Douglas talks with Andrea McClain, owner and operator of M Street Coffee, an independent coffee bar in Studio City, California now entering its 6th year of business. I first interviewed Andrea during her first year of business, so in this interview we discuss lessons learned, challenges faced and the future of M Street Coffee.
“BIGG Success is an e-learning, coaching and small business consulting firm. We provide educational resources to entrepreneurs, professionals and the organizations that serve them, like Chambers of Commerce and community banks.
It’s your place for entreprenurturing™ — a learning community built around winning in life and business. We help you fight the fears and frustrations we all face on the way to finding freedom and fulfillment. That’s BIGG success!”
“BIGG Success is an e-learning, coaching and small business consulting firm. We provide educational resources to entrepreneurs, professionals and the organizations that serve them, like Chambers of Commerce and community banks.
It’s your place for entreprenurturing™ — a learning community built around winning in life and business. We help you fight the fears and frustrations we all face on the way to finding freedom and fulfillment. That’s BIGG success!”
“I have been a strong advocate in Innochat for experimental approaches, test-and-learn processes for innovation. It’s one thing to say that, though, and another thing to actually discuss how to do it.
Reflection could be the missing link I’ve been looking for, the link that makes test-and-learn innovation processes really work. I believe innovators would benefit from including reflection in their processes. I’ve been researching the topic all week, and I am indebted to my sister, fellow innocat and educator @WandaMcClure, who pointed me toward education as an example. Teaching students how to reflect on what and how they learn has become a very hot topic in the education world and one of the methods some say can help innovate education, so there’s a lot of literature out there about the benefits of reflection and how to teach students how to reflect.
Reflection is critical to Japanese culture, I’ve also learned. In business, Toyota practices hansei, an exercise involving looking at past mistakes, outlining the lessons from those mistakes, and pledging to use the lessons in the future. Here’s another post on hansei from Matthew E. May.”
I know for myself, reflection, done in the wrong way, can lead to self-recrimination and regret for past mistakes
One (reflection) method I use os flipping back through my old handwritten journals to see where I was at the time
I think reflection is a constant, on-going process. Taking stock happens as part of each action/day
Yes, (recrimination) is not the same, but danger of sliding into recrimination if you aren’t careful
Reflecting at the end of both big and small projects is good, too. Should be a natural part of every project
Writing my Career Opportunities column has really been a 13+ year “reflection” on work and business, for sure
(People who don’t want to reflect?) I have run into that, too. Frustrating as it seems they don’t want to improve, just move on.
Capturing ideas is critical. Reflection often results in some of my best new ideas.
Paper journal, Evernote, Word Doc, etc. Doesn’t matter how, but that you do the capture.
(Reflection comes in) Different names, thoughts and applications for different people. We are all unique so reflection bound to be different for all
I have to watch out for descending into the dark areas of thought, (but) emotions (are important), yes
Emotions are strong beasts and can sidetrack us, but certainly part of it. Not sure you can (or should) separate (them from Reflection)
(Fall into Blame?) Oh yes, The “B” word. Blaming and Shaming. Ouch!
Surprise is such an important part of life, in general, so yes, you need to let those serendipitous moments arise
(When reflecting on the past) I think we all tend to be harder on ourselves than others. I know I am
I think a lot of people avoid it because it can be painful
(Reflection should start) From the very beginning, as one of the basic tenets, I think. i.e. “learn from history so you don’t repeat it” at least bad (experiences)
Need to reflect on successes, too. WHY was that so successful? What can we do more of?
Sometimes we can put all our focus on failures, which are learning moment, but learning from success important too
Reflection can be a creative engine that drive the net project forward to success.
Easy to recognize people who don’t reflect, regularly. These are the family, friends, coworkers who constantly make same mistakes.
Reflection can and should help you build the life and career you deserve. Look back, then look forward to better things.
I often have some of my best new ideas when looking back at old ideas, actions, projects, etc
Bill Farmer, The Voice of Disney’s Goofy, Talks about “A Career in Voiceover”
Douglas sits down with Bill Farmer, voice actor for Disney’s Goofy and many other well-known animated characters. We talk about a career in voiceover, how to build it, how to sustain it and career potential of becoming a voice actor today.
I want to follow more of you — the folks that read this column and listen to the Career Opportunities podcast. Use the comments to share your Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and other accounts so I can check them out (as can other readers!)
This is your opportunity to share “What you do and how well you do it” with all the Career Opportunities readers.
Join me next week for a discussion on Social Media and Your Career.
Back by popular demand, Douglas will continue with his “Year of Self-Preservation” theme by focusing on “Social Media Self Preservation” — how to take advantage of social media without losing your mind!
There is a way to make the best use of social media without falling into the traps of lost privacy, burnout, or feeling as though all your time is taken up with it.
Douglas will discuss how to use it to your advantage, what are the best networks, how you can best “be found”, reserving your name, and who to include in your community, among others.
Balance in your social media sharing is the key to longevity and optimizing it so that you are promoting yourself to the fullest. Douglas will point the way!
Douglas will also talk about how you can get involved with CareerCamp SCV, Saturday, July 13, 2013 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita.
We were happy to visit with Douglas E. Welch today on The Bigg Success Show today. Douglas is an expert on building the career you deserve and spreading the word about your talents using social media. Among other things, he’s the host of two great blogs and podcasts: Career Opportunities and Careers in New Media. Here’s a recap of the conversation:
A conversation with Andrea McClain, owner of M Street Coffee (http://mstreetcoffee.com) in Sherman Oaks, California. Recorded for CareerCamp Online 2009. We talk about Andrea’s career path and the challenges of running your own business and being an entrepreneur.
Recently, I went searching for image ideas for a new Career Opportunities logo. A quick Google Image Search on Career turns up these images…
Is this really the image of a career today? Are we still in a world of suits, ties and briefcases?
What should the new image of career be? I’m not sure myself. I am been struggling to come up with a new graphic icon for careers and now I come to you for suggestions.
When you think of careers — your career, careers in general — what images come to mind?
I’d love to hear your ideas either here in the comments, on the Career Opportunities Facebook page, our Google+ page, Twitter or whatever social media site you use most often. Even better, post your answer on your own blog and share a link to that post here or elsewhere.
