September 23' Community Post

Running a business with zero knowledge or education. Freshly graduated from high school, and I was offered- by essentially a family member- to officially run a catering company that had suffered form Covid so the owners had to get fulltime jobs to make money while small business died. Well, as Covid was on the decline in 2021, they had fulltime jobs they enjoyed that had a lot of benefits and made money, so reviving a small business was no want. To offset costs until it could be sold while they worked full time, I and my peer were asked to run it in every capacity until it was sold to a new owner. One 18 year old and 20 year old running a business with no knowledge or nuthin'. We worked as catering assistants throughout high school which involved handing and cooking food. Running a company involved inventory, maintenance, customer engagement, a new level of hospitality, consideration of numerous costs, etc. etc. A year later, we lived to tell the tale once a new guy took it over, but we have some stories form that experience. The funniest being, we forgot our frozen pretzels to this Barmitzvah gig and our warehouse was 40 mins away. We were to cook hot dogs and pretzels and with half of the order not there, wuddyya do? Well, we arrive before a hour estimated event start time so that meant less than 15 mins to prep a food item. Whole way back, my homie blasted the heat to try to warm them up in transit but these things took a hour to cook through and we had like 10 minutes. We put them in their hot box and took the sternos from the hot dogs (placed under pans of waters with hot dogs to boil them) and lit four of them in the corners of the box. After 15 minutes of this, party had not fully kicked off, and they were edible. Given extra time when people would come over to eat and we were golden. Well, except that my stupid-ass forgot another thing, sorta. My homie went to serve our first pretzels with requested cinnamon (salt or cinnamon option) and after he served it he recognized something about the cinnamon. "Where is the cinnamon sugar?" Right there, in the shaker? "That is just cinnamon, where is the stock?" I pull out our stock and he points out to me it is just pure cinnamon and not cinnamon sugar. (Did not know the difference)

Lil Will

Taking breaks has been a challenge for me in the past but I think I’m getting better at it! First off despite the challenges you faced, it’s awesome to hear how far you’ve come going after your goal. I know what it’s like to be told by many people you can’t do something and it feels that much better when you’re able to eventually pull it off. It’s awesome to hear how dedicated you were to fulfilling that challenge and that it all totally paid off in the end, being able to look back and see how much stronger you are as a person due to pushing through really is something special. To be proud of what you accomplished breeds inspiration to push even harder to the next level, that being said I wish you luck in your path and hope the next challenges are as exciting to complete as the last 👊👊

Chris Metzner

You are killing it with the inktober designs! Just remember to step back and take breaks from time to time and not overload yourself! As for the question of the month, my hardest challenge to date was probably getting my International Baccalaureate degree. For those unfamiliar, the IB program is a global standardized education system and is considered to be very rigorous and difficult (especially when compared to most US public school systems). I was always an average/below average student, considered "gifted" which I would later learn was just undiagnosed ADHD. I didn't actually get accepted into the IB program at my High School my freshman year so by the time I joined the program my sophomore year, I was already a hear behind my peers. Despite that, and many other at-home challenges, I still managed to make the grades necessary to graduate Highschool however I missed the mark for my IB diploma by only two points. After going through a very lengthy appeal process and being told by pretty much everyone that it would be almost impossible for me to make up those points, I still decided to retake two of the exams where there was possible room for improvement. The appeal process and the exam registration were not cheap, so I had that to deal with in addition to paying for my first semester in college. I studied for the exams all while I was starting my college career and doing the whole freshman college thing away from home. When I tell you there was no better feeling than pulling up the exam portal when the grades were posted to see that I had made up EXACTLY 2 points and had received my IB Diploma. All the blood, sweat, tears, and satisfaction of rubbing it in the faces of everyone who said that I couldn't do it and that I should just give up, it was all worth it in the end. Looking back, I have accomplished many bigger and better things since then, yet it still remains the most challenging time in my life and stays as a reminder to always persevere.