Kathryn Chamberlain
Business Development, Beauceron Security
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In my third year of university, I ended up taking an entrepreneurship class. I had assumed we’d learn how to write a business plan, maybe have some guest speakers and have case studies of what makes a start-up successful. I was completely wrong.
The premise of the course was to start a company. Jumping in head first launching a company scared the beejezus out of me! The thought of moving outside my comfort zone to work with a group of basically strangers for a whole term was terrifying. Although we had lots of failures, those were our best learning opportunities. I grew up with the notion of ‘practice makes perfect’ so perfection was always the goal. It was a shift in mindset to see a failure or a mistake as OK. (This is something that I’m still working on today).
That class changed my perspective on the definition of entrepreneurship. It went from this foreign concept that only happened in Silicon Valley, to something that my classmates and I could do. I came to realize that we were surrounded in Sackville (and Atlantic Canada as a whole) by an incredible community, filled with entrepreneurs.
One of my goals for the past few years has been challenging myself to go outside of my comfort zone. Taking that class was a risk and it certainly wasn’t perfect, but I figured out a lot about how I work with other people, what I wanted to do, and taught myself things from website development to accounting. I realized that working closely and collaboratively with small teams where I could see my contributions was intrinsically motivating. The experience encouraged me to apply for Venture for Canada, a fellowship that matches recent or new graduates with startups and provides ongoing professional development. Which is how I ended up working with Beauceron Security.
Now at Beauceron, I still pull from my experience in that class. I take on new work assignments that will challenge me professionally. A lot of the time I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing, I’m just figuring it out as I go and trusting my gut. I’ve realized that the only way to grow is by taking these risks and that it’s OK to feel a little uncomfortable - that’s where the best learning happens. My journey with entrepreneurship has helped me feel comfortable trusting my instinct and taking on new challenges with confidence.
What's your deepest learning from this past year? How did/will you apply it?
My biggest lesson in the past year has been that it’s okay when things don’t go according to plan. This past year has been a series of opportunities that I didn’t have planned. I would be in a different city, different job and emotionally in an entirely different place if I hadn’t been open to new possibilities. I’m still working on finding the right balance of planning life vs complete spontaneity for me.
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Entrepreneur, Learner, Doer
