My name is Megan Smith and I am a Junior Entrepreneurship major at Grove City College. I am incredibly excited to be participating in the Entrepreneurship Department’s Venture Lab program this semester! Last Spring, my business partner, Dale, and I competed in the Grove City College Business Plan Competition. We finished third in the competition and learned some incredibly valuable lessons. The competition gave us some wonderful insights into the business world and the hypothetical planning process of a business idea.
In regards to Venture Lab, however, I definitely want to move past the hypothetical process of a business plan and onto the tangible startup stage of a business. This is both exciting and nerve-racking. This is exciting because now I can work towards putting months of planning into action. This is also nerve-racking because one never wishes months of hard work to fall short of success. This can create a cautious mindset, one in which you try to avoid mistakes. I have realized that acquiring this mindset is actually the biggest mistake I could make. Being afraid to fail is probably the biggest obstacle for me in regards to venture lab.
This is where my mission comes in: my mission for venture lab is to fail hard and fail often. I don’t mean that I wish to make a complete mess of this wonderful opportunity. Rather, because I have an opportunity to work on a startup in such an incredibly supportive environment such as Grove City, I plan to execute all tasks knowing that each tiny piece of success is a small victory and each mistake made is an opportunity to learn and prepare for the next task.
With this mindset, I can use every opportunity in Venture Lab to learn, grow, and discover how to be a better entrepreneur.