The Armchair Economist’s Apprenticeship is a weekly series documenting my progress throughout my journey in the apprenticeship module of the Praxis program. I’m currently a market research analyst apprentice for a non-profit (my position is subject to change depending on the needs of my employer). At the request of my boss, I’ll be keeping the details of my employer under wraps for the time being.
Week 13: July 27, 2020 – July 31, 2020
What I’m Learning:
One cool thing I learned at work last week:
My coworker came up with the most beautiful metaphors to describe the entrepreneurial discovery process. We are experimenting with ways to accurately illustrate how an entrepreneur creates a business and describe it in a beautiful manner.
The first metaphor he provided for the team’s review was the Musical Composition; the entrepreneur acts like a composer and their opus is their business, with an audience who is their customer.
The second metaphor is Storytelling; the entrepreneur takes the role of a storyteller who plans out the course of a story and how it ends.
The last metaphor, and my favorite one, The Journey; the entrepreneur is like an astronaut exploring new frontiers and learns to adapt to changes in their voyage. Likewise, a business will adapt accordingly when a wrench is thrown into their plans, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic.
One cool thing I learned outside of work last week:
I have a confession to make. I absolutely hate spiders and I’m currently quarantining (I’m healthy, I just got back from a seminar that I had to attend for work and there were over 50 people) in a 110 year old house that is full of them. Big ones the size of my hand and I kid you not I saw one whose body alone was half the size of my palm.
Shelob the spider demon lives outside my bedroom window. Try that for nightmare fuel.
But I learned a cool and reassuring fact about cats. They eat spiders! Here’s a short article about it. I love cats even more now and I’m seriously thinking of getting one to ease my arachnophobia.
However, it’s important to note that certain venomous spiders can be dangerous and some cats are allergic to spider bites.
What I’m Creating:
One example of how I created value at work last week:
I finally finished transcribing all of my marketing research into my Google document. Additionally, I created a list, of 20 questions to ask a mentor, for my coworker who is planning to interview a top mentor from SCORE Austin.
What project I’m currently working on at my BP:
I’ll be embarking on a new project and start a marketing plan for our new nonprofit, which will be unveiled publicly this coming October.
What I’m doing to become a better version of myself overall:
I’m asking for help without feeling afraid and this week I’ll ask for feedback from my coworker about my work.