I'm writing this post as I lay in bed on a Saturday evening. Reflecting on this past week was keeping me up, and the two for one combo of
a) this week's blog still not being finished, and
b) a long week of cramming provides lots of things to think about.
This is the fifth consecutive week of me writing down my thoughts into this short, diary format with the hopes that it helps convey our story to readers like you. Will and I have started a company which has become more than a side project. We are trying to make this our excuse to take control of our own lives and to work for ourselves. That would be "Plan A" of course.
2021 is now in full swing as we march through February, yet our recent efforts in the business have not provided the immediate satisfaction as we have experienced before. Fortunately we are able to recognize that immediate growth and returns are almost certainly not guaranteed. I think my generation (myself included) is plagued with this necessity for instantaneous results, and it can be difficult at times to fight the urge to label things unsuccessful when really it is just going to take some more time. I am no different from the rest of my generation in the sense that I have grown up with the same technology and the same experience, but my leg up might just be my recognition of the impact this has on my perception. The sustainable, long term success of this business requires work that might never be recognized, rewards that might take years to reap, and a constant mentality to keep pushing forward.
As mentioned before, Will and I were crammed this past week putting together, practicing, and submitting snapshots of our business for the 2021 FSU Innolevation Challenge. On Monday and Tuesday we were scrutinizing over our Business Model Canvas. A one page document that maps out many of the most important features of a business. Then for the latter half of the week we worked on a more proper pitch deck, and played with the different styles and flow for our pitch on Friday morning. I've rehearsed for presentations before, but never like what we did this week. I've been fortunate enough to feel confident while presenting or speaking in public, so I have gotten away with just organizing bullet points, and telling the story in the moment. This time felt different though because now I wasn't pitching for a grade, but for myself. We are also competing for a grand prize of $10,000. I told Will I wanted to win back in August, and here we are. Will and I probably have presented that PowerPoint to ourselves, to our families, and to our friends at least 50 times. I think that we did a fantastic job. Those 50 or so rounds through were every reason for me feeling this good about our presentation. We were able to solve the redundancies, the incoherencies, the abrupt transitions, and ultimately tell the best story we could.
But it still could've been better.
Fortunately we have the opportunity to take this really good presentation and make it amazing. Like throw the prize money at us right then and there amazing. This past Friday was the semi final round, and we are hoping to move on and present again in the finals sometime in the near future. We are going to continue to chip away at telling our story the best way we can.
After all of this, there is still work to be done. We have our different responsibilities with school, clubs, friends, family, etc. The business must keep moving though. I think our goals for the week are to reassess our efforts in the social media sphere, try to hook some influencers to be a part of our new affiliate marketing program, to distribute our prizes from our recent Instagram contest, and to make some damn sales!
Long week, another one up ahead. Let’s keep moving forward.
-Jon