It's been an incredibly long week but I have learned many great lessons so let's get started.
Surprisingly one of the biggest lessons I have learn was from the 5 minute video by Guy Kawasaki. He said simple make a meaning and a mantra and through out the mission statement. I believe I've seen this video before but this time it stood out to be. It was just a few months ago that Altek, our affiliate company had taken a day to develop a mission statement, so it was surprising to me to see Guy saying not to was time on a mission statement and instead develop a mantra. A mantra is a short phrase that describes your company. It's different from a slogan, Nike's "Just do It." A mantra for Nike is actually, "Authentic Athletic Performance." I've never head of this before but this captures the essence of the organization. The great thing about a mantra is that it works for both the salesperson and the customer. This has got me thinking about MINDS-i's mantra. I've noodled over this a bit and came up with and came up with: Teaching STEM through Robotics. I'm not completely convinced but it's the best I've got so far and it's better than what I've been using. Just the other day I said that and instantly caught the persons attention. I'll try it more often.
The $100 challenge. In my class we have been asked to start a small start-up with $20 with hopes to raise $100 dollars in profit. I think that it will be a great challenge as I have never run my own business or raised that much, so if I can do it, it will be a huge confidence boost. My plan is to turn wood bowls on the lathe. My dad has been turning bowls for a few years and has always wanted to start selling them so I thought that this was a great way to get the business started for him. There is really no cost on my end, except the time to turn the bowls. I really hope that this turns into a successful business. I made a shop on Etsy called Tim's Wood Bowls. Go and have a look and buy a bowl for charity. I sold my first bowl on Etsy this week, to my brother Chris, who was very excited to get started on the shop. I've also had a few other messages about people interested in buying bowls. I haven't had much time to set up the shop, turn bowls, or pursue any leads just because my schedule has been very full with all my classes and work. Right now I have another six bowls that I need to list on the website. The biggest challenge is going to be spending time on this project.
MINDS-i has been busy the past week, this Saturday is the BSA STEM University. I teach the robotics merit badge. We've developed a new inexpensive kit and made it available to the scouts. That in itself is quite the project. Today I took the time to contact every scout to make sure that they were prepared for the class. I was able to help them get the robot kit that they needed to complete the merit badge. I hope that each scout, leader, and parent can know the great service that we are doing for this. I look at this course almost like a college level class, but adjusted so that an 11 year student and understand it. It's important to note that it's not so much that the class is easy, but I am increasingly surprised at the enthusiasm of the scouts. Even at a young age they are capable of understanding this course. It is a fantastic merit badge that will teach them and hopefully get them excited about the world of robotics. I'm glad I have the chance to teach it. Hopefully, they'll be a bit more prepared this year. Bringing this back to the thoughts from Guy Kawasaki, he mentioned that the purpose of a business is make a meaning. My hope is that both Tim's Wood Bowls and MINDS-i is a part of making that meaning.
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