Dog Tag, Inc Fellowship Program – Week 2

Another fantastic week of the Dog Tag, Inc Fellowship Program has concluded and my head and heart are about to explode with knowledge, emotions, and ideas!

<img=”” class=”wp-image-19718″ src=”https://javacupcake.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/13645268_10105308259951408_4593718470965578287_n.jpg” alt=”Dog Tag, Inc Fellowship Program – Summer Cohort 2016″ height=”525″ align=”aligncenter”> Testing soups from a vendor to potentially be sold at Dog Tag Bakery.
=”This week began my second class at Georgetown University – Principles of Marketing with Professor Charles Skuba.  Before this class, I never truly understood what the term marketing meant.  I thought it was only about how to best advertise my product or service but quickly learned it is much more than just that.  Marketing is branding, identity, research, and knowing your customer and what they want/need.  It was a very eye opening first lecture and I am excited to learn more!

One of the guest speakers this week were two Marine veterans who started their own coffee shop.  Harrison & Michael of Compass Coffee began dreaming about a business in coffee during their Afghanistan deployment when coffee was the one thing they always had to keep them sane and happy.

Harrison & Michael gave us the no bullshit hard truth about starting up a small business and kept it 100% real.  It’s hard work, takes a lot of money and time and is incredibly rewarding! They definitely gave me a lot to think about.

My favorite part of this week was the rotation in the kitchen with Kyle, the savory cook at Dog Tag.  Kyle taught us knife skills while making gazpacho soup.  I learned how to cut an onion the right way.  It was life changing and I totally plan to do a blog post with Kyle about it just as soon as he gets back from vacation!

 

I love how the guys in this picture are already tired of me taking pictures of EVERYTHING we do.  Ha!  It’s only week two fellas… get used to it!!

All those vegetables we learned to dice went into a gazpacho soup that was sold in the bakery this week.   I’d never made gazpacho before so this was really fun to see all the ingredients that went into making it.

Of course for lunch on Thursday, I had to eat what I made! Chilled Gazpacho Soup with roasted baguette croutons and fresh bread.

Heaven.

Saving the best of the week for last…

During a reflection session, I was asked to think about the following question…

[bctt tweet=”What is your greatest barrier to achieving your dreams?” username=”javacupcake”]

I knew right away there were a few things that were holding me back…

• Money
• Feeling scared
• Lack of family support
• Unclear what my dream is

That last reason was really holding me up from figuring out how to work through/around/with/over the barriers.   So I decided to write down what I did know about my dream… What it IS and what it IS NOT.

Here’s what my dream IS NOT: 

• Working alone/being alone – I need interaction with people.  I crave it and it fills my soul and spirit.
• Being a full time blogger – I know this may be surprising, but I do not feel fulfilled solely from blogging.  Blogging will always be a part of me, but I don’t want it to be the only thing.
• Corporate life – Although knowing business and how to run a business are important, I know I do not want to work for a huge corporate company that has lost touch with the people.  No thank you.
• Working for someone else – This doesn’t mean I don’t ever want to work for someone else, but I know that whoever that person is needs to share the same goals and dreams I do.  I am a self-starter and have a lot of great ideas that I’d want to become a reality, so I need to work for a person/company that can support that.

On the flip side, here is what my dream IS:

• Helping others – In any shape or form
• Being a part of a community – My neighborhood, the military community, the refugee community
• Making a difference – I truly want to make a difference in this world, whether it be with an individual, group, company, community.
• Providing a good/service that brings joy to others
• Being a part of a team with like-minded people with the same goals
• Being a leader – I want to inspire others to realize their own potential within the mission of whatever I do.

It felt so good to put this all down on paper and to really give what my dream looks like a shape.  I don’t know exactly what I’ll be doing, but I know that if it includes these things… I will be happy.

I am so excited to see how this Fellowship Program is going to help me shape what my dream is and in turn I will bring it to life!  Only great things are happening from here on out!!!

To learn more about the Dog Tag, Inc fellowship program at the Dog Tag Bakery check them out on the web and Facebook