Annnnnd we’re back! After a…somewhat refreshing summer break, we are back in school! Unfortunately, we are still in distanced learning which is making everything a lot harder than it would usually be. New things to adapt to, not seeing everyone’s face, having to talk to little colored circles every day instead of actual people. This whole thing kinda sucks, but it is what we are given so we have to make the best out of our situation. Hopefully by the second semester, we will be able to go back to school in person someway and be able to finish senior year out strong! I usually blog about a question that has come up in class that involved DireLights in some way. We haven’t really begun our projects fully yet and we are still trying to figure out how DireLights is going to work, so I am going to take this week to reflect and look back at what last year taught me and what I want to learn this year.
Last year was an absolute blast. It was one of only a couple of classes where I was excited to be every Tuesday/Thursday. Most of my friends were there which was a bonus, but we also got to learn some super cool and unique things that I wouldn’t have learned if I didn’t take the class. To be honest, Entrepreneurship wasn’t my first choice of class last year, but after attending I fell in love with it and I’m so glad I was put into it. We did some amazing things last year as a company like organizing all of the candles, making new shirts, collaborating with outside organizations! Fun times all around. Being the CTO was awesome. I had the best team to work with and we really changed what the tech team was all about. Gianna, our amazing graphic designer, made the best labels the company had ever seen. Will, the photographer, took stunning pictures of the staff and products. Caleb was hard at work rebuilding our website to make it more accessible to people. They were the best people to work with and lead to such success and I can’t wait to work with them again, as well as the other EM I students who are going to be joining this year!
I have never wanted to be in business. It has always seemed so daunting and scary to me and has never really been a big point of interest. After taking the EM I class, I have grown to love it a lot more and actually mighty consider it as a career choice. Yes, the thought of it is terrifying because SO many things can go wrong, but with the right knowledge and support, it isn’t all that bad. This year, we are given the opportunity to expand on our business ideas from last year and that is really exciting to me. Kacey and I really want to make our photography business a thing this year and I am so glad we are able to! We will be working really hard with Stillittano to make this happen because she wants to see it become a reality as much as we do. We are going to have to jump through lots of hurdles, but we are going to do our best to make it happen. Having this idea has really made me more interested in the business world and I hope she and I can make it come to fruition. If it works, this could be something a lot bigger than we think.
This is a new year with new opportunities, new students, and new challenges we have never had before. I am excited, but nervous about this year. We have some new things to work out this year, but if anyone can make the transition online, it’s DireLights. It is going to be so eyeopening watching everything fall into place and maybe the online business will continue alongside the in-person one. That’s just one more thing to think about haha. I am really excited to hear more guest speakers come to class and talk about important topics we haven’t even thought about. I know we already have some planned in the next couple of weeks which is super cool! Now they can just drop in on the class instead of having to schedule a time to come to class and talk. Online does have a lot of disadvantages, but it also makes some things easier which I appreciate. All in all, I am excited for this year to see where we take the business and how we leave our legacy.
I have changed a lot over the last year. I went from not having any interest at all in business, to trying to start one in just under a year. That’s crazy to me. This class has taught me so many valuable skills like how to read and gather information from an article, analyze it, and write a lengthy blog post about it. Definitely don’t learn that in Physics. I can’t wait to take the next journey with the class and see how much everyone grows afterward. DireLights is one of the best families I will ever be apart of.