Marketing Class

This marketing class has been such an amazing blessing for me. I have learned so much not only about marketing, but also about myself. Last week's assignment was something different.

We had to divide up into pairs, something that is always stomach turning (which is why I made the previous post). One of my classmates, Donna, had reached out to me and we became partners.

Working with a partner was a learning experience on its own. So much of being a mom and homeschooler is done solo. Yes, you are teaching your children, but you are the teacher, you come up with the lesson plans, you follow the plans. Sometimes you may work with someone else, like a spouse, but usually one is more "in charge" than the other. In anycase, ususally you know each other somewhat.

This was different. We really didn't know each other at all, and we were equal partners. We had to learn to work together while not being face to face. Our entire "discussion" was email and "windows live messenger."

I have been so amazed at what we have been able to learn from each other. I don't know that I would have learned as much if I hadn't been teamed up with Donna.

One of the big things for me, I learned how to speak up. Donna had an idea for the title and so did I. She mentioned hers first, I had a hard time mentioning mine, (what if she didn't like it, blah, blah, blah). I did mention my idea, we discussed back and forth, we ended up using both in different ways, and the world didn't end.

As a shy person, speaking up is very hard for me. I realized though, if I didn't speak up, it would be her project and she would have to do all the work on it.

The project was to write a short sell and long sell sheet for a product. In our early conversations, we found out that I was eating wheat-free and her family had been eating gluten-free/casein-free (casein is a milk protein, and 3% of people are sensitive to casein. More are sensitive to lactose, but if you had problems with milk at a young age, it's probably casein.)

So we invented a gluten-free/casein-free cookbook that gives recipes, and how to make your own mixes, etc. I would really love to buy this book. It has everything I could possibly want. Unfortunately, it doesn't exist.

The project was alot of fun and I had an excuse to putter with graphics. I also found that brainstorming things that would make me want to buy a cookbook was informative.

What makes you want to buy something?