Most Important Lesson Learned: The most important lessons I learned this semester deals with time management.  This entails many aspects including procrastination and using time wisely.  The problem we ran into most I feel has to do with setting an agenda for meetings.  Many times meetings would take obscenely long and I would get weary of them.  Consequently, goals need to be set and tasks need to be finished for the next meeting to be productive and shorter.

-Logan Powell

By taking this Real Business Experience course, I learned a lot and gained insight about the business world in just four short months.  I have grown to be more confident in my work and speeches in order to gain credibility and create a strong presentation.  Kawasaki’s chapter, “Speaking as a Performing Art,” (Ch. 48) taught me how to present effectively from all of his tips—including Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.  I honestly believe that because we had so many presentations in class, I learned how crucial practicing is for a public speech.  Through each presentation, I noticed that I became a better public speaker from all of the practice and work I put into it.

Overall, I have taken away many lessons from this course which I was able to experience first-hand (i.e. how to deal with clients and adjusting to problems when they are least expected).  I have learned a lot about myself and what I am looking for in a career.  Not only did this class improve my public speaking skills immensely, but now I know what I need to work on to develop them even further once RBE is completed.  Overall, I enjoyed this class very much and after putting forth so much work and effort, it was a very rewarding experience for my team and me.

After taking Real Business Experience (RBE) I am more aware of my strengths and weaknesses.  I have learned what I can do to become better at my strengths and how to work on my weaknesses to turn them into strengths.  The most important lesson that I learned from RBE is having the ability to adapt.  Previously to taking RBE I never realized the importance of being able to adapt, but after taking RBE I became aware of the importance of being able to adapt.  There are many situations in the business world that may occur and if you aren’t prepared for them you need to be ready to adapt quickly.  I think the book “Who moved my cheese” had the best examples of this.  The book displayed the importance of always being on your toes and be ready for change because you never know when you will need to change or adapt to the situation at hand.  Overall, RBE was a great class and I have learned a lot and has helped me develop as a person.  I plan to take what I have learned in RBE and keep applying it to my life.

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One key lesson I learned from RBE was to stay on top of your work. I should underline, bold, and italicize that lesson. With so many crucial assignments such as papers, financial statements, and PowerPoint’s all jammed together within a matter of days, it was incredibly important to FroGo’s success to be on top of our game and get things done. I was very fortunate to be part of a group that worked hard to stay one step ahead and used our time efficiently. In business, the same applies. Your work can pile up very quickly if you procrastinate, so staying on top of your work is very important to success in the business world.

-Lauren Lambrecht

“Entrepreneurs are always a year late and ten times too high in their “conservative” forecasts (Kawasaki 457).  As a group this semester we experienced what Kawasaki describes, we encountered many different obstacles including choosing poor selling locations/dates, financial projections not quite going as planned, and etc. One of the biggest lessons I learned this year is how much every part of the business can affect another.  Throughout the semester we had to make a lot of changes that strayed from our original plan, but the ability to recognize our situation allowed us to pull through profitably.  We had to balance many of the concepts we learned throughout this semester in order to turn our financial predicament around we had to use quality control to ensure that we provided a good product for a reasonable price.  This course not only helped me to develop my conceptual knowledge of planning and running a business, but it also developed my teamwork skills.  Teamwork was key in running this business effectively and efficiently.

RBE was a great experience that let me explore all different aspects of business including sales, finance, marketing, and etc.  This was a learning experience that allowed me to actually implement what we are learning in our business classes.  This course has truly exposed me to all aspects of business through the preparation and actual implementation of our business.  RBE truly allowed me to have “real life, real business” experience!

-Lindsey Wacnik

One aspect of RBE that upset me was the peer evaluations, it made me truly reflect on my contributions to the group.  At first, I wanted to blame my group members for my original hunch that they “left me out to dry.”  Whether or not that’s the case in made me reflect on what my contributions might have been.  One important aspect that I learned through RBE was truly marketing myself. I always was under the impression that more work gets done when no one takes credit.  Although, I still believe that, I recognize that I didn’t make all of my contributions known or was quiet about the amount of work I put in to make everything work.  I learned through the process of RBE the necessity of making my efforts clear in order to show that I truly am an asset to a group.   Originally, I thought that knowing how important I was to the team would translate to the group feeling the same but I realized people must know what you are doing to be able to recognize it. This was hard lesson to learn but still was a valuable one.

-Walter Davenport