Reflection 3 - Techno 1

Last June 24, 2014, we had our third meeting in our Technopreneurship 1 subject at the IC Lab 1. Well, in order to come at our class on time, I really did try my very best to wake up early and I even did not able to finished my breakfast because I’m in a hurry and I’m afraid that I will be late in our class. Before going to school, it is my every day task to drop-off my two cousins to their school, so whenever I have class during morning schedules, I find it hard to wake up early simply because I’m a kind of person that loves to sleep a lot and a kind of lazy a bit (hihi).



Actually, I’d got pissed off whenever there is traffic most especially every time when I’m in a hurry. Even though I know it is was mistake to be in that situation, because as you know, you will not be in that situation if you just settle and manage your time correctly. I was just a little impatient when it comes to waiting something. But then when I arrived to school, I was relieved because I saw some of my classmates standing and waiting outside in our room, so it means our class did not started yet. Just as I arrived in our room, our instructor let us go inside the room and started the class immediately with a prayer leaded by one of my classmate. After we took a prayer, our instructor was asking if there were still first timers in our class. I just can’t believe that there were some students who attended our class that day for the first time. So as usual, as a result, those students entertained us by showing their talents. Even though our instructor already propagated the punishment for the late comers which was to entertain the class by their talents, there were still a lot of my classmates who would come late. It is really annoying especially on the part of our instructor, just because of the late comers which would really interrupt in the class. Because of this, our instructor come to a point to change the punishment for the late comers, because according to him, some of these students who would come at school late were already tolerating the punishment, he thinks that singing in front of the class is just easy to do for late comers especially with those students who had gifted by their good voice. So with this, late comers will not learn their lessons and still they will be late in the class next time. I absolutely agreed that our instructor decided to change the punishment. He said that the new punishment for the late comers will be, those students who were still late in the next meeting will treat the whole class to be able to fill the hungry stomachs of his/her classmates. So it is really a hard and tough situation to come at class late. At first I was thinking that this new punishment will be a bit too harsh for those late comers but then I realize that by this strategy, it could maybe lessen the tendency of those students to come at school late. So for now were just expecting that there will be no more late comers in our next meeting and I will make sure that I will not be a part of those students who come late at school and would have financial problem during that time. I believe with this kind of strategy, some students would really learn their lessons and able to change one’s bad habit.

After discussing about the new punishment, our instructor did show to us the three different pictures that he posted in his slide presentation which will be our activity for that day. The first one is, this picture shows that in which the father were not able to find job or simply unemployed. The second one was it shows the pictures of unpleasing personalities that also lead them to be a part of unemployed individuals. Then the last one, this picture shows the employees who made their protest, who were currently have their jobs but then they were not satisfied with their minimum wage they’re receiving. These three pictures show the current issues nowadays. Our instructor grouped the whole class into three groups and we were task to explain and write down our opinions regarding on the assigned picture to us. But before that, I would like to share one of the things I liked during our meeting that day. Before our activity was given, our instructor ordered us to get a piece of bond paper. Actually, before entering to our school, I immediately went to the nearest store to buy sheets of yellow paper, for just to be prepared if there’s an activity. I was just got shocked when our instructor told us if we have brought pieces of bond paper. For me I was irritated because I had no idea that we will be using a bond paper that day. I thought I could not be able to take the activity because I really don’t have one and I am not fond of bringing those things. But then, one of my classmates brought a rim of bond papers and starts negotiating to the class. I liked it the most that this subject Technopreneurship really did taught us students in terms of selling items with a very profitable price. Our instructor did one taught us of this kind of strategy. As I observed, it is really profitable when it comes to selling because when people are really in need of this kind of certain items, even though the price was twice as the original price, we people would really make a way to buy that thing. And indeed, it is one part of a business. Going back to my main point, as I said earlier we were grouped into three, and I belong to the second group which were tasked to explain and give our opinions regarding on the assigned picture to us. Since were in the second group, at the same time we were assigned to the second picture which was, again, it shows the pictures of unpleasing personalities of fresh graduates students who were not able to get a job because of their unpleasing personality that lead them to unemployed.I think that the question which was assigned to us that we answered was a little bit harder than the other groups. I cannot remember the exact words but I still remember that it was all about being in a situation of depression or something like that. The question was turned like this: If there was a college graduate that looked for some job interview, he/she found a company and one of the requirements of the job is to have a pleasing personality. The college graduate was not able to pass the job interview because he didn’t have a pleasing personality. After discussing each picture, we were tasked and given enough time to give our insights and what will be our remedy or what we can say if we were them which is to be in a kind of this situation. After we answered the question individually, we were tasked to formulate in our group and brain stormed our ideas and opinions pertaining to the picture assigned to us. After we gathered our opinions and possible solutions, as our instructor said, there must be one representative to explain and discuss in front of the class the possible implications regarding to the scenario given. I still can’t deny that almost in companies, it is a big factor to have a pleasing personality to be accepted in a certain job. Of course, skills and capability to do a certain job is the most important, but still having an unpleasing personality will not be accepted to some companies. Even if you graduated to the best university but still a lot of obstacles you will be suffer in finding a company to work for.If I were to portray in this kind of situation, and having this kind of unpleasing personality that even though my skills were worthy and capable enough to apply and work for a certain job, instead of stressing yourself too much in this kind of situation, you have to think outside the box and in order to prevent this you must have a mindset that you study hard to have good grades, graduate with a degree and soon will build your own company and be the one of the wealthy people in our country. The things I had just said were the things that I had learned in this subject Technopreneurship. I have learned and always kept in my mind that in any situation, we have to think outside the box which is, we should not be limited on things that we already know instead we have to explore and dream big for us to see a better view and a larger opportunity. So with this, having an unpleasing personality will not be a hindrance any more. We should think of something that could able us to help ourselves, not just for ourselves but also to others. For me, as an implication to this kind of problem, you should find a solution that best fits to yourself. You should have to create your own company and by with this, no one can judge you about your physical appearance. Also, to be able to prevent this kind of problem that many people were suffering right now, we could apply the alternative mindset which has been taught to us by our instructor. This subject Technopreneurship taught me something that changes my approach to studies in connection to my future. It was typically all about my mindset. Usually we envision of landing into the employment world as employees so our parents send us to school to achieve this goal. We also do well on our studies for us to have good jobs after we graduate. In which this kind of mindset was discouraged on the subject Technopreneurship. So going back to my discussion earlier, by applying this kind of mindset, it is really not a hindrance if you have an unpleasing personality. Instead of holding this way of thinking we have to level up and change our mindset into something better. It should be, my parents work hard for me go to school, I must have a good performance on my studies and lastly, for me to achieve my objective of being an employer someday or maybe to build my own company. This is how Technopreneurship wants us to be. For me, it was easy to say things but I know it will take a lot of effort to be able to make my own company. Especially that I do not have any interest of making one. I am not a business minded person. I do not know how to sell in order to gain profit out of my creative ideas. At this moment, I still do not know what my skills are and what can I do for a living. I am still figuring things out. I am still in a coward stage where I am afraid of taking risks and exploring things. I wanted to be stacked in my comfort zone forever, but I know time will come, the time to get out of my shell and grow in the new world that I am having. That activity made a big issue among us students, because it talked about what are the possible consequences we are going to be in the future and it is no joke at all because it was the current issues nowadays. Thinking about how you are going to control and run your life not as a student anymore but a career person, living independently.

It is really not enough just to have that kind of mindset because having such characteristic as a technopreneur is the most important in order to establish great ideas. In creating ideas we people must be creative and we must think of an idea that could really help in our society. There are a lot of technopreneur ideas out there waiting to be discovered, they are waiting for us to think about them if only we are open enough for changes and for great ideas to come in. Now,as a reminder for us to be able to catch great ideas, we should be patient; this is must not just for me but to all as well. In the technology world, you will not succeed instantly. Success in this kind of world is not reached just as easy as winning a raffle draw. Everything comes into a process. And this process may take long if you will just going to watch everything and do nothing. And not everything that put up will end up the way you wanted it to be. That is why I should possess great patience in order to succeed. The next thing is to be persevered. This is also a must have in every aspects of our lives. In any career that we are taking, we should pour our very best in order to succeed. Like what I have said, you cannot get anything by watching, you should do a thing in order to catch something. Even in our studies, we should be persevered in order to get good grades. Studying is one way; you will not be able to understand anything if you will just depend on what your teacher has taught you, you should learn how to understand your lessons in your own way. Striving hard is one factor that will be helpful for humans to survive in this world. That is why everyone must possess such characteristic. If everyone will have it, I am sure that there will be no more hungry people living in this country. The next thing is to be determined; this is very common among people like us. We tend to become determined enough to know what we want and to get what our hearts shout for. Being determined will give us directions on where we should go, leading to our greatest dreams. Next is to be creative. Every each of us has these artistic skills which were hidden inside. We just have to let it out and it would give us motivation and direction. You see, these are just some. We could be creative enough and unique if we do not close our hearts and our minds for great ideas to come. And through this, we will be able to create something and contribute to the betterment and advancement of the world. As a student, I know that starting and thinking of great ideas may be hard, it was hard for me at first too since I am not that creative when it comes to creative stuffs. I struggle a lot since I am not that into techie gadgets although I am fond of using some, I cannot see myself making one. Even thinking how to make the physical components of any device makes me scared since I do not know how to be crafty. Maybe because I just do not know myself that much. I know I could do something but maybe it is just not the time. I am hoping soon enough, I will be able to create one great invention.

After we finished discussing about our activity, our instructor started the formal lecture in the slide presentation. First I would like to say that I was happy that our instructor was able to create an environment where we, his students became more motivated and desperate to get what we want in the future, and to become a successful technopreneur. It was kind of hard on the first time but we were able to get over it and do the best that we can. Knowing well what does technopreneuship is, was all interesting and fun. There were a lot of things I liked and inspired me in the sharing during our discussion that day. One of it was all about the essence and importance of technopreneurship in our society especially for us I.T students. As we know, technopreneurship is the way or essence of making money out of technology or simply, technology plus entrepreneurship. It is a business which is incorporated with technology. Since nowadays our world is getting more high-tech, business in merged with technologies plus the skills would be a great source of power in creating a competent business. Honestly, I was not a techie person afterall. I am not aware of the latest trends and the latest inventions that were made available to make our lives convenient. This subject helped me realize that technology plus business was indeed very enjoyable. You can create something very amusing and perhaps very effective. Not only you could help make the world a better place, you could also help yourself experience the richness of this world. I just realized then that for us to become globally competitive on our own tracks, we must also dig in and explore what is on trend right now. For every business to boom, it must be of course, essential- essential in a way that people will really need your products. Settle for those which are related to an individual’s primary needs. In this way, you’ll be assured that many will appreciate your products. Next, in a business, you must be creative and unique. Being creative and unique isn’t about how you make your business an extra crockpot just to make people notice it. It is about making your business a very indulging yet substantial to the people’s needs.

As a student, this subject really shows us the importance of technopreneurship. Today, we can say that modern machines were somehow colonized by some part of the world. These modern inventions are indeed helpful to make man’s daily works easy and some were even effortless. Modern machines have been now widely in any establishments according to its purpose. As time goes by, many new inventions are now being exposed due to public demand. Many inventors, scientist and other technologist never stop exploring more useful inventions for the benefits of all. As time goes by, creation of modern machines are increasing and it seems it is propagated all over the world. And this is one thing that I do liked least in the sharing was the fact that, with this technologies, we people would really rely on it and in fact there were chances that maybe time would come that all we have to do is just to stare at the machines which doing our works. Considering the pace at which technology is advancing, it has become necessary to understand the importance of technology so that we can keep up with the racing time. But then as we all know, technology has become important in the fast life of today. It is technology which has speed up our lives. It is technology which has brought distant locations closer and made the world a smaller place to live.

Also another thing that I liked in the sharing is when our instructor introduced and discussed to us about the SEED model. Actually, technopreneurship goes with four important points. It is called the SEED acronym which stands for Self Mastery, Environment Mastery, Enterprise Mastery and Development of a Business Plan.For the self-mastery, according to the slide that had been presented to us by our instructor, this is the passion that comes from knowing ourselves. For me, I learned that when you master yourself, you may know your passions. When you know yourself and your own passion, you know what you want to do. We should remember that we are capable of being who we want to be. As long as it is our passion and we give it our best then success will be the one who will follow us.It is important to a technopreneur to be passionate. A technopreneur must have the passion for the business to be effective and successful. It is nice to have a business while enjoying it. We must have an outlook of considering passion as a big factor to great change and in achieving the triumph we all want.

Of course each of us persons possesses different personalities. We have unique way on dealing with the situations around us. We have various ways on treating our comrades and family. We respond distinctively on things we experience and encounter. Some traits can help us to be better and some don’t. Being aware of yourself is very vital for you to become an effective technopreneur. Becoming a better person was I think one of this subject’s goals for us students.Though people may think that self-mastery is a very bare thing to handle, this subject Technopreneurship 1 made us realize its functions not only for us to become better entrepreneurs but as well us for us to know ourselves more and become better individuals not only for our family but as well as for ourselves. Nevertheless, every activity we did during the first step of the SEED model was worthwhile. Our discussions about self-mastery brought to light many lessons which an individual must know. On any journey of being a technopreneur, struggles may come in your way such as criticisms. Criticisms in which that can sometimes aid or break to their selves. In my case as of now I am still sensitive to this issues in which I have to work on for the reason that a good technopreneur must possess a strong personality that can handle heavy problems and can easily solve problems.

Also part of the self-mastery is the emotional stability. Emotional Stability, it is important that an entrepreneur have the stability because along the way they will meet problems. Emotional aspects in particular handling risks and being able to handle disapprovals is more important. Skill is also one of the most essential parts that a technopreneur must encompass. I just realized that to be a good technopreneur you don’t just have to think of your business alone or technical matters. You don’t need to focus on producing money and becoming very rich. You must also consider your own life; think of yourself and not just only on your business. You have to be emotionally strong and have a good relationship towards others. You must also possess these kinds of personalities in order to be effective on your endeavors. You must be firm in handling the stress and pressure from business. Not only from business matters also for their personal parts of their lives. Theproblems that are unrelated to your business must not affect your performance. You must not be easily worn out and be discouraged but instead see setbacks as challenges and be the motivation to do better. Charismatic this is one of the personalities that an entrepreneur must possess. You must have good communication skills that can convince customers and clients. He or she must possess good interpersonal skills. You must be productive most of the time. You should make sure that you will not waste any time. If there’s an opportunity then better grab it immediately.

This subject taught us that self-mastery is not an inborn quality. Those who have it developed it through years of experience. They have learned the techniques that created wealth and made themselves a valuable asset to themselves, their families, their employers and their communities. Success is based on a feeling that no matter how difficult the objective is, it can be achieved and that requires a personal belief that everything is possible. Those who become wealthy have an unshakable belief in their talents and abilities. They know their strengths and use them to full advantage. They don't approach problems with fear. In fact, they welcome the challenges they face throughout life as they know that overcoming them is what builds character and builds self-confidence. If you know yourself more, you would be able to face the world with confidence that whatever struggles that may attack you; you would definitely win over it.Technopreneurs should be independent minded and always think outside the box. They should not be conformist who will be easily swept to toe the line for the sake of agreeing with conventions but rather self-thinkers who follow personal intuition at the expense of popular opinion. Successful technopreneurs aims for excellence and perfection but merely having still the right conducts and behavior within him/her. Success doesn’t merely measure with how rich or popular you would become. It is about finding true happiness in anything that you will do. Knowing thy self is the best weapon I think that every individual should possess in order to understand life and living.We were also enquired on creating our own purpose in life. I guess, everyone not only me does have a hard time thinking on what on earth are we here for.

To be a good entrepreneur you should be productive always and be first in producing good qualities to be able to get the customers or clients first. With the things I had just stated above, thus, our personalities contribute a big factor on achieving our success. It is an aspect on being a good technopreneur. The daily situations we come across and how we are able to positively respond to those can be a step on molding ourselves to be strong enough in facing greater responsibilities ahead.

Aside from the Self-Mastery, the second one that came from the SEED model is the Environment Mastery. According to the slide, Environment mastery is about generating business ideas and seeking opportunities out from his or her environment through. It really helps us how to identify or to master our Environment and what would be the things that needed to do to uncover our true potentials when we pursue to become an entrepreneur or technopreneur. The third one is the Enterprise Mastery from the SEED model. According to the slide, Enterprise Mastery is how to run a business. Our instructor told us how to run our business when we want to become a successful technopreneurs. First, by creating the business that you want. This would be the first thing to do. Then, when you finished that, you will probably thinking for managing your market, operating your management, manage your finances and managing the risks that you might encounter dealing with the things inside your business. These kinds of things were already discussed by our instructor. This enterprise mastery would really help us in building and managing our own projects. The last one is the Development of Business Plan. The slide that Sir Randy presented to us was a little bit boring. Instead, he managed to bring it as a fun way to learn. He cited some of the examples that covered the developing of a business plan. He also told us when we try to develop any business plans, we must first write it. And after that, we must learn how to present it and defend it. We must also try to add some refinements to the presented business plan that we had made.

For the concept of Self Mastery, after we ended our meeting we were tasked to take some tests to identify and know more facts about ourselves. These tests include personality test, intelligence quotient, adversity quotient and emotional quotient. With the help of these tests we will able to determine on what fields we excel, what fields we have are needed to improve and on what fields we have to work on.

Learning new things is always there and these things that I am learning really took my head upside down. During the days of being a college student, I slowly identified my abilities and skills and these were the skills that I am longing to have for my future career. This subject Technopreneurship 1 really taught me a lot of things in which I also got from all of the activities we took in this subject and by the help and encouragement given to us by our instructor.In fact, honestly, I really don’t think that I have liked least in the part of sharing that day. Last June 24 on our third meeting, I can say that the entire sharing was good and I learned a lot of things during that day and I am happy that our instructor gives us the inspiration and motivation to find our path and achieve our goals in life. To number my learning, having an open mind and be considerate for the ideas of others, because there could be times that I will be working with other people. Also one thing is to keep the fire of determination burning, never let one failure ruin your entire dreams instead I will use all of those in order to be courageous and wise in the future even today. Now that I am not getting any younger, I will practice on how to think mature and but to be too serious. Have fun and explore. Have a sharp mind and keep an open visuals for new creations and inventions. Moreover, I am happy that our instructor made us inspired in many ways through the experiences that he had shared to us. He let me realize many things. He taught us the essentials of being successful. We must always first listen to our heart. We’ve got to find what we love so that we will be able to work hard for it.I know time will come that I will be able to reach my goals and being able to seek what I you love can help us go on and break through any barrier that would possibly come along our way. Through the learning I got in this subject, I am sure that I will be able to use all of these in my future career life and I am very glad I took this subject.