If You Don't Ask...

...You will never know. Or so goes the common saying in many different forms. "You miss all the shots you don't take," etc. We will come back to that.

It has been almost three months now since we went through our coronavirus crisis save of the Theodora Project. Over that time, we have gone from a chaotic week trying to get our virtual classes started to the trial by fire of the JumpStart work. Everything from transferring money to figuring out communications having to be discovered. Our ladies adjusting overnight to the demands of American values of being on time, handing in assignments when scheduled, responding to client requirements.

It has been remarkable to watch these young women, for whom fate had seemed to throw nothing but hardship and obstacles, grab this opportunity. We had worried whether they were going to be stuck in a lifestyle and behavior patterns that would undermine their ability to take advantage of this. That has proven to hardly be the case. In all my years of coaching and mentoring young people and adults, I have never worked with individuals who are so hungry to learn, so focused on being successful.

They work long hours. They ask lots of questions. They listen intently. They are not perfect. They have their bad days. They can get frustrated because there is so much new (especially dealing with American business life) to absorb. They will sometimes complain that their heads hurt trying to deal with it all. Or will be exhausted from the mental effort. But my word how inspiring and motivating it is to work with them.

Now I will get to what I started with. Out of our JumpStart experience, we've been able to start six small paying proof-of-concept clients. With each of these, there are business concepts that are fairly sophisticated. All along the way, including with the JumpStart project, I made a semi-conscious decision that I would not assume they did not know or could not understand a business concept. I always start by talking as if they would understand what I meant. Most of the time, they won't admit they don't know. But when their faces clearly show they don't, I ask them if they understand. Of course, it is admitted they don't. I then explain it. And work very hard to explain it in terms and with examples they can relate to.

To my surprise, they have shown they can grasp a lot of these principles. So we are aiming to do certain types of work that I would not have thought possible when we started. This is offset by other skills they are weak in, such as writing and the use of various standard business software applications.

But, if we can continue to get the funding we need, which buys us the time to train, I have no doubt that we are going to be successful with this project.