The Pineapple Ice Cream Story(Khaleej Times)-Reflection

“Family inspires infinite learning possibilities”—Sarnrak AIS, it is the very core message of the video of the mother and girl so make their way to survive day by day by selling fruits and their simple innovation which is the “Pineapple Ice Cream”. The short video clip from Thailand about Achara Poonsawat and her mother draws a lot inspiration to the viewers. A great motivational video for aspiring entrepreneurs or technopreneurs, who dreams to have a successful business someday, and I was one of them. “Anyone could do that” or “it was too easy to do”, I believe that this is the most common reaction or comment after watching the video about the story of pineapple Ice Cream. Yes, I guess and believe that anyone could do that, but not everyone can’t think of that and use it for business. It is just an accidental discovery by a mother due to she wants to make her daughter happy, but what she made is she don’t think that it will help her daughter. I am touched by the hard work of Ms. Achara because he caters all the need of her daughter as long as she can, she made everything not thinking her disability to read and write. I am amaze how her mother teaches Ms. Achara not through her words but more on her actions. I don’t know the feeling of being illiterate but I guess it is hard for someone who suffers from it but despite all, the mother of Achara made a difference and make sure to help her daughter reach her dreams and goals through her motivations. If we look at the short video clip, we can see that innovation must not always be critical. I observed that innovation is sometimes just simple but makes a revolution, a change for people’s lives. We commonly encounter products which is too high-end but due to its quality, sometimes it affects people or users lives. The Pineapple Ice cream is too simple if we really think about it. The only thing that makes it sellable is the uniqueness of the product, its simplicity to make children happy and satisfied when they buy and eat it. At first, the pineapple ice cream is just a gift from a loving mother to her daughter just to see her smile, but what it turns out is to be a gift that brings success in the life of her daughter. “I think we should sell it”, it is what Achara said after she got taste the Pineapple ice cream by that statement starts her interest in business. “Think”, this is a weapon of every technopreneurs. If we put it to a broader way, every one of us must not stop to think of things that could make our lives better and productive. The little Achara finds her way on how to help her mother for daily living by helping her mother sell the Pineapple Ice Cream that they have discovered. But the little Achara finds a lot of hard times selling their home made product due to poor selling ability of Achara. We entrepreneurs sometimes encounter this kind of problem when we try to sell out our products. There are even instances that there is no product sold due to we are lack of what the professional business man calls “sales-talk” ability. It was also the problem of little while she was selling her product to the market. Her product is not interesting at first sight because there is nothing that catches the attention of the customers. We entrepreneurs must always make something to the products that we made that would catch the whole attention of the customers. In this world now, the twenty first century, the hype of competition between entrepreneurs is getting bigger, tougher and tougher through time. There are a lot products exist now in the market but only few were saleable due to lack of product design or quality, it has nothing that catches the customer’s attention or interest, or the product is too common to the public customers. I believe that unique way of selling is one of the keys for an entrepreneur to successfully sell her or his product to the customer, an entrepreneur should always have the sense of surprise to his/her product so that the customers will be excite on what they can get through that products. The main question that I observed from the video clip is “How are we going to sell a product in a very effective way?” well the answer is very simple, in the video clip, the mother asked her daughter to go to the market place and then observe to the sellers. In other way around, we entrepreneurs should observe from those already successful in business on how they do selling. Observation is one of the key for success. Those professional that we are seeing now at the top does not get on that position in an easy way, they worked hard. Professionals are a good source of learning for those aspiring entrepreneurs. We can look over their works, we can observe from their failures and how they patch up those failures with a solid and productive answer. From the clip, the little Achara observe the tactics and strategy of the sellers on selling their products. In other way around, we entrepreneurs must know on what ground we best learn, we must go to a place wherein we can learn a lot, can answer things or question in our minds on how to sell, we must seek guidance and advices from the right places and from the right people. “Advices”, we aspiring technopreneurs should accept the fact that at the first place we know nothing. We must not fool our self that we know a lot, because as what I have learned from school is, the more you know then the more you don’t know. We must accept advices from the great businessmen. Listen to the pitches of entrepreneur enthusiasts. I am sure that we will put a lot of learning, learning which will mold our ability and skills to be more productive and create ideas which are creative and productive, fresh ideas that have sense and will really help people. The little Achara have learned a lot of strategy from just observing inside the market place, due to her sharp observation, she have acquire a knowledge and it really helps her. As we can see from the video, she made a poster with a words saying that “3 pieces for 10” and things like that. Those strategies that she made resulted into good sales. Little Achara even have her own bike through the money that she get from her selling Pineapple ice cream. Why is it that her incredible product was a hit to the market? Simple answer and I believe that this is another key for successful business, know who our customer is. Before starting a business, we entrepreneurs should specify who or what type of customer we want to tackle. We must be specific on what kind of product we are going to sell; we must ask our self that do the customers need this or that? Customers are customers; they care only on what they need, so if we make a mistake tackling a wrong customer on a wrong product then surely that business will never hit the market. Be smart on making decisions. From the video clip of Ms. Achara and her mother, we saw that little Achara target customers are at her same age. Her product is a Pineapple ice cream; everybody loves ice cream, especially the children. The product of little Achara is a big hit to that interest of the children because it is unique on their view; it gives a new thrill on food experience. Most especially, the product of little Achara satisfies the stomach of the customers which is basically the children. The customers are happy to gain and eat the product and most especially the product of Achara always sells out. It is so amazing to see how the product of little Achara and her mother rise up from a humble beginning. Maybe at the, the attempts of Achara is not quite good and none of her Pineapple ice cream sells out, but through her sharp observation, her hard work paid off. Entrepreneurs are not instant successful ones; they undergo a lot of obstacles along the way to their journey at the top of their success. The life of Ms. Achara is a great example for aspiring entrepreneurs like me, who wants to be successful. Life is not easy, selling is not easy, things do not go in life so easy, and I learned that I must go along the obstacles. I must accept it whole heartedly and take it as a challenge and learn from it. Most of the entrepreneurs always tend to find product that will have a big impact to the lives of the customers, but I believe that it is not always like that. Learning from the video of Ms. Achara and her mother, I have realized that sometimes it does not have to be always hard or critical; sometimes products are just fine to be simple but beautiful. Simple innovations like the Pineapple Ice cream of Ms. Achara and her mother’s discovery is an example of having a fine income in a not so hard way, because if we examine the ingredients of their product, it is not very complicated. It only takes a pineapple, slice it at its desired size or shape and then put it on the stick then on its final stage, put it on the refrigerator, but on their case, they use an ice chest, which make them more innovative. We must learn from our struggles so that we will become better person. An entrepreneur should have an eye on everything, because if we observe even the smallest of thing that is happening around us, we can discover new things, idea or product that might give you a good fortune at the future. Simple innovations come from simple problems, but sometimes it resolves an even bigger problem in life. An entrepreneur must always think outside the box, “Think different” as what the apple company patronizes. Following the trend is not always good, as I observe from our current society now, there is a lot of product in different brands but all of those have only the same function. See the problem? We entrepreneurs sometimes tend to copy the works of others and just give some upgrade to the function which I believe is not good to follow by the aspiring entrepreneurs. “Only dead fish follow the stream” this is a vandal from the street that catches my attention which I find interesting to reflect. We technopreneurs have the power to have more creative products because we have the power of the internet. Our products must always be an edge from the other products that exist on the market now. We must not copy the works of others and just put up some upgrade and function. Simple innovation can make a great difference. If simple innovation succeeds to the market then it will be just so easy to add up some upgrades. We must not stop exploring from what we can do, we have unlimited source or learning now in this current era. “Family inspires infinite learning possibilities”, it is a statement that comes in a lot of ways. If we look it on the other side, sometimes we don’t have to look for a problem from the other, sometimes all we need to do is to ask what our problem is. Inside the family circle, we have a lot of problems, but sometimes it also our family teaches us or gives us the answer to the problem. In a entrepreneurial way, we must be adaptive from our environment, be open to the things around us because through that, we can make our self more transformative. We can easily show answers to the problem through our products. All we need to do is to be watchful to what the world need. Little Achara experienced rejection of the customers, her product was ignored and what’s worst is no one wants to buy. But she never stops from there, instead she learned from her experience. We entrepreneurs are prone o failures, failures that might drag us down but we must keep on fighting on. Keep pushing our lucks. Failures are there to teach us to become more productive technoopreneurs someday. If we are aiming for success, we must focus on it. Ms. Achara have focus on her selling weaknesses, she does not know what she lack’s off. The guidance of her mother gives a big turning point to the life Ms. Achara. The market place is a great learning ground for us aspiring technopreneurs. As I observed in the market, specifically in the market near us which is the very famous Bankerohan Public Market, there are a lot of vendors and sellers which involve in a great competition of selling products. I have observed a lot of strategies and tactics from them. One of those is their persuasive sales talking. When they talk to the customer it feels like it is the end of the world if you do not buy their products. When they convince the customer to buy their products, it feels like the customer will have no choice or option but only to buy the products. I also observed that sometimes it comes to the stage wherein the sellers were going to add some lies to their sales talk to the customers. Which I think is not morally good, a bad thing, but on the other side is, it is how they do to make sure that their product will sold out at the market. Learning from watching, it is what the mother of Ms. Achara wants to teach to her daughter. It must be hard for her mother to see her daughter suffering from deprivation of life’s pleasure. Unlike any child, Ms. Achara’s family is not rich, her mother wants knows what the problem so what her mother did is just right. In the entrepreneurial stage, we aspiring entrepreneurs must know what kind of problem we want to solve or to give a solution. It is not like we are just going to make a product without any strong foundation on what kind of problem we are solving. It is wrong to just go to the entrepreneurial world then propose an idea or product without any problem as a subject of the product. We must observe first. It is just like in the case of scientific problem solving. The first step is always to observe first, we must not rush things just because we were catching up the trend need of the society. Rushing things always end up to self devastation. It will destroy the product and much worst is that it might destroy also our dreams to become a successful entrepreneur. It is a given that people who suffers from broken dreams end up quitting the fight for glory. It is not good. We entrepreneurs must always be open on everything that might happened in our proposed products or idea on the. We must accept the fact that not everyone will like your product or idea. If that will happen, then we should accept it as a constructive challenge not as destructive challenge. We must not think that our product is the only thing in the world that works perfectly right or the most beautiful product among all of the products that exist. It is a clear foolishness. But after all, we must not forget that there will be always be someone out of the thousands that will like your products. We entrepreneurs must hold on to that because from those human beings who likes your products is we can receive some advice. We must take those advices whole heartedly. A comment from the customer who does not like is a great thing. We entrepreneurs must not be hurt from the comments of the customers. Bad comments are always there not to hurt us but instead to teach us on what we should do to beautify our products. If we let those comments take control of our life then it will affect our emotions. If our emotions were move to its normal mood then surely it will affect our thinking. If our thinking skill will get affected then we can’t produce good ideas. It is important to keep our mind whole along the process of making our ideas or products. We must think deeply. As I observed from the video clip, little Ms. Achara deeply observed from what she sees in the market place. She observes thoroughly, she thinks of what are the things that she can add up to sell out her simple innovation product. It is so given that her product is a result of a simple gift from a mother. The only thing that makes thee Pineapple Ice Cream is the uniqueness. Her simple innovation must be partnered with a great deal to the customers. It is a good choice for Ms. Achara to make her product 3 pieces for 10 Baht. If we think of it, it seems like it is a disadvantage for Ms. Achara because it seems not fair to her side, but if we really think of it is, it was a great tactic or strategy so that she can sell out easily her products to every child on their town. We aspiring entrepreneurs must also think of great deals to the customers of our products. Yes it is true that we propose products to the market so that we can make some money. But along the process, we must consider the capability of our target customer in financial aspects. It is good to have a discount on the products because when the time comes that our product becomes a hit to the market then it is the time that we can increase the price. It will be just right because the demand of the product is on high. The slight change or upgrade of the price will not matter to the customers. Because what the customers think is that they just love it, no matter what the prices it, surely the customers will buy a lot. Ms. Achara, learns from watching her mother. She does not know how to peel those fruits that they sell but through watching from her mother, she learned. Every step that her mother do to successfully peel the fruits in a right way, Ms. Achara followed it all. In the entrepreneurial stage, we aspiring entrepreneurs must always be resourceful. We must not limit our grounds of learning. We must find ways to learn more. I believe that at the modern age like now, the twenty-first century, the era of internet, the information era, we aspiring entrepreneurs have everything to learn. All we have to do is to surf the internet, visit the most famous search engine site which is the Google, just type then enter then boom! The information will instantly pops out. We must be keeping updated on what is happening on the market, what is happening on the entrepreneurial world, what is the new trend, what is the current problem of the people or the customers. Being passive person or entrepreneur will kill our dreams to be successful ones at the future. We have no reason to say that we are lack of information. If we are not into reading because we easily get bored reading then there is a very friendly site wherein we can view a lot of videos related to the entrepreneurship and technopreneurship. What I am talking about is the YouTube site. There are a lot of things to learn their all we have to do is to find the right video. We must find the right material to learn. We must find our right material to learn. We can look to the experiences of the successful entrepreneurs. They have a lot of things to share that will surely help aspiring technopreneurs. We can view their pitches and learn steps. Their steps are already proven and tested, if we like to follow it then there is no wrong but if we find some holes in their plans then it is a good thing also because we can change that and mold a better action from their mistakes. We must accept mistakes; mistakes are part of the long process of success. There are no technopreneur or entrepreneur who does not meet mistake during their way to success. There are a lot of them, including the father of the most famous Apple Company, Steve Jobs. Even Steve Jobs commits mistakes but he does not surrender. To dwell with mistakes is to build your own mind on having creative ways of solving problems. I believe that every technopreneurs or entrepreneurs should think if this way, if there are any objections then I am glad to be stand corrected. Because I believe that while typing this whole thing, there are a lot of things that I write wrong or not suitable to the entrepreneurial ways. Thank you in advance for correcting. At the first clip of the video, little Achara wants to help her mother peel off the skin of the Pineapple but she does not know the right way of peeling those pineapples. She learned how to peel off the skin of the pineapple fruit after her mother shows the right way of peeling off the skin o the pineapple. If we put in on the entrepreneurial perspective, we must study our product. In that way, mastering our own craft will be a great weapon in developing great products. We must learn how to cope just like how little Achara cope up with her mother’s teaching. Teachings from the professionals are essential, professionals have produce a lot of books, pitches during conference and a lot more just to teach the aspiring technopreneurs or entrepreneurs on how to make right products and ideas but all of them can be compress by just looking on their works. We don’t have to read much of their live, we can just simply look on the things they have done to be successful in life, learn from their actions. Experience is the best teacher as what the old ones always says. Life experiences of the professionals are instant books, we can reflect from those experiences. We can examine on where they do more and where they do less. It will be a great opportunity for us aspiring technoprenuers or entrepreneurs to learn from their lives. Sticking on the path, the right path of the professionals is like taking your way to the top, to the successful life that every entrepreneur or technopreneur dreams about. Of course we must not forget to always give the right credit to those people whom you learn from. It will be their pleasure to see that they have imparted something to the young entrepreneurs or technopreneurs to prosper in life. It will be too rude to claim all of the credit that you didn’t even sweat on making. It is always so good to feel the success when you know that you have spend a great effort and learn from the professionals. Ms. Achara and her mother share the sweetsensation of their simple innovation product’s success. I guess that they did not even imagine how far their product which is the Pineapple Ice Cream can take them. As what I always hear from the movies, radios and television commercials, it is always sweet to share success with your love ones. We future entrepreneurs and technopreneurs should never stop from discovering new ideas and product because through way we can make a change, a difference that will affect our life as an individual and also the life of those people who’s part of your family. Simple innovation can bring great wealth. From watching the video clip of Ms. Achara and her mother, I realized one thing. It is “if you can’t have that something then create one for you”. I have put this learning from the part of the video specifically when the mother of Ms. Achara made the Pineapple ice cream while Ms. Achara was sleeping. Her mother knows that she can’t afford to buy one ice cream pop for her daughter Achara, so as a solution, she thinks of way on how he can manage to cover up the problem. It is such a brilliant discovery of the pineapple ice cream, but I guess that her mother is unaware of her discovery at first because all she aims is to make her daughter happy by eating her simple experiment. On entrepreneurial perspective, we are always thinking on something that will overcome the products of other entrepreneur on the market but it always end up to nothing. We can’t fight fire by fire, we must think of a way, specifically a way that could turn the tables and favors all to you. Think always at the edge. Having a very experimental mind is an advantage for an aspiring entrepreneur and technopreneur. Being experimental on things can result into something good. By that skill, we could discover things that will become a great hit to the market, just like the discovery pf the pineapple ice cream. We must not always hustle our selves. It is one of the things that I have learned after watching the video of Ms. Achara and her mother on their discovery of the Pineapple Ice Cream. If we examine the movie, the mother of Ms. Achara did not take her problem so hard. But what amazes me is, the mother of Ms. Achara take it simple by giving a simple solution. She does not even hustle herself to work hard so that she can have a lot of income to buy one ice cream pop for her daughter. She just cut some pineapple then problem solve and what’s the most wonderful part is, it became one of their source of income. It is a big impact and a great help to their family on financial aspects. We entrepreneur and technopreneurs should not hustle our selves thinking a lot of things on how to out run others and/or how to make a more creative and productive products than other competitors at the market. If we do hustle ourselves too much, it will end up to a blank mind or mental block. We can‘t think straight if we are so stress or if we are at the stage of over thinking. It is not good to our health also. The bad part there is we can’t think of better products. It is always an advice from the professionals to have a break; it is also the motto of the famous chocolate snack bar, the kitkat, to have a break. Resting is a best way on refreshing our minds, to fuel up our own imaginations. Imagination is important on making ideas. As what our technopreneurship facilitator Mr. Gamboa said, “Great idea starts from thinking”. Well I believe that every one of us can’t produce great ideas when we are at the stress mode. Yes maybe we can produce some but I guess it will be one of those products worth proposing to the market place. It will be just a mediocre product. Mediocrity is not a good habit for an entrepreneur or technopreneurs. We, aspiring technoreneurs should end up making mediocre products. It does not help the people to maximize life. We must always aim for a product that will have a meaning on the lives of the customers. A product that has the capability of changing lives. And most especially a product that has the full capability of changing the world and the daily living of people. We entrepreneurs and technopreneurs should always aim for the bulls-eye. No matter how hard the obstacles that will test our determination, we must just keep on going. Always move forward. The road to success is always narrowed. There are no short cuts in success; we must undergo the long process of pain and gain. Through problems we will be molded, we will become a more solid entrepreneurs and technopreneurs. All we need to do is to think and never to stop thinking. The moment we stop thinking is the start of our sinking. We must not discriminate simple innovations because we don’t know what it can do. The discovery of Pineapple Ice Cream is a big shot for success, it is too simple innovation but it doesn’t matter because it brings wealth to the family of Ms. Achara. Sometimes, great things in life do not come always big. Sometimes it is like a speck-size but has great impact to those who will embrace. An entrepreneur and technoprenuer should not be afraid to explore things. We must not be afraid of failures. It is ok to have failures or problems as long as we will rise up again. Don’t settle for good, we must settle for greatness. Good products in the market only last for weeks but great products last for years or maybe decades. Life is a maze. But we’re given a tool of wisdom by God so that we can overcome those things that make life complicated. All we need to do is to use our minds, to solve daily problems. If we start thinking, it is the start of the end of problems. Let us not be passive, entrepreneurs and technopreneurs are also like engineers and architects, we make designs for lives to make it more worth living through our great products and innovations. Always remember to have a peace of mind so that our products will also be a great, creative and productive. We must open our eyes to the things that will teach us how to prosper in life.