The twenty percent evolved; Or, There's something about Kathy

Wasn't I just talking about how I have poor planning? Maybe I'm imagining it, but I think my half-way reflection touched on personal bouts with follow-through. I can't decide what it is, do I have ADD or ADHD? Is it depression? Am I just absent? Whatever the case, I find myself frequently waking up and chasing a metaphorical train to my future, and last week, the train happened to be the 80/20 rule. I wanted to reach out to someone with a unique business, a unique vision. It took some time for the light bulb to go off--my mind kept circling around the same predictable ideas--but I realized Enchanted Spirits was it.

Inspirational. Authentic. Collaborative. 

Imagine a place hidden to those who can't see it. I know, that sounds silly, but think Harry Potter and the train to Hogwarts (there I go with trains again...) Platform 9 and 3/4. Enchanted Spirits is a shop you don't find until you're ready; honestly calling it a shop does it a disservice. The owner of Enchanted Spirits, Kathy, mentions her vision of Enchanted Spirits becoming an experience, but the truth is that it already is. When I walk in, I can breathe. Really breathe. Everything that's going on outside evaporates, and I can focus on, well, nothing. I don't have thoughts while I'm at Enchanted Spirits, I have feelings. I feel like walking into one room or another then I feel like picking something up; there's no inner dialogue interrupting me. I feel, and I do.

So who was behind this mystical place of safety, warmth, mystery? I would have to wait to find out as my initial interview attempt was postponed--this is where follow-through comes into play. I almost passed on an interview that put a real person to the lofty image of entrepreneurs that we've been studying. Kathy is intelligent, well-spoken, ballsy, persistent, a lit fire with no signs of stopping. My words can't do her justice, and neither can my slapdash interview, but I know we can all find value in what I did capture.

Forgive my shaky camera hand and the fact that this recording is essentially the middle of a conversation that started before the camera was rolling and ended several minutes after I hit stop. Without further ado:

      

Week 8: reading reflection

Okay, I'm not sure if it's because I've never thought about sources of capital, or if I had misconceptions about capital, but there were quite a few things that were new to me this week. Right off the bat, the types of capital, it never would have occurred to me that family and friends were sources of capital, but it's so obvious. Would donors on Kickstarter and other crowdfunding sites be considered friends/family? They don't fit the criteria of Angels, even though the title sounds like it would fit. 
 
Let's back up a little bit. I have seriously thought about leaving urban life and becoming a farmer. Side note: for anyone who has had similar thoughts I recommend reading The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball. So in this fantasy where I start farming, it's usually subsistence farming, but, on occasion, I think about becoming a nonprofit business that provides food and other products to a whole community. I've been putting aside money already (owner's money), and though I wouldn't ask friends or family for money, I know it is common for farmers to have community help, primarily from other farmers. At that point, I would skip the next few steps and get government help through the USDA. 

Because of the nature of my entrepreneurial (sort of) adventure, the route I would take is different from other entrepreneurs. For example, an IPO made sense for Facebook but wouldn't be status quo for a farm. Going to a commercial bank is plausible for a farm endeavor but not advisable because of the nature of farming and the potential of payback issues. 

The prospect of inviting a venture capitalist on board is frightening despite the myth dispelling. I enjoy watching Shark Tank from time to time, but having to pitch an idea to the sharks...even if I was successful, success would mean sharing my business with someone else. Again, farming is not the kind of idea that would appeal to a venture capitalist anyway; it's the wrong forum completely. For someone with a revolutionary product who needed connection for production and distribution, Shark Tank would be brilliant, and I do appreciate the portrayal of the pitch process. The reading's major category screening criteria fit with the show's model, what the sharks look at and who is ultimately chosen to receive capital. 

On the whole, this week's reading gave me a lot to think about. For anyone who stumbled to the blog from outside the ENT3003 family, we're looking at Kuratko, Chapter 8: Sources of Capital for Entrepreneurial Ventures. There are some ideas here that I want to apply to my fantasy plan, helpful things to look at in composing and evaluating my business plan. In the future, I would like to see clarification about crowdfunding as it pertains to sources of capital. Is crowdfunding a new category? A subset of an existing category? Give me answers!  

What?! It's the half-way reflection!

Okay, first of all, to those who say we've definitely demonstrated tenacity by making it halfway through the course, count me out. Don't get me wrong, I want to be tenacious--I'm just not there yet. But I will get there, and here's how:

• Determination - I have failed (by my standards), but I won't allow my less than tenacious performance keep me from evolving. Ain't nobody got time for wallowing.
• Analysis - Looking at why I've fallen short and how to fix it is not only who I am, it's a great skill for self-improvement. And school. Analysis is clutch in academia.
• Persistence - Determination's cousin, persistence, is the other half of the puzzle for pushing through. I'm a serial procrastinator with A LOT on my plate so if I let this one slide, and I have, I only get halfway. It's like the Yellowdig pin on motivation porn--look it up!

So it's about DAP for me. When I missed two rounds of points for customer interviews because I couldn't get people to stop and talk to a camera, I didn't let that stop me from getting audio for round three. DAP! Interviewees still tried to run, but I got by.

Sometimes it's about celebrating small success. I missed x assignment but found an awesome pin on Yellowdig about revolutionary period panties and the beautiful brains behind them. Win! 

Are you starting to see a pattern? Burst out of the safety bubble where courses all look the same, require the same things from you and grow. Get curious, explore, for Christ's sake forget about your grade. That's right. I said it. Forget about your grade. It's difficult to do; I promise it's worth it. Liberated learners gain more than those tethered to the boulder obligation.

I also highly recommend Yellowdig. Yellowdig, Yellowdig, Yellowdig.