Week 14 Reading Reflection

Week 14 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

The biggest surprise for me in this reading was maybe the concept of developing the I-Teams. I had never heard of this term before. 

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

Nothing in the reading was necessarily confusing but I guess the concept of ecovision. 

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

If I were to ask the author two questions, I would ask about how do companies judge moral entrepreneurship? And, what is green capitalism? 

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I do not think the author was wrong about anything. 

Going for Google Gold

Going for Google Gold

1)   A discussion of your general approach and strategy to search engine optimiation (SEO). What were some of the activities you did for each blog post to pursue SEO? 

     

My approach and strategy to SEO (search engine optimization) for my blog was to use many commonly searched words in each of my posts. I figured that in anything these phrases were searched, then my blog post could show up. I also looked up most commonly searched keywords and things and used them in my posts.

2)   What were your keywords. How did you select those keywords? Did you change or refine your keywords through the semester?

     

     I used different keywords but some of the most searched for keywords that I used was ‘news’, ‘translate’, ‘business’; keywords such as these. My keywords did change throughout the semester as my posts changed, so I infused different words. Also new words, so that my post got even more views.

  

3)   How did you use social media to enhance your SEO efforts? What your your surprises or general impression of using social media to improve your blog's profile? Was social media generally receptive of your blog, or did it get ignored?

      

     I really do not use much social media to enhance my SEO efforts. I guess I could have used more but I thought that it would have to be specific and relevant to my blog. I did use Youtube for some of the video submissions which could count as social media. I realize how impactful though social media can be to your SEO.

4)   What was your most "viral" post? In other words, which post obtained the most traffic? Why do you think?

     

My most viral post on my blog was the Celebrating Failure post. It got a huge whopping 8 views. I think it obtained the most because we had peer reviews for it plus I think it was extremely inspiring.

5) Finally, did you make it to the first page of Google results for your keywords? If not, what page of results did you make it to?

     No, I did not make it to the first page, but made it to the second which I am pretty proud of, I gotta admit. 

Very Short Interview, Part 2

Very Short Interview, Part 2 

For this second part, I went back to the friend who I interviewed for Part 1, Skip Ennis. Skip is a good family friend and a successful business owner and co-founder of a multinational jewelry/diamond brand. He has storefronts in Sarasota and New York City. Skip has been running this business for about 21 years. 

*Since Skip is a good family friend and lives in Sarasota, I really did not feel comfortable recording our conversation over the phone, especially because some of it was quite personal. You can go check the transcript from Part 1 for more info on Skip. 

Reflecting back on the first Interview, I feel like I got a good feeling for how he would describe his business and some of the aspects of that, but I did not feel like it offered anything too detailed or groundbreaking about the industry. I was glad though that I not only just asked him about the jewelry business but also about his thoughts on being an entrepreneur and what he wishes he learned in school. I was appreciate that he took the time to speak with me and I felt like he at least gave thoughtful answers. 

Me: Do you feel like you wish you had learned about how to create a business plan, or study the VC market, or perform interviews on other entrepreneurs? 

Skip: Definitely. I think all of those things are great skills to learn now, and it sounds like your class that your doing now is teaching some good skills. I have had to create multiple business plans and etc. over the years and had to learn those things on my own. So, yes I wish I had learned that back in school. 

Me: What keeps you motivated? 

Skip: What keeps me motivated now and what kept me motivated back in the day are very different (Laughing). Now, it is mostly about maintaining our brand and planning for that retirement one day when I can boat and go to the US Virgin Islands. 

Me: Is there any advice that you would say don't listen to? 

Skip: Great Question. It may seem cliche but I would advise you to always follow balance. I think that is the most important thing, because so much advice is to point you to one extreme or to another but really the best is just healthy balances. That is what can keep you motivated and consistent. 

I do think that I feel more comfortable now at least interviewing than I did before. I would say that because we were already very familiar with each other, it was comfortable both interviews but what I do feel like I especially got out of this class was that I developed questions quickly to ask him, and questions that I actually really cared about hearing the answer. Not just some generic questions, but specific questions to what I am interested in hearing the answer. He also thought the class offered a lot of good concepts, so in that sense I do think he feels like it has grown me.