Category: Entrepreneurship

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My Experience Running a Business

Last semester, August 2021 to December 2021, I was in an Entrepreneur class called E-Commerce. The class focused on starting a business and selling a product in-person and online. I was on a team of four people, and we created Geodesy Bracelets, personalized, hand-stamped bracelets to help you remember your favorite place or phrase.

At the beginning of the class, every student pitched an idea and the class would choose their top five favorite ideas and form teams based on those ideas. As my team formed, we had an idea for the bracelets and assumed that it would be easy to make and good for people to buy. We wanted to have a metal oval with coordinates or words stamped on it, with multicolored cords to wrap around the wrist. We ordered all the needed materials and made the prototype, only to see that we did not like anything about it. We kept asking ourselves, “Who is going to buy this bracelet? There’s no way they’re going to want to spend more than $3 on this.” We faced a problem of having the prototype look and feel of low-quality. We could not figure out how else we could stamp coordinates or words and almost came up with an entirely different business idea. We all had to decide if we wanted to do a new business idea or pivot from our original idea. We decided to stick with our original idea, and we pivoted a lot from it, which only made our products better quality and more popular to customers. As we made our products, we created a website and social media accounts to allow customers to shop all of the products, read customers’ stories, and stay updated about sales. At the end of the semester, my group donated all of our profits to a Christian summer camp, Summer’s Best Two Weeks, which allows young athletes to live in community with each other and grow in their faith. We had personal connections to Summer’s Best Two Weeks, which made us work harder to help get more donations!

My experience with Geodesy Bracelets has been awesome, and I loved the class. The class allowed me to run a business in a short time and see the behind the scenes of it. I learned a lot about working with a team and discovering different ways to pivot when faced with a challenge. Starting a business is very time consuming and at times, it feels like it is not worth it. However, this class showed me that running a business is worth all the time and effort. Why? It is because you hear customer’s stories of why they purchased from your business or what their customized order meant to them.

When looking at different classes to take at Grove City College, whatever major you are, this class gives you a real-world experience of running your own business. It has been one of my favorite classes that I have taken.

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What Is Entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship. What does that word even mean? To some it may conjure thoughts of innovation and business, while others might think of classes where a scammer teaches customers how to make a successful career by pretending to have said successful career. Unfortunately, the latter of these two is far too common nowadays, so I thought I would clear the air and describe what the Grove City College Entrepreneurship major consists of for anyone who (understandably) may not know what it is all about. Here are three different areas of education you will experience if you choose to study entrepreneurship.

1. Idea Generation

The first type of class you will run into as an Entrepreneurship major are classes that deal with the beginnings of businesses and how good ideas come to be. Believe it or not, since there are so many products and services already out there, coming up with a decent idea for a business that has not already been done can be quite challenging. These classes, which include Entrepreneurial Mind and Lean Launchpad, are perfect examples of classes that help students hone their venture generation skills. In Entrepreneurial Mind, students will learn about how to think of the need a product fixes before anything else, and in Lean Launchpad students will take the lessons learned from Entrepreneurial Mind and apply them in a Shark Tank like situation.

2. Business Core

The second group of classes students take in the Entrepreneurship major consists of the business core. These are your typical college business classes such as finance, accounting, and marketing. Although these may not be as exciting as other entrepreneurial classes, the importance of this curriculum cannot be understated and is a necessity for any student interested in entering the world of business after they graduate.

3. Entrepreneurial Effectuation

The last set of classes Entrepreneurship majors will take are the upper level capstone courses. It is hard to describe these classes succinctly, but if I had to choose one word, I would choose effectuation, the concept of using your own skill set and connections to create opportunities where you can reduce risk and produce a more consistent outcome. In other words, effectuation is where entrepreneurial ideas and reality meet. A good example of this would be to think back to when you were a teenager. You probably had some big ideas of what you wanted to do, but did not have the tools to do so. If you had a lawn mower, you might have done what you could with the tools you had and mowed lawns as your summertime job. That is entrepreneurial effectuation. As you grow older, you will learn more skills and your tool set will increase, but in reality some business ventures will be out of your reach, or at least way harder to produce than an opportunity that is at your fingertips. For these classes, expect a lot of presenting, writing, and real-life work in classes such as Business Planning and Healthcare Innovation, where Grove City College partners with a pharmaceutical company to provide students with job experience.

 

I hope this post helped you understand what classes make up the Entrepreneurship major at Grove City College. If you have other questions, or would like to find out more, feel free to check out the Entrepreneurship department website here. Whereas this post was about the classes of the major, the website will show you more of the events that the Entrepreneurship Department holds. If you are interested in a business major where you can express your creative side, I highly recommend you look into entrepreneurship.

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I Recorded a Music Video in Haiti

This past summer, I spent two beautiful weeks in Deschappelles, Haiti. The heat was intense, the people were very relaxed (as is common with islanders), and art was incorporated into mostly everywhere one could look. From the sides of buildings to the sounds of street musicians, I relished in the aestheticism of this country.

This country of Haiti, although severely impoverished, was rich with creativity. I experienced this fierce and natural creative spirit most when I met Pasky.

I had met this young man, 24 years of age, at the local tennis court. Being an avid tennis player myself, I would stop at the tennis courts at least once a day to play the town’s best hitters. It was titillating to barely be able to communicate with many villagers, but nonetheless exchange forehand, backhands, and serving strokes.

Pasky and I shared a match, and a few days later, he saw me walking around town with my big camera taking pictures of the area’s tree reforestation program (my reason for traveling to Haiti).

Pasky walked on over to me and said, in broken English, “Mark, will you please take a music video of me?”

I responded, “Pasky, you’re a rapper?”

He said “Oui, oui.” (meaning yes, yes).

It was natural that I accepted the challenge, even though I had not used video editing software since high school. I traveled to the country to help Haitians and this was my opportunity, one which could not have been more directly offered to me.

So, we set to record the next day. Pasky showed up wearing quirky and colorful rural costume of sorts, and had brought his friends from the tennis courts as his personal hype-men. So, we set forth, me recording, Pasky singing, and his friends joking and suggesting different dance moves to their rapper-friend. I was very grateful to be able to record what I think of as a pure manifestation of Haitian culture that developed before me.

We had a blast hitting up different spots around town and having random members of the community get involved, all while having good fun.

My personal favorite part of the video is the last minute, where the music fades out and you can only hear the raw noises of the excited Haitians. The country has an amazing culture, represented by this final part of the film clip.

The day before I left, Pasky gave me a nice present. It turns out, he’s an excellent pencil artist as well! Here is the portrait he created with myself as his inspiration to show thanks for me agreeing to give him his hour or so of fame…  he even depicted me showing peace!

Indeed, I loved the country, and now, looking back, I love the simple and pure memory of the video-recording experience. I look forward to going back to Haiti and meeting Pasky, my friend, at the cement tennis court in the heart of Deschappelles.

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Favorite Aspects of Grove City College – The Professors

It is normal to have professors you might not connect as well with, but when you find ones that you can really relate to, it can be extremely meaningful. I was lucky to know a few before starting college, since my parents are alumni, and create new relationships that developed further over the past four years.

Specifically, my advisor, Dr. Miller, has been a wonderful mentor, teacher, and friend to me. I do not allow myself to go to her office when I have homework to do because well, we end up talking about anything and everything for hours. I am thankful to have someone to relate to in terms of my major courses along with career aspirations; Dr. Miller knows specifically how to help me relate college classes into the real world. Her knowledge of professional and personal communication makes her the experienced, relatable professor she is to her students.  When I finished scheduling for my senior year, she said to me, “Taylor, you know that you already completed your major and do not have to take those two Communication classes in the spring with me, right?” I know that I did not “need” the classes, but I was more than happy to take them as electives since she would be my professor. She is that great.

I have appreciated professors that go out of their way to help me with classes, projects, personal issues, or future opportunities while considering my individual passions and hobbies. Professor Sweet is another example of someone that is always connecting students to different possibilities, like post-college careers or campus opportunities. His love for helping small businesses and others shows in his teaching, along with one-on-one relationships with students. Professor Sweet has helped me dive into new projects that I would have been uncomfortable with otherwise and increase my internet knowledge to advance my personal career path. I have also enjoyed having back-to-back classes with him, entertaining the class with embarrassing and funny jokes or stories that he somehow relates back to our specific class discussion.

Besides professors of classes I have, I love the overall kindness from any employee of the College. Women’s basketball coach Chelle Fuss was introduced to me from my mom’s years of involvement with the basketball team. Since then, Fuss has opened her life to me to be someone I can turn to in times of difficulty, need for advice, or to simply enjoy her company. Going to her office several times a week to talk and catch-up on each other’s activities has been such a positive addition to my time at school. Fuss also has helped me build my photography portfolio by incorporating me with the basketball team and photographing their weekly games.

With these being only a few of the awesome relationships I have formed at Grove City College, I could not be more thankful for the amazing people to educate, guide, and grow with me in my four years.

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Interview Advice from Keystone Ridge Designs

The interview process can be a stressful time for anyone, especially when one is unsure of what to expect upon entering. Heather Starcher is Vice President of Keystone Ridge Designs, a company that manufacturers site furniture, and has been working in the business world for over 20 years. In her experience with interviewing, especially with students from Grove City College, she has focused on aspects that strongly affect an interview, positively or negatively. “Remember, they are hiring you to help their company. So they want to know what you bring to the table, how you can be an impact and help them succeed. They don’t want to hear from you ‘this is what I want’,” Heather said.

Followed by her few statements, employees Dave Starcher and Angela Maloney gave insight from their involvement with being both the interviewer and the interviewee.

Interview Advice from Director of Sales of Keystone Ridge Designs, Dave Starcher:

  1. Be prepared. Know the company and be prepared to ask questions that prove that you have done your research.
  2. Be yourself. Remember that you are interviewing the company just as much as they are interviewing you. Figure out if the company’s culture would be a fit for you. Ask what a typical day might look like or who are the team members with whom you would most often interact?
  3. Ask about the future. What could be worse than taking a job with a company that is about to fail?! Ask about their vision and how they foresee the future. What are they doing better than their competition to ensure success? Are there plans to spin-off other sister companies? How much are they growing?

Interview Advice from Director of Marketing of Keystone Ridge Designs, Angela Maloney:

  1. Take notes.
  2. Have good questions ready for whenever the interviewer says “What questions do you have for us?”
  3. Always ask for next steps at the end of the interview to show you are truly committed and want the job.
  4. Follow up. Thank you emails and notes help keep you top of mind and show your ability to follow through.
  5. Don’t ask about money in a first interview.
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Student Spotlight: Patty Jo Nickoloff

Patricia Nickoloff, who goes by “Patty Jo” Nickoloff, is always found with a big smile on her face that radiates happiness. Patty Jo is a freshman here at Grove City College, belonging in the Alpha Beta Tau sorority, a member of the Newman Club, taking part in the radio show, and playing rugby in her free time. She is double majoring in Communication Studies and Visual Arts and Entrepreneurship, along with a minor in International Studies. The majors she chose were what she had prepared to do in college, but her minor was unexpected as she realized how much she loves using her majors on a more global level.

Patty Jo dreams of working for an organization or magazine that focuses on worldwide missions, where she would help nonprofits operate more efficiently. The love she had for her Public Speaking, Spanish, and Entrepreneurship and Mission of the Church classes show her overall focus on her future direction. Professor Pritchard and Doctora Tinkey are teachers that impacted her mindset to give guidance to her passions.

Freshman year has been exciting and full of fun so far for Patty Jo. She appreciates the new and different atmosphere, as well as the support from the rest of the people at the school toward the new freshmen. “Everyone just wants to help you figure it all out and the want to introduce you to everything they love about GCC,” she said.

She enjoys the Department of Communication and Visual Arts because of the steps they take to send out opportunities for the students that help to expand the skills they already have. Patty Jo loves learning about languages and cultures, so she looks forward to more of her international studies classes. Having classes that teach her to think outside the box, show how businesses work, and how to be different but relevant are great preparation for real life experiences. Having the majors she has provides a wonderful source of relatability and understanding, not just during her class times but outside in her personal life.

“I’m passionate about art in all its forms. That’s why communication is great because art is all about communicating ideas. I love the history of the world and how things came to be, that’s where the international studies comes in.  I love new ideas.  Creating new and amazing things which is why entrepreneurship is a great major as well,” Patty Jo said.

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Entrepreneurship from the Heart

Mark Sotomayor is a sophomore Entrepreneurship major at Grove City College. He is a tennis player, a member of the American Marketing Association, the Innovation Club, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. While Mark is heavily involved on campus, his creativity and hard work has placed him in a position to positively impact the environment around the world. With Grove City College’s support and standard of excellence, Mark has developed the Té Amo tea company as a means to reforest Haiti. With the catchy slogan, “Buy a Tea, Plant a Tree,” Mark has made massive strides in making his dream a reality.

Mark originally came up with the idea to sell bottled tea because he grew up drinking his grandmother’s special 30-year-old Peruvian recipe and wanted to share it with others. This past September his mother encouraged him to utilize his Grove City College entrepreneurship experience to take his tasty tea from the pitcher to the shelves. In six months, Mark and his team have been able to successfully brand Té Amo and have partnered with nine stores in which they sell!

When interviewing Mark about how he made all of this possible he commented how thankful he is to have a mother that keeps the business up and running while he focuses on his studies. He also noted the impact that the College has had on his business. “The entrepreneurship department has recently ‘stretched my entrepreneurial muscles’, so to speak, by challenging me and my team member, Ryan Budnik, to make the product better. I am more of a ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ type of guy, and industry research isn’t my strong suit – so by being forced to research about the ready-to-drink tea market, I am becoming a much more well-rounded business owner/entrepreneur.” With so many people coming alongside Mark to answer questions and provide encouragement, Mark hopes to develop tea bags and eventually sell in Sheetz and Whole Foods. He exclaimed, “It will take years, but I’m pumped for the journey!”

If you have any questions about Té Amo or would like to purchase the refreshing tea, you can head to www.BuyATeaPlantATree.com.

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Reel Life at Grove City College: A Chat with Mark, Founder of Té Amo

Mark is an Entrepreneurship major at Grove City College and the founder of Té Amo Organic Tea. This socially conscious venture donates a percentage of its proceeds to plant trees in Haiti. For every tea bottle sold, Té Amo promises to plant one tree.

On this episode of Reel Life at Grove City College, I sat down with Mark to ask him about his business, the professors who inspired him, and the classes that helped him along his journey. Mark’s college experience is an adventure filled with risk and reward. By listening to his story, I hope you get the sense that college students can take many paths toward success, even toward entrepeneurial success, while still attending classes in a four year program.

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Law School Applications: Constant Support

Law School Applications

As a senior at Grove City College I am preparing to graduate and am applying to law schools. At first this process seemed similar to applying to colleges, but I soon realized that I was wrong – when I was applying to colleges every teacher in my high school knew the process and was able to assist me, but not everyone knows how law school functions or how the application process works.

One day I was talking to one of my entrepreneurship professors about how I felt like I was floating along in this confusing process, and he offered to connect me with his son-in-law, a recent law school graduate and a Grove City College alum. He sent me his son-in-law’s contact information and I set up a time for a phone call. This was an incredibly helpful conversation that gave me direction in the application and decision process – I am still receiving advice from my professor’s son-in-law and am so thankful for this connection.

My professor also suggested I contact one of the professors who teaches law classes at Grove City College, as well as the president of our college, President Paul J. McNulty. I was hesitant to contact both of these men – they did not know me, and certainly they were very busy.  I did email both of them, though, and both of them responded with offers to meet with me to help me feel grounded and succeed in this process. The law professor was tremendously helpful in making me feel like I was capable of succeeding in this process and helped me to gain the confidence to continue on with my applications.

Meeting with President McNulty was a great experience. He is a very knowledgeable man and knows a lot about how the field of law works. At first I was intimidated to contact him because of his high position at the College, but then I thought about how many times I had seen him in the dining hall with students and how friendly he was in each of his interactions. I am so glad that I did email him, though, because he scheduled a meeting with me very quickly and offered great advice. Our meeting was informative and comfortable.

Several of my professors and supervisors at Grove City College have graciously written recommendation letters for me, as well, and though I am sure that none of them needed another thing on their to-do lists they all seemed to be excited for me and genuinely happy to support my applications.

These experiences have convinced me that Grove City College is truly a tremendous community and was the best decision I could have made for where to go to college. Each of the people I have spoken to have been very helpful and very willing to assist me – even the president of the college is accessible to students.

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Jobs on Campus: Can I be a TA as an Undergrad?

Teaching Assistant at Grove City College

Typically at large universities Teaching Assistants, or TAs, are graduate students who assist with undergraduate classes. But we do not have graduate programs at Grove City College, so do we have TAs?

Yes, we do. There are many classes at Grove City College that are assisted by one or more TAs, especially classes with hands-on, practical experiences. As an Entrepreneurship and English major I have more experience with these two departments than the others at the College, but both departments offer opportunities for students to assist their professors. The Entrepreneurship department has more opportunities for students to become TAs, whereas the English department has more opportunities for students to be Student Assistants.

I will go over the basic differences between TAs and Student Assistants here, but check out my post about being a Student Assistant if you are curious about that side of things. The major difference between a Teaching Assistant and a Student Assistant is that a Teaching Assistant typically assists with a specific class, and often works both with their supervising professor as well as closely with the students in that class, while a Student Assistant typically works behind the scenes with their supervising professor, and not necessarily with other students. There are many opportunities for both kinds of positions at Grove City College.

If you are a TA, you are likely a TA for a specific class that you have taken before and done well in. In my experience as a student in classes with a TA and as a TA myself, TAs will typically work closely with students in and out of class to help them understand the course material and to understand and complete assignments well and on time. There are often TAs for science classes with labs, and in the Entrepreneurship department there are often TAs for classes that require extensive group work and practical applications of skills.

The great thing about this position is that it is very easy to fit into your schedule. Generally TAs attend regular class periods for the class they are working in, so it is important to not schedule another class at this time. Other than this, however, most of a TA’s job can be done on their own time, or during meetings set up with students in the class.

This past semester I was a TA for an Entrepreneurship class in which students are put into teams and then compete in an online business simulation throughout the semester. I regularly attended class meetings and met with the professor on a semi-regular, as-needed basis. I also met with various teams from the class throughout the week in order to answer questions, assist in game strategy, and work through team dynamics.  Due to the flexible nature of these meetings, I would work anywhere from 3-10 hours a week in this position, based on if a major assignment for the class was due, if teams needed help with their dynamics, or how busy I was in my classes.

Many Grove City College students are a TA at some point in their time at the school, and it is certainly possible to be a TA as an undergraduate.