Thank
God! The project came to an end.
The journey to complete this project was not easy. It's my first real project, involving people besides myself, and also required me to go out and meet people I did not know from Adam. But all in all, after 21 days, I have come to know 10 business owners with whom I sat and talked about their business, their aspirations for their business, their challenges, their joys, and often their personal journeys as individuals. I also was able to share it all with you all, readers. I'm thankful.
Like I said to most of the owners on explaining my project, this exercise was to be a win all three levels. A win for owners, who get to get their word out, me to help me finish the project and learn, and you all, the readers, who get listen to the conversations, and hopefully learn something from each owner.
I think I did all that.
Starting this project was not easy. I did not know anyone. I only had faith that I could present something that could help others, teach others, and help me with my own desire to start something that could lead to a solution hub for owners. This explains the name of my blog, A Couple Things For Owners.
But speaking of thanks and faith, I wouldn't have completed this project without my maker, the Almighty God, my savior Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. My About me page talks of me as a believer, and I can do nothing without faith.
First my thanks goes to God for a number of reasons. One, for giving me life and health to rise everyday and go out and meet owners and come back and write about it all. An alarm clock placed next to my dead body will not wake me in the morning. The Lord woke me everyday.
Two, on a daily basis, I picked up different sections of a street and worked them, and without fail, inspite of some turning down my project, I almost always came away with an appointment set which turned into an interview and a relationship started. This could have been different
Third, there were many times when I thought I may not finish this project, but time and again, set appointments and completed interviews came through to keep me going. I leaned on Him.
The next thanks goes to all the owners who, having no knowledge of who I was, were willing to open their doors to me, and share their stories with me.
To:
Mr. Rehan Awan of Silver Grill Cafe, Mr. Rob Almaguer of Oh Boy!Print Shop, Mr. Steve Riad of Tomo Sushi, Mr. Ben Himes of Sharp End Athletics, Coach Mikal Abdullah of Aces Jiu Jitsu Club, Ms. Carey Kepler of Crossfit Central, Mr. Saphachai Apisaksiri (simply known as Sap) of Sap's Fine Thai Cuisine, Mr. Rogelio Lozano of Jefes Mexican Restaurant, Mr. Matt Lacey of Cafe Java, and Mr. Lee Rector of Black Forest Werkshop.
From each one of them, I learned something. These are men and women who have taken the path less traveled and are creating value for folks out there, and deserve to be heard. It's not easy, but they are doing it, and passionately so.
My many thanks to each one of them.
So, that wraps up my first thanks on the completion of the project.
Book Ends
Talking of wrapping up, I realized the project taking a nice sort of date bookends as the final day approached. I remember posting my calendar on the blog when I made the change from a 30-day project to a 21-day project. On that calendar, with a plan to work at least 4-5 days a week, I was scheduled to end on the 12th of December.
I ended up going for 5 days on a lot more weeks than I planned, and that made it possible to wrap it all up on the 11th of December. Why's this noteworthy, you may be thinking.
I started the project on the 11th of November, and to finish it on the 11th of December, wraps it up nicely, and still gives it the ring of a 30-day project. This 30-day space gave me time to work on 21 days, and leave time in between to work on the interviews, and deliver the uploaded versions to owners, send out confirmation emails, follow up by phone to firm up appointments, and start promotion outlets ( most of which are still in development).
And speaking of uploading interviews, I want to thank the makers of Audacity, and all it's YouTube teachers, who made it possible for me to download the software, learn to use it, and grow in my confidence as the project went along.
Thanks finally to you all who followed the project on my blog, without you I wouldn't have much to write about, as I would probably simply leave all of that I have learned for later write-ups, which leaves room for procrastination, and makes it harder to recollect later. The instant posting was helpful, and leaves everything documented here on the blog.
Warts and all
Also, for me, this is a maiden project, and was done by taking imperfect action. Most of what I accomplished was not perfectly done---my unclear voice in most of the recordings, my inability to send recordings back to owners earlier than I would have liked, some postings on the blog showing up a day or two late, and my initial interviews done without an intro and outro music.
But I started out to just get it out there, warts and all, and realized my skills improving as the days went along. This is the first, and later ones should be better.
Thanks, you all.
