Week 8 Reading Reflection

     In chapter 8 of Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, and Practice I was surprised and interested to learn about all the types of financing that goes into starting a business. Before reading this chapter, I wasn’t very familiar with the process of how to get millions of dollars worth of investors or how to even get a loan. I think overall this chapter was very informational and kind of an eye opener of what it really takes to start your own business besides coming up with a creative marketable idea.

     I found a large portion of this chapter to be confusing, specifically the sections on financing sources, angel investors, and private placement. I think that after I take my first finance course that I would be able to understand the reading a little bit better because right now it felt like they were throwing a bunch of words at me and I wasn’t comprehending them.

     I would be interested in knowing a little more about angel investors. It’s a term I’ve never heard of before and since I found that section of the reading to be confusing, it would be interesting to read it explained in a different way. Another thing I would be interested in knowing is what is the best way to get people to invest in your company. When I was looking at the figure on page 210, Kuratko makes it look easy to get more than $10K from friends and family than $100K from Angles.

     For this reading, I didn’t disagree with any particular part of the reading but like last week I think that’s mostly from my lack of previous knowledge on the topic. This is another chapter that I think would be interesting to read after I take a financing class.

Half-way Reflection

     I’ve never had a problem with time management or procrastination before this class, so I can’t say that this class has taught me to better manage my time. When I first saw the syllabus for this class and learned about the numerous assignments that I would have to complete I decided to set one day, early in the week, aside to complete the assignments for the week. Since I only have one class and one volunteering commitment on Tuesdays, I set aside Tuesdays to complete all of the assignment due for the week. I normally just save them in a Word document until it gets closer to the due date in case something is said in class that makes me have to change the way I did something or to just tweak a couple of things here and there before I submit the assignment.

     There hasn’t ever been a moment that I’ve felt like giving up and that may be because I’ve been on top of the assignments throughout the semester thus far. There has definitely been an assignment, here and there, that I haven’t felt like doing but the fact is that you just have to do it if you want the point(s).  I’ve never given up in any of my classes before, mostly because the thought of dropping a class scares me, which makes me think that I’ve always had a tenacious attitude toward the things I do. Honestly, I think the one thing that gets me through most of my classes is the fact that I’ll be one step closer to doing what I want with my life.

     Some tips:

     Before you sign up for this class, ask yourself why you’re going to take it. I originally signed up for the class because, as a general business major, it was one of the few that I didn’t have to wait until after advance registration for. But with that aside, within the first week I learned how valuable it would be for me to have an entrepreneurial mindset for what I want to do later on. You only want to take this class if you know that there’s something you’re going to get out of it because this will make you more motivated to complete the assignments. Work ahead and submit your assignments on time, I find it extremely satisfying when things get crossed off on my calendar on canvas. Know that it’s okay to fail. You might come up with a business idea early on in the semester and find through the peer reviews that no one likes your idea, just know that the next week you can completely change your idea or just tweak a few things. This is one of the few classes where it’s okay to not get it right the first few tries.

A cute photo of my cats