Friday May 16, 2014

Today is a wonderful and a horrible day, because it is official end of my senior project.  It is wonderful, because the project has been absolutely exhausting.  But I think that it is even more horrible, because I have so enjoyed learning and performing everything.  Since this is my last journal entry, I have decided to do a small recap on my project as a whole.

 Originally my goals for my project were very different from what they are today.  I had planed to have oysters inside and outside and create two business models for the two methods of culture.  My original plan became a moot point, once I actually began to learn about the oyster culture. 

(My idea of writing a business plan based on oysters grown inside would have been a total waste of time because: oysters are never grown inside since they filter too much food, having enough tank space would make the costs unbelievable, the electricity bill to grow food for them would also be sky high.  The list goes on.)

As my project evolved it became a lot more focused on the business side of oyster aquaculture.  I think I was really draw to that side of the project, because it was something that I really did not know anything about.  I had vague notions of business being really boring and uninteresting, however I found it to be the complete opposite.  What I enjoy most about businesses is that there are, in fact, so many different components that go into a business.  It is like having a giant puzzle, where all the pieces are items that are costs, revenues, assets, etc. and you are trying to get them all together to create an image of profit.  It's really a lot of fun.

So my main goals in the second half of the project were the ones that have stayed.  I really wanted to have a complete business plan and model.  However, since I really did not know anything about either business plans or models, I spend most of my time learning, rather than doing.  I do not have a business plan written, which is quite disappointing.  I do however have a working model, that I created with the help of my mom, which is more than I ever though was possible.

In short, my project wasn't anything I expected it to be, it did not go as planed, and it didn't end the way I wanted it to, but I couldn't be any more pleased with it.