May 20, 2019

I like to think of myself as a self-starter, someone who can motivate themselves to start a new career or pursue further education without the help of others.  I want to do a lot to better myself and I feel like I have the ability to accomplish all my goals and I have a lot of people who believe in me as well.  However, I’m always starting stuff but never finishing I don’t know what it is.  I am only 21 years young so I feel like I have a lot of time but when in reality I don’t.  Procrastination is a very bad habit of mines I need to get rid of.  I also find myself comparing myself to others who are in better positions and are doing the things I want to do.  I wouldn’t say I’m envious though, in fact I’m motivated by others success and I can imagine myself in their positions but I guess since their there and I’m where I am I get discouraged with myself.   I need to understand that life is a marathon and nothing happens overnight.  I definitely need to be more discipline in my efforts of chasing my dreams. 

I do get along with different personalities well I would say.  I’m a person who feels like you should make friends with people of all different backgrounds because you can always learn from someone and you all can help one another in ways you may never know.  Being able to accept people who are different and think different will take you a long way.

I’m good at making decisions.  I would say I’m a Leader because I can be very impressionable and able to defer if I don’t know something.  However, sometimes I shy away from responsibility and let others take the lead role.

My physical stamina is pretty good I believe.  I enjoy those days being very busy because I feel productive.  Emotionally I feel like I have work to do.  Like I mentioned before, I need to not be so hard on myself when things don’t go right and not check myself out the game early.

I’m a very meticulous and organized person so before I do something everything has to be perfect.

My entrepreneurial efforts will affect my family in a very positive way.  It will give the younger members someone to look up too and the older members, I will make them proud and prove them right.  I want to be the one to “break the curse” and create something that will last generations that we all can benefit from.

May 21, 2019

ODU definitely views entrepreneurship as something very important for their students and they provide many resources and activities to help bring new ideas to life.  For example, the Strome Entrepreneurial Center. 

When it comes to my role in the ecosystem, I would say it is to help others.  I say that because when I do help someone theirs a certain fulfillment I get that makes me feeling like it is my purpose.  Also, I’ve accomplished a lot so far in my life that many people in my family haven’t so I feel there is pressure to do well and set a good example.

May 22, 2019

Design Thinking is when you create a solution that didn’t exist before to solve a problem.  It is more focused on the consumer and how to make their life easier.  Design Thinking requires a more hands on approach to really understand the issue at hand.

I feel Apple used Design Thinking when they created the AirPods.  One of the main issues users faced with regular headphones were they got tangled and it was tedious getting them undone.  Also with the release of the newer model iPhones, the old charging port is now replaced by a lightning cable port where you will charge your phone and plug in your headphones.  Therefore, you couldn’t listen to music with your headphones and charge at the same time.  With the AirPods and its Bluetooth technology you can do just that.

May 23, 2019

Today I’ve been trying to figure out what exactly is my proposal going to be on.  I’m not really sure if I will be doing a Business model or Mission model.  I feel like there isn’t really any new app or anything I can create that hasn’t already been done, and I know something I’m passionate about is helping people especially the younger generation.  A youth program for inner city kids is something I would be interested in.

May 24, 2019

The design thinking module definitely helped me recognize the importance of understanding consumer needs when it comes to creating products and services.  It adds value and continues to promote your entrepreneurial efforts.  If you just create a product or service without first doing some type of research of the problem and who the problem affects directly, the final product may not be successful.  You should observe, interview, and test to fully understand the nature of a problem.

May 27, 2019

5 Non-Profit Cybersecurity Organizations

• WiCyS – Women in Cybersecurity: WiCyS is the only non-profit membership organization with national reach that is dedicated to bringing together women in cybersecurity from academia, research and industry to share knowledge, experience, networking and mentoring.
• The SANS Institute: SANS is the most trusted and by far the largest source for information security training and security certification in the world. It also develops, maintains, and makes available at no cost, the largest collection of research documents about various aspects of information security, and it operates the Internet’s early warning system – the Internet Storm Center.
• OWASP – The Open Web Application Security Project: The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) is a 501(c)(3) worldwide not-for-profit charitable organization focused on improving the security of software. Their mission is to make software security visible, so that individuals and organizations worldwide can make informed decisions about true software security risks.
• Internet Security Alliance: ISA was founded in 2000 in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University. ISA membership is open to public and privately held entities and currently has substantial participation from the aviation, banking, communications, defense, education, financial services, health care, insurance, manufacturing, security and technology industries.
• National Cyber Security Alliance: NCSA’s mission is to educate and therefore empower a digital society to use the Internet safely and securely at home, work, and school, protecting the technology individuals use, the networks they connect to, and our shared digital assets.

May 28, 2019

I read an article today on the Wall Street Journal and it was about Soledad O’Brien.  She is an award-winning journalist who use to anchor Good Morning America and Starting Point.  Her show ended in 2013, and because she had good money management during her career, she was able to launch her own production company when her time with CNN was done.  Ms. Obrien says her financial discipline gave her the ability to “follow her heart” and leave the network to launch Starfish Media Group, which makes documentaries about social issues.

May 29, 2019

I personally don’t believe a successful business venture can be unethical.  If your business is unethical, I feel like it will damage your reputation as a company and make you seem untrustworthy to stake holders.  As a result, profits will not be good.

May 30, 2019

One of the most important tools an entrepreneur can develop for a business is a budget. Budgets allows you, a business owner to plan for expenses and analyze expenditures and make changes according to your needs.

A budget also allows entrepreneurs to plan for future financial needs, such as repairs, improvements and expansion without the need of bank help. Budgets can be applied to any organizational level any time. With all the benefits that come from good money management, developing and implementing a budget is a worthwhile activity for any entrepreneur.

May 31, 2019

We decided for our project to create a STEM summer camp. The good that can come out of this project is we teach our students hard skills for future careers and they will walk away with valuable 21^st century skills problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration.

They will be able to use their creative minds and bring their ideas to life with the help of our uniquely qualified and passionate staff.  They will be able to make that viral video, design a phone app, or develop that new hit video game.

June 3, 2019

Social entrepreneurship is when you have an innovative venture with a social mission. You want to raise money but also make a change. For example, educational programs can be considered these. Our group is trying to set up a STEM summer camp where we teach kids the importance of STEM and help them with all their innovative ideas. We will include field trips and other excursions as part of the programs. Kids will also be using all the state of the art products. This all cost money and we plan on charging for the program.

June 4, 2019

I would say some of the most significant legal issues entrepreneurs face are trademarks, intellectual property, compliance, and non-disclosure agreements. With trademarks you may think you created something original but someone can claim that they came up with the idea first. You also have to worry about people stealing your ideas and that is where intellectual property comes in. You need to make sure the laws that apply to your corporation are being followed closely so you don’t have a compliance issue. You also need to worry about people sharing secret information on your business.

June 5, 2019

When it comes to opportunities and planning, they both go hand in hand. If you see an opportunity to make money or a difference in any way, you need to figure out how to do it. You have to lay out your ideas in a structured way for things to work out. I believe some opportunities I missed were jobs and that is because I didn’t believe in myself that I could get hired and let it pass by.

June 6, 2019

Marketing is described as the art of nurturing relationships with consumers to build brand awareness and loyalty. In comparison, psychology is the scientific study of human behavior. There is a link between marketing and psychology because to effectively build connections with consumers you have to understand their behavior and the underlying motivation behind their purchase decisions. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/psychology-marketers-revealing-principles-human-behavior

June 7, 2019

Planning, budgeting, and marketing are three things I learned in this course that are relevant to my innovation. Here is a piece of my paper that will show how I plan to apply these to my innovation.

In order to turn this Innovation into a Reality, there are many steps we will need to take.  One of the first steps I would take is figuring out what courses we will offer during the duration of the camp.  The courses I would like to feature are Coding, Video Game Development, Robotics, and Design.  From there we can develop many different innovative courses tailored for students with different interests, backgrounds, and skills.  I think one of the next steps would be budgeting.  We will need to budget for food, housing, and other off-campus activities for the students staying.  The summer camp will be overnight so we need to account for bedding and feeding the kids.  We want to offer kids’ stuff other than just learning about STEM so we plan on having off-campus activities such as board games, sports, tournaments, and excursions.  It is important we see how much it will cost to make these courses work as well and what technology we need to do so.  We want to make it innovative so we will need to invest in the standard Industry Products from companies like Apple and Google.  Once we have the curriculum and an idea of all the products we need and a budget for taking care of our students, I think we can then go to the bank with our business plan and get a loan for it all.  Once we get our approved loan, next is will be hiring staff.  We will look for unique and passionate staff members from top universities and tech companies.  We will spend time training our staff so they are knowledgeable of what we want to do at the camp and ready by the first day.  We will then have to find what universities will allow us to host our camp there and how much it will cost us to do so.  We want to do the summer camp at a college because we want the students to go to college of course when they graduate high school but we want them to get an experience of the campus life beforehand because it will be very beneficial.   These are the next steps to take to bring this innovation to life!

June 10, 2019

What I learned from the Pitching module to pitch ideas better are a lot of things. I need to prepare not just my idea but myself as well. The person gets invested first not just the idea. I need to make my presentation effective. I need to explain quickly my plan, ROI, and how to grow in a few minutes. I need to have a plan from day one and an exit strategy. Also researching your investor is important because you want somebody knowledgable about your industry.

June 11, 2019

Entrepreneurship is both an art and a science. In Art, you need both knowledge and skilled traits and science is a process for a systematized knowledge. Both are important to create sustainable and successful business entities.

June 12, 2019

To determine whether or not the Summer Camp is effective we will have to look at the attendance numbers, how well the teaching is going, if the kids are learning correctly, and if they are enjoying themselves outside of the STEM learning.  We want to show them there is more to life as well.  We want the children to engage in the learning environment by building and redefining theories and models, collecting and analyzing data they find, constructive criticism of ideas and arguments, and using specialized ways of talking and writing to present their ideas.

June 13, 2019

I felt proud and motivated during my entrepreneurial efforts. I felt that with everything I have learned in the course I can now use later in life if I ever decide to start a business of some sort. I’m more confident in my abilities as a thinker and putting my ideas on paper and bringing them to life.

June 14, 2019

The good thing about my innovation, there really aren’t any ethical issues I can think of that will arise. I’m trying to create a STEM summer camp for kids and help them acquire 21st century skills for the work force and help bring their tech ideas to life. There isn’t much controversy or many boundaries I feel like I can push doing something of this nature. Just giving kids an opportunity to create new ideas.

June 17, 2019

I believe you can’t reach success without failure. That feeling of weakness from failure isn’t pleasant of course but finding that power inside you to get through it is what will shape you. Knowing that you failed gives you insight on what to do right next time to reach your potential. Failure also makes you fearless meaning that once you feel that failure you won’t be afraid if it happens again and you know how to weather the storm. I believe it makes success interesting because you look back at all the obstacles you had to overcome.

June 18, 2019

Things that I can do to be more resilient are building my self confidence. Resilient people know they will succeed eventually so that is what keeps them going. Setting forth positive personal goals helps as well. Being flexible is an important trait resilient people have because things are always changing and even the most thought-out plans made need to be scrapped and you cant be upset about it. Learning from past mistakes and failures is essential. Every mistake has the power to teach you something important.

June 19, 2019

My overall perspective of the entrepreneurship experience is all positive. I feel like it is necessary in a sense as well. It can change how we live and work, with successful ventures improving standards of living and generating wealth. With the entrepreneurship experience, you can take a look at how to create new businesses, add to national income, create social change, and develop your community.

June 20, 2019

The potential employment prospects with the agency are ones with good communication and networking skills. Being able to communicate well with others in the workplace is crucial and your ability to collaborate effectively with others to put everyones ideas together is too. The entrepreneurship experience did just that by putting different people with different backgrounds together to create something bigger than themselves.

June 21, 2019

I enjoyed the self-reflection aspect of the entrepreneurship experience. It gave me an opportunity to look back at my past transgressions and if I made any mistakes or I failed at a particular time, I was able to look back and learn from it so I don’t make the same mistake again. There wasn’t anything I didn’t like in my experience, everything was great and positive in my eyes.

June 24, 2019

In order to improve on the experience, I would take out the academic paper where you talk about the innovation personally and suggest putting more emphasis on the group instead and how everybody feels as a whole. Being able to collaborate on something else instead to show we were all on the same page would seem better.

June 25, 2019

Our efforts will contribute to the betterment of society because with millions of unfilled STEM jobs around the world, coders, game developers, robotics engineers, and designers are in demand like never before. At the STEM’s of Knowledge 1st Annual Summer Camp, we will teach our students with hard skills for future careers and they will walk away with valuable 21st century skills problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration.  Students ages 7-17 will be able to use their creative minds and bring their ideas to life with the help of our uniquely qualified and passionate staff.  The students will be able to make that viral video, design a phone app, or develop that new hit video game.  Our program features many innovative courses, blending world-class instruction with fun camp activities.