This week I had a mentor visit and I started working on my final product. The main focus of the Mentor Visit was to lay out everything that we have to do, and the order in which we are going to do them. The first thing set for order is the creation of a website. The next thing we talked about is liability insurance. Also, we have to file as a limited liability corporation. We decided on becoming a limited liability corporation rather than a partnership because it allows us to take risks that we need to take in order to succeed without putting our personal assets at stake. We also plan on attaining the branded apparel needed to have our employees be seen and instantly recognized as employees of Shoreline Swim Care. Over the weekend, my partner John and I began the development of our website and instantly ran into a few hurdles. We had to adapt some of our ideas, but that is all part of the process of developing a business. I now know for a fact that there are going to be a lot of obstacles in our way while we attempt to complete this project, but I am more than ready for the challenge.
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This week in ISM I gave my next speech which outlined my topic, research, informational interviews, original work, and final product preparation. I believe that my speech went very well and I know for a fact that I will be very much so prepared to give my final ISM speech on May 24th for my Final Presentation. However, my speech this time did go a bit over the time limit that helps measure how much content we need in each portion of our speech so that our Final Presentation night speech is just the right amount of time. That being said, I know exactly what I need to do to cut it down. I am going to reduce the amount of screen room and time that each of my interviews gets so that I can be more direct and concise in getting to the things that I learned from each interview and how they impacted the things that I did throughout the year in ISM. With this change, I know that my final speech will be perfect and it makes me elated for my ISM journey to come to fruition. With only a few more months in my journey, I will now look to working every week on my final product, Shoreline Swim Care.
This week in ISM we had the ISM Research Showcase. Having experience in ISM, I feel like I completely maximized the potential that this night had to offer. Having gone through it last year, I knew exactly what I needed to do in order to get as much out of the night as I possibly could. I put my full business plan on display for all to see, as well as brought branded beach balls as a marketing tool, which allowed me to show off all of my accomplishments this year while simultaneously marketing Shoreline Swim Care. The feedback I got from this showcase also was eye opening for me and I am going to capitalize on it. There are so many things that I have learned through this experience and I know for a fact that I couldn’t have gotten them anywhere else. The research showcase marks a halfway point for the journey that is ISM, and I am not ready to focus on the finish line, the final product. I will have to work long and hard but I know that I can having Shoreline Swim Care ready for launch on that day that I will remember forever.
This week in ISM my main focus has been on preparing for the Research Showcase. The research showcase is going to be many things for me this year. The first thing it will be is an opportunity to show off all the hard work that I have put into my research this year. Last year, it felt great to be able to materialize all of my accomplishments and get the opportunity to display them to the people in my community, and I look forward to once again having this opportunity. Also, I know that I will be able to contribute to the creation of this moment for the ISM 1 students at Frisco and I am very excited for that. The next thing that the research showcase will be for me is a marketing opportunity. My target audience for my company will be in attendance so I will be able to talk to many people about why they should purchase private lifeguarding from my company. Also, I will have company branded beach balls to give out to people so that they remember the name Shoreline Swim Care. Therefore, I know that I am going to take full advantage of the bonus marketing capabilities that this night will give me.
On January 3rd, 2018 I completed my second Original Work project. For my topic this year in ISM I am studying entrepreneurship. I knew before I began this school year what I wanted my original work and final product to be. For my original work, I created a business plan for the business that I want to launch for my Final Product. This business is called Shoreline Swim Care and is a private lifeguarding business. Shoreline hires independent contractors that are American Red Cross certified in CPR, First Aid, and lifeguarding that come to their client’s pool parties so that there is an extra set of trained eyes maintaining safety in the pool. Now that I have completed my Original Work, I am preparing for the Research Showcase on January 17th. The research showcase will be a chance for me to show off all the work that i have done during my original work. Also, I will be able to market my business to all the potential clients that will be walking around at the business symposium. As I move forward in this class, I am excited to build upon the foundation that I have laid for myself through the Original Work to build my final product and launch my business.
This week in ISM I had my last ISM interview ever. ISM interviews have given me so many opportunities to grow intellectually as well as socially. Being able to see the daily workplaces of the people that are in the field that I strive to be in has made me more and more interested in going into those fields. Also, having to interview 12 strangers that know more than I do is very socially challenging and doing so has helped me develop confidence in my ability to make relationships with people that I can use throughout my life. My last interview was with Doug Stayman. He owns In Your Face Apparel. Mr. Stayman gave me a tour of his office and warehouse, and it seemed like he had given the tour hundreds of times. I later found out that he gives similar tours as part of his job when prospective clients come to visit to see if they wanted to use In Your Face as their supplier. I learned a lot from our interview about finding a niche and making sure that you have experience in some part of your future business. Also, Doug gave me some ideas on how to model my business with ideas like including a clause in independent contacts to prevents people from marketing individual service while working for Shoreline. It was a great way to close off my ISM interviews and I am excited for my mentorship.
This week in ISM I got my Mentor! Her name is Melethia Campbell Molitor and she is a director for an organization called One Million Cups. Her story related to me and is something that I will carry into my life. She started her career with Microsoft, heading the Xbox department. First of all, right when she said this I was super interested as I am a highschool boy, and the Xbox was a huge part of my childhood. Console gaming was a new phenomenon and she worked with a lot of other young people and it allowed them to collaborate very well and innovate ideas. This was one thing that I had not thought about before, and made me realize that when I go into the business world I want to be a part of a new, innovative project so that I can work with people that are like me and can have the experiences that Mrs. Molitor had. She then got in charge of the MSN department and developed a successful career innovating ideas and marketing them well. This showed me that she would be very helpful in helping me develop marketing techniques for my future business. Now after leaving Microsoft, she created a real estate company called Molitor Estates, and more importantly, she is a part of an organization called one million cups. One million cups is an organization that helps entrepreneurs develop their businesses. This was very exciting for me because I knew that it would make her an amazing mentor. I am so excited to begin working with Mrs. Molitor on my Original Work and Final Product.
This week in ISM I planned and gave my research speech in front of the class and Coach Goff. Also, I was able to watch my classmates give their research speeches. The research speech adds on to the original introduction speech that I did at the beginning of the year, and this speech will continue to be added on to until I have completed the full presentation that I will be giving at Final Presentation Night in May. For the most part, I thought the speech went very well. My speech is way different this year than it was last year. This is because I knew what I wanted my original work to be going into this year. Because of that, all of my research assessments have been directed towards my original work, therefore, I introduced my original work before I did my research assessments. Although this is out of the ordinary for these speeches, I know it will help my audience understand my research much better. My introduction went smoothly, as did my interview portions. Giving this speech got me excited about getting my mentor as well as starting my original work. I am ready to move forward to the next chapter of my ISM journey!
This week in ISM I created my original work proposal. My goal in my original work is to come up with a business plan for the business I plan to start for my final product. I want to start a business that I have had the idea of for about two years. Over the past three summers I have worked at the Frisco Athletic Center as a lifeguard. I also did lifeguarding on rare occasions for individual employers that needed a lifeguard for a private party. I enjoyed lifeguarding private parties much more because I was able to be my own boss, and I made a lot more money. That’s when I realized that there is a market for private lifeguarding and no company who has share in it. Therefore, for my original work I want to start my own private lifeguarding business. This task is going to take more time and effort than I might have, however, I am very dedicated to creating something that I can look back on and be proud of. Therefore, I know that I will be able to dig deep and find the will to make this original work the best product that it can be.
This week in ISM I took strides in my planning for my original work and my final product. I completed two research assessments that I believe will allow me to expand my knowledge that I will need when growing my business. The first assessment was on website design. The most important thing for my business will be getting word out to all my potential clients and getting brand recognition in my local area. I believe that a very key component of doing that is creating a viable website where potential customers can go to learn about my business as well as make orders for lifeguards for their private parties. However, I didn’t know anything about website design, I could barely keep up with my digital portfolio on Weebly! The assessment taught me a lot of valuable lessons I will use in my original work. My second assessment was on social media marketing. Social media is a huge part of almost everyone across the world’s lives, and being a known figure on social media can skyrocket a business to new heights. The 10 laws of social media marketing I learned will help me use social media to my advantage to advance my brand. This was a good week and I am ready for the future.
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Jake JamesEntrepreneur Archives
February 2018
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