Creative Clarity: Week 10

NXLevel Entrepreneur Program:

observations & highlights

The NXLevel class is over.   Although I have not yet completed my business plan, I've learned so much.  So much in fact, that I feel a little daunted by my new knowledge and the things I want and need to do NOW.  Marily Laferty, class facilitator and SBDC director was and is awesome and a great resource. I was impressed over and over by her versatility, ability to think on her feet, and openness to new ideas and different approaches.  She is a great role model for all entrepreneurs.  Not only that, but she has a fabulous wardrobe and dresses for success!  (She has one jacket in particular that I truly covet.)  Ryan Johnson from the Sign Guys and Gal also contributed so much time, energy and  knowledge to the class.  

The guest speakers were all standouts.    They were knowledgeable, well informed and easy to approach.  There was 1 guest speaker for each session and it broke the evening up nicely.  Three hours in the evening on a weekday, was a challenge.  For me, 2 hours would have been better , but given that, Marilyn, broke the evenings nicely up with guest speakers and snacks.   Tammy Scott, Gunnison Chamber  director and cosponsor of the class, made us cookies for each and every one of our classes and hosted our final session at the Chamber.  Thanks Tammy. 

As individuals, we measure success in different ways.   During this class I have had the opportunity to look at my ways to doing business and understand how they need to change. I think of myself as a disciplined person, yet in the past several years, my mind has been more preoccupied by worry than innovation.  This has been a humbling realization and a necessary one.  One of my goals of the class, in addition to developing systems for organization was to develop my ability to see the big picture.  I am able to put the relevant pieces together better and see that picture more clearly now.  So, in these ways, I have achieved my personal goals for the class, but I still want to see that business plan come together!

Creative Clarity: Week 8

NXLevel Entrepreneur Program:

observations & highlights

About half-way through our 10- week NXLevel class, I began taking a free online class called the Right Brain Business Plan Video Summit by Jennifer Lee. www.rightbrainbusinessplan.com  We met daily for 45 minutes (M-F) for 2 weeks.    I felt really fortunate to be taking both classes at once.  I was hearing similar things in both classes, each informing and reinforcing the other.  The RBBP really helped me take what I was learning in the NXLevel class and apply it in a way that made sense to me. The RBBP class, as the name indicates is geared for the more right brained person.   Generally speaking, the left hemisphere of the brain is sequential logical and analytical and the right hemisphere is nonlinear, intuitive and holistic. Of course, we all share elements of both and need them both to thrive.

In the RBBP the focus was more on the visual and finding a process that was comfortable to each individual.   It was good to realize that there were other folks out there who had some of the same learning challenges that I had. So, instead of feeling like I am deficient in way, I  can treat myself more kindly and be more respectful about how I learn.

When I began the NXLevel class I realized that one of the areas that I needed the help with was in developing systems that would give me more structure and direction on a daily basis.  The big picture needed to be front and foremost, with the details filling in.   I began working one Saturday morning, presumably on my mission statement and ended up spending the weekend getting a visual picture of how I would like to see my business work.  I had stacks of notes in piles all around me.  They begin to take some sort of form and gradually the piles had headings and then the piles were in groups.   Research, Night Notes, Show the Love, Housekeeping (that's a BIG pile)…….. It was exciting doing this  . . . . . a wonderful discovery and understanding of self.    I am working on putting this organization into practice.  

It was the combination of both classes, one left brained, the other right brained, that made what I learned more accessible and certainly less threatening.   l learned more about the ways we learn and have more respect for our individual  differences.   I certainly better understand how I learn.

Here's my sketch:

Creative Clarity: Week 5

NXLevel Entrepreneur Program:
observations & highlights

Is there anything finer than a conversation with a good friend?

  

I am walking with such a friend on the public  trail north of the Community Schools.  We talk of many things on our walks but today,  we talk of nothing but ideas generated as result of taking part in the NXLevel course.  The class has gotten us thinking in new ways about our businesses.   Several women were recruited by a Maryo Ewell,  who thought it would be great idea for women who know each other, to take a class together and use that knowledge and understanding of each other to create something new for each other and the community.  Sometimes we have a full picture of what another business in the community does for us and what services they offer,  sometimes we need to expand on that picture.  Bring it into better focus.   Ultimately, that is what we are trying to do . . . . bring our businesses into better focus.   Better focus in business translates into better focus in life.  I am beginning to see how it all fits together.   An idea gleaned and applied may be worth more than the expected end product of the class to some of us. 

We brainstorm and offer suggestions to one another and we feel safe talking this way.   We talk about marketing ALL of our skills.  Try making a skill list of everything you do well and you will be amazed and maybe a little awed by yourself.      How do we maximize our individual business efforts?   How do we respond to a need, expand on that need in a way that actually creates a new market for us?   How do we keep track of all the balls we have in the air?  What kinds of systems work for each of us?  The questions just keep coming and I think I may be regaining some of that sparking vision of possibility.

Living in a small community has so many positives.  Discussing our business and our challenges in the classroom,  offering suggestions and ideas is a act of solidarity with our fellow classmates.   Other ideas are best shared with just a few.  We can do that now because we are building a network of resources and well,  community. 

Creative Clarity: Week 1

NXLevel Entrepreneur Program:
observations & highlights 

Our first class opened with 15 students and the amazing diversity among people and ideas that we so often find in here in the valley is soon evident.    We talk and realize we are not alone.   Everyone struggles, has challenges, hurdles to overcome.  I feel compassion and humility for myself and others.

We all have expectations, even if we think our minds are open.   This first class was a case in point.  I did not expect, 30 minutes into class that a comment, briefly made, would have such a dramatic effect on me. Three simple words spoke to a part of me that has been clamoring, quite unsuccessfully, for attention.  Maintain your health.   Work on it.   Appreciate and bless it.   Who among us lucky generally healthy folk hasn’t pushed the limit on this more times than we can remember?   ( Not only is good health a wise choice for obvious reasons,  it's a cost effective one.  The self-employed don’t have paid sick days. )  Maybe we get the message on our health when we are ready to hear it.  Maybe we get the message in time to do something about it.    In any case, I have scheduled several exams, someRolfing sessions and started taking vitamins again. Got to give ourselves some love too.  

Guest speakers from the community are scheduled for all our classes and Anthony Poponi  (entrepreneur,  director of Coal Creek Watershed Coalition, foster father)  came in and casually shared his insights and philosophy.

  

Here's a list of commonplace things that successful entrepreneurs do. (Over and above being able to spell entrepreneur.)  Yeah, some of them are simple and obvious and maybe that's why they can be undervalued.  Make them part of who you are. 

• Network and be active in the community
• Talk about your business, see every situation as an opportunity
• Be genuine
• Don’t be intimidated by others
• Be intentional and outspoken about what you have to offer . . . you never know who you are talking to 
• Think about where you hang out and who you may meet/see while you are there  
• Remind people all time of what you have to offer 
• Think of ways to compensate for being an introvert 
• Step out of your comfort zone
• Get your personal priorities in order   
• How am I different and what do I have to offer? 
• Put that sign you made over a year ago on your bike . . . . stupid and what about some window advertising on the Subaru?
• Ask folks for referrals 

Why do the simple things seem hard?   Or is it just me?

 

Background:  

The NXLevel Entrepreneur Program is a 10 week class being hosted for the first time in Gunnison, CO through the SBDC and Western State College.  I am a designer and artist and am taking this class to become better organized, more knowledgeable about my strengths and weaknesses and to learn to be a better business person.   I'm also assessing how this program works for a right brained person who doesn't necessarily 'get' things in the way most people do.   It should be interesting and most certainly challenging!