LIVING ENTREPRENEURIALLY: LIVING 360o BY COLTON SANDEFUR
All my life, I have been striving to be a catalyst for positive change in the lives of others through service work individually and with other big-name organizations in my hometown of Chicago. Over time, I learned more about myself than I could ever deem possible, and I came out of it with several key lessons.
1) Making a difference is tough
2) Working through obstacles is tough
3) Staying motivated can be tough
4) Consistency is tough
Devoting myself to such a reality of service offered me lessons unbeknownst to me until maturing into the person I am today with new perspectives on previous outcomes. In the moment, I felt that my work was amounting to nothing because I was thinking on a small scale, but upon coming to Miami, this was very much not the case. When attending a career development workshop, one of the speakers touched on the idea of being a 360o person and living by three major principles:
1) Elevate the people below you
2) Work with the people around you
3) Learn from the people above you
At the time, it meant very little until I saw it being put to use subconsciously with my work in entrepreneurship. By developing more as an entrepreneur, I have come to appreciate how much living entrepreneurially fits into the framework. Entrepreneurship is all about creating value for yourself, but others in particular through a product or a service that is unique and valuable. Applying this to the 360o mindset, the first two principles epitomize this best. We are all in a position to be a necessary catalyst for those who need help most. Personally, I have been a mentor in the world of entrepreneurship as well as be an ambassador for service around the community to make a positive difference for friends and prospective customers alike.
The third principle is fitting as well, seeing that it relates best to simply trying to get better one day at a time. By challenging yourself into trying something new, you will create for more valuable lessons along the way, just like you would by picking something up from people above you. Simply being a student is what we all need at times and entrepreneurship fittingly does so. We are always receiving feedback from the things we do and are always learning something new. You won’t create value until you allow yourself to learn and experiment, just like you won’t create value on a personal level until you venture out and learn from someone else. For myself, I have engaged in new entrepreneurial pursuits from Startup Weekend to Social Innovation Weekend in which I was constantly trying to push my limits and try to better myself through engaging with others. I recognized that for myself, it was allowing myself to be honest that I was able to learn best, which was learning from others and personal exploration.
