30A – Final Reflection

An entrepreneurial mindset is a set of skills that enable people to identify and make the most out of opportunities, overcome and learn from setbacks, and succeed in a variety of settings. It is valued by employers, boosts educational attainment and performance, and is crucial for creating new businesses.

1. Read through your posts from this semester. Recall all of the experiences you've had along the way -- the highs, the lows -- the fun moments, and the moments of drudgery, and even the moments of dread.

Reading through my posts from this semester made me realize how much I have grown by taking ENT3003- Principles of Entrepreneurship. I started this course as a senior studying advertising with an outside concentration in business, hence me taking this class and ended this course, still as an advertising major, but with full-fledged knowledge on becoming an entrepreneur as well. Entrepreneurship has taught me valuable skills, including seeking out diverse perspectives, reading more books and articles, and to be more willing towards taking risks, on top of growing as both a person and entrepreneur. While it is valuable to get the point of view from someone knowledgeable in the field, we as people can become too fixated on obtaining the approval from a professional or mentor. The truth is, a single perspective is rarely enough, and it’s better to seek out advice from a variety of people with different life and business experiences. For entrepreneurs, mentorship can be found in the pages of books and blogs, much can be learned from the writings of others and lucky for us, people are sharing their experiences more than ever. It’s impossible to become an entrepreneur if you don’t take risks, it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve fallen as long as you see how many times you get back up again. Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy, and one must be willing to come up with new plans even when old strategies are working. It’s through risk-taking that one’s business will grow and flourish, along with learning through experience and meeting new partners or investors. Even so, the risks must be calculated, doing thorough research and conducting the proper analysis is crucial in these cases.

2. 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?

What sticks out to me as the most formative experience was the elevator pitch and conducting interviews for a couple of the assignments. The elevator pitch especially stood out to me because of how different it was as an assignment; I never had to record a video assignment and submit it for an online class up until I took Principles of Entrepreneurship. This experience really stuck out to me as one I’ll remember years later because of how many times we had to go back through and revise it, based on peer feedback we received. For other assignments in this class, they tended to only have up to two revisions, but for the elevator pitch, it had three. By the last revision, I essentially had my pitch memorized and didn’t have to look at a notecard for reference due to the fact that I could recite it by heart. This also taught me the importance of an elevator pitch because it communicates the most important aspects of your business or service within a short amount of time. My most joyous experience was interviewing five people I knew to discover my unique human capital. I was nervous about conducting the interview and asking five of my friends what they thought of me, but the entire process was extremely laid-back and relaxed, along with being filled with a lot of laughs. I am most proud of myself for completing every assignment in this course, along with conducting interviews for every assignment that required one. While this course was fun and enjoyable, there were a lot of assignments and I am very proud that I managed to not only complete every single one but turn them in on time too.

3. 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 see myself as an entrepreneur because I have developed an entrepreneurial mindset at the end of this course. An entrepreneurial mindset is a set of skills that enable people to identify and make the most out of opportunities, overcome and learn from setbacks, and succeed in a variety of settings. It’s a constant need to improve one’s personal skills, learn from his or her mistakes, and take continuous action on their ideas. An entrepreneurial mindset is valued by employers, boosts educational attainment and performance, and is crucial for creating new businesses. While anyone can learn how to act like a potential entrepreneur, build the habits, and learn some business tips and tricks, it’s one’s attitudes and motivation that separates someone with an entrepreneurial mindset from others. I now see myself as an entrepreneur because I have developed an entrepreneurial mindset after taking this course. Principles of Entrepreneurship has taught me how to foster a creative mindset, persuasive communication abilities, and tenacity, or the ability to learn from failure. Creativity is necessary for entrepreneurial success, and entrepreneurs are constantly seeking novel ideas and innovations. The best entrepreneurs are persuasive, and the power of persuasion can help one to negotiate, close a sale, or score a lower price on inventory, on top of being inspiring leaders and stellar bosses. Learning from one’s mistakes is crucial for entrepreneurs because failure is what leads to growth and change. While failure is inevitable, one’s reaction to failure is what he or she makes out of it. Times of adversity can lead someone to strength, with failure being their best chance to learn how to do something right. One of the most important aspects of entrepreneurship is to never give up, perseverance will get one through tough times and closer to one’s dreams or goals.

4. 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?

The one recommendation I would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future is to keep moving forward and work hard, especially in an assignment heavy course like Principles of Entrepreneurship. There were times when I felt like giving up on an assignment for this class, but I pushed through and managed to complete all thirty of them, and the knowledge I learned from finishing all of them is irreplaceable. Don’t be afraid to take the risk, and go for the opportunity, whether it’s taking this course or other tasks- putting yourself out there, embracing failure, and developing connections, on top of recognizing opportunities and pursuing them. It’s never too early to start as a rising entrepreneur. To perform best in this course, I would recommend creating a schedule and sticking to it in order to manage time wisely. Time management is crucial, especially in an online course like this one, and freedom and flexibility from online classes can also become detrimental if one lacks time management skills. To foster an entrepreneurial mindset, I recommend following your passion, conducting the research, and putting in the hard work to start one’s own business as soon as possible. Write down ideas that have been drifting through one’s thoughts, take the best one, and discover what can make it better, giving it an edge against competition, and receive feedback from peers. It doesn’t have to be overly complicated; it can be a simple business in order for one to get experience in setting up a business. Legitimize it as much as possible, because age can work against early signs of entrepreneurship or startup ideas. By obtaining references from satisfied customers or clients will show that one is passionate and serious towards what he or she plans to do.