Assignment 30: Final Reflection

1) What sticks out to you as the most formative experience? The experience that you'll remember years later? What was your most joyous experience? What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?

I think that there are two things that have stuck the most out for me in this course, the first one was our first big assignment: coming up with a business idea. Coming up with an app to reduce food waste was, I have to say, my proudest accomplishment. As I’ve said several times, helping our planet and feeling that responsibility to do something has been ingrained in me since I was a child. Having been able to come up with a business idea that centers around that concept was extremely gratifying and I truly believe that I will move forward and try to perfect this idea with the help of my uncle. The second experience, which was mostly formative, was reaching out to my uncle. I learned a lot from him and realized that I didn’t have to go too far to find someone who was capable and willing to help me learn.

2) At the beginning of the semester, I mentioned that I wanted each of you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Now, at the end, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?

I believe that I have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset… but not in the way I expected to. One thing that I have learned, is that entrepreneurs are resilient people. They usually fail, a lot, but they understand that that is part of the process. If one thing does not work, then they adapt. They understand that they can’t set a path, because that will change, but that their destination is one. In this sense I believe that my mentality has begun to change.

3) What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future? What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course? What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?

If a student is taking this class, it is most likely that they are interested in someday having their own business or at least interested in having some knowledge on how to start molding a business idea. I would recommend doing every single assignment as consciously as possible. For each assignment Professor Pryor does not just tell us what to do but what the purpose of each assignment is…either that be to see how competent an idea is, how to get to know our customer better..etc. So my recommendation is to not just complete the assignments, but to understand why it is that you are doing it. To succeed in the class, be wise with your time. Read what the assignments are about a week before they are due, so you can have an idea of how long it will take you to do each. All of the assignments are due on the same day, so plan ahead to make sure you are not rushing to finish.