Processes

This week I have learned a lot about processes and what it takes to make things work. I have learned the if you have a process for making certain products and you think that you made need to work on those processes to change them for efficiency or reasons that you just feel are important, go ahead but make sure that you know where you are going with these processes, and that they are going to help you improve and not hinder your progress. It is very difficult to work through changes and ways of streamlining your business if you are not sure how things are going to work. You need to know exactly how the changes are going to affect your company and your employees.

Hiring

The hiring process... what it is, who to hire, how to do this. This is a lot of things that I have been working through this week. I have learned about how to start the process, where to look for people, how to conduct interviews and how to offer them the position. This is all a current thing for me because I am looking for a full time job, and so this was very beneficial to me to see what the interviewers go through to prepare for an interview. I have also been on the hiring side of the table when I was working for a temp agency and we were hiring for one of our biggest clients and I was responsible for the phone interview, and getting them on the schedule to the interview in the locations that we were working in. I would then travel to the locations conduct group interviews and make sure the hiring packets were ready to go and that my supervisor had everything she needed to do her job in the location. It was a very good time, but it ended as the work ended. I enjoy the hiring and interviewing of people. I love to talk with people and learn more about them and their dreams and desires. I like to know a little of their background before we begin, and then to get to know them more during the interview. It is a fun and exciting job. I don’t feel at this time, I need to hire any employees for the brownie company. It is such a small operation at this time, that there wouldn’t be room enough for more than one person. I think that when I am ready to expand and grow, I will look at the prospects and see what it will take for us to hire people.

Leadership

Leadership... it is what this lesson is all about... leadership and how to be a good one and how to improve on what you know. I think that the biggest thing I learned this week involved leadership and how to be one and be a good one. I had to do this leadership style survey and it came out with the results that I expected. I have been working in different positions over the last 20-25 years and I know that I am not the greatest leader in the world, but I don't think that I am one of the worst either...but who knows... (don't go ask my former employees) I think the truth would hurt...lol. I am in between a participative and delegative style. I have always tried to be fair and objective. I have made lots of mistakes and I will be the first to admit that. When I have had to be "in charge" I am.... when I have let the employees make the decisions and see how they like it, and how it works for them, then that sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. I have always tried to ask their opinions and get their input. It is the way that I do things. I tried to do things differently than I was taught or shown how to manage because I don't agree with that. I don't think you have to be mean to be a good or great manager.

This week and what I learned.

This week has been an adventurous week. I have been working on getting the business up and running. I have been working on getting the secret ingredients decided on and getting them in the brownie mix and then taste testing to see if certain items are a good combination or not. I have discovered that not all items, that I thought would make a good "secret" ingredient did. Simple things like, m&m's do well in the baking and stay pretty much in tact when being put into the brownies, I expected that to go well. Things like, certain types of chocolate don't do so well in the baking process.
I have also been selling them in different situations, to see what a good price point would be, and one that would attract the market, and the best place I found to sell them is the local high schools. Kids love chocolate, and have been giving me great reviews and some not so great reviews. They will pay up to $2.00 per brownie, and as little as .50 cents per brownie... depending on what is in it. They have also suggested selling things like milk with them, and that is an idea that I hadn't even thought of.. the reason for this is that if you have a good chocolate brownie, then you need something that is going to help "wash" it down, and they all said milk is a good thing to sell. So there is another angle to help sell the brownies.
All in all, a good week.