Week of Dec. 21: Hair Salon Storefront Project

Right now for our hair salon project we are finishing up our Pro Forma. I think this was the most difficult part thus far in our journey through this project. It was incredibly difficult and frustrating at times to constantly reach out to people, asking for hypothetical costs and various things. I found myself constantly having to rework our profit-loss statement with my group because we would get new numbers or have to plug in a different federal income tax because of our fluctuating gross profit. I thought that because it was the biggest struggle we’ve had, it gave us a little sneak preview of what running a business might actually entail. I realize a lot of the time that most of what we do in this class is grueling because it is what is to be expected of the real world. Once we came to terms with this idea, it was easier for us to work through some of the less exciting parts of the project. At this point we are waiting to hear back from a hair salon that we reached out to so we can get some numbers on legal fees. We also have to finish our write-up for part six which we are trying to make as detailed as possible. I found that my biggest struggle going through parts 4-6 was that I didn’t quite fully understand what fell under which categories in the profit-loss statement. I was frustrating filling the entire thing out and then realizing that you forgot to put in the price of computer or the payroll. Reworking the profit-loss, while incredibly repetitive also helped me to become more familiar with it. Overall, this part of the project is very work heavy but I do feel like I’m taking a lot away from it. 

Chapter 3: The Stickiness Factor

In this chapter, Gladwell talks about finding something, and idea mainly, that "sticks". This doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be a monumental and life changing discovery, but more that it has to be something that attracts a certain type of person enough to spread to others. He uses childhood television as an example for this phenomenon. Sesame Street was a revolution in the world of children and TV. The common belief before this was that television was detrimental to the growth and development of children. It was, nevertheless, and shock to parents when they found out that television can be educational and beneficial to teaching children basic things like right and wrong, basic mathematics and forming sentences. What was so incredible about this new found knowledge was that it changed the way people viewed something, in this case television for children. Not only did it alter a common belief, but also socially. It created a trend that kept up to this day. More and more children’s television shows have educational aspects to them. I think the point Gladwell was trying to make was that having a great idea is only half the battle. You need to have an idea that has the ability to affect a large group of people in a positive way. If you’re idea cannot “stick” than it is only as great as in your mind. It’s also not only about the idea that you have, but the execution and the advertising you create to get people as excited about it as you are. It’s important to understand, from an entrepreneurial standpoint that you must be able to think for the people you are trying to “speak to”. If they have a set back, you have to solve it. If they have reserves, you must reassure them. You reach a point where the “customers” ideas and feelings become more important than your own and you have to be okay with that. 

Week of December 7, $200 Project: Coming up with our idea

Currently in class, my group is working on created personalized BHS CLASS OF 201_ wristbands to sell for our $200 project. We decided that the best target customers for this project would be the students at Brookline High. The reason being is that it is easiest for us to sell to a group of people that we can relate to and understand. We decided to make these personalized bands because we believe that the students of Brookline High School want to have more school spirit than we have had in the past. Brookline Superfans was only recently created and continues to grow, but in our opinion should be the norm of students attending any high school (to want to cheer on and support their school). We do, however, have one “sport” that for the most part makes a Superfan out in every student, Powderpuff. This is an event that happens once a year but has, without fail, brought with it the more school spirit than any other sport. Powderpuff divides the school into two, Blue (This year’s Sophomores and Seniors) and Red (this year’s Freshman and Juniors). This is partly where we took the idea of created “CLASS OF…” bands. So much of the school spirit is a student supporting his or her own grade. It’s not so much that they truly care about winning an all girls flag football game but that they show the most dedication to their grade. This is why we believe that selling customized bands specific to a students graduating class will attract them to send a few dollars. So far we have only had the chance to reach out to a few companies that we are waiting to hear back from. We have already made the designs and decided on a start quantity. 

Chapter 1: The Three Rules of Epidemics

Chapter one talked mainly about what Gladwell referred to as the "tipping point". This being that point at which a few seemingly unrelated events are united and become notable. He uses Epidemics to better describe this phenomenon. In short, there are people who initially contract a disease, then there are others who help to spread the disease and eventually you get a tipping point where the disease becomes widespread. It's not necessarily true that the initial person who contracted the disease meant to spread it to others and those others meant to spread it to more, but whatever the intention, the disease was spread. Although epidemics are not viewed as positive things in the world, I believe that Gladwell was trying to paint a bigger picture about the significance of the tipping point. By portraying it in a negative light, we can see the power of the tipping point. It only takes a couple people to create something that can effect hundred of thousands of individuals. This chapter made me think about history and how every major event only happened because somewhere along the line, smaller moments came together in such a way that caused the larger one to occur. This reminded me of history class when we learned about the cause of World War I. Most people, myself included, remember the main cause to be the assassination of the Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand. Whether it was his funny name or the perfection in one mans death creating a World War, that moment in history, for me at least, stuck. We don’t remember the Bosnian Annexation Crisis or the Accession of Wilhelm II to the throne, although they played just as big roles in the start of World War I as the assassination did. However, they are not remembered. Why is that? It’s because they weren’t the straws that broke the camels back so to speak. They weren’t the tipping point and they, therefore, aren’t remembered. In life, we remember that which makes the biggest splash and leaves the deepest marks. Anything in between is forgotten and to remember it is to understand how you got to the finish line, which to me is more important than getting there.