That being said, I really feel like I'm going through that challenge all over again. I'm entering Big Girl Cocktail school. At USC we took classes in all the basics of business, of entrepreneurship and leadership, which have provided me a great foundation to get going... but to balance out my MBA experience in the classroom, there is no learning quite like doing. It's funny, I haven't boxed away any of my school books, all my USC binders are right next to my desk where they have been for the past two years, it's like a security blanket knowing they are there.
Wouldn't it be great if I could go to Big Girl Cocktails school.. there would be classes on the liquor industry and contract manufacturing, a whole class on SBA loans and bootstrap financing.. a project to have us learn the liquor laws and beverage control licenses and practice negotiations with potential product partners and investors.
When I get the company launched, maybe I'll print myself up a "big girl" diploma and hang it right next to my business school diploma from USC.
- Cheers to all the entrepreneurs teaching themselves as they go along!
Nice post, I feel the same way. Business school does lead you through a bit of a (sometimes) treacherous mental forest, up a mountain to view the bustling city-system below. I had a few key moments of social and systemic satori that made my heart drop that make all the pain, late nights and general agony worth it. That plus you gradually assemble this nice big shiny toolbox.
ReplyDeleteOf course, after that, it takes desire to use that stunning vision and those tools. I don't think many in my classes quite "got it," but I feel I did, and it was a thrill just the same.
All that said, my father never got a degree and did very well for himself. He had a decisive desire to create and do, that spiritual (so to speak) magic that can and does move mountains, and did better for us than most business school graduates. Clearly after all of that, the tools are like your mind itself: they can be utilized effectively and help, or they can falsely become "the heart of the matter," cloud vision and thus hurt.
Anyways, good post.
Thanks for the note! I agree, it takes actually using all the tools I've been given AND "the magic" to gain success!
ReplyDelete- Cheers, Sam