Final Reflection
Reflection
I believe the most formative experience I have had this semester has to do with the initial development of my elevator pitch and subsequent reiterations of that concept. When I first was developing my pitch, I was very nervous to record myself and post it for other students to see, so I went the easy route of writing a script to read run through a few times and read off of for my pitch. Obviously, the record was extremely wooden and I felt tense the entire time making it. While students seemed to like how I included a lot of necessary information in my pitch, I knew I could make it more professional with a bit more preparation, so for my second pitch I decided to develop a bulleted list of what I wanted to cover and then make up what I wanted to say for each rendition. At first I was very discouraged by this method, because I ended up having a lot of takes where I couldn't get all the way to end or didn't speak as clearly as I desired. In the end though, I was able to produce a decent recording of my pitch that felt much more organic and convincing than the robotic pitch I gave initially. By my third pitch, I felt confident in the topic and was able to replicate my previous system in far less time and with greater clarity and positive demeanor. I felt really good learning to speak in a professional capacity, even if it was only for 30 seconds, as I feel as though I can build on this skill to give presentations or conduct meetings later in life and use the method I developed for these pitches. Thus, these assignments I would say gave me the most valuable experience of the course, and remains my most proud accomplishment within the class.
While I don't fully see myself as an entrepreneur yet, as I consider being an entrepreneur much more to do with actionable initiatives rather than planning to act, I do believe I now have the proper tools to follow my desires of being an entrepreneur, specifically when it comes to identifying a market gap, a typical consumer base, and speaking in a professional capacity. Considering all of this, I do believe I have developed some form of the entrepreneurial mindset, which goes past the basic "can-do" attitude that we see in media surrounding entrepreneurs, and more concerns the ability to realize when an opportunity is available for the taking, developing a model to understand the specifics of this opportunity, as well as having the confidence to put yourself out there when developing a solution.
One thing I would recommend to students taking this course in the future is to really consider the assignments as tools for their personal growth, and not drudgery that that have to get through in order to get a good grade. I had that mindset that I just needed to get the assignments done and get a good grade at the beginning, but as I went through the course and experienced things like the elevator pitch assignments, I realized that there was a lot more to be gained from contributing my full effort to each assignment and using it to better myself as an entrepreneur. To best foster the mindset of a entrepreneur, I would tell a future student to develop a business idea that they are really passionate about, and not just one to be able to complete the assignments, since putting in the work into something that you actually enjoy developing makes the process much more engaging and I became much more willing to put in effort into the assignments when I changed my business plan into something I was much more passionate about.
I believe the most formative experience I have had this semester has to do with the initial development of my elevator pitch and subsequent reiterations of that concept. When I first was developing my pitch, I was very nervous to record myself and post it for other students to see, so I went the easy route of writing a script to read run through a few times and read off of for my pitch. Obviously, the record was extremely wooden and I felt tense the entire time making it. While students seemed to like how I included a lot of necessary information in my pitch, I knew I could make it more professional with a bit more preparation, so for my second pitch I decided to develop a bulleted list of what I wanted to cover and then make up what I wanted to say for each rendition. At first I was very discouraged by this method, because I ended up having a lot of takes where I couldn't get all the way to end or didn't speak as clearly as I desired. In the end though, I was able to produce a decent recording of my pitch that felt much more organic and convincing than the robotic pitch I gave initially. By my third pitch, I felt confident in the topic and was able to replicate my previous system in far less time and with greater clarity and positive demeanor. I felt really good learning to speak in a professional capacity, even if it was only for 30 seconds, as I feel as though I can build on this skill to give presentations or conduct meetings later in life and use the method I developed for these pitches. Thus, these assignments I would say gave me the most valuable experience of the course, and remains my most proud accomplishment within the class.
While I don't fully see myself as an entrepreneur yet, as I consider being an entrepreneur much more to do with actionable initiatives rather than planning to act, I do believe I now have the proper tools to follow my desires of being an entrepreneur, specifically when it comes to identifying a market gap, a typical consumer base, and speaking in a professional capacity. Considering all of this, I do believe I have developed some form of the entrepreneurial mindset, which goes past the basic "can-do" attitude that we see in media surrounding entrepreneurs, and more concerns the ability to realize when an opportunity is available for the taking, developing a model to understand the specifics of this opportunity, as well as having the confidence to put yourself out there when developing a solution.
One thing I would recommend to students taking this course in the future is to really consider the assignments as tools for their personal growth, and not drudgery that that have to get through in order to get a good grade. I had that mindset that I just needed to get the assignments done and get a good grade at the beginning, but as I went through the course and experienced things like the elevator pitch assignments, I realized that there was a lot more to be gained from contributing my full effort to each assignment and using it to better myself as an entrepreneur. To best foster the mindset of a entrepreneur, I would tell a future student to develop a business idea that they are really passionate about, and not just one to be able to complete the assignments, since putting in the work into something that you actually enjoy developing makes the process much more engaging and I became much more willing to put in effort into the assignments when I changed my business plan into something I was much more passionate about.
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