Creativity & Innovation Reflection, Week Two

This week was a significant turning point for discovering my why and ultimately shifting the focus of the business vision. Honestly, it was not something I was expecting. However, I was looking too narrowly and not at the complete picture. Once I took a step back and looked forward, I realized that while my original path and vision are something I hope to revisit one day, it will not fit in the timeline I am looking to meet.

Important Points

I learned a few important points: making your business vision reflect your why, recognizing which of the four C’s aligns with you, harnessing emerging trends, leveraging your resources, and planning a strategy for achieving your path and progress (Abrams, 2007; Ditkoff, 2015). Creativity and challenge are my two central C’s. I also realized I want to stay as small of a business as possible. Staying small will help align with my freedom for when I work. This week provided much helpful information, and I appreciate it.

Discussions

As I mentioned at the start of this paper, the turning point that got my gears going was the first video shown this week in the live session. The man talked about how knowing, understanding your why, and applying it appropriately to your business vision can help save a lot of heartache and pain. He spoke about how many entrepreneurs want freedom of their time and money. Nevertheless, he mentioned that many will dive headfirst into a business vision that does not reflect their why (FSU, 2024). As I sat there thinking about my business vision, I started this program with the mindset of pursuing it. I realized it did not align with my why or my timeline.

Application

I have learned many things from this week that I can apply to my entrepreneurial journey. It is honestly quite a list. I have already applied what I learned to my why and business vision. I appreciate that I have realized this now and not later. My initial plan was to follow my fitness app vision while also trying to work on the coffee roasting on the side. Where now, I can allow myself to focus entirely on one thing. A few other insights I can apply are harnessing emerging trends, leveraging my resources, and planning a strategy (Ditkoff, 2015; Traynor, n.d.).

The Crossover

With my updated business vision, I can tap into many of the users I already follow in the coffee-roasting business. Another crossover is planning a strategy and milestones for how I plan to start and ultimately scale my micro-roastery business. I already have a few ideas to tap into that overlap with my design background, such as offering personalized coffee bags for users for something like a birthday, retirement, wedding, etc. There are big goals, such as learning how to be featured on the Fellow Drops “text-to-order” coffees, how that works, what is required, and determining if I could meet that requirement to be featured someday (Fellow Drops, n.d.).

Experiences

This past week, I experienced a significant turning point, and during that time, I had to sit down with my husband because I value his feedback, and he is my partner in life and any business venture I dive into. He has been incredibly supportive of my business visions but is especially excited about the micro-roastery business vision. For our delayed honeymoon in 2019, we went to Jamaica. We stayed at the Jamaican Inn, but during that time, we toured the Blue Mountain Coffee Plantation. We started our coffee journey while dating. Realizing we enjoyed it; it is the time we spent together in the mornings. We have evolved from a Keurig to French Press, to a pour-over, ordering specialty roasted coffee, to now ordering green coffee we roast ourselves at home.

Summation

In short, I have shifted gears to another passion after taking the lessons from this week to heart and applying them to my direction and the start of my entrepreneurial journey. While I am sad to put my original vision on the back burner, I am also excited to pursue the micro-roastery vision. I have learned many things this week that are incredibly insightful, and I see the work I need to do moving forward with this business vision, all while keeping my why at the forefront (FSU, 2024).

References

Abrams, R. (2007, January 1). Entrepreneurship: A Real-World Approach, Second Edition. Planning Shop.

Ditkoff, M. (2015, May 1). The Four Lenses of Innovation. The Heart of Innovation. https://www.ideachampions.com/weblogs/archives/2015/05/the_heart_of_in_3.shtml

Fellow Drops. (n.d.). Text-to-order Coffees, Meticulously Curated*. Fellow Drops.* https://fellowproducts.com/pages/fellow-drops

Full Sail University [FSU]. (2024, August 13). Week 2 Live Session + Office Hours. Creativity and Innovation. https://online.fullsail.edu/class_sections/171541/meetings/99443/recordings

Traynor, D. (n.d.). Why Startups Need a Strong Vision. Intercom. https://www.intercom.com/blog/why-startups-need-a-strong-vision/