In about 2 hours I’m heading in to my second week of working. So, “how was the first week?” you ask. It was a mixed week. Some of it was really tedious and boring. But some of it was really, really interesting. And at least the boring work (scanning papers into the computer) has a purpose. It has been fascinating to see how the business works, to understand the weak areas and the flaws, and to start thinking out ways to improve production and communication.
While I had not thought about such a job (I actually entertained thoughts of working at a lovely coffee house), it has turned out to be far more interesting and challenging than a lot of other positions. It all fits in perfectly with my economic knowledge and it is exciting to be an important part of helping this business improve, grow, and please their customers better.
For instance, I’ve lectured plenty about consumer sovereignty in the market. But this week my boss was saying, “we don’t run the business, our customers do. They are the ones who decide what we do.” While in one perspective, this is a negative thing (small business overrun by large corporation, etc…), it is also a perfect real-life example of consumer sovereignty. It is great to work with real-life entrepreneurs and see what they must do and go through in order to be successful. This is going to give me some great material for my economics lectures 🙂
It is also a little awe-inspiring to discover how complex the system of production is. You can talk about the capital structure all day without comprehending what it means. But I’m slowly getting just a taste of how complicated it is to produce capital. I have a whole new appreciation for airplanes, because I know where the tiny little screws in the engine come from. I can only imagine where everything else comes from. It is just incredible to think of the cooperation, organization, and skills it requires to build a jet! There’s a whole new dimension to the classic saying, “no one can make a pencil.” The world today is highly specialized, and I’m in on just a tiny, infinitesimal fraction of the production process.
It is also awe-inspiring to realize how God worked all of this out. While I generally worry about things quite a bit, in this area I had been trying to relax, pray, and trust that in God’s perfect time He would present some opportunity to me. And this job far surpasses any of my ideas! 🙂
