I first off wanted to say that I loved the ability to get to learn these 10 skills by various

business leaders that are crushing in their industry.

Our first speaker, (Cat Hutchings) did an amazing job explaining and teaching us about
the Entrepreneurship Mindset. I learned a lot by listening to the little details of what she did in
her own business to make it more profitable and to overall succeed. Cat Hutchings would buy
everything in bulk so she could be getting each individual item at a cheaper cost rather than
buying in smaller quantities which results in more money per item. This is so smart and really
didn't think about this prior to listening to her speak. This is what it takes to have an
Entrepreneurship mindset, thinking outside the box. Also I LOVED how she said this, “You're
hurting yourself if you don’t put your idea out there”. This speaks to me a ton due to me starting
a couple side hustles. I would always be scared to start because there were already big
competitors in the industries but by me not starting I could never see the opportunity of growth I
could have had. Cat Hutchings also did a very good job with setting herself apart from others by
giving a free gift for every order customers would make. This extremely brought trust in her
customers as well as overwhelming satisfaction. Amazing way to grow your business, incredible
Entrepreneurship skills.
Our second speaker, (Kristi Wieser) talked about the importance of Communication,
Interpersonal Relationships, and Cultural Awareness. I’ll first start off with Communication.
Communication may seem very hard to people and may also be frightening, but if you can
communicate while being yourself, appealing to audience goals, clarity in your actions, Avoiding
distractions of like, um, and uhs, and being very organized, then this will set you apart from
everyone else. You will look, sound, and act so much more professional that it will go hand in
hand with your Interpersonal Relationships. When trying to build a relationship with other people
in your company (higher ups or not) or other businesses it is very important to be showing your
interests, reaching out, being supportive, being able to be accountable for others, and most
importantly team building. I have a good story about me teaching the importance of Team
Building. My friends have started their own personal window cleaning business and it's going
very well. They have been hiring employees and some they don't know. Well Christian (1 owner)
was doing a job with an employee named Enzo and they didn't know each other. Enzo kept
asking questions, trying to get to know Christian but Christian was only giving 1 word answers
and was obviously not wanting to communicate or build a friendship. I pulled Christian aside and
told him straight up that what you're doing is not okay. This employee of yours is not only being
friendly to you, he is also doing work for you that is overall going to make the business grow and
provide the company with more money. The main way a company can grow is by having a
united team that knows everybody's strengths, weaknesses, and most importantly knowing the
person on a more personal level. And by knowing this the only way to get to that is by talking to
each other so how about you start being more friendly and get to know each other. It went very
well and he was starting to talk to him and their work was more enjoyable due to them knowing
each other. Cultural Awareness is also a huge deal. One thing I found very interesting was in
Japan, you do not want to immediately respond back to emails because that shows disrespect.
That shows disrespect due to them not thinking you really analyzed what they said and thought
about it. That is why it's so important to learn about all different cultures because you do not
want to be disrespectful when you don't mean too.
 Our third speaker (Elena Haskins) talked about Problem Solving. She gave us 4
amazing ways to help us problem solve. The first was Brainstorming. This is when you are
getting all of your ideas out of your head. The idea will not be perfect but this is where you can
get an idea and then build on that idea. The second was Competitor Analysis. This is when you
are asking the questions about your idea on how you can make it better than your competitors.
The third was Reverse thinking. Think about the problem you are trying to solve but think about
it the complete opposite way. If you are having a problem of how to make gas prices decrease,
then think about it as, How to make the gas prices increase. This will help you find the areas to
resolve in order to make the gas prices decrease. The fourth is Anticipate Needs. Being able to
anticipate the problems/questions that people are going to have before they have them will
allow you to make people's life easier as well as setting yourself apart from others.
Our Fourth Speaker (Ethan Martinez) talked about Building your personal Brand and
Power of Relationships. Relationships are very crucial because “it's not what you know, it's who
you know”. The ways that you can build your relationships with others is by actively listening,
actively communicating, engaging in your networking, personalized interactions, try not to
always sell, and most importantly BE YOU! I loved how Ethan's dad said this, “The more
handshakes you do, the more money you will make”. It's so important to also be building your
personal brand because you want people to not only know you on your business level but also
on your personal level/everyday life and activities. This is shown through your social media
accounts. Very important to be posting appropriate content because everyone can see and you
want to be known as that good reliable person. Not the bad guy.
Our Fifth speaker (Mrs. Trump/ Career Advisor) talked about Professional Development.
She talked to us about the Development process which is Explore, Develop skills, network,
Experience, and then Decision making. These processes will overall help you to become more
professional. This cycle will never stop though because there is going to never be a time that
you won't have to get more professional. Everyone is evolving and learning so much which
leads us right into what our sixth speaker talked about.
Our Sixth speaker (Edwin Ortiz) talked about adaptability. A result of a company not
adapting is sears. They were the powerhouse for so long but once the other big retail stores
came about and started doing different things than them, they didn't adapt and now they
basically got all shut down. Adapting is so crucial because you will always have to do it. There
are new trends, new ways people communicate/think, virus outbreaks, and many more things
that if you don't adapt to it, then you will fall off and that Is not what you will want. A way to help
you to adapt is being up to date with everything as well as your competitors because you do not
want someone to get ahead of you.
Our Seventh speaker (Andy Ashworth) talked about Service Orientation. Life is for
service so you always want to help others out and to make their problems get resolved.
Characteristics of service orientation are Responsiveness, Assurance, Listening, Empathy, and
showing your results. You always want your customer to know everything going on during the
time period that you are building or working on something for them. You want to let them know
when you are starting, working on a new part, and overall just give them updates. You want to
also assure the customer that you have all the skills that it will take to get their job done.
This was an awesome experience and I can't wait to keep growing on these skills. Thank
you so much for bringing in all these awesome speakers! Greatly appreciated.