Learn by Starting Something of Your Own
Yesterday was the last day of my fall 2015 semester of college classes, my 7th semester of college. Hitting this milestone is making me reflect on this semester as compared to my past few. No doubt, I learned more in the past few months than all of my past semesters combined. Not only more information, but more about myself as well.
Why is that? Two reasons: 1. I started my own company. 2. I stepped out of my comfort zone.
People say you learn by doing. By starting this company, I forced myself to learn and not stick to the status quo. I learned to apply my experiences in classes and student leadership positions to a real life company. I have learned about business, effective ways to connect, social media marketing, the ins and outs of blogging, taxes, being a better business person, and selling oneself.
However, more than anything, this semester I have learned to value every victory, not matter how small, and to value every person I met.
When you start out, your victories are not large and your disappointments can be big. You have to be able to get joy out of the building of the business itself. Every sale, every picture of someone wearing a Sci Chic item, every comment on a photo fuels the fires, every new social media follower gives me a spark and pushes me to keep going. From the outside, these may not seem like a big deal, but when these accomplishments come from something that was just an idea in your head six months ago, it is astounding.
On top of that are the people I get to meet. I have met grandmas buying gifts for their grandchildren and college students using the jewelry to show off their love of science. I get the chance to meet more and more people that share my same passions, ranging from 3D printing to science to entrepreneurship. It feels fantastic to know that you are doing something that allows people to connect over a shared love and interest and create genuine relationships.
At the same time, there have been disappointments and failures. I have had short fallings and things I wanted to do better. I have been challenged to the limits trying to balance a senior year engineering schedule in college, and missed out on opportunities because I put classes first. I missed out on a connection by waiting too long to respond to an email. I have rushed things that needed more time. I haven’t communicated effectively to move our goals along, and I own up to those things, but if I let these things bring me down, it is impossible to keep going. Instead I have worked to stand on these failures to step up to the next level to make this next year amazing.
I encourage everyone to take the leap and start something. It does not have to be a company, or even something business related, but it should be something you care about. You are putting yourself in a position to learn more than you ever have before, and to have amazing new life experiences.
It will never seem like the perfect time. Does senior year in college as a mechanical engineering student seem like the right time? You will be putting more pressure on yourself. Your time will be taken away from other things. But if the output of this is working on something you love, isn’t that worth it? So now is the perfect time. Whenever now is. Let this semester, this month, this year, be the year that you learn more than ever before. Let’s stop dreaming and start executing.
Founder, Sci Chic
