Progress Update

My $100 business challenge is going well!  Juliet is a joy to take care of.  Originally I was going to charge my friend $25 a week to take care of Juliet, but she pays me $30!  I really like being able to help my friend by offering low-cost child care – Juliet is so easy to take care of and I know that my friend doesn’t have much money.  She is a part-time teacher while her husband finishes school, so their income is somewhat limited.  I feel like I am making a positive influence in their lives by helping them to save more money and work while knowing their child is in loving care while they are away.  Sometimes I wonder if I should even charge them at all, but I need to make at least $100 for the assignment!

Also during this week, I was able to learn about different leadership styles and what style I tend to use.  I am a delegating, democratic type of leader.  This doesn’t surprise me at all!  I always want the input of others when making decisions – I never want to feel like I’m imposing my own decisions on everyone else.  Dictating others has never been my style, but I could probably use some more decisiveness and persuasiveness in my leadership style.

I also learned a little about an entrepreneur named Russ Rosenzweig.  In a video, he shared some important insights about targeting a specific market.  He and his new company struggled at first because they were trying to market to the world rather than a target market.  Once they narrowed in on a focused market, they were able to achieve success.  This is an important thing to note, because I can see how tempting it could be to market to everyone and anyone possible!  But without a lack of focus, we lack the ability to market effectively.  I also loved his thoughts on material wealth and acquiring possessions.  As he experienced wealth, he realized he accumulated more and continually wanted more and more.  But his experience in India opened his perspective and he realized that there is so much more than accumulating material wealth and possessions – life should have meaning and purpose.  Rather than focusing on external sources of happiness or success, such as acquiring material wealth and possessions, we should focus on our internal source of happiness and success.  As we do so, we can help improve the world and make it a better place.

Rising Stars Update

Taking care of Juliet is still going well!  She only needs part-time care, which is great for me since I still have homework and housework to do.  I think that if I went further with my daycare idea, I’d probably want to try to have older kids.  While I love babies and I love taking care of Juliet, little babies require a lot of attention and care.  Older kids (2 and older) are better able to play and entertain themselves and don’t require as much hands-on care.  Plus, it’s easier to play with group activities and interact with everyone when they’re a little older.  But babies do take lots of naps, so that is a baby bonus.  If I wanted to expand, I could hire someone to help me (like my husband) and that way someone could focus on baby care and the other person could take care of the older kids.

I made a 5-year financial forecast for a different class using my daycare idea.  I think that it could be extremely successful with minimal expenses!  My husband could easily quit his job to help me and we’d be doubling our income if we had 16 kids enrolled!  I looked into licensing requirements and 16 is the most we could take care of together.  But we could always hire a helper if we wanted to take care of even more!  There are different types of home daycare licenses – a home care provider, such as myself, or a family child care provider, which would be my husband and I.  There are pros and cons to each type as they do have their differences.  But I think it would be most advantageous to register a family daycare!

Elevator Pitches!

This week I was able to try my hand at elevator pitches!  I recorded more than I can count (mostly due to Jasper’s ‘help’).  But writing and delivering elevator pitches helped me to clearly identify who my target market is, what makes my services different from my competition, and how I plan on being successful. 

Furthermore, I have recruited a sweet baby to join my daycare 3-4 days a week!  I’m friends with her mom, so I didn’t want to charge her my planned price, but I will still bring in some revenues anyway.  Jasper loves this baby – she tries to take care of her, covers her with blankies, feeds her bottles, gives her pacifiers, shows her toys, and talks to her.  It’s so fun to watch them interact.  They are almost exactly a year apart, so Jasper is gaining some valuable “big sister” experience!

I  also learned about Phil Romano, an incredible artist and entrepreneur.  I absolutely love his creativity, enthusiasm, and passion (and Macaroni Grill!) – he incorporates these things into so many parts of his life.  He shows a focus on serving and helping others while success is simply a result of doing so.  I love that he doesn’t stick with just one thing for a long time – he moves forward and creates something new.  I can definitely relate to that mentality – I find myself feeling bored or claustrophobic when I am doing the same thing for too long.  I need to always be experiencing different things or trying something new.  I feel like life has so much to offer, but we must be willing to accept the different opportunities we have rather than remaining content within one opportunity.  Sometimes I feel limited in my opportunities or what I can pursue since I am married and have a baby to take care of, but Romano helped me feel more able to do what I want to do – life a life full of new experiences and following my passions in life – even with a family. 

Business Funding!

This week I was able to fund my business for the $100.00 Challenge!  I decided to fund my business using personal capital.  I chose this because I have the sufficient funds to invest and I won’t need to pay anyone back or owe any interest.  I considered asking some family members to contribute $5/each with a promise to pay them back $8/each, but I figured that if I have my own $20 to use, I might as well and not have to worry about owing anyone!  So I have my $20 bill available to buy the supplies I need for my daycare business!  I will be using the $20 to buy snacks (Goldfish, fruit snacks, juice – $10), Clorox wipes to keep things sanitary ($5), and hand wipes to keep little hands clean ($5).

I arranged an interview with an entrepreneur as well as learned about a couple of entrepreneurs.  The entrepreneurs I learned about are Desh Deshpande and Ken Zolot.  Both of these entrepreneurs have wonderful lessons to share. They both had to overcome their own, personal challenges.   I was very impressed with Dr. Deshpande’s ability to become a successful entrepreneur after immigrating to the USA with only $8!  It shows that hard work, creativity, and the right attitude can overcome even the most difficult challenges or barriers.  I loved what Dr. Deshpande said about optimism – his positive outlook inspires me to be more optimistic in my own life.  My husband watched these videos with me, and he feels quite certain that luck was a part of Dr. Deshpande’s success.  He thinks that there are a lot of people who don’t have many resources who still work hard and use their creativity, but don’t experience success.  Perhaps Dr. Deshpande’s optimistic attitude attracted good luck?  Ken Zolot shared his experiences about how curiosity can feel like an asset as well as a hindrance at the same time.  But using one’s curiosity and creativity in meaningful ways can create wonderful innovation and success.  Zolot was able to show me that it’s ok to not conform to institutions – we need to be comfortable with ourselves and who we are.