Tuesday...
it has been a long dae....an interesting one....which i wanna recap and post some personal thoughts about myself and entrepreneurship...
Effectively, I attended 3 networking sessions todae...yes, 3 networking sessions in a single dae!
Earli in the morning, a few frens and i met up with the Director of Acad Affairs at where we r studying...he has been a long supporter of our NOC program and it was great to hav breakfast together and just to get to know each other better....
We were slightly late and i felt awfully bad for dat...i MUST ensure punctuality be a number 1 priority for me...
Then I went for classes....we were late cos breakfast ended abit too late....
sighz, dat was bad...cos we probably got 'marked' for dat....over here, the prof is extremely strict abt tardiness and we have been forewarned....well, still, much as i enjoy the curriculum of this entrepreneurship module, i reali dislike the participation grading thing, which is soooo wayang to me....
well, it led me to tink abt many thgs thereafter during the break...which i will elaborate on below....
In the afternoon, I attended this seminar on Writing a Business Plan....and it was presented by a prominent business coach here....it was a good presentation and i asked questions and participated actively throughout cos i was pretty interested in the topic...
Sooner or later, I will have to write business plans and I want to be proficient in that...and what better time than to start now?
Again, more on my thots below....
After attending my second lecture in the afternoon, I went over to the Federal Reserve Bank to attend the 3rd networking session for today. Excited about it after getting to interact with new people in the morning and afternoon, I was longing for more exciting talks...and the topic tonight was about the failures and successes of entrepreneurs...and 5 presently successful entrepreneurs talked abt their arduous route to success....
Well, the highlight before the talk started was the networking session outside the audithorium...it was nuttin else except for networking....
cos everyone was in formal wear, other than my frens and i, almost everyone else was in formal suits....
the crowd comprised mainly of entrepreneurs, some sponsors, some vcs and us....
it was my first REAL and PRACTICAL networking session distinctively different from the earlier ones as people literally go up to each other as a stranger, introduce themselves, talk about each other's companies, industries, and think about whether there are opportunities for collaboration....
Honestly speaking, I am a total greenhorn at such formal networking events and I was struggling to make an impact.....An older man, after speaking to me for a good 10mins, lost interest (i could sense it).....partly due to my inexperience in selling my company and ideas....
Still, it was a great start and after the event, I got many tips from my NOC Director who was there as well and discussed with peers as to how we can improve our networking skills....
we are all very hyped up and will wan to become skilful networkers by the time we finish our 1yr NOC program...
************************************************************************************
Back to my thots....
well, it's been a long time since i typed such a long post but i've reali got much to want to talk abt todae...so it's going to be a long while more....
I mentioned that I like the entrepreneurship module's curriculum alot...dat's cos unlike many mods in singapore which are too theoretical and ideal-case, we study, analyse and discuss real-life case studies here, eg, HP, Vermeer Tech, Microsoft, Dell, etc etc....
I feel that I learn much more from this method....BUT....i reali dislike the participation grade...in NUS we have it too but in this module here, it's 30%....and...immediately....u can see the effect it has on the students....
it's SUPER WAYANG....and everyone will shoot their hands up to ans even the most trivial of questions so as to earn the grade.....darnz....
I reali don like it......I don't want to do so just for the grade....no way man....
Anyhow, this module is going to be S/U for us so I'll speak only when I think I have a good point to make and not fall into the trap of being wayang just for the grade.....
Next...
while having some time to myself before the aftn seminar, I began thinking about some issues....
If someone asks me this qns and demands an ans right away....can I answer it?
-- "What are your strengths and what role will you be able to play most effectively if you found a company?"
Disappointingly, I couldn't think of the answer right away....
What does that mean?
That simply means that I do not know myself well enough! How sad is that?!
I believe I am a good friend to many and being sincere, helpful, easygoing and humorous are strengths of mine BUT yet, in the context of formal networking, all the above traits which have helped me made many friends are not proving themselves applicable as yet....
Work-wise, I am a meticulous person who usually plans well ahead of time, plans for contingency plans, looks far ahead to seek a vision...BUT, I feel that I am stuck somewhere in between, as in, I am neither complete enough as a management role, which requires strong leadership and motivational skills (CEO), nor am I competent enough to be in an operations role (COO/CFO/CTO) type...
I do not know what I am better suited for......
And last but not least, what do I really aim to achieve from this 1yr NOC program???
I realise that although I have been working hard, studying hard, socialising hard and getting involved in almost everything here, I am simply drifting along....
What do I really want to achieve?
It's high time I set everything down in specific details....
It's time I stopped looking at myself as an intern....
It's time I stopped looking at myself as a student...
It's time that I started thinking BIG....thinking as an entrepreneur....
It's time I started to be more daring with my ambitions and any thoughts I have...
It's time I stepped out....and gain recognition....
It will probably take awhile to really answer all these questsions and points I raised above....
but I really OUGHT to be at least able to identify my strengths and sell myself when the need arises....
A fren commented before (Olive in fact), that if Zhiwei and I were to enter a partnership together (which is a possibility), I'd be more suited to be the CEO and he, the COO/CFO....
While that may be true if the picture involves only both of us....
Thus far here, I have seen for myself first hand over here the difficulties of starting a business, fighting to get funds from VCs, battling even harder to sustain and keep alive startups...
and I fear that Zhiwei and I alone are too similar in terms of knowledge and skill sets to make it BIG....
unless one of both of us have more knowledge and experience in business through work or in the form of an MBA program, our skill sets will be too similar to complement each other.....
Nevertheless, chemistry is important and our temperaments are complementary too.
We need a lot more other factors though, which I hope we will be able to make up for in this 1year though our different endeavours.
************************************************************************************
Well, I don't know whether I said everything I wanted to...but it sure feels good now....
Will write down my specific goals once I make my decisions....
Soon....
3 comments:
Agree with you so much. There are so many things for us to learn,we still lack a lot in different aspects.There are so many factors to consider, so much uncertainly but that is the exciting part, it will not be easy but I am sure we will see a more capable you when you return. Yah, to add on, you are getting chubby.
well, its good to feel challenged... if not u will neva improve! hope u can realli gain wat u set out to do after tis 1yr! stay focused n positive alwiz!
Halo, are u studying in NUS now?
Post a Comment