Senior Project Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your Block Presentation and/or your senior project? Why?


That I made time! I spent the whole weekend before thinking I wouldn't and it's kept me up for so long.

(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Block Presentation (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?


Using the database from Cal Poly Pomona. It's really helped me give a lot of legitimate sources for my answers and arguments.

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would have you done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?




To be honest, I would change my topic entirely to college admissions. I feel like I would have a better time because I feel myself to be more passionate about that. But, if I had stuck with the topic of music store operations, I would've started my research on business operations rather than instrument maintenance instead.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples

Senior project has pretty much whipped me into shape so I can be ready for long term projects similar to senior project. In addition, it has also trained me in researching, internships, and contacting establishments (as I have done in order to get supplies for my activities). This would be very helpful in business-type settings.

Blog 21: Mentorship

Literal

Log is on the side of my blog.

Contact

Gene Iacono or Cody

(909) 598-1921

Interpretive

What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

From this experience, most importantly, I had received an up-close look into the workings of a retail music store. There's reading about it, and then there's actually going through the experience and procedures. It's hard to explain, but it's just a completely different feeling.

Applied

How has what you have done helped you to answer your EQ?  Please explain.

Being able to be present inside a music store on the other side (the seller side) has been an enlightening opportunity in that I was able to see the principles I have read about in my research at work. It showed me the immediate impacts of certain behaviors and actions as detailed upon by my research, which provided to me further support to my three answers for my EQ.

Monthly Blog Post: Anecdotes and Stats-edotes

In some fields, knowledge, techniques, and expertise are at most passed down and spread largely by word of mouth. Most of these three knowledge (which I will now abbreviate to KTE because it's a pain to type out the whole thing) often have no basis in their establishment except for gut feeling and personal experience, both of which allowed a large space for bias from those who tout their KTE's.

I came across that issue myself in my research venture for my senior project. Many of the advice I had received, whether from mentorship or from advice articles of music retailing magazines, were never really tested in their validity. For a long time, I thought that was the most I could work with.

However, I fortunately began to reach out in my research and discovered the field of retailing research, where hypothesis regarding aspects of retails, like importance of service, branding, and differentiation, are actually tested with the scientific method and peer-reviewed by academic retail researchers. I would've never believed this field to have existed if not for the experience I gained from my senior project, and I extend the lesson I've learned in doing proper research to find a goldmine for your topic that you initially thought had never existed.

Blog 20: Exit Interview

1. What is your essential question and answers?  What is your best answer and why?

My Essential Question is What is the best way to profit as an independent music store?

My answers are

1) One of the ways an independent music store can profit is to connect to the people (employees, customers, and community) of their business.

2) Another way to profit as an independent music store is to be knowledgeable in your business.

3) Another way an independent music store can profit is to be specialized and unique.

2. What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

Connection with the people:

A combination of my experience in my mentorship, my interviews, and my research led me to see the importance of a store's connection with its people. After all, retail is a people business, and this is a sentiment I've echoed very frequently because it's true. It's only because of people (employees) that our business functions. It's only because of people (customers) that our business profits. It's only because of people (community) that our business expands.

My mentorship and my interviews emphasized the importance of a good relationship between all three types of people. An employee I often work with and have interviewed twice often said to me the importance of paying your employees on time and training them well, the latter key to the development of the employees as a worker. He also stressed the importance of treating your customers well to increase their chances of returning.

My research articles similar say the same thing, but with addition of tangible data to support their claims. Frank Helsing and et al.'s journal piece, "An Intersector Analysis of the Relevance of Service in Building a Strong Retail Brand.", showed the positive effects service has on the identity of the brand, and therefore the loyalty of the customers. Articles from magazines geared towards music retail employees also gave advice that emphasized the importance of personal touch with customers; some even claim that it is our main strength against large music chain stores.

Knowledgeable in business:

This answer was created in a similar way of my first answer. My experiences and my research all led to this answer as well.

The employee and my mentor, owner of the music store Gene Iacono, had briefly touched on the importance of knowing what you're talking about in my interviews with them. Even more so enlightening was my experience in my mentorship: one day, a customer had came in asking for a guitar jack parts. The employee I was with then had no clue what to do, so we decided to redirect the customer to another store that specialized on guitars. When we later talked to the owner, we found out that there is a proper procedure for customers who came in for guitar parts or other things that we currently do not have in our stock: consult our catalogs. As it turns out, we have catalogs and connections to music equipment suppliers, and we could have ordered a guitar jack or anything else from these catalogs for the customer. That very experience was important in the shaping of this answer.

My research articles also contributed to the creation of this answer. Joanne Phillips Melancon's research article, "Synergistic Effects of Operant Knowledge Resources." showed the importance and the positive effects of knowledge of customers, firm practices, and industry on the firm's capability of meeting their customers' needs. Some articles also showed the importance of proper training of employees for, in a similar conclusion to Melancon's, their capability to meet their customers' needs.

Unique and individuality:

This was key for the independent music store. All through my research, I often see the common problem of independent music store needing to be able to compete evenly with larger chain music stores. While some articles of magazines for music retailers differentiate the whole entity of independent music stores from large chain music stores with their ability to better accommodate customers and their better capability for customer service, some independent store owners of my research also put forward the importance of an individual, unique identity to the attractiveness of their store. Shane Kinney, an owner of a specialized store for drums, said in his article, "Tips for Interior Retail Display." the necessity of a store reflecting the values and personality of its owner; it creates a personalized feeling to the single store.

Similarly, the same themes appeared in the talks I would have in my mentorship. An employee also talked about the importance of being unique and, as he would put it in his own words, "cool."

This was supported by research articles as well. In Frank Haelsig and et. al.'s article "An Intersector Analysis of the Relevance of Service in Building a Strong Retail Brand", the researchers put "differentiation" as one of their key factors in building a strong retail brand.

3. What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

In the first half of my research, I would always come across these music retail articles written by music retailers themselves that would put forward their beliefs (such as in personal touch, individualism, and expertise). But I would always had an issue with their lack of factual basis behind these theories and beliefs; they are, after all, very anecdotal, and perhaps even biased.

I managed to resolve this issue by searching into retail research journals, and managing to find articles that actually provided scientific and factual evidence and support behind the music retailers' hypotheses. Not only that, it confirmed the validity of the music retailers' claims and expertise; it really made the point that these retailers very much knew what they were talking about.

4. What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

Two most significant sources I used to answer my essential question (so far anyway) is my mentorship and Frank Haelsig and et. al.'s article "An Intersector Analysis of the Relevance of Service in Building a Strong Retail Brand". I chose my mentorship because while I didn't physically do much, I gained a lot of information and insight from the discussions we held about retail and business and the little experiences I had. On the other hand, I chose Haelsig's article because it is my go-to article in a tangible basis to the argument that employee and firm action creates actual effects on their sales.

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

LITERAL

I, Regina Ongowarsito, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.

My sources are my mentorship and the Coursera.org course I'm currently taking, "Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The First Step in Entrepreneurship".

Independent Component Log #2 is on the side of my blog.

To fulfill my Independent Component #2 requirements, I took an entrepreneur class online and did extra mentorship in addition to the 50 hours required for mentorship. I've also been taking music classes in a music store, where I was able to experience the store from the customers' point of view.

INTERPRETIVE 

Defend your work and explain how the significant parts of your component and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.  

I created blog posts chronicling my experience in the Coursera class. Each post contains screenshots of the videos I have to watch and the quizzes I took. Here are links leading to them:

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

The following are PDFs my teacher shared with me in some of our lessons. They are for me to practice bass.

Alice in Wonderland

There is No Greater Love

I Could Write a Book

Autumn Leaves

Pink Floyd - Brick on the Wall

I keep notes on my mentorship experiences. It used to be that I'd write them on an actual notebook, then I'd scan them up, but I decided to change it some time ago to this document. It felt easier to me.

Mentorship Notes

APPLIED

How did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped

The entrepreneur class taught me to see businesses in general from the eyes of an entrepreneur. What I learned from this class expanded upon the knowledge that I gained from my research about businesses and furthered it.

From the class, I learned various business topics like segmenting markets, the entrepreneurial mindset and behavior, the process involved in the design of a product, and the importance and complexity behind addressing consumers' needs when developing a venture. These are all general entrepreneurial lessons that are more-oriented to company developments, but I find it very easy to apply them into a small business context. For example, Professor Green of the class talked about using your knowledge of consumers' needs to your advantage. It made me think about specialty music shops, and how their success lies on addressing a specific consumer need that not many else provide.

As for my mentorship in The Music Store, it was an opportunity for me to learn first hand of what goes into the operations of a music store. Over my long tenure there, I gradually got the chance to address customers myself, to help with closing every night, and to help with sales of items.

From my music lessons in the store, I became aware of what customers want from a music store, as I was able to receive an experience to be a customer myself. It helped shape the ideas I had of the best way to profit from a music store, but in a way that will also benefit the customers as well.

Independent Component: Week 3 of "Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The First Step in Entrepreneurship" course in Coursera

(It's really, really, really a good thing I watched the videos in advance. Phew.)

Independent Component: Week 4 of "Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The First Step in Entrepreneurship" course in Coursera

I'm going to do Week 3 some other time, because Week 4 was due tonight.

 Total time: 3 hours and 5 minutes

Independent Component: Week 2 of "Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The First Step in Entrepreneurship" course in Coursera

Total Time: 

3 hours 1 minute

Independent Component: Week 1 of "Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The First Step in Entrepreneurship" course in Coursera

I don't know what I was thinking, but I really put the course off until the weekend. As a result, whatever was remaining of this particular Saturday (which is usually overtaken by my mentorship) is also dedicated to Senior Project. Blargh.

I watched all the videos of the course and viewed some of the slides for further references. Took the quiz and got a 8.2 first time round. Being the perfectionist I am, tried it again until I got a 10.

Total time: 3 hours and 43 minutes

Blog 18: Third Answer

• EQ

What is the best way to profit as an independent music store?

• Answer #3

One way some independent music store can profit is to be specialized and unique.

• 3 details to support the answer (a detail is a fact and an example)

Specialized stores have a special appeal to them that would attract customers to them instead of large chain stores. For example, Matt's Boutique, a store that was talked about in one of my resources listed below, began to get more sales when they started to focus on providing high-end boutique guitars.

Specialized stores can better provide specific products then the general music store.  A store specialized in drums most likely have more drum products than the general music store.

Specialized and unique stores can benefit by being individualistic. A store with its own unique identity can be charming, as Kinney from my resource below said.

• The research source (s) to support your details and answer

Kinney, Shane. "Tips for Interior Retail Display." Musical Merchandise Review Jan. 2014: n. pag. Print.

Kailus, Katie. "Boutique Expert." Music Inc Mar.-Apr. 2014: 34-38. Print.

• Concluding Sentence

A store with a unique identity, or in addition to a specialization, can have a charm that attract customers and increase sales, therefore profit.

Blog 17: Fourth Interview Questions

1. What should a music store aim to do?
2. What is the most important in running an independent music store?
3. What kind of employees do we need to successfully run a music store? 
4. Where can we find such employees?
5. How can we best work with our employees?
6. What kind of customers should we expect in an independent music store?
7. Should there be a certain demographic to aim for when running a music store?
8. How can we appeal to customers?
9. How can we best work with our customers?
10. Should we work with our community?
11. How do we work with our community? / What are the ways we can work with our community?
12. How do we best advertise?
13. How do we compete against large chain music stores?
14. Is our only option to find a special niche? Could an independent store that only sells various instruments with no focus on certain types of instruments survive?
15. Is it important to 'keep up with the times' as a music store? Or is a music store a type of business with  basic, ageless information?
16. How do we 'keep up with the times' as an independent music store?
17. How important is it to be a musician ourselves when owning and running a music store?
18. How important are music lessons to the livelihood of an independent music store?
19. What kind of people should we network with?
20. What is the one thing that a music store should absolutely never do?

Monthly Post: February - A Time of Love... and Research. Mostly research.

Quite frankly, I didn't remember that we needed to have 3 answers at least for our presentation until rather recently. So um, if any junior is reading this, don't do this.

Regardless, I can't change the fact that I'm slightly struggling to cover all 3. My 10-minute presentation really did cover everything I thought of, and once I summarize things (which is what I did for my 10 minute presentation, which is funny because I didn't even hit time then), I struggle to put the details back in.

Still, I'm pretty sure I'll get back to my feet.

In other news, I have discovered a very wonderful published journal for my topic called 'Music Trades'. It's a journal that's basically tailor made to my topic, in that its main focus in on the music retail business. Yipee ki-yay? Absolutely. More than I imply in this blog post because text doesn't really carry tone that well.

Now the problem is that this journal is not very easily accessible using the Cal Poly Database, which is a darned shame because Cal Poly Database had served me alright up to this point. I'll have to arrange some crazy Document Delivery thing in order to get the journals I want, which I plan on doing hopefully very soon.

Or, maybe I can just try to log in into Ebsco Host Connections using User ID and Password from another library. I can try that. Either way, let's see what happens.

Blog 16: Advisory Meeting #2

Essential Question

What is the best way to profit as an independent music store?

Answer #2 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement)

The best way to profit as an independent music store is to be knowledgeable in both your products and business.

3 details to support the answer (a detail is a fact and an example)

- A good part of a music store's customer base are fellow musicians and prospective musicians. In order for you to be able to answer their questions, you must know what you're talking about. If someone comes in searching for a reed for a bass clarinet, then asks you which size to get, you need to know why the size would matter in order to help the person.

- A music store is a business, and running a business always has some legal complications attached to it. So, know your legal stuff. Know what paper works you'll need to file and your rights as a vendor and your customers' rights as a customer.

- A business has many factors that could affect it, factors like the national economy or your location. So, know these factors. Know the neighbors you're dealing with when you locate your store here. Know what your competition is doing right and wrong. Know your customers and their wants and needs, so you can fully accommodate them.

The research source(s) to support your details and answer:

"Demographics And Destiny." Music Trades 161.7 (2013): 120-124. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

Majeski, Brian T. "The Shifting Definition Of A "Music Store." Music Trades July 2013: 22. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

POPYK, BOB. "How To Compete With The Internet." Music Trades 161.11 (2013): 68. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
"How Tastes And Technology Are Transforming The Industry." Music Trades 161.3 (2013): 50-68. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

Concluding Sentence
Knowledge is power. The more information you have to work with, the more advantages you have.

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

More business workshops. Maybe another college class. Or some music product reviews.

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

For workshops and classes, I'll scan up papers and/or transcripts. Music product reviews, I'll post the reviews on the blog.

3.  And explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

The workshops and classes can give me further information to operating a business, just as the small business workshop and the leadership classes did.

4.  Post a log on the right hand side of your blog near your other logs and call it the independent component 2 log.

Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflection

1. Positive StatementWhat are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

I really liked the point I've come to as I was making this presentation, that while business is mainly a numbers industry, it's also a people industry; it's important to keep up the relationships you have with the people in your business, especially in operating a music store.

2. Questions to ConsiderWhat assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

AP. I didn't hit time (really disappointed there, but what's done is done), but I think I covered everything else.

Blog 14: Independent Component 1

LITERAL

I, Regina Ongowarsito, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.

My sources are my class's textbook, Leadership in Organizations by Gary Yukl, and the host of the Small Business workshop I've attended, Robert Usher.

Link to Independent Component Log

For my independent component, I attended a college class called Leadership in Organization, where I learned the different types and aspects of leadership and which would work the most effectively in certain situations. In addition, I also attended a workshop for small businesses in Chino.

INTERPRETIVE

When I was in the workshop, I took notes along the presentation and gathered information by asking questions. I've covered my work in the workshop on my monthly blog post for October, linked here.

As for the college class, not only did I take notes, but I also did research into leadership styles and studied for the exams. This is a link to my dropbox folder for the class. This is to my transcript.

APPLIED

The college class and the workshop benefited me differently.

The college class helped me understand something about business that isn't so apparent: Business is not just a numbers industry; it's also a human industry. When most people work, regardless of the field, it's often with other people, and the importance dynamics between these people cannot be underestimated. It could make or break your work flow.

For example, as a leader, you might end up in a situation where you must influence your subordinates. In the case of a music store, perhaps you need to convince an employee to take up a shift he doesn't really want. There are different ways you could influence him: You could force him to take it, threatening to fire him if he doesn't. Or you could discuss with him what might convince him to take the shift. Maybe for his finals week, he can have more flexibility with his shift. Or he could get something from the music store for free.

My college class taught me not only the mentioned solutions, but also how while all of them might work, not all of them might create a good relationship between the leader and the follower. Bribing or threatening someone tend to increase compliance, while discussing the issue together with the worker tend to increase commitment. As a leader, it's better to have commitment from your followers than compliance.

As for the workshop, I decided to attend it as I felt that I need more knowledge concerning the business side of music store operations (at that time, I've only been covering instrument care). It proved to be fruitful, as I learned great tips for business strategies, regulations, and financing. For example, to successfully run a business, planning is key. Understand your demographics and create your advertisements accordingly. When picking a location for your store, be aware of local competition and the potentials of  a location. And do NOT start a business without a financial plan; if getting a loan, at least secure it first before getting the business running. There are many things to consider when running a business, and for the business to work, you must be able to keep up with everything.

Monthly Post: January - The Fight

With more research needed to be done, I had decided in the past month to focus more on music store operations aspects other than instrument repairs. What happened was rather a significant discovery into the unsaid rivalry between large chain music stores, such as Guitar Center and Sam Ash, and independent music stores.

To be frank, I was already aware of this when I first even considered doing music store operations as my topic. After all, I'm a frequent goer for both; I go to Sam Ash for the cheaper products, and I go to independent music stores for the people. What I never really knew was the history of which this quiet rivalry that traces back to 1996, and also the resurgence of independent stores and their forced yet successful adaptation to current times. Many articles that I've found on independent stores flaunt the fact that they are often far more personal and personable than large chain stores.

It's been crossing my mind that I interview different independent stores, more than the required 3, as to get more information to this whole situation. This conflict isn't really one that is commonly covered in newspapers or magazines. If I really want my presentation to be great, I have to be my own journalist to get my sources from.

Blog 12 - Third Interview Questions

1) (Essential Question) What is the best way to profit as an independent music store?
2) What should be of utmost importance in the music store operation?
3) What could be considered as a music store's appeal to customers?
4) What is the difference between a large chain music store and an independent one?
5) Continuing from Q4, which one is better?
6) Do independent music stores have a bigger responsibility to their community?
7) Can independent music stores utilize their better relationships to the community to their advantage?
8) How do we deal with independent music stores' tendencies to have higher prices than chain music stores?
9) How do we find potential employees that would be knowledgeable and suitable for the independent music store?
10) Are music classes necessary for a music store's livelihood?

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 Hours Check

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?

I am doing my mentorship at The Music Store at Walnut.

2.   Who is your contact?

Owner of the store, Gene Iacono

3.   How many total hours have you done (total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located on the right hand side of your blog like your WB)?

30 hours and 28 minutes.

4.   Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.

I was told to simply observe, since I didn't know anything about working the store yet. I was shown the schedule binder, the cashier, the cashier software, the records software, the script for calls, etc.

5.   Email your house teacher the name of your contact and their phone number confirming who they should call to verify it.

Blog 10: Senior Project: The Holiday

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you over the break with your senior project?

I was too busy with other things during the break (college apps, sigh...), so I couldn't do much with my senior project. However, I did keep up my mentorship.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

I learned that it's really key for you to do all the things needed to run a music store (for ex., remember to tell students if their teacher's going to miss some lesson days) and not lag behind. Otherwise, things may start falling apart.

3.  If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers of your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

Well, I would just usually talk to the owner of the music store, Gene Iacono. But, I did get a possible new mentor named Orlando (he fixes the music store's rental instruments and also owns his own music store) so I'll definitely talk to him.