Lesson 13 Entrepreneurial Journal

Lessons Learned:

The article I learned the most from in the reading this week was the Harvard Business Review article "Strategies For Learning From Failure".  After reading about the varying categories of failure (preventable, unavoidable, & intelligent), it broadened my thinking about degrees of failure and that the majority of failures are not bad.  Something can be learned from failures, and in fact, for new innovation to take place, failure needs to be part of the planned learning process.  It surprised me that there is really only one category where failure could and should have been avoided.  The statistic quoted that only 2-5% of all failures are truly blameworthy but 70-90% of failures are treated as blameworthy, speaks volumes about the need to change our thinking on failure and blame.  I also learned about why it's important to provide employees with a safe environment for reporting and learning from failures, and that by providing the right environment, much more learning will take place.  I like IDEO's slogan -- Fail often in order to succeed sooner.  I liked the philosophy to try to find small failures before they turn into big failures.  Preventative measures are always better than cleaning up messes.  I loved the video clip of Michael Jordan talking about how many shots he missed, how many games he lost, and how many times he missed the game-winning shot.  Yet, nobody remembers that -- all they remember is that he is remarkable.  I like that he attributes his success to many failures.  I also gained a better understanding of finding the right balance of working in your business and working on your business.  Every business owner needs to spend time thinking and planning strategies for the future growth and success of the company, or it will just remain the same old company, and you may get bored spending all of your time IN your business.

$100 Challenge:
While working on my Powerpoint presentation, I was able to take a look back over some of the things I have learned through the startup challenge.  I could see that I definitely need to pay attention to marketing my business and posting on social media regularly to remind customers of my business.  I learned that I need to have a backup plan for when business is slow.  My backup plan will be to do work for a transcription agency that has a steady flow of work.  I was really excited this week when I had a return customer bring me some more work.  I won't be completing the work until finals are done, so it won't count for my challenge, but it was still exciting to have some more work.  I have more confidence that I can run a small business successfully.  My financials are the same as last week:  Revenue $153.00; Expenses $10.00; Net Profit $143.00.