Here Uni Uni Uni
This has been an interesting week. As with any small business financing is always an issue. You can have the most wonderful ideas but if there is no money, you have to figure out how to make those ideas reality in a more creative way.
It is very common for entrepreneurs to hold full time jobs while they start their companies and over the last few weeks, I decided that I am going to look for a full time job to help finance my project. I learned to live on a lean budget and actually think that this is a reasonable alternative... Continue to live on a lean budget and use the extra money to fund my company. By pursuing this form of funding I will retain more of my company which seems to be a good idea.
In the search for the perfect job, I applied to a college which is creating a new business degree. The school is a Fine Arts school and will be offering a business degree. You do not need to be an artist to be in the business major so they will not require you to submit a portfolio unless you want to minor in a specific art program. The course curriculum will develop business people who are right brained thinkers. My first meeting was with the head of the search committee and she suggested that I read the book "A whole new Mind" by Dan Pink.
The book describes me. I was shocked when I read the mind map of the book. Up to this point in my career, I have felt very isolated but now I know I am a different breed of business person and that makes me happy. Who wants to be like the crowd.
The ideas brought out in the book are interesting. Not only did I learn about Positive psychology and emotional intelligence (I found the book emotional intelligence and read it) but I also learned that the novel I wrote actually follows the cambell's hero journey formula. How disspointing that my life is following a formula. The idea that nothing in art is new also applies to our lives. Recycling just like a consultant.
I had the second meeting with the University on Wed. The search committee asked me questions about innovation and bridge building. I really enjoyed the interview and thanked the committee head for the book suggestion. The committee is made up of six people from the college and will get back to me next week. I love the idea of a business degree focusing on right brain thinking... They really have a good market niche.... it would make a good MBA degree too.. with 900 mba programs in the US, there is a need for a degree that hits a niche market. If I am not offered the job that will be ok.. I now know I am not alone in this world.. I now know that I am just a whole new mind.
After such a wonderful interview experience, my meeting with the UK university was a dissapointment. I met with a university on Wed. to discuss partnership options. I sent the university a proposal of ways we could partner prior to the meeting but the two people I met with were not informed and just wanted to create products for me to buy. I don't think they are the cheapest place to buy products, I can go to India for that... what I wanted was to have a relationship where I would offer primer products that would bring in more students to their university. I want to be a distribution company for multi media products and I want to keep my costs down. Creating a whole new line of software products is lovely but any educational software company can do that at a cheaper price.
Anyways, There were a couple of problems with the meeting. First, They did not know what I was asking for and did not know how to answer my questions. I thought about giving them an outline of my proposals but neither person was in a position to say yes so I refrained from sharing. Second, there was a cultural communication problem. The meeting consisted of a German, a Brit and myself. Having lived in Germany for several years, I know that German business people do not really do chit chat.. but the British do. So at the meeting, I started by asking the German person a chit chat question about her japanese language skills which the British person enjoyed talking about but made the German a little uncomfortable. Also, Germans focus their energy on exactly what is in their job descriptions and I think it made the German uncomfortable going outside her expertise/job description. She did not have answers to my questions and seemed bored being in the meeting. The English person kept teasing and I sensed that the German did not really appreciate his humour. Generally Germans don't do that..tease or make jokes in a busienss meeting.
I was disspointed that I couldn't explain myself in a way that these two business people could understand. I know I learned a few weeks ago about different learning styles and I wonder if that was also one of the problems. I am a lawyer, trained to communicate. Seeing myself failing at a fundemental skill is really frustrating.
At this point in the meeting, I felt like I was not going to get anywhere and mistakingly asked the German about her children. Germans don't like to talk about personal things in meetings. Oh well, I failed in this meeting on many levels.
After the meeting, I sent a letter to my initial contact. I also sent him a copy of the teaser another MBA program is using to draw in clients to show him that my idea is not new. Other MBA programs do the same thing but in a different format.
There is always something to learn in each encounter. I learned quite a few things this week... hopefully the lessons will stick.
It is very common for entrepreneurs to hold full time jobs while they start their companies and over the last few weeks, I decided that I am going to look for a full time job to help finance my project. I learned to live on a lean budget and actually think that this is a reasonable alternative... Continue to live on a lean budget and use the extra money to fund my company. By pursuing this form of funding I will retain more of my company which seems to be a good idea.
In the search for the perfect job, I applied to a college which is creating a new business degree. The school is a Fine Arts school and will be offering a business degree. You do not need to be an artist to be in the business major so they will not require you to submit a portfolio unless you want to minor in a specific art program. The course curriculum will develop business people who are right brained thinkers. My first meeting was with the head of the search committee and she suggested that I read the book "A whole new Mind" by Dan Pink.
The book describes me. I was shocked when I read the mind map of the book. Up to this point in my career, I have felt very isolated but now I know I am a different breed of business person and that makes me happy. Who wants to be like the crowd.
The ideas brought out in the book are interesting. Not only did I learn about Positive psychology and emotional intelligence (I found the book emotional intelligence and read it) but I also learned that the novel I wrote actually follows the cambell's hero journey formula. How disspointing that my life is following a formula. The idea that nothing in art is new also applies to our lives. Recycling just like a consultant.
I had the second meeting with the University on Wed. The search committee asked me questions about innovation and bridge building. I really enjoyed the interview and thanked the committee head for the book suggestion. The committee is made up of six people from the college and will get back to me next week. I love the idea of a business degree focusing on right brain thinking... They really have a good market niche.... it would make a good MBA degree too.. with 900 mba programs in the US, there is a need for a degree that hits a niche market. If I am not offered the job that will be ok.. I now know I am not alone in this world.. I now know that I am just a whole new mind.
After such a wonderful interview experience, my meeting with the UK university was a dissapointment. I met with a university on Wed. to discuss partnership options. I sent the university a proposal of ways we could partner prior to the meeting but the two people I met with were not informed and just wanted to create products for me to buy. I don't think they are the cheapest place to buy products, I can go to India for that... what I wanted was to have a relationship where I would offer primer products that would bring in more students to their university. I want to be a distribution company for multi media products and I want to keep my costs down. Creating a whole new line of software products is lovely but any educational software company can do that at a cheaper price.
Anyways, There were a couple of problems with the meeting. First, They did not know what I was asking for and did not know how to answer my questions. I thought about giving them an outline of my proposals but neither person was in a position to say yes so I refrained from sharing. Second, there was a cultural communication problem. The meeting consisted of a German, a Brit and myself. Having lived in Germany for several years, I know that German business people do not really do chit chat.. but the British do. So at the meeting, I started by asking the German person a chit chat question about her japanese language skills which the British person enjoyed talking about but made the German a little uncomfortable. Also, Germans focus their energy on exactly what is in their job descriptions and I think it made the German uncomfortable going outside her expertise/job description. She did not have answers to my questions and seemed bored being in the meeting. The English person kept teasing and I sensed that the German did not really appreciate his humour. Generally Germans don't do that..tease or make jokes in a busienss meeting.
I was disspointed that I couldn't explain myself in a way that these two business people could understand. I know I learned a few weeks ago about different learning styles and I wonder if that was also one of the problems. I am a lawyer, trained to communicate. Seeing myself failing at a fundemental skill is really frustrating.
At this point in the meeting, I felt like I was not going to get anywhere and mistakingly asked the German about her children. Germans don't like to talk about personal things in meetings. Oh well, I failed in this meeting on many levels.
After the meeting, I sent a letter to my initial contact. I also sent him a copy of the teaser another MBA program is using to draw in clients to show him that my idea is not new. Other MBA programs do the same thing but in a different format.
There is always something to learn in each encounter. I learned quite a few things this week... hopefully the lessons will stick.
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