virtual

My daughter, Alicia, runs her own business and can keep her day's schedule on her phone.  She is the mother to two beautiful daughters that are under five years old, so she balances work and family.  She knows how to invoice, bill, do taxes, and pay employees.  Our son, David is an entrepreneur that has sold one of his companies to Hewlett Packard and been a part of several start-ups.  He is the father to three of my beautiful granddaughters and he can eat dinner in one room and toddle over to his office in the next room.  My friend, Wouter has a global business and is a wizard at figuring out facts, numbers and statistics.  He is married to Lulu -one of my besties- who has a mind that can do calculus in the air, no paper needed.  They have passed on these genes to their children, all kids who are business geniuses already.

I have always thought that some people are born with a mind for business and...then there's me. I avoid all business discussions; I hate math.  I keep my receipts in a basket in a dark corner of the closet and Mario retrieves them to do the bills.  Business scares the daylights out of me.

So, when I signed up for an online business course (part of a general ed requirement) I was shaking in my proverbial boots. To make matters even shakier, the class was the first ever that I've done online and I had to force myself to adopt a whole new student rhythm. Once everything was said and done, I realized that an online class was just like any other, where I would set aside time each day to read and complete assignments.

I have just turned in my last assignment - and I can honestly say I will miss this class.

Here's why:

1.  I loved the subject matter.

Business Technology 350 covers "Virtual Careers" or online work environments.  There are so many now - even my own.  I am a freelance writer and most of my work, submissions (and this blog) is done from a bedroom in my house we call "the office".  Since the world of business is changing, Virtual careers are becoming exceedingly popular.

The online format of the class was highly conducive to the assignments.  Internet research, networking, support systems online...it all came to life! I loved the concept and the follow-through.

2.  I loved my teacher!

I found my professor, Melissa Fish, on "RateMyProfessor.com" (check out that website!  It's cool).  She had received many high ratings from students who said she was a refreshing version of calm in the midst of a lot of assignments.  She was a fair grader and an encouraging force in the process.  She also scored a "smoking hot chili pepper" on the "hotness scale".  Yeah, it's 2015, but college is college.

It turned out that the ratings were right - Prof. Fish was a calm and cool business woman who knew how to pass on knowledge.  She also had to juggle quite a bit - our class was full and she had to schedule many online conferences with all of us!  The teacher sets the mood for the class, and I was grateful for her!

And she's pretty damn hot.


3. I loved my classmates.

A portion of the class involved an online discussion board where fellow students would post about the week's reading and written assignments; it turned out to be my favorite part.  Most of the people were holding full-time jobs  and doing this class in the hopes of becoming their own boss.  Their posts were heartfelt, vulnerable and inspiring.  I will miss reading their thoughts and dreams each week.

4.  It made me have an honest assessment of myself.

As a fifty-two year old Grandma, I should have honesty down by now!  Instead, I was skirting around the issues of financial responsibility and planning for the future.  This class made me get real with myself and set a price scale for the work I do already.

Now and then, we stumble upon a serendipity; this class was one of them.  I highly recommend it for anyone - and I'm glad it showed up on my radar.  It was something I needed to show me that business knowledge is an acquired skill, not a genetic disposition.