I will take a little bad with all the good.

There are opportunities to learn something new in every situation. Sometimes it is easy to see what is a lesson and other times it is very difficult. I find myself to be a cautious optimist. I enjoy finding the good in every situation and person but I will also not let the good blind me from the bad and vice versa. This year, there was a lot of bad but I never allowed myself to not acknowledge the good. This semester at NDSU was extremely challenging for me. With the demands of a growing business, my presence was required more than I was anticipating. It took time away from the schoolwork I needed to complete, it took time away from my son after he got home from school, and I found myself having to reevaluate my priorities almost weekly. But I was determined to do the best I could in every aspect of my life that needed my attention.

One of the classes I took this semester at NDSU was Entrepreneurship 301. Although I found myself having a hard time meeting deadlines for many of the assignments, I made it a goal to finish every single one I possibly could. Throughout the entire course, there were a lot of things I learned but to pick one that I believe will help me the most in the future is a little difficult since most of what I learned is quite helpful. Since I need to focus on one, I will say what I have found most valuable were the exercises we did where we wrote down every idea we could come up with on post-it notes in a specific time period. The reason why this is useful to me is that I have always found it difficult to get my thoughts and ideas onto paper. By doing a “brain dump”, helped me free up space in my mind and I am able to more efficiently evaluate each idea or thought that I had. This can work for any aspect of my life, whether it be personal, business, or in school. Sometimes, I think that only the most important ideas or thoughts need to be written down but there is no reason why they all can’t. I will continue to do this in the future as a way to help work through any projects or problems I might encounter and allow my thoughts to flow freely instead of being dammed up.

This whole year has been challenging as the country and local community has had to navigate through a pandemic. One thing that it has done is pushed me out of my comfort zone. I have heard a phrase a few times from different people over the last couple of years that change doesn’t happen inside your comfort zone. And it is true. At this time last year, I was comfortable at the pace business was going and at the rate, I was finishing classes for my degree. This year accelerated the pace of business at a rate that I was uncomfortable with but I often have that, “sink or swim” belief. Looking back now, I feel like I was swimming against the current with only water wings to help me stay afloat. I have adapted and grown. I am not back in my comfort zone, but I will say I feel it is more manageable. Through all of this, I have found a fire inside of me that wants to continue to grow. I know that I need to do more. So with that all in mind, there are two things that I have a very strong desire to do. The first is to expand my business with location and product. I have outgrown in every aspect of the term in the location I am at right now. We are busting at the seams and it is apparent we need a bigger space. I also want to take the time to learn the art of roasting coffee. The second is to go see places I haven’t seen before. This summer, I took two weeks off and loaded up the pickup to head west. The west coast is where I grew up and where I always feel at home. I decided instead of just staying in my hometown and seeing people like I usually do, I wanted to go and see all the things I love most that the midwest can’t provide me. During this time driving through the mountains, being amongst the tall trees, driving down the coast, and watching the sunset fade into the horizon where the sea meets the sky, I did a lot of soul searching. I found my mind was racing with ideas for business and self. Looking back, if I would have been able to “brain dump” like I learned to do in this class, I would have been able to enjoy my vacation even more. Having a mind that races with thoughts is exhausting and learning how to alleviate it is the best thing that could have happened to me.

Being able to write all the thoughts down on paper will help me be more structured and organized going forward.

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment. I want to do more of this in the next ten years.