Winding Down

Nearly tea time!  As my Entrepreneurship course draws to an end, I'm glad it's over and I learned so much.  I'm challenged by the increased demands on my time and resources.  I still have to write two more blog entries after this one!

As if working five days a week and expecting a child aren't enough, on top of doing a course on entrepreneurship, I've added all the excitement and responsibility of organizing a wedding as well!

Fortunately, the father of the child is a great help.  If you haven't put two and two together by now, it's Drew whom I mentioned in the previous post.  Yes, aside from swaying him to try different teas with me, we've decided to tie the knot.

Among his many skills, he's a writer and a trained photographer so I've gained from his insights and occasionally he helps me crop or edit a photo I'm having a problem with.  As every entrepreneur knows, forming strong partnerships and finding key resources are important to any start up, so too in life.    

Another good example of collaboration and teamwork could be seen when a tea company (in this case, Sloane Tea) teamed up with a chocolate artist (Laura Slack) to create some delicious tea infused chocolates for Valentine's Day last year.

A pair of Chaucer's Hearts

Mmm, perfect harmony

This week, as we've been planning where to get married and what and who to include, Drew's designing the invites and inviting his family, while also pushing me to interview people and get feedback on my business value proposition for my homework assignment.  What a slave driver!  I was glad for the push though.

As we learned in class, our terrific instructor Keri Damen explained that the Value Proposition statement should contain the following components:
- What you are offering
- The specific value associated with your offering
- Who are you creating value for
- And why is your product different from everything else on the market.

Value Proposition is not:
- A tagline or ad
- An elevator pitch
- A mission statement

I won't go into too much detail about mine here, because while I am the unique individual who puts together the elements required for my business idea, that's not to say someone else might not pick up on it and find the resources to give me competition before I even get started.

I do look forward to the time after the baby comes when I'll be able to kick back and enjoy a fine pot of quality tea.  I know while I do, Drew will have his hands full(of diapers and dishes).  

Discovering the strengths I bring to a business and identifying the weaknesses I need to work on has been an eye-opener to be sure.  With hormones flashing and baby kicking, I'm finding I need all the support I can get to stay focused these days.

I'm grateful to the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies for the opportunity to apply my writing and photography to this purpose, and I'm keen to begin this next chapter of my life armed with new tools for the tasks ahead.

Follow #StartUpEdu, @rfongtea, @entrepreneurSCS on Twitter to join in on the entrepreneurship conversation.

This is a sponsored post on behalf of University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies Certificate in Entrepreneurship program; however, the opinions provided are my own.