week 3- in class work

This week I worked on editing the store front project 1-3. I find it hard to be descriptive but also not generic for part 1.
I also think that my group should do more promoting for selling the water bottles. We are working on a flyer. We have set up an email account for the water bottles. Also I feel that selling the water bottles for $10 is also a bit too much. Especially for the quality of the water bottles since they are made of plastic polyethylene. This material is cheap and not that good quality. So I worry that we won't get a lot sales especially from the competition from the cheerleading team. That is why I want to get more promotion for the project. I want to have tables after school and at sports games. But my team is reluctant to do so.

Week 3- book report

In Sheryl Sandbergs book, Lean In,  she discusses a lot of important issues that women face in the workplace. In chapter , titled 'Are You My Mentor?' discusses about the difficulties of getting a mentor to help and support you. Sandberg says, "..a startling number of women introduce themselves and, in the same breath, ask me to be their mentor." (64-5) She discusses how mentorship is constantly talked about these days. She also says, "Many of these young women are responding to the often repeated advice that if they want to scale the corporate ladder, they need to find mentors (people who will advise them) as well as sponsors (people who will use their influence to advocate for them)." (65) I agree with this statement because it is the advice that is constantly repeated in society. But the bigger question for people is how do I find one? In the chapter, Sandberg talks about how many people don't tend to ask a person to be their mentor. They go the other person for advice and ask questions that are "planned and tailored to that individual." And that you don't want to wastes the potential mentor's time. The most interesting advice that the author received is, "figure out what I wanted to do before I went to see people who had the ability to hire me. That way I would not waster my one shot seeking general guidance, but would be able to discuss specific opportunities that they could offer."(69) I feel that this piece of advice is the most useful to me because you don't want to waste others time trying to figure out what you want to do. It is important to know what to do and what kind of opportunities are available and in your reach.

Week 2- in class work

This week I worked on editing part 1 of the storefront project from the feedback that Ms. Stevens gave my group.  I didn't understand the full extent of how in-depth the storefront report has to be. I worked on that most of the week and I was sick on Wednesday. I also talked to the main office about requesting a table after school to sell the water bottles. Also this week found out that that the water bottles won't get here till christmas eve. Which is a major set back because we were expecting to get them this week. Another set back is that we have competition with the cheerleading team for selling water bottles. And also I worry about the quality of the water bottles that we bought. Also I have talked to the team leader for the water bottle project. He seems reluctant to rent a table after school, I believe if we do we might sell more water bottles. He wants to sell them by word of mouth, which might cause a problem for several reasons. Because word of mouth doesn't travel fast and we need to sell these because having too much inventory isn't good. We also have no place to sell them from. Selling water bottles from our backpacks just isn't convenient or appropriate. I believe that this plan isn't well thought out. We need a more serious plan going forward.

Week 2- book report

I am reading, Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. So far the book has been extremely interesting especially to see things through her eyes. Something that surprised me a lot was that when a women takes credit for their work, it isn't beneficial for their social and professional life, it is actually the opposite. Also an interesting fact I learned is that when a woman explains why she is qualified or talks about previous successes in a job interview it can lower her chances of getting hired. Which surprises me a lot, isn't that what a person should do when you apply for a job. How do people expect women should get a job if they can't explain why they are qualified for it?  

Another topic Sheryl Sandberg talks about is that if a man helps a colleague, the colleague tends to feel like they are in debt to him and is more likely to return a favor. But when a woman helps a colleague, the colleague doesn't feel in debt the her, she is "communal", she is there to help. The double standard for this is that if a woman doesn't help others then she is less liked by others. This double standard also applies to negotiating pay, benefits, etc. Which is ridiculous, because everybody deserves equal rights for negotiating a salary. A woman shouldn't be held back when asking for anything in the office. 

Considering all this information, it seems as though it is harder for women to get leeway in a job no matter what field they work in. 

Week 1- book

The book that I have decided to read is Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. I have so far enjoyed this book. I quite like how she has anecdotes throughout the book to prove a point. I also really like the facts that she uses to back up her opinions. Something she said in the book really struck a chord with me. In the first chapter she says, "We hold ourselves back in ways both big and small, by lacking self-confidence, by not raising our hands, and by pulling back when we should be leaning on." (8) Reading this made me realize that I tend to not have a lot of self-confidence in myself at times and that I don't raise my hand enough even when I know the answer to the question. This motivated me to raise my hand more and ask more questions. 

An anecdote that she shares in the book is about her grandmother and about how she was very hardworking and never gave up on life. She suffered from cancer but recovered and sold knock-off watches from the trunk of her car to donate to the hospital. She would make an unbelievable profit.

Sheryl Sandberg also shares a story she heard from Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, deputy director of the Council on Foreign Relations' Women and Foreign Policy program. The story was that Ms. Lemmon received a fellowship to travel to Germany for a year to learn German and work for the Wall Street Journal. Ms. Lemmon was in her early twenties at the time. It was an amazing opportunity, but when she told her friends and family. They were mostly concerned about her relationship with her boyfriend. And her relatives were worried if she would ever get married. Ms. Gayle said that many women "still see ambition as a dirty word." In my opinion, I would have gone to Germany. It seems that in women, friends and family are more concerned with marriage. So far this book has opened my eyes and made me realize that as a female I do hold myself back more than I should. I hope that I can take this information with me and try to have more self-confidence in myself. 

Week 1- in-class work

This week, my group finally decided on what to do for the $200 project. We are selling water bottles with the warriors logo on it. The water bottles are plastic. They are dark blue with the warriors logo which we changed to completely white. While brainstorming for this idea, I thought it would be profitable to have some type of school merchandise. Selling these water bottles, I hope will promote school spirit. We are hoping to sell these water bottles for $8.
For the storefront project, we had to put together the first three parts. I did part 3 of the write up. I researched our main competitor, which is Make Meaning at Legacy Place. Make Meaning are an activity store where you can go in and make various types of arts and crafts. They have glass making, candle making, soap making, cookie and cake decoration, ceramic painting, canvas painting, and plaster painting. They have a larger scale of activities than what my group want to do. We plan to do soap and candle making. From Make Meaning's website, the steps to make candle and soap are very simple and easy. Their pricing in my opinion is very high for such a simple product. But taking into consideration the cost for utilities, rent, etc. The prices are quite reasonable.