Published in the Independence Daily Reporter June 2020

Jim Correll, director Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College, Independence Kansas 

In a previous work-life, I was the Manager of Inventory, Purchasing, and Scheduling at a job shop in Wichita named John Weitzel, Inc. We were a precision machine and sheet metal shop with Boeing as a primary customer. I worked for the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), a woman named Anne Smarsh. There was a total of maybe 8 – 10 people on her staff. She was a good supervisor, respecting our talents and abilities. She didn’t micro-manage but rather worked to make sure we all had the information and tools we needed to do our work. One of the perks with working for Anne was that she and her husband Tom had a cabin on Grand Lake and one time they invited several of us to come to the lake for a weekend of boating. One morning, Tom and Anne’s niece (I can’t remember her name) made pancakes for breakfast. Tom jokingly said that the niece thought to pour the pancake mix into a bowl and adding water was making them from scratch. 

Scratch Has Different Meaning for Different People 

Scratch for some means knowing how to make pancakes, with no instructions, using ingredients on hand. This would include knowing a suitable substitution for any of the usual ingredients, not on hand. Scratch for others is following directions to pour a certain amount of mix into a bowl, adding a certain amount of water, stirring then pouring on the grill. A few might even consider pouring batter directly from a bottle to the grill as making from scratch. 

Wood Projects from Scratch 

When I was in high school out in the southwest Kansas town of Satanta (60 miles west of Dodge City) we had a wonderful woodshop. A high percentage of land in the county was irrigated, making for high property values and tax revenues for the schools. When Mr. Wilson asked for a new piece of equipment, he usually got it and it was always of the highest quality. We learned to make projects, really nice, high quality furniture in shop classes from quality hardwoods. We rarely made things from kits, instead of making them from scratch. We made a list of materials we needed and went to the wood rack and got exactly what we needed. So, we had the materials and tools we needed to make high quality wood projects from scratch. 

The local lumber yard owner (I worked there summers and after school my junior and senior year) said one time, “Classes like that are good, but young people need to learn to make things with the tools and materials they have available, and many times those won’t be ideal.” At the time, I thought it a bit odd that he would think that way. Now, I think he was exactly right. A big part of being innovative and entrepreneurial is learning to work with what you have and many times with constrained resources. Rarely in life do we get to have exactly the best tools and materials to work with. Many times, we have to learn to make things with whatever we have on hand. 

Camp Projects from Scratch 

When we have boot camps for youth at Fab Lab ICC, we sometimes let them come up with a project they want to make and then help them try to make it. Sometimes they make a list of what they need for their project but many times they go to the scrap bin and find something they can make work. This is a great lesson in life, to be able to make things and get things done using the tools and materials you have available. This teaches them to be resourceful, not thinking they have to have something brand new for their project. It also teaches them that many items can be repurposed for new uses instead of throwing things away at the end of their original lives. 

Keeping Too Much Scratch 

I probably overdo it on the repurposing. I keep pieces of wood in my home shop until they are pretty much too small to use for anything. My wife would agree. She used to want me to throw everything away. Now, she has seen me build entire projects from materials on hand; some new, but many leftovers from previous uses. We try to strike a balance between keeping too many leftover materials and not having anything with which to work without buying new. 

Making from scratch can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people whether you are talking about food or projects. Learning to be resourceful when it comes to using what we have on hand instead of always buying new leads to more money in our pockets and fewer materials in our landfills.  

 

Jim Correll is the director of Fab Lab ICC at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the campus of Independence Community College. He can be reached at (620) 252-5349, by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu or Twitter @jimcorrellks. Archive columns and podcast at jimcorrell.com. 

 

Published in the Independence Daily Reporter June 2020

Jim Correll, director Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College, Independence Kansas 

When it comes to a pandemic, most of us have only experienced this one, so it’s all new, but the idea of some government official designating certain businesses as “essential” and others as “non-essential” is a lot like the idea of the government deciding which businesses are winners and which are losers. Even though essential/non-essential has a softer edge to it, the perception remains, you are either worthy, i.e. essential, to be open during the pandemic or you are not worthy, i.e. non-essential; winners and losers. 

I can’t think of a fair way to determine which businesses to shut down during a pandemic and maybe we won’t have to turn the economy off any more often than once every hundred years or so due to a pandemic, but we should be very careful when we go down the slippery slope of allowing the government to choose winners and losers. 

Some Reality Shows Improve Contestants’ Lives 

My wife Susan and I really enjoy the segment of “reality” TV that celebrates and showcases talent and skill. “The Voice” just finishing its 17th season, the season-ending “live” shows conducted over the Internet with no live audiences, put much emphasis on coaching the contestants to help them each become better performers. Since music is an integral part of so many of their lives, win or lose, the whole “Voice” experience improves their lives. So, when we watch, we not only see and hear great performances, but we see the contestants grow in their skill and self-confidence each week. Since I make my living helping people improve their skills and self-confidence it’s a very enjoyable experience for me to watch the show and follow the contestants. 

Not a Good Predictor of Winner and Loser 

Still, it is a contest. America loves the contest where winners float to the top and “losers” go home. Every week, the contestants are pared down, the winners moving on and the losers going home. The implication is that the winners will make it big in the music industry; the losers may not. In reality, many of the losers can make it in the music business too. The marketplace of entertainment audiences will best decide. All contestants, making it to the TV shows regardless of whether or not they win to have a great opportunity. The exposure to millions of viewers gives them a shot at the entertainment business, seeing if there are customers that will buy what they have to offer, a great performance. “The Voice” is good television and sells a lot of advertising, but it is not necessarily an accurate predictor of who is really a winner or loser. 

So it is with various kinds of business or business plan contests and even TV shows like “Shark Tank.” Participation is a good experience, but whether or not a particular business or business idea is selected as a “winner” is not a good indicator of whether or not the business will actually work. The marketplace, with all its customers and all their various needs, is really the ultimate judge. That’s why, in all the training and business coaching we do, we emphasize the need to start small and make some sales before trying to determine if a business idea is good or bad. All of us that are in the business of supporting businesses, teachers, coaches, economic developers, chambers of commerce, etc. are really not very good at knowing whether or not a business idea is good or bad. Only the market can determine that. 

Marketplace Best Determines Winners and Losers 

In a previous column, I pointed out the fallacy of the fundamentals of socialism at least the part about everyone receiving the same regardless of effort. People don’t do their best work when they know they are getting the same reward regardless of results. In many developed socialist models, the government ends up determining which business ideas are good in a centralized or managed economy. Thus, the government chooses the winning and losing business ideas. Governments will never be any good at choosing anything like that. Only a free marketplace can best choose the winners and losers. Hopefully, by the next time we need to shut down the entire economy, we will have developed a better system of knowing who should stay open and who should close. 

 

Jim Correll can be reached at (620) 252-5349, by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu or Twitter @jimcorrellks. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of Fab Lab ICC or Independence Community College. Archive columns and podcasts at jimcorrell.com. 

 

Published in the Independence Daily Reporter May 2020

Jim Correll, director Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College, Independence Kansas 

It’s been a wild, unprecedented and stressful three and one-half months since the Lab was closed, along with the rest of the ICC campus, due to the pandemic. 

Now, after a dizzying array of Kansas re-opening phases, modified phases, and decimals of phases, I am announcing our plan to reopen the Fab Lab on a slightly limited schedule. The directive came from ICC administration as part of developing a plan they felt in the best interest of the college that Fab Lab ICC can re-open to members on July 6. 

Before I lay out the plan, I’d like to make two points: 

We will begin extending by 5 months, all paid memberships without charge. This is to help compensate our members for this period of time the Lab has been closed. 

Since we can’t be open in June, we’re offering curb service to our members that are small business owners. Contact me for details. 

Special Hours July 6 – August 15 

Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 1:00 – 5:00 

Tuesday and Thursday, 1:00 – 7:00 

Saturday, 9:00 – 1:00 

Required will be the wearing of masks by everyone in the Lab as well as social distancing, maintaining 6 ft of distance. 

Occupancy will be limited to no more than 8 people in a given room; no more than 20 in the entire facility at a given time. 

We will develop the stay-open plan for August 17 and beyond as we observe what happens with the pandemic and local/regional cases of coronavirus over the summer, following guidelines set by ICC administration. 

Even though no one knows exactly what to expect this fall after August 14, I thought I’d outline some of the activities that we are cautiously optimistic we can plan for the period. We will follow the health and safety guidelines in effect at the time. 

Maker Space Boot Camp-Sep 15 – 17 

Held twice per year since February 2018, people come from around the state to see and hear how we started Fab Lab ICC with the hope and inspiration to go home and begin working on creating a maker space in their communities. The camp also includes hands-on making activities. Seating is usually limited to 16 but may be limited further due to social distancing guidelines in effect at the time. 

Growing Rural Business (GRB) 

This 8-week, one evening per week (Thursday) small business training series focuses on business management strategies that can be used by existing business owners not only to recover from the pandemic but to grow and prosper. Facilitated by Wichita State University’s Center for Entrepreneurship, the sessions are interactive, different, and very helpful. GRB has been offered across the state of Kansas over the last few years and evaluations by participating small business owners are consistently positive. While we have not made the formal announcement, we will try to start the sessions early in September. The seating target will be 18 and limited to no more than 25. 

Guitar Fabrication  

From the earliest known public mention of an electrically enhanced guitar, appearing in Wichita, Kansas in October of 1932, to the news in 1940, that Les Paul created “The Log,” a guitar whose strings and pickups were mounted on a guitar body carved from a solid block of wood, electric guitars have captivated every generation since. (By this point in history, bands playing acoustical instruments were having trouble being heard above the ambient dance hall noise of the day; fights, brawls and general commotion. Electronic amplification provided a solution.) 

Build and keep a real, custom, playable electric guitar. No experience necessary and you don’t have to know how to play. We’ll have, available for purchase, a selection of kits that includes everything you need. Current plans are for the class to be held on Wednesdays from 5:30 to 8:30 PM starting August 19. 

Entrepreneurial Mindset 

Over the years, we’ve learned that the mindset of entrepreneurs, specifically the way entrepreneurs think about and solve problems, is a huge, sometimes life-changing, benefit to people of all walks of life. We see it with every class; most everyone says it changes the way they think, making them better problem solvers and one or two usually say it changes their lives. From our flyer, we say “Gaining knowledge that can change your mindset, your heart, your intentions, and motivations can change your actions and lead to a more successful and fulfilling life.” 

Entrepreneurial Mindset will be held on Wednesdays from 6:00 to 8:00 PM starting August 19. 

What Classes Would You Like? 

We’re building a wish list of non-credit classes people would like to see us offer. You can see the list, or add to it, by clicking the Wish List tab on our home page at www.fablabicc.org. In addition to seeing the list, we’d like you to tell us up to three of the classes on the list you’d like to take. We’ll monitor the results and add new classes bases on interest. Anything that could be offered at or in conjunction with the Fab Lab can be added to the list. Cooking, sewing, welding, photography, introduction to podcasting; the list can be almost endless. 

As I said in my letter to members; “I’ve grown weary of ‘We’re all in this together,’ so, how about I say, ‘We’ll all get through this one way or another and we hope to see you at the Lab soon.”

 

Jim Correll is the director of Fab Lab ICC at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the campus of Independence Community College. He can be reached at (620) 252-5349, by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu or Twitter @jimcorrellks. Archive columns and podcast at jimcorrell.com. 

 

Published in the Independence Daily Reporter May 2020

Jim Correll, director Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College, Independence Kansas

I suspected she was different from the first time she came into the Lab sometime before the end of the fall semester last year. Alyssa came to get some sawdust (we have plenty of that) saying her and her roommate were working on a composting project. As we filled a grocery bag, some spilled on the floor and she said, “I want to clean that up.” Imagine, a college student volunteering to clean something up.

I told her she needed to come back from time to time and make things. She said she didn’t know how to do anything, and I said, “If you start coming here, you’ll learn to make all kinds of stuff.” She did come back and did learn a lot and we also discovered a lot of talent she didn’t know she had. She didn’t qualify to be a work-study, so we helped her get her business ID and she became our first student contractor. Our experience culminated in Alyssa taking the Entrepreneurial Mindset class. Here is her personal vision statement; the final assignment.

Changing and Growing

“I think that I have learned so much and grown so much this year and it’s hard to tell what all of it is credited to. There were a lot of big changes, moving away from home, losing friends, living 6 hours away from my mother, living with roommates, living by myself, living with my grandparents. I took my first business classes, had my first college theatre, signed my first lease, wrecked my first car, got my coolest job so far, and took an entrepreneurial mindset class. If I’m being honest though, a lot of that growth and mindset change is thanks to the Fab Lab.

For the first time, I could imagine pursuing my dreams unashamed, and I could see myself as head of my own company. I can see a future I never imagined for myself and so much came from this class, and from the teachers of course. I think that every time I sat down with Tim Haynes (lab manager) to talk about projects I learned some important lessons I’ll keep for life. And every chapter I read in “Who Owns the Ice House?” held such valuable lessons that I took to heart. Every night class was so thrilling, being around people that I see as so different from me, and then learning how similar we are. I think being surrounded by people who want more from life, ambitious and hopeful, is something valuable. Chapter 7, about Community. That’s what it was, in class each week.

Ready for the Future

I’m excited. I’m thrilled for the future. I’m ready to take my seat at the table and accomplish what I want. That comes with so much change of course, and so much work, but I’m ready to give it my all. It comes from a place of knowing that I have the tools I need and if I don’t now, I know how to acquire them.

There’s a lot I need to work on, of course. As someone who did not work on most of the assignments in this course until March, I have a lot of growth potential. Obviously, procrastination is a huge problem and doesn’t do well for branding. In college though, I have definitely gotten better about not procrastinating. I’m excited to keep working towards improving myself. I’ve worked on my study habits; college is the first time I actually had to put an effort into studying and I enjoyed being challenged. I know that it’s a big obstacle to step over, but I’ve got it.

Building a Network

Another thing I want to work on lately is having that community of ambitious people who will push me and want to be pushed too. I love my friends, but they want different things than I do. And that’s okay, but I need people who understand where I come from when I say I want to create something bigger. I’ve been spending time thinking about where and how I meet those people, the places I could go to run into them. It felt nice to hear that there is value to having a strong network, and I felt more comfortable knowing that wanting that was actually a good thing to want. Now I just need to take the steps to work towards that.

Overall, I am eternally grateful that Jim urged me to take the Entrepreneurial Mindset class and that I’m a good listener. I can’t begin to understand how many small changes I’ll make thanks to the entrepreneurs that came in and talked with us. My vision for the future is broader than I ever thought I’d let it be, and my dreams have completely shifted. I want to help people, and I know I can have a lasting impact on them now. Whatever I do with everything I learned; I hope it will be great. Years from now, and down the line, I’ll bring something to life.”

Alyssa is yet another example of a seemingly ordinary student who now realizes she has the potential to do extraordinary things. There are legions like Alyssa and exposing them to entrepreneurial concepts and mindset will bring out the potential in each one.

 

Jim Correll is the director of Fab Lab ICC at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the campus of Independence Community College. He can be reached at (620) 252-5349, by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu or Twitter @jimcorrellks. Archive columns and podcast at jimcorrell.com.