#thedoschool

[dhakascene]

Mornings at @thedoschoolberlin #venueberlin #axelspringer #thedoschool #thevenue #gloriousmorning #breakfast #fellowship #fellows #music #audiochallenge #futureofaudio #morning (at The Venue Berlin)

[dhakascene]

Criteria for Innovation AUD Pitch Night #pitchnight #thedoschool #thevenue #akaliko #akalikobooks #berlin #bignight #innovation

[saltwaterstranger]

Walks to/from school.

[saltwaterstranger]

Patches of light 

[nomadmanager]

3 Lessons From The DO School Fellowship’s Incubation Phase

After 10 weeks of living in another country, I, along with 20 Connection Challenge fellows from all over the world, have boarded our separate planes, and taken journeys back to our home countries, back to our own beds. 

The introvert in me has long awaited this day to be alone in my room, and now that I’m back here, alone in my room, I’m taking the time to think about the things I’ve learned in the past ten weeks. 

1. What makes ideas happen is what we DO with what we know, who we know and where we are. 

Throughout the incubation phase, we learned some business and communications basics, met some experts from various fields, whether directly through the DO School program, or through our own initiative in seeking out these experiences and connections in the eclectic city of Berlin.

 While in Berlin, I also took the initiative to do what I do by organizing a meetup and a film screening, utilize contacts made to help provide program content and promote these events, and allow me to leave my mark with people who would otherwise be strangers in Berlin. 

Now that we’re back in our respective homes, it is up to us to apply what we learned and experienced to our ventures as we enter the implementation phase of our fellowship, and maintain those relationships we’ve made mentors and potential partners, collaborators or clients. 

2. Our experience of a city is colored by the people we meet. 

While we were in Berlin with the primary purpose of engaging in the incubation phase, some of the most rewarding experiences I had in these ten weeks were my encounters with the spectrum of people living and traveling through the city, and learning about their stories and their passions. 

To discover a city’s history, you can go around and visit museums or cultural institutions to gain a better understanding of its past. But to discover a city’s current soul, you talk to its inhabitants. 

3. Greater challenges lie ahead, but we have more skills and support now.

Completing the Challenge Lab part of the incubation phase, was a test in patience and perseverance. We had to contend with the vague challenge itself, working with 20 different personalities, and doing work that may not have activated all of our heartstrings.

Venture & Media Lab on the other hand were more apparently personally rewarding, in that you got more time to think about the things you are truly passionate about, and learned things you could directly apply to your personal venture. 

However, in spite of the struggles we faced with Challenge Lab, I felt like it was an important part of the process that helped equip us with more resilience and resources for the tougher times in implementing our own ventures as we now go into the implementation phase. 

Sometimes, we have to tackle problems we’re not certain about the solution to, and sometimes, we have a prototype / product we’re not completely satisfied with, but we just need to ship. Same goes with the pitches we had to prepare for our ventures as well. 

At the end of the day, what matters is that we suck it up and soldier on in the face of challenges that will inevitably come our way, and just keep shipping, knowing full well that there are people you don’t want to let down, people that inspire you to bring out the best in yourself, people that keep you going when the going gets tough – whether it be your team, your customers, your stakeholders, or your peers. 

As I write alone in my room, I still know that one of the best things that I take away from Berlin is a support system in various countries all over the world, with the 20 fellows I had the privilege of sharing this experience with. The work has barely begun, and I’m now just excited to do what I set out to do, all while rooting my other fellows on. Let’s do it! :)

[saltwaterstranger]

“Try to look at your experience here as a mandala, Chapman. Work hard to make something as meaningful and beautiful as you can. And when you’re done, pack it in and know it was all temporary.” — Orange is the New Black, Season 1 Episode 1 (duh)

I struggled to pack it all in before I left Berlin, and I'm struggling even more unpacking it back home. Where do I put it?

The last ten weeks I’ve been in Berlin, thanks to the DO School. Their Entrepreneurship for Good program is for anyone in the world with an idea to create social impact. This freezing winter they brought me and 20 other fellows from 15 different countries together to bring our ideas to life. Now we’re all back home to make these ideas happen.

To the new friends I’ve made, thank you. Good luck. I’ll be rooting for you. 

Photos by Robert Eickstein, Jorin Eichhorn, and Viviana Otalvaro.

[nomadmanager]

Watercolor sunset sky bids me a lovely farewell. 'Til we see each other again, Berlin. To warmer times. 😊 #Berlin #Sunset #Germany #Travel #TheDOSchool #nomadmanager (at Flughafen Berlin Tegel (TXL))

[myponyeatsyourrainbow]

Katherin Kirschenmann

"We are often so used to being busy and connected that we do not really take the time to ask ourselves, what we really want and what would make us happy. I believe we also sometimes avoid those questions because it can be frustrating not to know the answer - but I do know now, that even if you do not know the answer right away you can get there over time.”

http://www.shejustis.com/stories/2014/9/30/katherin-kirschenmann