This week in class we talked about integrity as an entreprenuer, employee of another company, or business owner. The book said that once companies go public they typically don't keep the same standards they committed to as start-ups. I experienced that with my business because I set really high standards that got hard to keep when I was really busy. Three people were asked to come up in class and share experiences with integrity as a business owner and I was one of them. I talked about how people would ask me to make items with licensed (usually Disney) characters on them and I did for the first two years but then realized that it was wrong because it was not my creative property. From then on, I denied those orders which took a lot of integrity because there were times that the money really would have helped me. I consistently lost business because of it but it felt great knowing that my products and designs were mine (at least, the ones I custom made vs buying an embroidery design for another shop). When I have businesses in the future I definitely want to start off on a better foot and not even go down that path, even though it brings in money quicker. It matters to me that people see that I have personal integrity, and that it reflects in my work.
Last week on Thursday we did the sell anything challenge, which was something I was not looking forward to. We had to make $100 in a day, and the places that would have made it easy like on campus were off limits. We ended up selling at a local grocery store for 3 hours each. It was 35 degrees outside and a miserable winter day (It was November 1st, but that's about accurate for Rexburg to be so freezing in fall). We split into teams of two and did a fundraiser for a woman named Razia in Pakistan who needed help feeding her buffalo so that it will produce milk to feed her family. Since we had to provide a product as well, we sold pencils. But really, it was a fundraiser because that is what made people support us. Nathan and I raised $46 during our shift and Emma and Halla raised $69. I was nervous about making the required amount because we'd be outside in the cold on a random Thursday and uh... selling pencils for a Pakistanian buffalo. And Rexburg isn't the most philanth...
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