Last Post

During this 200 hours of mentorship I have learned a lot. My posts may not reflect that as much, but that is because of how different my mentorship really was. As of this moment I have not received my evaluation, but am hoping it comes back great. This mentorship gave me the tools to do what I ultimately want to do. I have already been apart of a successful fantasy sports website and expanding it into fundraising and stuff of that nature is my next plan. Whatever I do I want to enjoy it and I believe that is the key to life.

Fifth Post

So since I had to interview someone who failed as a business owner my mentor thought it would be wise to interview somebody who had succeeded as a business owner. I chose a friend of the family whose name is Sinthya Penn.

Sinthya Penn started a business from nothing and it is a prettty unique business. She sells insects to farmers for biological control. This really means that good bugs eat the bad bugs without using pesticides.

I found out that she never even wrote a business plan, but she just had an idea in her head and went with it. Luckily she had investors lined up who believed in her and the concept. She has taken on many other ventures in her life including owning a race horse, farming, and many more.

Her main piece of advice for me was " the product you chose to sell does not have to be orginal. but the ideas behind the concept has to be original. So make your marketing new and you will do fine"

Fourth Post

Sorry guys, I have been busy moving across the country and I know live in California. The weather is so much nicer here than in South Dakota. Like I have been saying my internship is a little different than most of yours.

Dr. Millar had me interview a person who has had success in opening their own business and a person who has not had any success since opening their business. I actually had a couple friends that fulfilled both of these requests.

Matthew Pauley started his buisness in 2007 and its name was Pauley's Productions. His business was located in Canada because he was able to receive grants from the Canadian Government because he was a citizen.

Matt's idea was to do production type of business tools for companys. His biggest hit was making videos of golf courses and uploading it to their websites so people could actually see the golf course before they went. Also, it allowed for expert "advice" to come through the GPS that was located on the golf carts. He also ended up doing video handbooks for companys that wanted to take their teachings into a new era.

I asked a series of questions and found out that the part the really got him in trouble was not doing enough market research before he got into the business. He said he did some but not a lot. The market was not ready to pay him for these kinds of projects and eventually he sold his company to one of his friends who just wanted the design of the website. It was a learning experience, but he said he would not have traded it for anything else in the world.

After talking to him I learned that either do a product that everyone needs or do enough market research to really make a difference.

Third Post

A) Name of Organization: I do not work for an organization, but an individual that is showing me what to do. So i guess I work for Dr. Millar

B) Description of the Organization (How many employees? The mission?): It is just Dr. Millar and myslef and the mission is undecided yet as I am still working on the business plan

C) A Brief Description of your Mentor (Name, Title): My mentor is Dr. Millar and he is Dean Emeritus and Professor of Management

D) Your General Roles and Duties at the Organization: I am completing a business plan and learning other things about starting a company

E) Your General Hours, Days, Dress Code, Compensation, etc.: Zero compensation, dress code is casual, and I work on something almost everyday for 2-5 hours.

F) Your Expected Learning Outcome: I hope to have a general business  plan and to start my own business. 

B.A., Alderson-Broaddus College
M.A., Michigan State University
M.B.A., Baldwin-Wallace College
Ph.D., Michigan State University

Second Post

Figuring out the right branding technique is a most difficult experience. I have had to come up with countless logo's and so forth and getting business partners to sign off on them is actually very difficult. Having partners makes opening the business much more difficult than I expected. They all have there own opinions and so forth. I almost wish that I could just say that I dont need them but that could not be further from the truth. Without this group of friends I doubt that this business would be becoming much more than just a dream.

First Post

Hello Everyone

My mentorshipis most likely a little different from yours as I am almost taking my like an

independent study. My mentor is Dr. Millar and he and I have come up with a unique way of fullfilling my mentorships hours. He is helping/instructing me on how to write a business plan for my own businesss that I hope to start by next year. We started this deiscussion back in February I think and I have to do the same things you guys do I just do not go to an actual "job". It is more difficult than I thought because of all the research that I have had to do alone without having someone right there to guide me. I have had to do interviews, read books, write the actual buisness plan, and a plethora of other things as well. I hope you all are enjoying your mentorships and I hope you enjoy learning about my new business.