Blog 23: Senior project presentation

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?
Overall I'm really proud of my lecture content. I really feel that I gave solid information and cited my sources very well throughout. I presented as if I wasnt nervous at all which also helped me in assuring my presentaion would be clear. I'm usually one to speak a million miles a minute but I had to constantly remind myself to speak very slowly so it didn't sound too crazy and everybody could follow along. I'm very proud that I did a good job at that.
(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC
AE-
b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC
P+/AE-

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?
What worked for me was definitely having an amazing mentor to guide me throughout the year and fill me with the knowledge I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. Without her I wouldn't have been as prepared as I was. Amy, my mentor, taught me so much more than I thought I would have ever learned going through this senior project. She is essentially where I got most of my information from and what made me that much more passionate about my topic. 

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?
I honestly don't believe anything didn't work. I went through my senior project very smoothly without any bumps in the road. The only thing I would've done differently is perhaps practicing one more time just to make sure I wasn't stuttering and saying all of of the correct information. 
(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.
If I was doubting by any means before that business management was my passion, it is not anymore. Researching this whole year more into this topic has guaranteed my happiness will rely on going to school and studying for this. It has given me so much more experience than most kids my age can say they have, and will definitely give me an advantage. I can already see how studying this for my senior project has helped me. I want to apply to as many retail jobs as possible and having all this background knowledge on business management in retail has put me ahead of others who might apply to the same job, even if they have more work experience than I do.  As much as senior project has been a pain in the butt I'm super happy and thankful to have gotten this opportunity in preparing me for my future.

Mentorship

   Interpretive

     What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

The most important thing I have gained from this experience is that ensuring successful managing in a small retail business, or any retail business for that matter require several different actions. I now understand how much more difficult it is to manage a store than i thought it was. Working with my me or Amy had given me the chance to see how she runs and manages her store and what I can take in and use in the future. The most important thing I have learned from her is ensuring the happiness in customers. She is probably one of the most. If not the most welcoming employee (manager in her case) that I have ever encountered. I have realized how crucial it is to greet every customer with a smile, start small talk just to ask how their day is going or what they need help with. It makes the customer feel appreciated and valued, which should be a common goal for all retail stores.

   Applied

     How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ?  Please explain.

Everything I have researched for my EQ to find my answers has been proven by everything I have seen at Maple Boutique. My answer one came specially from an interview with Amy. She told me how social media is the biggest way of getting her business out there and bringing more people in. My second answer which is creating a website also came from Amy. It wasnt directly from her, but observing how much goes on her website and how much profit comes from having a clear and concise website for her business allowed me to research more into if it would be a good answer to my EQ. My last answer which is professional customer service 100% came from mentoring at Maple. Like explained in my first question, making the customer feel like they are a part of the company or business should be the business's top priority. 

Exit Interview

(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers?  What is your best answer and why?

EQ: What is the best way to maximize profits in a small retail business

Answer 1: Promoting the business through social media 

Answer 2: Providing the best possible customer service

Answer 3:  Creating and maintaining a visually appealing, yet helpful website

Best Answer: 3

The reason I chose answer 3 as my best answer is because customer service is what creates loyal customers which leads to positive word of mouth, and brings in more customers. Having excellent customer service encourages customers to keep coming back leading to more money for the business. 

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

Mentoring at Maple I experienced how well Amy and her employees treat her customers whether it be from helping them shop around the store, or following up with them after they make a purchase at the store. A simple "hello" or "thank you" when  the customers enter and leave the store is what makes the customer feel appreciated and brings them back for that same experience. Also, researching my topic this whole year gave me insight to a lot of different ways a small business could be successful, and I came across customer service more then plenty times, only to reassure it as my best answer. 

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

In the beginning of the year I had trouble finding a mentor who could guide me through this year long experience. I guess the saying " Good things happen to those who wait" is true, because not long after I was almost about to give up, I found Amy. I called several boutiques in the Claremont Village, and finally one store was able to give me the "okay", which was Maple Boutique. Amy has been a huge blessing and help to researching my senior project. Not only is she super kind in assisting me with any of my needs, but she goes out of her way to teach me all the ins and outs of the business. 

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

• Tahir, Liz. "10 Effective Customer Service Tips." About.com. About.com, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.- This article gave me more then plenty help as to why customer service is so crucial, especially in smaller businesses. It also gave me a detailed list as to what is important in customer service and how to improve it. 

• Third interview with my mentor, Amy- This interview in specific helped me understand how social media plays a huge role in Maple Boutique, and what she does specifically on it to promote the business. She further explained how having a functioning websiste for her business helps her control what she sells, who she sells it to, and how it beings in more business for the boutique. Both of these things helped me back up my answers to my EQ, and generate further research. 

April Extra Blog Post

     Helping Amy while tagging accessories, she told me how she uses the style number system for her store. It helped me understand how she tracks all her items when she puts them in the POS. Amy says this way its easier to know what's in the store and how many of them there are, so she can manage products more efficiently. She told me a story how when she first started off, a customer shoplifted her store right in front of her, and at the time she didn't know what to do, but since then she's gotten a lot better at keeping track of everything and not letting thing like that happen.
   The highlight of mentoring this month was attending a Maple Boutique event. Amy invited customers to come in and create floral crowns for Coachella week, which was a huge turnout. Not only were there a lot of customers to make the crowns, but a lot of customers for sales. I've been to previous events at Maple, but this was by far my favorite because I got to see more of how Amy's employees act towards customers to exceed great customer service; which is one of my answers. Not only that, but it was a great environment, and it helped me open up to speak to customers more and assist them with anything they needed.
   While interviewing Donna this month (owner of The Grove Boutique) I realized how many different managing styles there are. Donna is very more laid back and doesn't do much managing as lets say her daughter does for the store, while Amy is very hands-on and always on top of everything that goes on in her store. I admire Amy for that because it shows me how committed and how much her store is really her passion. The one thing both owners have in common is believing in having excellent customer service, which if I was doubting as my best answer to my EQ before, is now for certain. It was definitely nice to get a different perspective from another owner, so I could compare between managing styles in small businesses.

Independent Component 2

LITERAL
(a) I,Yuritzi Mora, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 32 hours of work
(b)

1.  "10 Ways to Deliver Great Customer Service." BusinessNewsDaily.com. Purch, 6 Oct. 2011. Web. 27 Mar. 2015.
2. Sisson, Natalie. "7 Key Tools To Run Your Online Business From Anywhere."Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 25 Aug. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
3. Moskowitz, Robert. "How to Safely Expand Your Small Business | QuickBooks." QuickBooks. Intuit, 04 Mar. 2013. Web. 29 Jan. 2015.

(c) My hours are updated(d) For my independent component I completed 32 extra hours of mentorship. Originally my plan for independent component 2 was to take a class up at Cal Poly on psychology. Unfortunately, all the classes were either filled, or the professors told me they weren't taking any I-Poly kids at the moment. When psychology classes didn't work out, I decided to look for accounting classes or anything that could help me learn about finances more, but almost all the classes on that had prerequisites. That's when I decided to just talk to my mentor and ask if I could come into the store more often to complete extra hours with her.  
  INTERPRETIVE Defend your work and explain the component's significance and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.  
While completing extra hours working/mentoring at Maple Boutique, Amy explained to me a lot more about the business side in retail. I learned how to complete order and sales forms, then, how to sort the store's finances. I also asked Amy how she started her store's website and she showed me what's important to include, and what draws customer's in. For most of my mentorship, a lot of what I was learning was how to deal with customers or how to organize around the store, so I was very happy and content when Amy gave me the opportunity to expand my business knowledge. For the extra hours I mentored, there was also plenty in store events which allowed me to see how Amy organizes events for her store and how she interacts with larger groups of customers. Attending these events also made me open up and speak to customers, rather than steaming or tagging clothes like I usually do.

 





APPLIEDHow did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped. 
One answer to my EQ is maintaining a visually striking yet organized website, and the other is having great customer service. Amy was able to show me how both work so well for her store. Like previously explained, Amy showed me why having a website for her boutique is so important. She explained to me why she chooses to have a simple layout rather than something that will overwhelm visitors. She taught me what should be excluded and what MUST be included. At the beginning of when I started mentoring she told me her website didn't include online shopping, but she decided to input it because it's what her customers wanted and found more convenient. I found this extremely helpful as it explained more to me why a website can bring in more profits for a small business. My last answer is customer service and I was definitely able to see how good customer service, keeps customers coming back. Amy and her employees are by far one of the best examples of great customer service I have seen in ANY store. Not only are they kind and welcoming, but they make customers feel like they are part of the store and will go out their way to assist anybody. I appreciated how well they handled groups of customers at the store events, and how they would constantly made everybody feel included. Out of all my time mentoring at Maple, not once have I heard a customer complain, and that showed me everything I learned from Amy is valuable. 

March Blog Post

The month of March was very productive in my mentorship hours, due to the fact that I have learned more about the business side in retail. Amy began teaching me more about order sales. What an order sale is, is basically the reciept for what you have ordered and from what designer. Each order sale has what you purchased and how much you bought it for. At the end of each list, you sum up everything you have bought from that designer to find out the total. Then, you file them away to have handy. For instance, if the store is running low on clothes you can check what's comjng in for the next month, call the company and ask them to send your clothes sooner if they have them ready.
At first I was a little intimidated since these are her finances, and I didn't want to miscalculate anything. Once I got the hang out it, it became relatively easy and helpful for me to see how she spends her money throughout the store.
I am now preping for my interview 4, which I am excited to do. At first, I wasn't looking forward to this last interview since the person I was going to interview wasn't exactly who I would want to ask questions to. Amy was kind enough to offer her help; she told me she would be more than happy to contact one of the other business owners in the village so I could interview them. Now I have to come in contact with whoever it is she will be willing to set me up with, and clean up on my questions. I feel this final interview will be extremely helpful, since getting a different opinion on business besides my mentor is always a good thing. Business had so many aspects to it and every owner runs their business differently. The more perspective I have on how to run a business, the more experience and knowledge I will have towards it.

20 Questions

1. What would you say are the main differences between owning the business and managing it? 

2. What is the toughest part about managing a business? 

3. Who helps you maintain the business the most? 

4. Where do you find vendors? 

5. What are you guidelines when hiring new employees? 

6. What is the most important thing your business needs to provide in order to keep customers happy? 

7. What do you do to keep your team cohesive and motivated to sell? 

8. How did you chose your target audience? 

9. What are some classes that would be crucial or helpful to take in order to get a better understanding of managing? 

10. What has shaped you to become a better manager?

11. How do you provide quality customer service? 

12. Does your store have a website or do you run a blog to renovate more business or interest amongst customers? 

13. Why did you pick this location for your business? What about this location made it stand out for you? 

14. Most important thing to know about finances in a business? 

15. About after how long did it take for you to get accustomed in managing the store and what comes along with it? 

16. What do you feel you can improve on as a manager? 

17. Do you have a strategy going into each month about how to reach the store's goals? 

18. What do you do to solve any disagreements your employees may have with each other? 

19. What do you think is the most effective way to manage a business? 

20. Important qualities a manager must have? 

Answer 3

1. EQ
What is the best way to maximize profits in a small retail business?

2. Answer 3
Great customer service keeps the business's consistent customers, while bringing forth new ones by generating positive word-of-mouth

3. Three details to support your answer 3

• Decreases barriers to buying (ex. more likely to entice a hesitant buyer)

• Increase how often a customer buys from you

• Better/more customer loyalty 

4. Resources

• "What Is Customer Service?" Customer Service: Why It Is Important. ABN, n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2015.

• Goltz, Jay. "How a Small Business Becomes a Big Business." Youre the Boss How a Small Business Becomes a Big Business Comments. NY Times, 22 Dec. 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.

• Burke, Gerad. "How to Take Your Small Business into the Big Time."Marketing Donut. Atom Content Marketing, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.

5. Wrap up
Besides my first answer, I can say this is my strongest answer. I'm excited to research more for this especially since my mentor believes a strong customer relationship is what makes your business. Customer service is definitely one of the top 3 key factors when determining how well your business is going to do; will your customer service bring in more people, or disinterest new and old customers from coming back?

February extra post

This month I had the opportunity to interview my mentor for my third interview. I'm glad I was able to use her for this interview, because she did a great job of throughoughly answering all my questions with honesty. The interview with her allowed me to think more deeply into my second answer for my EQ and how I can properly answer it. My first answer was using social media, and for my second answer I was going to say a website is what helps expand business. During the interview though, she mentioned how important customer service was in order to keep and gain more customers. I am stuck between using customer service for my second answer, or keeping that in the back of my mind for my third answer.
Luckily I have been learning a lot from Amy just from observing what she does around the store and how she approaches customers. Amy told me how appreciative she is of me to help around the store, but she would like to help me in the same way by knowing what is is I want to find out more about managing businesses. There are so many aspects of business management, and so much I want to find out about; I defintely have to do my research as to what can help me the most.
Besides that, I continue to help out at the store weekly, and gain more information to further my knowledge of business management.

Answer 2

1.  What is your EQ?What is the best way to maximize profits for a small retail business?
2.  What is your first answer? If you get your business known through social media, then profits will increase due to popularity.
3.  What is your second answer?If you create and maintain a visually striking, yet organized website, then more customers will be drawn to your business, thus increasing profit.
4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

1. Draws attention- It only takes a couple seconds for a first impression. A website that is appealing, yet well established speaks loads about what your business is like.

1. Makes you stand out- Plenty small businesses such as boutiques don't have websites; offering an online business makes you different then the rest.

1. Offers your merchandise online- Selling both in-store and online gives the opportunity to expand your customers, and more customers means more profit.

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?
6.  What other source supports your answer?

• Barr, Corbett. "Top 10 Mistakes in Starting an Online Business." Fizzle Top 10 Mistakes in Starting an Online Business Comments. Fizzle, 09 July 2013. Web. 16 Jan. 2015. <http://fizzle.co/sparkline/top-10-mistakes-in-starting-an-online-business>.

• Zlotnick, Milton. "Steps to Starting an Online Business - Bplans Blog." Bplans Blog Steps to Starting an Online Business Comments. Palo Alto Software, 13 Dec. 2007. Web. 09 Jan. 2015.

• Moon, Allen. "How to Start a Business Online." Entrepreneur. Entrepreneur, n.d. Web. 09 Jan. 2015.

Smale, Thomas. "4 Reasons Why an Online Business Is the Best Investment You Will Ever Make." Entrepreneur. Entreprenuer, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2015. <http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/241759>.

7.  Tie this together with a concluding thought.
Websites not only get your business known through customers that haven't visited your store, but those who HAVE visited your store can get more out of an online business that may provide more than that of in-store.

1. I plan on taking a class up at Cal Poly through Young Scholars. Most likely it'll be a pyscology class because in business it is ideal to know people and how they work. Taking a class will allow me to figure out how the human mind works; and let me build better communication skills.
2. Evidence will be shown through pictures of my notes, tests, and even recordings of lectures.
3. As explained earlier, physiology will allow me to expand my knowledge on how people take things differently. When I did my first interview, my mentor at the time told me hat working in business management forces you to work will all types of different people. People from different backgrounds and such, communicate differently than one might. When you understand how the mind works, it can give you a better understanding of why people are they way they are. This will lead to you managing your business better since you have more knowledge as to why people act the way they do.

Independent Component 1

LITERAL

(a) I, Yuritzi Mora, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
 (b) James, Geoffrey. Business without the Bullsh*t: 49 Secrets and Shortcuts You Need to Know. N.p.: Grand Central, 2014. Print.
(c) Refer to Senior Project Hours
(d) For my Independent Component 1 I completed an extra 30 hours with my mentor.

INTERPRETIVE 
    
    The reason I decided to do an extra 30 hours is because my mentor has so much experience and knowledge with business, that I figured the more time spent mentoring with her, the more information I could gather. Amy is the owner and manager of Maple Boutique, which of course, correlates to my topic; Business Management. The fact that I have perspective from a business owner/ business manager allows me to gain more insight from both sides. When I go into her store to mentor, she teaches me about how to work in college to prepare for beginning of my business career once I graduate, and what it takes to get there. 90% of the time when I go into her store, my job is to open any delivered packages and stock inventory with what we received. At times it can be mundane, but during those times she explains to me how to order the clothes, where to order them, how often to order them, and why she orders the things she does.
    Another thing I do at mentorship is run a lot of trips to the UPS store, or post office. Since Amy also runs a website for her boutique, items are constantly needed to be shipped out and delivered to the customers. The first time I went was super embarrassing. Amy gave me a bag of clothes and asked me to put them in the package the post office provides. Well the thing is, the post office has like 10 different packaging options, and I didn't want to call her again since I had already gotten lost on the way there and had to ring her. I ended up going with a cardboard package that didn't seem to have enough room for all the clothes she handed me, but I was going to make it fit one way or another. When I finally finished shoving everything in the package it looked like a 2 year old tried wrapping a present, and didn't succeed so they just put tape everywhere to cover it up. I handed the post lady the package and she just looked at me and said, "You know they have these plastic packaging that is much roomier and easier to to fit what you need to fit in there right?". Yeah, of course I knew. That's why I spent 10 minutes sweating, trying to make everything fit in the package without ripping, and attempting to keeping it semi-presentable. 
     One of the things I really enjoyed was when she taught me how to read and input invoices. I had previously heard what they were, but I never knew exactly, so it was a true learning experience for me. To be honest, everything during mentorship is a learning experience. At times its nerve-wrecking because I don't quite understand what she wants me to do, and I don't want to ask again or else I'll feel dumb. Then again, that's a part of learning, and once I finally master the task it becomes easier for me to do it the next time.
     I also attended a few in-store events which she hosts every couple weeks to interact with customers and get the business more known from any visitors who happen to come by. She offers goody bags, or some snacks and always has cute and crafty ideas for her and her customers to bond over. I can tell she puts a lot of effort into these events, and not only does she enjoy them, but so do the customers; which I have learned is the most important thing in maintaining a business. Below are a few pictures of my mentoring experience. Most of the pictures are of clothes and the store, because like I said before, my job is mostly to  
take inventory, dress mannequins, and set the store up.

 
       

(I apologize for the weird picture display. I took pictures with a square, vertical, and landscape format, so they're spaced out really awkwardly)

APPLIED

    I touched on this in the Interpretive section, but during my 30 extra hours, I realized that aside from all the managing part of the business, customers are what MAKES your business. Everything Amy does is to please her customers. She changes her window displays every so often to make her store visually appealing to customers, and keep them interested. She orders new merchandise 3 to 4 times a week to keep her store constantly changing and keep the variety for her customers. In-store events are to mingle with customers and keep them updated with anything new and upcoming. Without the customers, you merely have a store with clothes and price tags on them. Keeping your customers happy and satisfied is what helps your business grow and reach its full potential. That's not to say there aren't plenty other factors in having your business succeed, but customers are your consumers and if your consumers don't like what you offer then there will be no business. 
    When the time came around to start planning my answer for my 30 minute presentation I had no idea what to do. After mentoring so much with Amy, I realized every time I went into her store she was always updating something to Instagram for the business. That's when the answer the my essential question hit me. Amy was kind enough to further help me develop my answer, and explain what examples I could use for my presentation. She gave me several examples about how social media helps businesses expand to become bigger than they already are, and why is it easier then anything else she does to promote her boutique.
     I can genuinely say one of the reasons I presented so well was because over the last weeks Amy has granted me so much information about managing a business, that I had no knowledge of prior to mentoring with her. These extra 30 hours I completed with her allowed me to develop a better relationship with Amy and I am now a lot more comfortable asking questions about the business, or calling in when she's not expecting me, to ask if she needs any extra help around the store. I'm glad she has agreed to have me interview her for my 3rd interview, especially since I highly value her wisdom of the business industry.
    

    Mentorship this month was nothing out of the ordinary. I went in to help Amy twice a week usually to help her tidy around the store and stock inventory. One thing I really enjoyed was helping her out with her window display. Every couple of weeks Amy sets up a really creative, cute window displays to go along with the season or holidays. This month she decorated the windows with dip-dyed, hanging pine cones to go along with the winter season. She tells me that the reason she takes window displays so seriously is because it is what attracts customers, and makes her business stand out from all the other boutiques in The village.
    Since presentations were this month, I asked Amy to give me any advice she had with my project. I went over my first and best answer with her, and she's agreeed with what I had come up with. My best answer is "If you get your business known through social media, then profit for the business will increase due to popularity". Amy went on to tell me that social media is what got her business booming, and it is still her primary way to connect with her customers and let them know what she has in-store. Not only did I do a great job presenting, but it paid off once I recieved my grade. I appreciate that Amy helped with my presentation, since she of course is a business owner, and she knows what has helped her. For the next month, I would like to start going in 3 times a week and have her help me process my next two answers so I can research more on certain aspects of the industry.

Presentation

1.What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?
I am definitely proud of how well my presentation flowed. Before I was up to present, I was extremely nervous, because I felt as soon as I went up I would forget everything I had to say. Quite the opposite happened instead. As soon as it was my turn, I was pumped and ready to inform everybody about my topic. The words rolled off my tongue, and I had little to no problem getting across what I wanted to say. 2. a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?
AE
    b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.
It is rare that I self-asses myself an AE, but for this presentation in particular I feel like I did a good job explaining why I picked my answer to my essential question. I didn't overwhelm the audience with any unneeded facts, or bore them with a monotone voice. I felt very comfortable in what I was saying, and although Business Management may not everybody's interest I think the class was engaged in what I was saying. Not only did I give good information, but I had several examples to further guarantee understanding from the audience.
3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?
As explained above, I really like that I used a ton of examples. Some of the information I had might have been a bit confusing to some, so using those examples allowed a more clear understanding. The examples I used also gave the audience insight on how social media is used not only to connect with friends, but how businesses take them as an opportunity to expand themselves. 
4. What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?
I felt myself speaking a little too fast in the beginning, which did slow down throughout, but if I could go back and maybe speak a little bit slower it would have felt a little less rushed. 
5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?
My second answer will most likely be, "Running a well maintained, and organized website"

Blog 12: Mentorship 10 hours check

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?
Downtown Claremont at Maple Boutique
2.   Who is your contact?
Amy, the owner of the store 
3.   How many total hours have you done (total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located on the right hand side of your blog like your WB)?
13 hours 
4.   Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.
Mentorship for me includes setting the store up, opening new clothing packages, steaming items, running to the bank to deposit money, sending out packages at the post office, re-clothing manequins, 
inputting invoices, and occasionally attending events Amy sets at the store. 

Blog 11: Holiday Project Update

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you do over the break with your senior project?
Over break I did not go to mentorship. Both my mentor and I were busy for the 2 weeks, and seeing that she was out of state to visit family for the holidays, there wasn't a way I could help or learn from her anyhow.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why?  What was the source of what you learned?
As stated in the question above, I did not get a chance to meet up with my mentor. I will be heading to her store both Thursday and Friday to hopefully assist her and I will hope to gain any knowledge she may give. I look forward to asking her more questions about the business, especially since I would like her to be my next interview. 

3.  If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers for your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

1. How did you start your business?
2. Did you do anything in college specifically to move your business along?
3. What do you think the differences are between managing a boutique and larger retail?
4. How long did it take to get everything you needed to start your business?
5. When did you notice it was becoming successful?
6. I would like to set up a small clothing website while I'm in college. What advice would you give me?
7. Is it hard to manage your personal life and the business?
8. How would you go about opening a second location?
9. If you had the chance to go to business school instead of FIDM would you?
10. Did you consult with a lawyer or accountant before opening your business?