May Blog Post

For the month of May I have been wrapping up my mentorship at the Ontario Mills Mall. My mentor Alex Rehim is more of a friend then a mentor so when I conclude my mentorship when school is over I will still keep in touch and visit his business once in a while. He plans on opening more kiosks for the duration of summer and has invited me to help set up and check them out. Overall this year has been a fun time with my mentor and even though we will not be meeting any longer we will still maintain contact.

Blog 23: Final Lesson Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you MOST proud of in your block presentation and / or your senior project? Why?

I am most proud of the fact that I was able to participate in my mentors business as a salesman because it gave me an entirely different perspective on how a business is made up of different but essential components.


(2) Questions to Consider

a. What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?

AE because I feel like I was able to effectively display my entire senior project and everything went smoothly throughout my presentation

b. What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

P+ because some aspects of my senior project were lacking during the year but I eventually finished everything

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

My mentorship definitely worked with the help of my mentor because he helped me understand how a business is run.

(4) (What did not work) If you had a time machine, what would You have done differently to Improve Your senior project If You Could go back in time?

I would have looked more into the marketing and advertising aspect of my mentors business because even though it is difficult for small businesses to advertise it is definitely something to look into for growth.

(5) Finding Value

How has the project senior Been Helpful to you in your future endeavors? Be specific and use examples.

I think it helped me decide a potential career in the future, before this year I had no knowledge on how a business is run or even what comprises a business but this project has helped me look more into it and potentially pursue education on businesses.

Blog 22: Mentorship

Content:

LIA Response to blog:
Literal
·· Alex Rehim, Ontario Mills Mall
Interpretive
What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?
-The most important thing I gained from this experience is the knowledge about running a business, many times people think that a business is just selling things or providing a good or service but I realized through my mentorship  that a business is made up of so many things like customer service, supply and demand, and many more. My mentor showed me that a business is suppose to pay for itself. I think that's important because when I first started mentorship I knew nothing and thought everything was just easy going but with throughout the year I was able to generate an essential question and three answers for that question.
Applied
How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ? Please explain.
-The hours I spent at mentorship at first was just helping around my mentors business but then as I progressed my mentor involved me more in the business aspect of everything. He actually showed me the businesses finances and why its important to have loyal customers and pretty much all my answers to my EQ. For example a sales pitch, when selling toys you need a certain style of sales pitch because a toy is different then if you were selling beauty products, for beauty products you would need a very professional approach with a longer pitch and for toys you don't need to be professional because the product are toys and most of the people attracted to that are kids. The pitch also doesn't need to long but rather a shorter version is better because most people know what that is.

Exit Interview

1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers? What is your best answer and why?
-My essential question is, what is the best way to maintain profits year round with minimal manipulation to prices. My best answer is, keep up with trends and have good salesmanship because toys are seasonal and new toys come out often. Also because most of the time as a sale person you will be pitching to parents of kids so good salesmanship is necessary to convince the parents.
(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
-No real process was undergone, the answer was found mostly by accident by the help of my mentor. New toys were coming out and he didn't have them and he saw a decrease in sales.
(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?
-One problem I faced was that even though toys are for kids, kids themselves didn't have money to pay for them so the parents were the ones deciding whether or not to buy the toys. I solved by generating,  with the help of my mentor, a different sales approach to parents that was shorter and related more to the child.
(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
-The two most significant sources I used to answer my EQ was my mentor and articles I found online. In the hours I did at my mentorship he helped me develop three different answers to my EQ and when I formulated those answers I did further research to further support my answers. The articles were mostly random but still related to my answers.

April Extra Post

While at mentorship I was discussing with my mentor the possibility of bringing new toys for younger kids between ages 1 and 3. Since kids usually have siblings some toys that my mentor sells are no for kids under 5 because of the risks involved like choking. So with that in mind I gave my mentor the idea of selling toy bears for kids since younger kids tend to enjoy toy animals. My mentor like the idea and said he would look into it, first he would have to find a supplier.

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

LITERAL
(a) I, Brian Arteaga, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
(b) My main source of help for my independent component was my mentor himself Alex Ahmed. I felt that he would best help me understand my EQ since he has experience with small businesses and because before opening his business he was a salesmen in his home country.
(d)When mentoring with him I was focusing mostly on my second answer, advertising more effectively and offering an experience with the business, but found that my third answer was most related to my work. While completing my 30 hours I talked and jelled many customers and would address their concerns, until my mentor gave me advice when doing so. He noticed that i was very serious when helping customers so he politely mentioned to me that I should be more out going since it was toys that we were selling. He also told me that even joking around with customers every once in a while is really good for customers to return and purchase again. Since toys are often seasonal my mentor explained to me that updating his display was crucial in maintaining sales since toys come and go he finds himself buying toys based on popularity to best keep customers happy.

Fourth Interview Questions

1. Would you consider yourself an expert in business?
2. How much experience is enough experience in a business?
3. Does the amount of experience you have help with maintaining profits?
4. Is wholesaling an option?
5. Do your sales decrease when prices increase?
6. How are there sales?
7. Is there a certain age that you like to focus when you are making sales?
8. How often do you encounter frequent customers?
9. How do you adjust to changes in rent/lease for your business?
10. Is there an employee there at all hours of the business?
11. Is health insurance an option for employees?
12. Do you buy wholesale?
13. How many employees are currently on payroll?
14. Do sell online?
15. Do you ship oversees?
16. When sales are high do you multiple employees work at one time?
17. Does sales experience help with making sales?
18. Do personal emotions affect ability to make sales?
19. Does the employee working dictate sales entirely?
20. Any factors that influence your sales?

Blog 17: Answer 3

1. EQ:
-What is the best way to maintain profits year round with minimal manipulation to prices?

2. Answer #3:
-The best way to maintain profits year round with minimal manipulation is to stay caught up with trends and to have good salesmanship.

3. 3 Details:
-Salesman need to deliver a quick but effective pitch consisting of all the information that needs to be said without losing the interest of the customer.
-A pushy salesman can steer away customers from your business so its important to remain calm when pitching to a customer.
-Since my mentor is a toy dealer he must keep up with the new toys that hit the market.
4. Sources:
-Fallon, Nicole. "5 Key Parts of Every Successful Sales Pitch."BusinessNewsDaily.com. Business News Daily, 12 Dec. 2014. Web. 29 Jan. 2015.

-Klein, Karen E. "Six Tips for Launching New Products." Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg, 10 Oct. 2014. Web. 07 Nov. 2014.

-Grauer, Yael. "10 Winning Ways to Keep up with Industry Trends | VR Marketing Blog." VerticalResponse Blog. VerticalResponse Blog, 30 July 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2015.

5. Small businesses require a lot of attention since they are close to the start ups there are many moving pieces that require attention.

February Blog Post

I was talking to my mentor about how businesses like Apple scam their customers by continuously offering "updated" products and discontinuing older products. They brainwash consumers into thinking that the older product they have is useless and that they are subpar compared to the new products. Although this is kind of messed up, this is a good marketing strategy.

Answer 2

1.  What is your EQ?

• What is the best way to maintain profits year round with minimal manipulation to prices

2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• The best way to maintain profits year round with minimal manipulation to prices advertising more effectively and offering an experience of some type along with the business

3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• The best way to maintain profits year round with minimal manipulation to prices is to maintain customer loyalty and constantly be expanding your products.

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

• While mentoring I talked with my mentor about the products he offers and he said there are bigger merchandise he would like to sell, like bigger and more popular toys, but is limited because of his display.
• Since my mentor owns a small business he rarely has repeated customers, if he were able to get people to come back his profits would increase.
• If people like the services you offered people will come back for the experience they received they will come back allowing more sales.

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

• An article about customer loyalty

6.  What other source supports your answer?

• My mentor

7.  Tie this together with a  concluding thought.
My mentor runs the business entirely by himself, he does a lot of reading on running a business so he is my most valuable asset.

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

Content:

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

• I plan on researching my second answer more specifically with my mentor. My next possible will be related to advertising more effectively and offering an experience with the business so I will ask my mentor how that plays a role in the development and day to day operations of his business.

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

• I will use photographs and a signed copy by mentor that states my hours completed and what I did at each session.

3.  Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.

• Since there are a lot of moving pieces to a business from the start up to the general maintenance I think that one of the most important parts of keeping your business alive is your services and your customers. With that in mind I would like to explore that aspect more in depth to gain a better understanding of the businesses logistics.

Blog 14: Independent Component 1

Content: 

LITERAL

(a) I, Brian Arteaga, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.

(b) My main sources that I used to complete my independent component were articles mostly from a website called Bloomberg Business Week most published by author Karen E. Klein. 

(c) Update your hours in your Senior Project Hours link. Make sure it is clearly labeled with hours for individual sessions as well as total hours.

(d) As part of my 30hrs when I attended my mentorship I was a salesman for my mentor helping him talk to my customers. While I was selling I used two different sales techniques my mentor showed me the first being "up selling" and the second one "cross selling".   

INTERPRETIVE:
I have a spreadsheet of my hours signed by my mentor. It shows the sessions we've met and how long each session was for.

APPLIED

How did the component help you understand the foundation of your topic better?  Please include specific examples to illustrate this.

This component helped me understand the foundation of my topic by giving me insight in little aspects of a business. Little things like advertising more effectively and trying to give the customers a nice experience go a long way in a business even if its something as little as putting up a sign on your display to advertise. If someone sees a sign labeled 50% off they will at least go to your display and look rather then ignoring it completely. If you give someone a pleasant experience and they return to buy again you have an ongoing customer thus increasing your sales. Also if you have a regular customer its easier to up sell and cross sell to them also increasing your profits.

Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflection

Content:

1.What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

• I'm most proud of my activity after my 10 minutes of content. My activity consisted of 2 different sales techniques that my mentor showed me and each group had to present an item that I placed on their tables. Those sales techniques are crucial to my mentors profitability and I practice the techniques every time I attend my mentorship.

2. a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

•       P-

 b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

• I believe I deserve a P- because I met the criteria needed to get a P but there were a few moments where I sort of lost my train of thought.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?

• The thing that work the most was the fact that I was able to use my mentorship for examples on the sales techniques I presented on. I had several pictures in my slideshow in which I would reference.

4. What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

• What didn't work was the items I used in my activity, instead of picking random things I should have chosen them more carefully.

5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

• My second answer will most likely be related to customer loyalty and product expansion.

January Extra Blog Post

It's been slow at mentorship. There hasn't been much business lately at the kiosk, but hopefully it'll pick up. I haven't been getting as many hours as usual, but hopefully I'll get to work more soon. So far, I'm doing pretty well on my mentorship hours. In one of my previous blog posts, I said that my mentor's sales were dropping, but maybe I will try to offer some input on how to improve sales.

Blog 12: Mentorship 10 hours check

Content:

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?
 I am doing my mentorship at the Ontario Mills Mall at the location of the business with my mentor.








2.   Who is your contact?
My mentor is the owner of the business named Alex Ahmed











3.   How many total hours have you done (total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located on the right hand side of your blog like your WB)?.
I have 23 hours without the summer hours.


4.   Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.

I helped around the business filing paperwork, setting up the display, and talking to my mentor regarding the business and how to run it efficiently. 

Blog 11: Holiday Project Update

Content:

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you do over the break with your senior project?

Yes it is important that you constantly work on your project since there is a lot of information to be gathered. I put in some hours with my mentor this break.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

I learned that the time of season doesn't necessarily affect sales, for example the Christmas season, sales were expected to be high but they did not turn out to be. My mentor was my main source since I spent most of my hours with him.

3.  If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers for your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

I would talk to my mentor since he is very knowledgeable on business, I think he would be able to answer my questions and help me.