It's Spring Break - Time to Work!

It is the Spring Break here (Spring in February?), meaning that there are no classes! But that also means there are no other students… Well, I guess some quiet time can be just as much fun. I have a lot of work to be done actually, so I do not expect boredom to get in my way!

Four things on my to-do list

1. I will work on the business plan for The Third Annual Quad College & University Business Plan Challenge. This is the second stage of the competition, the third being the final. I am planning to start a software/hardware company – Integrain Technlogy – details coming soon (I must decide how much information to disclose – this is a serious idea!). I am going to do more research to assess what exactly my product has to be to satisfy the customers’ needs in the most profitable way. There is also a great deal of work left in terms of the technical specification of the product. 

Spring?

2. I am doing a part-time internship at a recently launched local microbrewery. I am helping the owners – Mika and Kira with marketing. While working with them I get to understand so much about running a business. I learnt about planning and raising start-up capital, managing customer relations and creating value for the customers. This week we are working on a new marking “stunt”. Mike is planning to launch a new beer but has two alternatives in mind and wants the customers to decide. So we came up with an idea of creating a presidential-election-eque campaign for the two options where customers will cast votes in a poll dubbed the “SELECTION 2008”. I will keep you posted. 

3. Apart from that I am putting a lot of effort to improve my language skills. I am working mostly on my Korean (it’s an incredible language), but also keep revising German. This week I will compile a list of all the Korean words and grammar that I have came across to make an easy reference point for the future. I also have a list of approx. 50 new and old-but-forgotten German verbs in their present, past and future forms that I will start studying this week. 

4. Finally, I bought some books from amazon.com and I want to read them all by the end of the semester. I started with “The Price” by Machiavelli, will proceed to The Art of War” by Sun-tzu and finish with “The Four Pillars of Investing” by William Bernstein. I love reading and these books seem like it is going to be a hell lot of an experience! I am looking forward to it!