Blog 6 - Advisory Prep

1. What has worked well for you concerning senior project this year?  What has made it a positive experience for you?   

My mentorship and research has worked very well for me during this whole senior project process. My mentor really does help out when I need it and I feel like there is an abundance of research available for my whole "Restaurant Start up" topic. Especially because there's certain laws and restraints that a restaurant needs to follow before officially opening and I can write down and learn all about those. Ny mentor has also provided me with a significant amount of books that I can use for research checks which I am extremely grateful for.

2. What are you finding difficult concerning senior project?  How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you?  How might the senior team help?

As of now there aren't many problems regarding my senior project unless you count the possibility of changing my topic. One of my cousins is an environmental engineer and I was telling him about this whole project and apparently he recently got a job at a company he use to intern at and he could possibly mentor me. The only issue is that I'm not quite sure what I should officially call the topic and since engineering is actually something I consider doing in the future I'm afraid I'll get tired of it throughout the year. Even so it's a possibility. 

Blog 5 - Interview 1 Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?

• The most important thing I learned from this interview would have to be that it is important to have extremely open ended questions so that the interviewee has plenty of things to say. In this interview my mentor had actually asked me to see the questions in advance which was probably a good idea. It gave her some extra time to think of what to say and perhaps come up with extra details that she probably would have forgotten if she had been asked these questions on the spot. In my next interview I will definitely send the questions to my interviewee a few more days in advance, I also think it helps them feel more prepared and perhaps less nervous. 

2. Did I get additional resources and contacts?  What is the most useful?  Why?

• I actually did get some additional contacts from my mentor. After the interview she gave me the phone number of one of her friends who currently owns two restaurants and then she had introduced me to this friend and we all had a good talk. I mentioned the possibility of an interview and long story short I'm pretty sure I have my "Interview 2" already set up. 

3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me?

• Well my interviewee is actually my mentor and she has had  prior experience when it comes to business start ups, with her previous catering business. She has also graduated from business administration with a finance major from Cal Poly Pomona. I feel that this interview has helped me learn a bit more about my mentor and her motivation, intentions and ideas. She also happened to have some connections with some current business owners which helped me a lot for future interviews.  

To listen to my interview please click the link below.                            

• Interview 1

Blog 4 - House Advisory Prep 1

1. Write a short explanation of what you are hoping to accomplish through your senior project topic. 

• I want to take my senior project topic and turn it in to something more than just a project. I want this to be a life experience, because after all this gives us the opportunity to explore something we find intriguing and then be able to decide if this is something we would like to work around even after graduation. So with that said my goal is to really get an in depth experience about the social, mental and physical amount of energy it takes to start up a business on your own. I mean with starting your own restaurant there are so many factors you have to consider and chances you have to take, and you don't always know whether or not your gonna come out successful. Ever since I got my first job as a waitress and I got to know the owner of the place I worked at I would often find myself talking to her about her business experience and the responsibilities to maintain a restaurant of her own. I always thought it was an amazing thing that this very restaurant that I worked in and people ate in was once just an idea in this woman's head. She said she always felt a sense of accomplishment because the process really does take a toll on you. So my goal is to feel something close to that sense of accomplishment and I feel that my mentor can help me get there by allowing me to accompany her on creating her own restaurant. I want to experience the fun and the hard parts of making an idea come to life. 

Blog 3 - First Interview Preparation

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  Why?

• I plan to interview my mentor, Karina Reel primarily because of her genuine interest and knowledge regarding my senior topic. She has been teaching me a lot and I feel like an interview would allow me to have an even deeper understanding about points that she tries to get across to me. 

2.  Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask.  What additional questions do you plan to ask?  Ask open-ended questions.
My follow up questions:

1. Why did you choose to start this restaurant in the first place, like what was your motivation?
2. If any, what was your main fear before making the final  decision of building up this business?
3. What types of characteristics do you feel would be most important to work on if choosing to go in to this type of business, for what reasons?
4. What are the most important risks to analyze before starting a business how do you feel about them? 
5. How do you feel about the obvious risks that accompany starting your own business now after analyzing more information versus when you had first started off this whole business making process?

Here are the assigned questions:

1. I'm interested in studying the process a "business start up". What can you tell me about it?
2. From your perspective, what could I study that would be significant to other people?
3. Who else would you recommend I talk to?
4. What kinds of places or activities do you recommend I do for the mentorship component?
5. What materials should I read in this field? Who else can I interview?