Final Entrepreneurship for the Public Good Portfolio
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Presentation showing my learning and lessons from Summer I in the Entrepreneurship for the Public Good program in Berea College. Summer 2013
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Final Entrepreneurship for the Public Good Portfolio
- 1. EPG Final Portfolio Presentation by: Jonathan Rios
- 2. Agenda • Academic Enhancement • Civic Leadership Learning • Personal Growth
- 3. Academic Enhancement Issues in Appalachia Academic Material 10 Key Concepts Before and After EPG Entrepreneurship Leadership is… Social Media by the numbers
- 4. Issues in Appalachia Embrace Change (Coal Keeps Lights On) Under realization of natural assets No support to uprising industries Source: Daily Yonder Source: KYPolicy
- 5. Academic Material Source: Business Model You Source: Barnes & Noble Source: Alex Vermeer Source: Echoing Green
- 6. 10 Key Concepts 1. Storytelling 2. Embrace Change 3. Bold Immersion 4. Diversity driving Innovation 5. Deeper Thinking 6. Key Partners 7. Head + Heart = Hustle 8. Bright spots 9. Creating Connections 10. SMART Goals 11. Fail Often
- 7. Storytelling Source: The Educators Room Source: Fan Pop
- 8. Change Source: CG netSource: Friend Your Body
- 9. Deeper Thinking Source: Agency Post
- 11. Bright Spots Source: Drew Marketing Minute
- 12. Classroom vs. Real World Term in Switch translated into real results
- 13. Before and After EPG Source: Newveneers CONFIDENCE GROUP WORK BEING ON THE SPOT PUBLIC SPEAKING NUMBERS AND STATISTICS AMBIGUITY AND UNCERTAINTY INITIATIVE SPECIFICITY BEING OK WITH FAILURE
- 14. A 2013Entrepreneurial Leader must… Embrace change, diversity, risk and failure. Seek to create a larger impact by innovating his work strategy in a constant basis. Is one with his group. Laugh and have fun! Source: Halrogers
- 15. Social Media by the numbers
- 16. Social Media by the numbers Personal: EPG Summer Album: 84 Photos 3 Facebook Pages claimed Group: 177 Likes 530 Weekly Total Reach 2 Like to a Local Page!
- 17. Social Media by the numbers 65 Yelp Reviews 13 Yelp Pages Claimed 66 Photos posted to Business pages 5 Lists
- 18. Social Media by the numbers 6 Google + pages 3 Google + reviews
- 19. Social Media by the numbers 20 Trip Advisors Advisor reviews 3 Pictures posted No Trip Advisors claimed Source: Hotel Dubrovnik Source TripAdvisor Blog
- 20. Social Media by the numbers 2 Pinterest Business accounts claimed 1 Personal board -65 pins 1 Collaborative board
- 21. Social Media by the numbers 3 Photosynths 1 Blog Post
- 22. Civic Leadership Learning Goals Assumptions and Guesses Appalachia as a concept
- 23. Goals • Target Officials First • Businesses • Advertisement • Workshop
- 24. Assumptions and Guesses Source: Family Search Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. Source: Kentucky State Data Center, University of Louisville.
- 27. Personal Growth EPG Assumptions A Team Member Design Thinking Next Steps Mulligan Success
- 28. EPG Assumptions “I mean, it’s just one class and there’s nothing else you’re doing besides that” June 2013 May 2013
- 29. A Team Member Source: Appalachian Innovators Facebook Page
- 30. Next Steps Ideas Ventures/Projects Human Centered Approach for Social Innovation Ashoka Networking in Latin America Social Media and Social Movements Blog Reviews
- 31. Mulligans Personal note taking/ data Research Pitch Strategy Government Connections Source: Time Machine Guy
- 32. Success When you align your aspirations with your skills and are able to impact someone, somewhere or something in a positive way. And always gaining to skill sets that can be of help by making that impact bigger. All of this in a financially sustainable state.
- 33. Video • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDrh4D1we1Y Please be sure to count the “Yeahs’”
- 34. Overview • Academic Enhancement • Civic Leadership Learning • Personal Growth
- 35. Works Cited • Schumpeter, . "Back to the drawing-board." (2013): n. page. Web. 9 Jul. 2013. • http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/Insights • http://www.thinkkentucky.com/cmnty/Demog.asp
Editor's Notes
- My name is Jonathan Rios and this is my Entrepreneurship for the Public Good Final Portfolio Presentation. In this presentation I will be going through critical aspects about my experience this summer. My purpose is that by the end of this presentation you will know what I have gained from the EPG experience, insights, lessons and others.
- There are many issues happening in the Appalachian region, coal mining is that very first one. Coal production and employment has declined drastically in the last few years, this phenomenon has been specially felt in the Eastern Kentucky region. This chart shows changes in Eastern Kentucky's coal production since 1980 and projected changes through 2035.Kentucky jobs in mining are half what they were in 1984 and production is declining. This decline is nothing new and as jobs and production slowly keep leaving the reality is hard to grasp. The decline is the origin to many of the problems in Appalachia however, there’s nothing they can do about it, it’s a natural resource and a fixed asset. This region should start looking for another source of income. Refer to the second table which represents the percent change in Eastern Kentucky Coal Severance Tax Revenue from the last two years. If the start of July in 2011 they made $100 in tax revenue in January of 2013 they are just making barely over $20. The coal mining industry is no longer the tax source it once was. With our SoLoMo (Social Local Mobile) campaign this summer we hoped to introduce Tourism as a sustainable industry to start generating more revenue, primarily to business. These are some of the problems I noticed throughout my journey through Letcher, Owsley county and Eastern Kentucky. 1) Failure to embrace change: Business owners as well civic leaders are slow to realize the need for a new source of revenue to sustain there economies , people remain hopeful of a comeback or believe that despite the decline, coal will still remain to be the backbone of their economies. Bumper stickers and signs in businesses saying “Coal Keeps Lights On” or “Coal is what we do” and others as serious as “If you don’t like coal don’t use electricity” show their pride on their industry and is their way to hang on to the little there is of it. Embracing change does not have to be necessarily stop believing in coal mining or forget everything your family did for the last 3 generations, it can be as little as accepting new technologies to work with to start looking for new sources of revenue, such as social media. 2) Under realization of natural assets their natural resources are unique and they have many assets that people from around the country and of many ages would be interested in visiting ,but it is hard to realize if that is what you have experienced your whole life. 3)No Support to Uprising Industries : Notice I did not say little support, I said No support. Dr. Naramore takes care of Tourism in Letcher county but he gets $500 annually for Tourism. $500 is barely enough to create a decent website or to create a small/mid-size event. This quantity represents the little commitment there is on developing tourism in the area. Tourism would bring new money to the economy of local businesses as well as generate more tax revenue. Source Image 1: www.dailyyonder.com Source Image 2: www.kypolicy.org
- Academic material was essential for our growth this summer . We tried to solve the problems from Appalachia from many perspectives. Appalachian Path to Dependency by Paul Salstrom was an insightful reading that related to the development of the Appalachian region, how it grew around coal and it eventually turned to the point where it is right now where the region is dependent from outside agents to provide capital and investment. This reading gave us good insight before coming to the field of what had really happened in the region and of the suggestions the author gave to provide and answer to the problems. Because we wanted to generate a change we read Switch which let us see change from another perspective and provided guidelines to create the change that we wanted to do in Letcher and Owsley County. Business Model You and Work on purpose instead of being focused on Appalachian issues and on the field we would be working on they focused on our personal growth as entrepreneurs. The Business Model You was full of exercises meant to help us decipher our future while Echoing Green had stories of successful social entrepreneurs that have made a difference, and provided their stories so we could study them. Source Image 1: http://www.echoinggreen.org/ Source Image 2: www.barnesandnoble.com Source Image 3: alexvermeer.com Source Image 4: http://businessmodelyou.com/
- From our academic materials and our overall experience with EPG I have come to identify the 10 most important concepts for me. I will explain deeper into just a couple of the concepts however this list will mention where these concepts emerged. I will also take time to briefly share the story of how some of the most important and relevant for me emerged. 1) Storytelling: Dean of Academics in Berea College, Dr. Chad Berry. Lisa Vaughn Owner of Gladiator Law Marketing and Dr. Peter Hackbert Director of Entrepreneurship for the Public Good Program in Berea College. 2) Embrace Change: Lisa Vaughn. 3) Bold Immersion: IDEO, design and innovation consulting firm based in San Francisco and SoLoMo (Social Local Mobile) Campaign in Berea, Whitesburg, Jenkins and Booneville. 4) Diversity driving Innovation: First of three elements in IDEO’s “Design Thinking” approach. 5) Deeper Thinking: Dr. Peter Hackbert’s micro assignments “’What did you learn, why is this important and in light of this learning I will” and many other assignments. 6) Key Partners: Business Model You 7) Head + Heart = Hustle : Echoing Green’s Work on Purpose book. 8) Following Bright Spots: Switch Book. 9) Creating connections: Lisa Vaughn SoLoMo Workshop presentation 10) SMART Goals: Switch.
- I would like to take time to dig deeper into the importance of storytelling because of how often this concept came out throughout this eight weeks. If you noticed there were three times that I found this concept being mentioned, explained or utilized; first by Dean Berry, second time by Lisa Vaughn and the third time by Dr. Hackbert followed by an assignment in which we had to use this tactic . It is no coincidence that three people took time to explain or utilize storytelling as a very important concept because thinking about my past, storytelling has actually had big influence in my life. In our first week of the program we were assigned to read Paul Salstrom’s Appalachian Path to Dependency. This was an interesting book which provided insight and extended research of the economic history of Appalachia and the study of Appalachian culture. After all, it has been chosen as one of the Best Books of 2013 in Amazon.com. However, this was personally one of the hardest readings of the program and in college career. In addition our time constraint required us to finish the book in less than 3 weeks, which made me just read over the words and not be able to devote time nor analysis to the content. I would not be able to recall much of the content of the book if it was not for our lecture with Dean Berry the first week of the program. Dr. Chad Berry is currently the Dean of Academics here at Berea College and before Dean he was a History professor in this institution. In this lecture Dean Berry created a succinct interactive story about the history of Appalachia. With a gigantic wall map of the region in the back of the room and constant involvement with the audience with questions and examples of current times, he was able to better transmit the message that the book couldn’t in less than 2 hours. Besides transmitting the message, he was also able to encourage further readings and research about the area and created a higher interest from me and many other students to the Appalachian region. Storytelling was also present in Lisa Vaughn’s Presentation. Before the three workshops she & us hosted for small local business owners in Berea and the KRAAD (Kentucky River Area Development District) we were also given a lecture by Lisa. This lecture was part of our the training for the SoLoMo campaign and focused on the first section of the campaign: Social. We went over strategies on how to utilize social media from a business perspective. The platforms that worked on were Facebook and Pinterest. Storytelling was a principle that she highly recommended using in social media. In social media like the word tells us is about creating a relationship with your customers, and you can do this by telling your story and the story of your business. Every status and every photo must tell a story. Stories are able to help in better creating relationships with your customers. Last but not least, Dr. Hackbert designed an assignment to not let us forget about its importance on Week 6. First we had to read an article by Leah Busque called “5 Stories Every Entrepreneur Should be Able to Tell,” this article talks about the importance and the power of a good story in order to engage people and suggested 5 stories about your business you should be able to tell. Those stories are the following: Your origin story, Your desire future, A Learning Moment, A truly meaningful anecdote and Your inner monologue. Because we don’t (yet) have our own venture in the assignments he wanted two of those stories but instead of being about your business, they must your personal stories. Each story had to be at least 500 words whereas many other assignments are mainly 300 words, this reflects how much our professor wanted to us to learn this concept. I also recently just found Storytelling is on of the 5 Industries Ripe for Young Entrepreneurs to Disrupt . Think about Doly looking for a job in social media. Storytelling can be as long as an Appalachian Economic History lecture or a 2 minute Elevator Pitch so as entrepreneurs this will be a tool that we will be utilizing this tool plenty of times. Storytelling like in Dean Berry’s lecture better engages the audience and makes the content shared stick for a longer time than a normal presentation . Source Image 1 (front): theeducatorsroom.com Source Image 2 (background): www.fanpop.com
- The second concept I would like to expand on in is change most specifically embracing change. In our three workshops Lisa Vaughn mentioned in the second slide of each presentation how change is important, specially for small business owners . Weaver’s Bottom Craft embraced change two years ago and now they have a reach of 150,000 people (throughout these 2 years) in over 20 countries speaking 15 languages (refer to video in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDrh4D1we1Y&list=LLxQ-atffio2V3JOoezYBTdw&feature=mh_lolz ) I embraced change and now I’m in EPG. What we tried to show to businesses is that computers, the internet and specially social media are not your foe but they are there to help . Businesses like Wyatt Drive In in Jenkins saw the results immediately after being found by a tourist through Trip Advisor, all that was required from her was changing her mindset on social media . In a world were technologies are changing and customers are moving faster and demanding for businesses to keep up, small business owners must be open for change, after all these customers are the ones that are going to make their businesses grow. Source Image 1 (left): friendyourbody.com Source Image 2 (right): www.cgnnet.info
- EPG has stimulated Insights and deeper thinking all throughout the program. Oral or written exercises like “What did you learn”, “Why is this important” and “In light of this learning, I will” encouraged us to really dig deeper through our lessons, events and activities. Orally, we would be asked at least 3 questions after our first answer. Say, If were to respond “I liked the presentation, it was very well set” ,after being asked for my opinion of a presenter, I would be asked “How was it well set, what made it different and what about that set up so relevant?” and so on. Different than classes where answers are strict like a number or specific like a term. Dr. Hackbert would also encourage deeper thinking as he was not satisfied with a less than 10 word oral answers or a less than 300 word essay. As entrepreneurs we should keep utilizing this approach to dig deeper into our ideas and opinions as this process help us to discover new insights. An article by Megan O Malley in The Agency Post tells us about 5 Principles for Uncovering True Insight and I found a relationship between the approaches utilized throughout the program and some of the principles for uncovering true insight. An Insight is a Human Truth An Insight Digs Deeper Than Observation / “Question approach” An Insight Should Deliver a New, Untapped Understanding / An Insight Doesn’t Arrive Overnight / “You have 2 days for this 300 word essay” An Insight Should Serve as a Foundation to Unlock Creative Thinking / “This process was used all summer later in the program we learned about Design Thinking” Image Source: www.agencypost.com
- Not just race or ethnicity, majors, backgrounds, social status, economic status. Having a diverse team was an a great asset this summer. Further research on diversity as an engine for innovation brought to some great resources. From “Back to the Drawing Board” article in the Economist July 6 th I quote “The first is ‘lots of different eyes’. It employs people from wildly different backgrounds—surgeons and anthropologists as well as engineers and designers—and lumps them into multidisciplinary teams.” “ Diversity as an Engine of Innovation” gave opinions of CEOs of Jamba Jux, The Clorox Company and Taget on diversity as a drive for innovation. Deloitte is the second largest professional services network in the world by revenue and has 193,000 employees in more than 150 countries providing audit tax and consulting. Article and Images: http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/Insights/Browse-by-Content-Type/deloitte review/fda8881dc918d210VgnVCM2000001b56f00aRCRD.htm Source Image: http://www.deloitte.com
- The reason I decided to choose Bright Spots from the 10 Concepts is because of the outcomes and results I had after following actually applying this concept. Switch was my favorite reading because it changed my perspective on how to see problems. Pretty much what the book suggests that when one is trying to change, in a way they have the answer already. Say for example an alcoholic is trying to stop drinking, the first step he should take is think about one time he did not drink for long, that’s a bright spot, and from there analyze that situation in order to replicate in the future. Following my bright spots was a concept that I really enjoyed utilizing this last part of the summer. I changed my SoLoMo campaign pitch to local businesses several times, depending on experience and receptiveness I calculated how successful I had been in the pitch. The next day working in Whitesburg after reading this section of the book I thought which were the businesses that were more pleased on working with me and were receptive, how did I pitch to them? Was it my attitude, timing, something I said? Yet again I changed my pitching strategy but this time I had composed that strategy out of the things that worked in previous pitchings. As you will see later on this presentation, I had very good results on getting businesses involved with social media, I believe that the majority of those numbers are cause of using this concept. Source Image: www.drewsmarketingminute.com
- W ays are your understanding of the academic material and the experience the same? Bright spots: Term from the book Switch translated into real businesses getting into social media.
- What specific ways are they different now than before the EPG Summer Institute? What are the possible reasons for the difference(s) (e.g., bias, assumptions, limited curiosity, lack of information on your part or on the part of the author / instructor / community?) Besides feeling prettier like Tom Cruise, there are some aspects about the program that changed me as a whole. EPG had the same role plastic surgery had on Tom Cruise. BIG changes and BIG improvements in very little time. CONFIDENCE GROUP WORK BEING ON THE SPOT PUBLIC SPEAKING NUMBERS AND STATISTICS AMBIGUITY AND UNCERTAINTY INITIATIVE SPECIFICITY BEING OK WITH FAILURE Source Image: newveneers.wordpress.com
- Describe your personal theory about entrepreneurial leadership it would include….“ After all the new concepts we have been introduced to, all the lessons we have learned and all the experience that we have gained I have included couple additional meanings to the definition of what an entrepreneurial leader is/does. First an entrepreneurial embraces change: in a global economy were new technologies are being introduced everyday and were consumers are moving faster and demanding better, faster, cheaper, more innovative products and services. An Entrepreneurial leader must embrace change and innovate his strategies. An entrepreneurial leader likes being challenged and different perspectives. It would be pointless if he/she proposed a new project and nobody disagreed. An Entrepreneurial leader looks for a very diverse team that can challenge his ideas and improve them getting new opinions. This leader knows everything is not going to go as planned and that everything is not perfect this is why the forefront for something to happen, he is always prepared for it whether with a plan B, notes etc. Crap happens and will happen (AKA “Save your work [every five minutes]) Third, this kind of leader is never satisfied with the impact he has created, he is always looking for new ways to better increase this impact. Is one with his group, he learns to understand his group, empathy is one of his most developed tools, knows how to listen step up and back up when someone else is trying to help. Laughs and has fun. If he is not having fun or doesn’t laugh at least 5 times a day, he’s doing it wrong. Enjoyment and happiness from his work fundamental to be the doing the best in his work. Source Image: halrogers.house.gov
- 65 Yelp Reviews 4 Yelps claimed in Berea 9 Yelps claimed in KRAAD 66 Photos Business pages claimed 5 Lists 1 Pinterest claimed in Berea 1 Pinterest claimed in KRAAD 1 Personal board and 65 pins 20 Trip Advisors Advisor reviews / 3 Pictures posted No TripAdvisors claimed 3 Photosynths 1 Blog Post 177 Facebook Likes No Facebook pages claimed in Berea 3 Facebook pages claimed in KRAAD No Google + pages claimed in Berea. 6 Google + pages claimed in KRAAD 3 Google + reviews Source Image 1 (Yelp): twitter.com Source Image 2 (Google +): plus.google.com Source Image 3 (TripAdvisor): hotel-dubrovnik.hr Source Image 4 (Pinterest): www.carlospagan.com Source Image 5 (Facebook): www.bubblews.com
- 84 Photos on EPG Summer Album No Facebook pages claimed 3 Facebook pages claimed in KRAAD 177 likes in Appalachian Innovators page A total reach of 530 weekly. Total reach is according to Facebook the unique number of people who have seen any content associate with the page. 2 Likes to Local Pages. In graphs noticed the trend that major reach was reached when we had more continuous posts and after tagging people and businesses. Did you know that Facebook is world’s largest social network with more active users than any other social network? 42% of marketers classify Facebook as critical for their businesses. Source Image 1 (Facebook): www.bubblews.com Source Image 2: Facebook.com/AppalachianInnovators.com
- 65 Yelp Reviews 4 Yelps claimed in Berea 9 Yelps claimed in KRAAD 66 Photos Business pages claimed 5 Lists Did you know that according to a study made by the Boston Consulting Group business have $8,000 gained just by claiming their free business account on Yelp. http://officialblog.yelp.com/2013/03/yelp_survey_findings.html Source Image 1: twitter.com Source Image 2: Jonathan “the everywhereist” Rios
- No Google + pages claimed in Berea. 6 Google + pages claimed in KRAAD 3 Google + reviews Did you know that 61% of Google local searches result in a purchase and that only 33% of business are fully utilizing this network? Source Image 1 & 2(Google +): plus.google.com
- 19/20 TripAdvisors Advisor reviews 3 Pictures posted No TripAdvisors claimed Did you know about the reach of Trip Advisor? A broad content syndication network reaches over 300m monthly. Source Image (logo): hotel-dubrovnik.hr Source Image (75 million): blog.tripadvisor.co.uk
- 1 Pinterest claimed in Berea 1 Pinterest claimed in KRAAD 1 Personal board and 65 pins 1 Collaborative board Did you know that the average Pinterest user has more discretionary cash, shops online more, upper-middle class. Pinterest shoppers spend $140 - $180 per order (FB:$80, Twitter:$60) Source Image (logo): www.carlospagan.com Source Image (Grow Local Help Local Live Local): Jonathan Rios Pinterest Account
- 3 Photosynths 1 Blog Post 4 Videos (1 on YouTube) Photosynths are 360 degrees interactive pictures. I made 1 one for a deli I rated 5 stars on Yelp (embedded the link in my Yelp review) and 2 others for a business in Berea. For this business I posted the link on the Facebook and they shared my post to the customers. 1 Blog Post in our blog Appalachian Innovators (http://appalachianuprising.wordpress.com/).My blog post talked about the introduction of #hashtags into Facebook, what this meant for your business and how to utilize them. Source Image 1 (Photosynth): ccpsmobiletech.blogspot.com Source Image 2 (Wordpress): www.hover.com
- What were you / team members trying to accomplish this summer? Why? Why does that matter?
- Before emerging ourselves completely in both Letcher and Owsley County we had assumptions of the areas we were going to be working with. Few youth, no diversity and low incomes, and nothing to do. Under 24 Years old %: 30% Under 24 year olds %: <30% % of Non Hispanic Whites: 97.98% % of Non Hispanic Whites: 98.37% Labor Market Area Range: $20,923- $31,458 Labor Market Area Range: $27,426- $32,805 Unemployment Rate of 10.9% Unemployment Rate of 13.4% We were correct, incomes specially in Booneville were very low and there were very few youth. Source Image: familysearch.org Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
- Natural assets are available, people are welcoming, businesses need it, free tools, great community. Just that support from Civil leaders. Support local businesses Make tourists the new tax generator Source Image: www.acterra.org
- The most significant new piece of information concerning Appalachia, is the new perspective we have to see this region from. At the beginning of the program we met with Dean Chad Berry to discuss our readings about Appalachian Path to Dependency. He was able to strengthen our readings by concisely storytelling us the history of Appalachia. He introduced a concept of Appalachian being more than a region characterized by being surrounded by its mountains. He re defined Appalachia as a model/concept that may be applied in many other areas of the world. Generally within countries there are area/s that are less economically privileged and people look down too. He challenged us (International Students) to look for the “Appalachia” of our countries, and challenged us to apply our EPG Appalachian experience on our Appalachia’s. Source Image: en.wikipedia.org
- Personal growth assumptions or expectations did you bring to the EPG summer situation? How did these assumptions affect what you did or didn’t think, feel, decide, or do? To what extent did these assumptions prove true? If they did not prove true, why was there a discrepancy? After being accepted to the program and afterwards confirming my attendance I had the opportunity to speak with a good friend of mine who had been through the program last summer. That quote was me talking with EPG Cohort 9 member Ability Atakama 5 days before the start of the EPG Program. I thought that the program would not be as hard because the big picture said, one class, no work. Never give something for granted, be sure to always look, consider and respect opinions from someone that already has had the experience. EPG has been one of the most demanding experiences in my college career, and I think this was a great lesson for me.
- MY team, the Appalachian Innovators, is composed my people with much talent. In order for me to keep up I always had to be in my best condition and put all my effort and time into the team. They have supported me constantly and knocked on my door (the only time I have been late) because they knew how tired I was. When you’re in a group with such talented people besides working very hard, you must get involved and have initiative to work. You don’t have to wait and be told what to do.
- After my first summer in EPG I have a very busy agenda, like the rider in switch there is no time to overanalyze I must get moving. As you may know I have had the opportunity with the support of Dr. Hackbert of attending Startup Weekends and to also be a participant in the Appalachian IDEAS network. Since the Sullivan Foundation retreat, 90% of my goals and aspirations have changed and I have spent most of the time with my team (Yhon Anderson and Ali Djire) trying to turn Ideas into ventures/projects. One of the main reasons I came to EPG was to learn from Dr. Hackbert how to better do this process. With these project I hope to gain experience and who knows, maybe take it outside of college and make a living out of it. Human Centered Approach for Social Innovation a free course with IDEO.org and +Acumen. Even though I will be traveling I will be saving some time every week to take my lessons through the internet. Ashoka Networking in Latin America. As you know I am a native from El Salvador, and move to the United States when I was 15/16 because of a scholarship I received to finish my high school here. From there I found out about Berea and so on. However my life has been bouncing around all over and I have changed a lot. The mindset and goals I came with are not the same I have right now. I used to believe that all I wanted was my degree and a good paying job, I am way over that and I am looking at traveling and starting my own social or profit venture. I have also created most of my Entrepreneur, Non profits, etc network here in the United States. So my next step is submerging myself with the Social Entrepreneurship movement in Latin America. I will be attending a conference called “100 jovenes lideres agentes de cambio” in which I hope to network with Entrepreneurs from Mexico and Central America as well as other contacts from companies that focus on this movement. I have a blog already with micro posts of phrases that I listen to everyday, however I would like to expand and write more about my experiences and others. Keep on using social media platforms like Yelp and Trip Advisor as I know how much they help small local businesses and has become a nice routine. Of course I have some internship ideas, but I am still open to other companies or opportunities as my desires of an internship have changed since my summer in EPG. (Social Media and social change) Source Image: labspace.open.ac.uk
- If I had a time machine and was forced to go back of the beginning of the program this is what I would change. Personal Note taking/ data: Even though I had the resources I believe I never paid much attention to this aspect. Clearer data and note taking would make my experience be more valuable as I could look back to my notes and data and remember easier what I did. Research, I really did not go further than the information and Pamphlets that were provided by the program, in a way I could say, I stayed in the box and did not look for further information. I wish I had changed I had realized before how to construct my pitch approach therefore getting more time and more results from that tactic. I worked with radio stations, businesses, and went to couple meetings with delegate however I felt more comfortable with businesses and because of outside forces I cannot control I was unlucky on meeting some delegates. Source Image:www.timemachineguy.com
- I redefined my definition of Success by considering the formula of Head + Heart = Hustle. I also took into consideration our SoLoMo campaign in Berea and the KRAAD region because I felt successful after finishing because we had created a positive impact. As well EPG is looking and gaining new skills to create an even greater impact in the KRAAD region. For example, last year Pinterest nor Google + were utilized in our SoLoMo campaign and the Cohort 10 was the first one to apply these new skills into the region, our impact? 4 new businesses with Pinterest and 9 Google + business pages created. The EPG impact has become greater every year since Dr. Peter Hackbert started getting cohorts to Eastern Kentucky and I don’t think it is just going to stop growing.
- Video taken with my Smartphone with owner of former business Weaver’s Bottom Craft in Berea, KY