Capstone Final Reflection

For the capstone project, I chose to make beaded jewelry and sell them. Making
beaded jewelry has been my hobby since I was young. Since I also want to learn
business at the university, I thought the entrepreneur strand suits my capstone.

From the capstone, I learned about the differences between doing what I like as a
personal hobby and an occupation. Related to entrepreneurship, I learned the
importance of promotion, selling skills and having a good sense of prediction on how
much I need to spend on buying materials. In addition, I learned about the importance of
choosing where to sell or how to sell the product. Making bracelets has been my hobby.
However, buying materials made me spend money without taking my money back. It led
me to come up with the willingness of selling what I made to others. I enjoyed buying
materials, making bracelets, and promoting and selling them. I was able to
communicate with others and tell which bracelets might look good on them. However,
the pressure that comes from making a certain number of bracelets and selling them
made me no longer feel the joy of making them as a hobby. From this experience, I
learned that it is good to separate between the hobby and the job. Nevertheless, I
learned that I am good at making trendy bracelets according to customers’ comments
and communicating with them and answering their questions. In addition, I realized
again that I like earning money by selling what I made and like to see people feel
satisfied with my product.
The capstone project made me realize I only want to make bracelets from myself or
others for the present but not for earning money. Due to the project people around me
learned that I am good at making bracelets and interested in business.

My strength is self-determination and an area to improve is self-regulation. These

competencies connect to the project. My self-determination was utilized for my project. I
first asked my mentor for her help and managed the schedule when she is able to help
me. I spared and scheduled my time to make enough products and managed my own
Instagram account and gained followers for advertisement. Whenever I have questions,
I asked those to my mentors so that I can bring the best out of my project eliminating
the possibility of making mistakes. I was determined to sell products to people around
me first so I was able to gain more customers through the recommendations of people
who already bought my product. I took my own responsibility for making products, and
planning the way of marketing and selling and dealt with some difficulties during the
project. In addition, I was able to improve my self-regulation since when there was a
situation when I needed to finish making a planned number of products, I forced myself
to finish making them. Since my products needed to be made by using beads, it tested
my patience when the beads disappeared on the floor. It sometimes made me think to
stop making it during the process. However, I gained the mindset of not giving up and I
was able to make a planned number of bracelets. In addition, I felt embarrassed when I
needed to advertise to customers to buy my products at first. However, I did not express
my emotion and tried to be looked optimistic about what I am doing. I am proud of
figuring out that I already possess self-determination and self-regulation which
encourages me to stand out with those competencies when I need to apply them.
Whenever I need to be the one who chooses my path and deals with a challenge that
requires patience, I would not hesitate to apply my core competencies. In addition, I
learned many important skills as an entrepreneur by going through the process. As a
result, in the future, if I need to interact with customers and face some situations where I
need to preserve my emotion, I would apply my self-regulation skill.

I am proud that people liked what I made and tried to buy. Even though I enjoyed
making bracelets, I sometimes doubted who might buy them if I sell these. However,
after selling my bracelets, it seemed to me that my product is recognized as something
worthy to buy and I gained self-confidence in my creation.

My initial plan was to sell my products on the street so that there would be more
chances to be recognized by random people. However, by the time I need to sell, it was
winter and not many people walking on the street where I tried to sell my product at Fort
Langley, Willoughby Towncenter. As a result, I needed to change my plan. I focused on
selling online. Through Instagram, I scheduled when and where to meet and sold them
in person or sent them as posts.

When I was promoting my product, there were many people who wished to buy the
product. However, by the time I was selling, not many of those people contacted me to
buy. It taught me that the worst promise for entrepreneurs is “later”. If a student will
complete the entrepreneur strand, I want to advise that if there are people who want to
buy your product, sell it right away or make a receipt for them.

Something that motivated me was an Instagram account that sells handmade products
online. In the video, the making process looked attractive and the product looked
adorable. However, pictures or videos of the product I took did not seem as attractive as
an account. If I could, I want to make a video of me making the bracelet in a
professional way.

The Youtube videos that show how to make trendy beaded bracelets helped me a lot.
I wish I could sell my products to more people. If there was a chance that more people
could see my product, due to the difference in each one’s favour, I might have been
able to sell more products and gain more profit. In addition, I would like to come up with
a diverse or more detailed result. Not like the project strand, I do not have a physical
result that I can keep as a reward. To keep the capstone in my memory and remember
what I learned I want a physical result for the project.