Final Reflection

At the beginning of the year, I thought that this class was going to do at least decent with the company. We have very different people in the class which I thought would bring diversity to the company and a variety of networking but it did the opposite. From the lack of people showing up, it was hard to keep deadlines and schedules.

The idea of being a breakfast service in Campbell was very good. It filled a want that the school had. You would think that it would have done amazingly well since we were the only ones offering food to the students in the morning, but there were a few things that could have been changed now that it is over and we have time to evaluate it.

This company although it did make some money, was kind of a flop. By the end nobody really cared if they had to work in the morning or had to do something to help the company. I think that better consequences could have been enforced to try and improve attendance. I know that I didn’t come to all of my shifts, but if there was a better initiative I would have for sure. The actual service and presentation at our location was well done I thought, it was just the “behind he scenes” part that was lacking greatly. Effort and staying on task is what brought us down the most I think. Being on time was especially challenging for this class and that made it difficult if it was a day to work in your departments.

After this experience, I don’t think I would want to do JA again. In entrepreneurship I would have been totally fine with doing what Ms.Hendren did before. That is what I was expecting and I didn’t like the company very much. I would take the class more serious and treat it just like other classes. If there was a way to make JA more serious and make it so that students would want to do it and want to do their best at it, I would maybe do it again. Overall the class was alright. Blogging I think was a good idea. I am not much of a writing person but I didn’t mind the blogs.

Overall the class was okay, even though I probably wouldn’t do it again. The people in it were great and I still had fun in the class.

Guest Speaker

Our class guest speaker was Nicky Makris, the owner of Nicky’s Cafe in Regina Saskatchewan. He is a very inspirational and motivating speaker which i think was good for our class. The company has not been doing the greatest and i think that it was good timing that he came and spoke to us. Nicky is obcviously in the food business as well, and he also ttold us his life story and how it was tough at first coming on a boat from Greece at a young age. He really emphasized to follow your dreams, his quote was “tough times never last, but tough people do”. This is very true because just looking back at everything bad that happened in past years, it doesn’t kill you. You will get through it if you just keep going.
Three things that stood out to me during his talk was how he had absolutely in a new country, coming overseas without parents and how successful and determined he is. Knowing from experience that travelling away from home overseas even with a parents is chaotic and stressful, i can’t even imagine doing it by myself. Mr. Makris came over by a boat from Greece with his brother. I can only imagine how hard that would be. A boat which would take much longer than planes now days, would be quite scary to me. Having nothing in a new country and not even being able to speak the same language as them would just make me want to cry! Especially without parents or being with anyone that could help you. Business wise, it would be very difficult as well. Making your base and developing your network would take a very long time and a lot of hard work. I can only imagine how much work he put into this business to become such a ‘place to go’ in Regina. It seems that everywhere he goes people and they all love to talk and to see him.
Someday i hope to be like him in that way. Knowing lots of people that are always willing to help you.

Coda

Coda Clothing always has the Regina community in mind. The founder of the company owes his success to the community and his friends for getting the store going, so he is always willing to give it back. By talking to our class, I think he gave us more motivation which makes us want to do it to the best of our ability.

The founder of Coda grew up in the entrepreneurship world, is father had his own business and his mother had a modelling agency. He grew up and attended the University of Regina taking business for a short amount of time, then went on an exchange to Finland. This made him see how behind Regina’s fashion is compared to the rest of the world. He saw a whole in Regina’s market which made him pursue his dream. He came back to finish his education by receiving a Bachelor degree in Business and a major in Finance.

What I found very interesting about him coming and talking to our class was how giving he was even though he had a very successful business. He was always saying the words community and customer service. Coda is very involved with sponsoring local events. For example the Campbell Gala, MS Society and as well as helping out the Saskatchewan Roughriders by promoting with t-shirts. Another was that Coda has not made it available to purchase clothing online. They have a website and all but no online shopping. What also surprised me was that there is more brands out there than what the other stores in Regina carry, such as Offaxis and Below the Belt.

Our key thing for our own company is customer service. Dealing with people first thing in the morning I can imagine would be stressful at times but we are always going to have to serve them with a smile anyways. If we make a good first impression on people, they will hopefully want to come back. Another way that the Coda company relates to our classroom is an untapped market. He saw a hole in the clothing market, when we see a food hole in Campbell Collegiate High school.

Visit Coda

My first JA company

I would say that yes, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. My entre 30 class is starting a Junior Achievement company that believes this too.

At our school, Campbell Collegiate, there are no breakfast services in the mornings. We have so many sports teams and just a big population in general that needs breakfast before a big day at school. My class has decided to make a business that gives the Campbell popluation a delicious and healthy breakfast. We are trying to make a wide variety so that everyone will enjoy it. I think our goal is to make it look professional, like a place you would want to go look at and see what it is like just because it is new. Our company is all formed with the Vice Presidents and such, except for a name. Hmmm… I really have no idea, maybe First Meal?

Many experiments show that students that eat breakfast in the mornings get better math grades, improved social relations, higher test scores and decreased absences. If you have a big test one day then eat breakfast! It helps improve your memory and stay focused on the task at hand. So why shouldn’t we provide breakfast at school?

Breakfast is the meal that re-fuels your body. It breaks the fast from supper to morning. If you do not eat breakfast it is like running on empty, which means not performing your best and most likely having less energy. Eating breakfast tends to put you in higher spirits too because you are not getting hunger pains throughout the day.

I think that healthy and fast will be the key for making this business successful. By not eating breakfast your metabolism slows down which means gaining 3kg a year. If you do eat a bigger lunch, it is only 2.5 kg. Who wants that when it could be easily prevented by something so simple such as eating a quick something in the mornings?

Breakfast seems to be a novelty idea for Campbell Collegiate we are a school that really supports academics and our students being successful. Our class believes that this will help the students attending the school. I am hoping to see this company do well and maybe even attract outside customers as well.

Ben and Jerry’s

Everyone has heard of Ben and Jerry, but how did homemade ice cream get so big? It is basically like a lemondae stand but everyone does that so why these guys? Well it all started in 1966 when Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield decided that they hate running in gym class, but love to eat. Years after school, their jobs were not working out so well for them. Ben got fired from his job and Jerry failed a second time trying to get into med school. Both of them knew they loved to eat, so depending on their 5 dollar correspondence course in ice cream making, their venture began.
In 1978 their first scoop shop was up and running in a grungy gas station in Burlington Vermont. Everyone that lived in that area gave them attention beacuse the ice cream was so good using fresh Vermont milk and cream. It is said that Ben didn’t have the greatest sense of taste so he needed what is called “mouth feel” and c=because of this bug chunks became their signature which still holds today.
Two months had gone by and they had to close the shop ti figure out if they were making money, and as it turns out, they weren’t. They definitely learned something because they then moved on to selling pints of ice cream out of Ben’s VW campervan.
This venture seems like an opportunity. These guys had a passion for food and made it into money (basically). No one really needed or wanted them to make ice cream besides Ben and Jerry themselves. In Jerry’s words “if it’s not fun, why do it?’.
I like this venture and I am glad that they did it. The venture is still very successful because just last year I was on a cruise and there was Ben and Jerry’s ice cream on the boat. Kinda crazy huh? I think that they were so successful because they had fun doing it with each other and with something that they both loved.

Filthy Water Turned Clean

This video was so interesting! I dont know why someone did not think of this idea sooner. Michael Pritchard was sharing at a conference in Oxford England in July 2009 about his new water filter called ‘Life Saver’. It is inside of a water bottle and you are able to put the filthiest water ever into it and your water will come out clean and completely safe to drink. He thought of the idea in 2004 when the asian tsunami and then after the hurricane that hit New Orleans, inspired him to take action in creating this awesome filter.
The whole idea of having portable water filters of such good quality that is made right now is just so sweet. It would help so many people stay healthy in any country. It is interesting how it seems to be so readily available but I have never seen it until now… a whole year after this conference happened. I love that it is so easy and more inexpensive and logical than the methods we are using now. It’s neat how it wouldn’t just be third world countries using it everyday but also us, in North America and in all of the first world countries. We would use it whenever here were natural disasters but it would probably branch out into normal day use too.
In my opinion, Michael Pritchard is a crazy smart guy. It seems like such a simple idea but it feels like it has taken forever for someone to put it in action. This product will benefit our world hopefully because it doesnt make sense why it wouldnt help everybody. My only questions is where is this product now? I am sure hoping that it surfaces again soon because it is a great investment for our world.

Entrepreneurship 30

Entrepreneurs can change the world.