Today I learned about many different types of orders in the stock markets. Although there are a lot of them and a lot to keep track of, this was really useful and helpful information. Then I learned a lot about building a profitable social media page. It was especially interesting hearing how much other social media content creators were able to make. Although I am not very interested in being a content creator, the information was helpful in realizing that there are so many ways to help grow your business online. I would definitely post about my business on apps like Instagram, because I've seen how profitable this can be through today's lesson.
One of the first things I learned was the importance of being kind to everyone you work with no matter what job they do in the business. You never know where someone's input could influence your future, so it's important to be consistently kind to the people you meet. It's also important to listen to what people are interested in and to go back to those points. Another thing I thought was important for being a good salesman is that you shouldn't assume that everyone will like you or your idea; instead it's important to take every turn down as room for you to grow. I love learning new negotiation tactics, and it's great that a lesson today is to be mindful of how much you talk in negotiations. I agree that this influences they way other people feel about the confidence you have in your deal. I also learned to sell the benefits of a product instead of just talking about the features. This definitely goes with the lesson on giving value first in a proposition.
I ended today learning about different types of stocks. This is really interesting to me as I start to invest and I'm definitely interested in continuing this learning.
First I learned about different types of freelance writing. Freelance writing definitely isn't an interest of mine, but I was glad to learn about the different types, and at the most, typist work is something that I would consider. I also learned a lot about data entry jobs and what they entail. Today I got a lot of resources about how to make money online through different types of research and paid study opportunities. Overall, I really enjoyed learning about freelance work and business analysts. The freelance lessons got me interested in different types of freelance outside of writing and others mentioned, for example, freelance investigation work. I also really enjoyed learning about business analysts because it is a job that I've never been able to really understand.
learned about the pros and cons of data entry, i also learned about freelance writing
I learned about how to get money to fund a startup. One lesson is that it is important to not be cheap, especially with expenses that will directly affect your customers, like toilet paper or lighting. It is however, as important to be efficient and lean with your expenses. I heard about how overbuying on items you're not sure will be used completely can negatively affect profit.
One thing I didn't know about angel investors is that they would normally want 20x in investment returns. That number seems intimidating at first without thinking about the possibilities of the business growing exponentially or M&A. I liked that we got to know how to identify a good angel investor for your product. I learned to find the investor you want, introduce yourself and talk about a common interest. Then let them come to you and ask about your business idea.
I learned about what happens to shares during capital raise when ownership is diluted, and in another video, I learned to ensure that the investor you will work with long-term is a good personality match for you.
A tip I learned is that it's good two have 2 to 3 business partners- you're unlikely to get investments if it's only one person. You need dedicated partners and their full time efforts.
It was really interesting to learn how an actual company determined how much they were going to pay some employees-even when that number was higher than their own salaries.
Today I learned about obtaining funding for a startup. I did not know that there were so many costs involved with creating a startup like all of the employee costs, insurance, and many building expenses. One thing I would like to learn more about are the employee costs that you need, like whether or not you are required to pay for certain things like insurance or other benefits. I didn't know that there was insurance that is recommended for businesses to get if an employee gets hurt accidentally (I thought it was only for the employee), so this was all very interesting.
I learned about different things to think about when renting a space, like whether or not the floor needs to be redone or walls need to come down, you need to think about different hazards like fire hazards/code when you're renting. I learned that another thing to keep in mind is that you may not be able to do certain things with the space your leasing without permission from your landlord. Another thing is that you need to know who to call if you need repairs, whether or not the issue is within your unit or not. Security is important with leasing a space as well, and for your storage as well. The video ended talking about the importance of reviewing your lease, because different tricks can be used to make things harder for the tenant. Overall, I liked learning about this topic because I would have assumed that most of the renovations and items needed for the unit would have been provided by the landlord.
Today I ended learning about how to brand your business. I started off in the sections learning about Executive Summaries. One thing I took from this section was to have one main takeaway from each section of the business plan in the executive summary, and to make sure that the business plan is written first. Something I hadn't thought of including in my executive summary was an ask for funding (or capital), so I will make sure to include that in planning. I learned a lot about business names, and I would have googled my business name to look for duplicates but I never would have thought to use social media to search for duplicate/similar names as well, so that was a really useful point. A lot goes into trademarks with business names and this is something that I will have to pay close attention to. I hadn't realized that there was such a focus on catching these issues business to business. I also got great tips on creating a business name to make sure it is tailored to my business, and therefore less likely to be a duplicate.
I learned a lot about revenue streams and customers for different markets. I learned that it's a good idea to have multiple revenue streams, which goes back to earlier points about making sure you have a backup plan just in case of major losses. One thing I hadn't thought about before was to not only calculate your own costs, but to calculate the cost of sales and profit for your competitor in the market. That seems like a great idea to make yourself a stronger competitor. I also learned about the importance of taking time when hiring people and making sure the people you hire can do the work asked of them. From the video about how to influence people, I took away that you need to know what the person values to influence them, and I also had not thought about this before. A new phrase I learned about today is inventive culture and I never thought about it terms of a company like Amazon. When I think of Amazon, I usually think of many sellers and customers and just that exchange of items and pay, so it was interesting to see another side of Amazon in that their team is always looking for new ways to serve customers and generate revenue.
Today I learned about the importance of models and the importance of having more than one. What I read today also reiterated the need to know your input and costs before going and creating the product. Something new I thought about was to make sure to know how many customers you will need for profit before you start, because this will help you determine if your business will be successful. I also heard a lot about making sure to let people know about your business idea so they can point out potential problems before they arise. Another video I watched today was about common profit models and how a profit model may be different depending on your type of product. It was really interesting to learn about creating a business model and this information made the idea of creating my own business much less daunting.
Today I watched and read content in the business models section. An interesting thing I learned about whether or not your startup will actually sell was the dollarization principle. I had not heard of this before and I thought that it was a great way to think about making sure that the customers are receiving a value and the business is profiting at the same time. The examples about how everything you put forward, like janitors, for your business has value were also points that stuck with me. I thought that this tied into taking into account your cost of sales for the business. Something else I remember was that you don't want to just start making a product without doing research into the idea to make sure that there actually exists a market for that product.
Today I learned about giving great presentations, entrepreneurial skills, starting a new business, and why it is important to know what resources you need for a minimally viable product. For presentations, the video had a lot of great information about how to keep the audience engaged when presenting. Some of the information I had heard before like keeping the words on slides to a minimum and making sure to face the audience instead of the board. Some new things I learned were to not stand too far from the slides, how to end the slides of a presentation without something like 'the end' or 'conclusions,' and ways to end your speaking that are not 'thank you.'
For the skills for entrepreneurship, I thought that the ability to learn was the most important one because this ability will be useful throughout the process of building a business. The entrepreneur vlogs were helpful to see because it shows how busy their lives can get, but also how much they each enjoy the businesses they had created.
Something else I took away from today's learning that I hadn't heard before was about a minimally viable product, or MVP. I hadn't heard of this term, and after knowing what it meant it made sense learning that it's important for you to have enough resources for the product so that you can sustain the business until you reach profit.
Today I learned about selecting the right market for your product and how to become a good leader. The beachhead market video taught me the differences between small/medium enterprises and bigger innovation level companies. I had never thought about the differences in outcome, job opportunities, and success for these different types of companies, or even how to choose which best fits your product, so this was very interesting to watch. I also learned a lot about attributes and distinguishing qualities of leaders. One thing that jumped out to me was about making sure to have good habits for successful leadership. This shows how your personal life choices present themselves outwards so I thought it was a great point. The video about making sure that you are the type of leader that steps up to help others was also very important, and it was helpful to think of myself in that situation and see what I would've done.
I started the Entrepreneurship & Leadership unit and got through to the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. I had never really thought about who counts as an entrepreneur and this was one of the first things I learned. I remember a video talking about a person who not only has an idea, but instead of handing the idea to a business right from the start, this person incurs the financial cost of the business and sees to its success- this makes them an entrepreneur. It was also really interesting to hear words of advice from different millionaires. One thing that I took away was the importance of having passion for your product to make sure that your ideas are fruitful for a long time, not just at the beginning. From today's learning, I also understood that as much as passion and commitment are important, so is an entrepreneur's expertise/understanding of the industry they are in, or their willingness to learn.