Make It Real

Make it Real

When the semester began, I argued that our experiences can shape who we are. Now that you're at the end of the journey, we ask you to reflect on where you've been. Next week's "Final Reflection" exercise asks you to look back through your semester and identify the highlights. Reflection is an educational tactic that is useful for making the things you learned stick. (In fact, there's a great book on this called "Make it Stick," by Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel, which I'd highly recommend!)

In this exercise, I want you to do a bit more than just make it stick; I want you to make these experiences real. You are all the founders of a new venture, social movement, or other project. You have actually engaged in customer research. You have actually made pitches to groups of potential customers/investors/employees, etc. You have actually identified a product/service mix, described a growth and exit strategy, and you have experience practicing search engine optimization.

I've often thought back on my own life and the years I published a campus newspaper as an undergraduate student. I wish someone had told me I was an entrepreneur; I might still be doing it! Here's my chance to pay it forward:

You have all of the experiences of an entrepreneur. And you didn't just read about it in a textbook. You actually did it. You ARE an entrepreneur.

For this exercise, I'd like you to do something very simple. Put together a resume. An entrepreneur's resume. You'll list all the usual things -- your education, skills, work experience, etc. -- but I want you to actually include a line item that indicates you were the founder of a new venture. This should go at the top, and it should be included in "Work Experience." I also would like you to list some of the tangible experiences and skills you have acquired and practiced in ENT 3003. Some of these skills and experiences can be listed under the "Founder, My Venture" heading. Some of them you can include elsewhere on your resume. 

Now, because this should be your real resume, it should be a Word or PDF file. Please create this resume, upload it to a cloud storage system like your Google drive, and embed a link to it in your blog post. Once you have completed this exercise, please include the phrase "Making It Real" in the post title.