to elevate my portion of the presentation, fitting the color scheme and theme and reducing the number of words needed per slide, even when there was a lot of information given. Though I had experience with all of these platforms before, I spent more time with them and learned new tools that have pushed me far in just a few months. I believe this is somewhat due to my capacity for technical skills, and somewhat due to my capacity for learning quickly and effectively-- both of which will aid me in my career as a technical writer. These platforms and more will be used on the regular, and I feel much better prepared after taking this course. ​

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LOOKING FORWARD

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In just a few months, I was able to learn the language of entrepreneurs and business people, and have real experience performing the same tasks they do every day. The beauty of entrepreneurship is its interdisciplinarity, and I don't have to commit to being an entrepreneur: I can commit to being a technical writer who thinks entrepreneurially. Throughout this entrepreneurship course, I was able to develop my problem-solving skills, my quantitative data analysis skills, and my technical proficiency skills. Each of these has a place in technical writing, and now I have a place to jump off of for each of these skills so I can continue to develop and fine-tune them each. I also grew an appreciation for what people in business have to do day-to-day, and recognize my own strengths and weaknesses within the field. Many companies will hire technical writers to do exactly what I did; whether it is writing reports, creating presentations, or conducting financial analyses, I am well equipped to begin as a technical writer. 

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