The end has come....

The end of the semester has quickly approached and after many weeks of learning about having a business it's time to take all the knowledge and put it to practice. At the beginning of the semester I was very firm and did not think I would ever want to own my business. After taking this class and learning about all the challenges and success stories I've read over the semester I decided I would like to eventually have my own business in the future.

My advice to those who would like to be an entrepreneur would be to always have appositive attitude and never give up. Over the semester we read about different stories of those people who are successful but also had failures during the way and that was very inspiring. Even those with the greatest success had set back and that is ok as long as you learn from the mistakes and keeping moving forward with your dream. Also, I would caution every entrepreneur to be careful with family business because it can either help or destroy a family. Money can turn even the closest family apart so it's important when thinking of hiring family members that they are actually qualified for the job and have an understanding of your expectations for them.

I really enjoyed this class and the opportunity to be able to have a small business even if it was for only six weeks. The knowledge I gained I will forever and hopefully down the road put it to use in my future business.

$100 Challenge part 6

Michelle Reyes

I decided to open up a photography for my $100 challenge because photography has always been a hobby of mine. Being able to enjoy my job is very important to me so I really did believe a photography business is where I would enjoy to go to everyday.  Not only was it a hobby, but I actually took a two year course in photography so I felt it was a business I could actually be successful and also a plus I already had the materials such as a camera and photo editing software.

Opening the business, I was very excited and quickly started spreading the word with my family and friends about this project. I also used social media such as Facebook, Instagram and even Snapchat to spread the type to my friends in hopes to get as many shoots scheduled as possible within the next six weeks. I was able to get many friends and family that wanted to get pictures taken, but I noticed most inquiries were from social media because it allows clients to see an example of my work. I realized the best way to get business was to make sure my clients were satisfied with their pictures and that way they would referral their friends to me. Since the business was just starting most of my clients were family and close friends who trusted me enough to take their pictures.

I usually spend the weekends doing the photoshoots because everyone is busy with work and school during the week and I would try to reach out to clients during the week. In the end I was able to reach my goal of $100 and was able to make $120 in total of six weeks by editing 20 shoots for $10.

I had some difficulty when starting the business because I did not think of the hot temperatures in Arizona would have been a issue. Unfortunately, the temperature was so high most clients did not want to be in the hot sun very long. That was definitely a challenge and if I were to do this business again I would definitely do it during the fall/ winter season.

After these six weeks were over I think it was a big eye opener for me because I never thought of myself as a business owner. After working on the challenge I can now see it is something I would like to do in the future.

Don't forget to have a life!

I never understood the difference between working in your business and working on your business, but after reading the srticle it all made sense. Just like in life it is important to have a balance not be so invested in the business you forget about family and friends. Also, not just abandon the business after it has been start up. It is good to have a balance of both to where you can train an employee to old up the business and have the opportunity to enjoy life as well. Opening up a busy is hard and time consuming, but it will not be worth it to have a successful business and end up alone.

This week was the end of the $100 challenge and it was so amazing to see how fast these six weeks went by. I had never thought of myself as a business owner and even starting up a business was a dream. I really like this class because t helped me get out of my comfort zone and do what I thought was impossible. My business was overall successful even though it was hard to start up at first. I managed to meet the goal and I really would like to continue this small business because not only is it a business, but it is my hobby.

Together as family!

I really enjoyed all the reading ad assignment this week it has been my favorite from all this course. Being able to learn and read about different study cases about family business has been very inspiring and has even made me rethink my opinion about opening a business. I have always been so defense about the idea and would always think the worst when it came to owning a business, but I realized it takes courage in order to make a business successful. If I was ever going to own a business I would definitely want to do with family because I know I could trust them. I also learned that it is not always happiness when working with family and you need to learn to separate business and family. For example, in the action hero video Erick had to let go his Father because of his health and that was very difficult for him. However, he realized that his Father would be better off and would have a better life than coming in to work every day.  That is a great example of being strong and looking out for his business and family.

An update on the $100 challenge is that I have one more shoot to edit this week. It is unbelievable how fast the semester has gone and that the challenge is close to ending.