Final Reflection

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

What sticks out to you as the most formative experience?

By far the experience of giving away dollars was the most interesting and formative of all the exercises that we did.  I had to put quite a bit of thought into “why” and then work up the courage to really approach a stranger and give away a dollar.  It was pretty crazy.

The experience that you'll remember years later?

Probably the same to be honest; although in general making and maintaining the blog will probably be the number one experience.  I may end up re-purposing this blog for the purpose of really pushing my venture.

What was your most joyous experience?

The process of ironing out my idea napkin was pretty joyous in general.  Between that and the elevator pitch; it was really fun to see my idea come to life.

What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?

The worlds biggest problems exercise was one of the more challenging and probably the first hurdle that I overcame in this course.  I actually wrote the blog post while travelling for work and it was a leaf that I turned over in the concept of being able to finish my degree while being a full time employee, husband and father.

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

I do see myself more now as an entrepreneurial spirit than I ever have before.  I think it definitely refined and rejuvenated something that was already in me; a sense of ownership and dedication to my work and my ideas. 

What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future?

Challenge yourself; everything in this world worth having is worth working hard for.  You can fail at something you never wanted to do; so you may as well try for something you love. 

What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course?

Set a schedule and alarms to remind you of due dates; but moreso that some of those deadlines will require fore thought (and interviews!).  Above all though; commit.  There were several people in the class this semester that seemed to “mail in” the exercises; get your phone out and interview people on camera and try something uncomfortable.  It can be crazy rewarding!

What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?

Follow your dreams; you can reach your goals… 

I’m living proof…

Going for Google Gold!

A discussion of your general approach and strategy to search engine optimiation (SEO). What were some of the activities you did for each blog post to pursue SEO? 

For each of the assignments I tried to (first follow the assignment instructions and then) write my blog posts in a way that was easy to read; almost conversational.  I attempted as much as possible to ensure that they had clean imbedded videos and were well formatted.  In a sense similar to the way a chef might say you eat with your eyes first.  Well you read with your eyes... only... so it is imperative that you have clean fonts; clean lines; and clear pictures.  

What were your keywords. How did you select those keywords? Did you change or refine your keywords through the semester?

I'll have to be honest on the labels and say that I didn't go beyond the requirements for week and title requirements.  That said if you google iDrive Landry then I'm the #2 response; so that's got to count for something right?!

How did you use social media to enhance your SEO efforts? What your your surprises or general impression of using social media to improve your blog's profile? Was social media generally receptive of your blog, or did it get ignored?

I don't subscribe to any social media; aside from this blog.  I have to admit I like the blog concept though and I may repurpose it to be more in line with some of my business goals.  

What was your most "viral" post? In other words, which post obtained the most traffic? Why do you think?

The most viral post I had was my first Idea Napkin which received 22 views (I'll be famous any day now).  Combined with Idea Napkin #2 (which had another 16 views) I net a total of 38 views for my idea though. 

Check it out at: http://knowinglandry.blogspot.com/2016/02/idea-napkin-no-1.html

Finally, did you make it to the first page of Google results for your keywords? If not, what page of results did you make it to? 

Just googling iDrive though and I stopped looking at page 10.  If you google iDrive Landry then I'm the #2 response; so that's got to count for something right?!

Week 14 Reading Reflection

What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

I would say; oddly, that the biggest surprise I had was that this came towards the end of our semester instead of closer to the beginning.  I would assume that the opportunity for corporate entrepreneurship would be more common place than the idea of the individual entrepreneur.  I somewhat understand the reasoning for "starting our business" then "marketing it" and now "creating a corporate entrepreneurial environment."  

Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

The chapters we fairly straight forward.  I was a bit frustrated by the section on sustainable entrepreneurship; however, it wasn't confusing just (perhaps) a little too much. 

If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

Why did you put this as chapter three in the book?  Why wasn't there more mention her of the idea of locating intrapreneurs and intracapital as a way to make these corporate entrepreneurial ventures more viably successful? 

Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I disagree with the bifurcation of entrepreneurial enterprises that have a desire for sustainability.  

● Ecopreneurship (i.e., environmental entrepreneurship with entrepreneurial actions contribut- ing to preserving the natural environment, including the Earth, biodiversity, and ecosystems); 

● Social entrepreneurship, which encompasses the activities and processes undertaken to discover, define, and exploit opportunities in order to enhance social wealth by creating new ventures or managing existing organizations in an innovative manner; 

● Corporate social responsibility, which refers to actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law and often denotes societal engagement of organizations.

I don't disagree that these subtitles may exist but for some reason I can't see three different entrepreneurs sitting at the table arguing that one is a Social Entrepreneur and not an Ecopreneur... this seems a bit silly of a distinction and to be honest should be less a categorization and more of a topic on being ethical towards the greater social benefit. 

Week 13 Reading Reflection

What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

I actually loved the section on Valuation Methods.  I thought that the table 14.3 was very illustrative of the different methods and their key takeaway for future valuations. 

Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

In the “analyzing the business” section (pg. 511) the author talks about some of the different pitfalls that a small company must take into consideration over and above what a large company would.  Perhaps this is my emotional bias (or perhaps I’ve worked at enough ‘large’ companies) but the four examples that were provided were extremely qualitative in my opinion.  There was little substance to them and to be honest in some examples (like Management Depth) I’m not sure that there is a straight line advantage between simply having MORE degrees of skills.

If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

Still no questions; tis week 13 now and not one comment back to me answering a question that I’ve had.  Nor any acknowledgement of the fact that I’m protesting this portion of the assignment.  This will be in my final reflection as a gap in the class.  Don’t ask me to ask questions if no one ever intends to respond.

Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

Going back to the confusion I had on Analyzing the business I have to say that I think the author is flat out wrong in this section.  I’ll take the example of insufficient controls that was illustrated as a limitation of a small business. However, that is not inherent as a concern; many small business ventures that then grow rapidly were built along a mission of control.  Look at the rise of Facebook; part of their rapid growth and loyal fan base was because of the controls that Zuckerberg put in place at the beginning. Not to mention the other side of the coin; looking at mortgage servicing companies like Washington Mutual, Country Wide and even JP Morgan Chase that had plenty of capital and depth of management and yet still lacked the appropriate controls (negligently so) causing a financial collapse in 2008.  Compare a smaller airline in Southwest versus American or United and how their size and controls allowed them to be financially stable for more than 50 years as opposed to their larger peer groups that are consistently bankrupt and under profit.