Last Lecture--Entry 14

At the beginning of this journey, I knew things about myself, but through everything I learned new things about myself as well.  When you begin your own journey, first write down a list of your strengths and weaknesses in your character and personality.  This is something that I wish I had done a long time ago.  Find the strengths in some of your friends that compliment your weaknesses.  Where are they strong where you falter?  The companions on your journey through the entrepreneur life are the ones that can either lift you up when you are down or just drag you down further.  In the Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship that is created, all of them complement each other in some way.  Aragorn is humble to Boromir’s ego, Sam is trustworthy to Merry and Pippin’s mischievousness, Gandalf is wise to Frodo’s naiveté, and Legolas’s calmness to Gimli’s pompous nature.  You want to have companions that compliment your strengths and weaknesses.  Don’t forget that your spouse is your greatest companion.  You need to remember that they will always be there by your side through your joys in your journey, and your downs as well. 

One thing I really want to talk about is loving what you do.  I have seen so many people who are unhappy in their current careers that they don’t know where to go, and some don’t even know what they love because they have invested so much time and energy into something that they now realize that they don’t love.  When you get into the rut of not knowing what you love, you have to look back and remember what you used to love doing before your old career took over your life.  Just a little side note: If you let your career that you don’t love take over your life, you may have lost everything while doing so, your hobbies, your family, your friends, and since you realize that you don’t love this career anymore, your job.  Your entire life and the things and people you love in life are gone. 

But if you decide now that what you’re doing or about to do isn’t something you love, look at things you do love.  Will you still love in five years, ten, and twenty years?  Is this something you want to keep in your life, or will you plan on moving on to something else later?  Do you have the support behind pursuing what you love?  If you say yes to these, then you are at a good start to moving forward in an entrepreneurial journey. 

Loving what you do can be anything.  You can do anything and be anything you want to be when you do something you love.  You can change the world when you learn you do what you love.  Or if you don’t think it will change the world, you may just change one other person besides yourself.  You won’t know who that is, but you will see it when their eyes light up and the smile brightens the room.  You will realize you have changed their world even if you don’t think you have had an impact on the entire world. 

Something about doing what you love is go learn more about it.  You can say, “Hey, I love golfing.  Let’s start a golf club.”  Well, how long have you played?  Do you know instructors?  Do you golf by yourself or with others?  Do you belong to a club already and want to know more about running one?  If you just enjoy the game, don’t pursue it.  Just because you love something doesn’t mean it is your calling as a career choice.  I love movies, and would love to own a movie theater one day; however, right now I only enjoy going to the movie and watching them.  I am not ready for the business aspect of running a theater of my own.

One of my favorite pieces of advice for myself is always, “How does a child see it?”  I have three children, and they all have different perspectives on things than I do in life.  If you have children in your life, sit down with them, play with them, and talk with them about your future goals and journey.  You will get questions that you may have not considered the answers to when you do.  Humans by nature are curious.  Children by nature aren’t just curious, they are inquisitive.  They want to know the who, when, what, how and why of everything thing from how the grass grows to how to clouds form.  If you can begin seeing things from a child’s perspective, you will get answers to questions you may never have even thought of before.

In closing, I just want to say that these are the tools that have helped me the most.  I want you to remember that the people you have in your life will be the ones you will become most like and will either help you or hinder on your journey.  Doing what you love is crucial to loving what you do and enjoying your life to the fullest.  Finally, getting down on the ground with a child and seeing things as they do can help you find answers to questions you may have yourself, or even questions that need answers that you never thought of before.  You will gain a new perspective in your entrepreneurial journey as you do these things.  To quote Bilbo Baggins, “’It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,' he used to say. ’You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.”  And as Frodo had Sam, never get on that road without your perspective and goal clear, you love where you’re heading and your companion will go on this journey with you.

Gratitude--Entry 13

This week has been a wonderful experience.  Sad, too, as I have learned that someone I worked with at my first job through high school and friend who later had become a successful entrepreneur, passed away yesterday.  It really made me reflect on what I am truly thankful for in my life at this time.  President Thomas S. Monson said, "We can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues."  These past couple of weeks have been very trying on me physically, emotionally and spiritually.  I realize now that I wasn't being truly grateful for everything I already have in my life.  This talk by President Monson, and even the Visiting Teaching message this month have really helped bring me back into focus on everything I needed to help me through this tough time.  I am truly thankful for the Lord and the ability that He has given all of us to cast our burdens to Him and make it so that we can rely on Him and His help through all of our trials, no matter the size because no matter is too big for Him to help us through our hard times.

Another thing that I really loved learning this week came through the eCorner Video by Stan Christensen.  He talks about how to avoid the wrong job in our lives.  He says, "A lot of bad decisions come from unnecessary assumptions."  He even listed off assumptions such as: worrying about the resume and what other people will think of it, choosing a job that will only get you to the next level,  thinking we have to choose a career now, and specialization will get us on the best route to success.  Maybe this is exactly why I want to be a published author, as well as run my own business in the future.  In my studies of learning the craft and art of creative writing, it's almost like you're doing everything he says TO DO, and ignoring everything NOT TO DO.  A good author doesn't worry about the resume--they are telling their story through another means.  I see the author's resume shown through their stories they have produced, an author is looking at getting sales-yes, but they aren't truly looking for the job that will take them to the next level, they chose a career--but it is filled with multiple career enhancing and learning opportunities, and they become "specialists" in everything.  I read from one author once that he enjoyed writing so much more than anything else because he was able to become an expert in whatever he was writing about at that time.  As an writer, you are continually studying and learning and enhancing everything about you.  Many authors keep their current careers for stability, but they truly know what makes them happy.  I've seen so many writers that have such great gratitude for what they have in their life, and who they have in their life.  For this example I have in my life, I am grateful for those to look up to, and I am thankful for everyone in my life right now and for their support.

eCorner Video: Avoid the Wrong Job by Stan Christensen
An Attitude of Gratitude by President Thomas S. Monson

Changing the World--Entry 12

This week I had the opportunity to read a talk given by Muhammad Yunus about changing the world.  In his short talk, he was very inspirational through speaking about trusting those first so that they can trust you.  Also that we are all creative and need to be given that opportunity to show our creativity.  Sometimes that means we need loans and every person should be given that opportunity to even have access to money.  Through his own studies, he found that banks would not give loans to those living in poverty because they didn't trust them to pay back the loans.  However, he trusted these people.  He knew their dreams.  He wanted to help them achieve these dreams.  So, he created the Grameen Bank which gives loans to those who otherwise would not have access to that money.  I'm so impressed by his trusting nature and reporting back that 97% of the loans are paid back and most of the people borrowing money are women.

In reading his talk this week, I was sad to hear about fast food workers wanting to raise the minimum wage in the state of Illinois to $15/hour.  I understand that minimum wage is $8.25/hour right now and is in talks to be raised to $11/hour by 2016.  I have worked minimum wage jobs and those are jobs that are great for teenagers to learn financial responsibility and integrity.  Sadly there are some of the people wanting this minimum wage that don't accept the responsibility of working while at work.  There are hard workers that would want to move up into management to make more money, but that's the reason there is a minimum wage--to get people to move up and work hard for what they earn.

My husband is an airline pilot and he made less than $15/hour equivalent in his first year of becoming a professional airline pilot.  Many people we came across those first couple of years of him being a pilot were hard to talk to because they were, "Oh, the money must be great!"  Sadly it wasn't.  I had to work a job that paid no more than $10/hour because that is what my skills gave me at the time, and half of my paycheck each month would go towards care for my oldest daughter (who was 2 at that time).  Now when people comment on the money with his job, we say, "Yes, it's nice, but the schedule is crappy."  We would like to make our cake and eat it too, but you can never have both sometimes in our lives.

What Muhammad Yunus did for me that I think I will learn to instill in my children is trust.  Learn to trust others in a way that you know that it is a good thing to trust them.  If you do not feel it a good thing to trust in, then don't, but because you won't get the trust in return.  We need to follow our dreams and trust in ourselves as well, and that is the first step in learning to trust others in our paths as well.

The Pursuit of Happiness--Entry 11

With this week being Thanksgiving, then a day full of madness in greed of shoppers, I found this article, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, the best thing to read this week.  I have been having a hard time during the holiday season these past couple of years because our family is in Utah and we are in Illinois.  Travelling standby (since my husband is an airline pilot--it's a good perk) is getting harder through the company every month in the past few months, we are for sure not going to Utah for Christmas this year.  We can never go for Thanksgiving because we wouldn't make it out, and if we did, we wouldn't make it home.  We have traveled for Christmas three out of the five years living in Illinois, and this year, we just can't do it.  Our main support system lives in Utah.  Our friends we have known for years, and our family all lives there.  Trying to even Skype or contact our families through a phone call is impossible lately with them all gathered together and us sitting in our living room checking for their updates on Facebook--just to feel like we are a part of them still.  In this article, it talks a lot about our support system and being grateful.  These were two things that stood out to me.  

"Deep loving relationships, with a capacity for gratitude, forgiveness, and sharing are far more important than accomplishments." (pg 5)  

"We live in relationship with others and we need to belong.  We need others to complete us." (pg 11)

To have deep, fulfilling relationships with family, friends, our spouse, our children, and our grandchildren throughout our life is something that I see as fulfilling our life.  It reminds me of The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickins where Scrooge sees his future.  He sees that there was a man that died and nobody cared that he died.  They just wanted his things, and they were so happy to be free of the miser.  Scrooge couldn't believe it could be him because he thought he had relationships with the people in the future.  He thought they respected him.  But as he came to realize that it was his own death that made the people happy, it turned him around.  It made him realize that money isn't what makes people happy and grateful.  It is the people in their lives, the relationships they have with each other that make people the happiest and most satisfied.  There are other examples of stories like this.  The Grinch is one.  He thought taking away Christmas would rip the Who's apart.  It didn't because they had each other and the Spirit of Christmas lived through them and their love for each other.

If we want to be happy in our lives, we need to focus on those people who are in our lives at this time and be thankful for them.  Be happy and thankful for what they help us to be.  The people in our lives truly shape us into who we will be in the future days, months, and years.  I'm sure that the people I look up to and admire, look up to me for certain things about me that I bring to our relationship.  I am thankful that I will be with my children for Christmas, and I am thankful for friends that act like our family here in Illinois and welcome us into their homes for the holidays.  I am also thankful for a wonderful, supportive husband who wants my dreams to come true and pushes me to move forward in them.

I hope to always remember how thankful I am for the people in my life.  Even if I can't always be with my extended family, there are those around me that will welcome me in.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness Acton Guide

The Dip--Entry 10

These past few weeks, I've been reading the book, The Dip, by Seth Godin.  This book made me laugh with his witty one-liners, although I knew he was serious about what he was writing.  It also made me wonder and think about my current situation, and what I want to do with my future.  There are things that I keep talking about: writing, going back into dance, starting up a movie theater business, etc.  And as I wondered if these things were worth sticking through the Dip or quitting before getting stuck in a dead end, or failing miserably, I realized that it is a very difficult task to start many different project all around the same time, because then I would fail.  At all of them.

I was able to go back through my thoughts, and I realized that I would only pick two to work on, but only one at a time so I don't get stressed out or overwhelmed (which I easily am).

1.  Write, write, write.  I am horrible with getting my writing schedule down!  But I am going to do it!  I am going to stick through this Dip I am in and buckle down and do it.  It is something I am passionate about, and I am not going to be all talk anymore.  I am going to write!

2. I'm going to keep learning how to run a business, build a business, start a business, etc.  This way I will be more ready when I am ready to start my movie theater business.  I love movies, I love going to the movies, and I'm going to do it one day.  Just not yet.  I'm going to focus on something that will definitely help me stay at home more often and this isn't it just yet.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to read The Dip.  It has enlightened me and my way of thinking for my future endeavours.  Especially this quote from the book, "Quit or be exceptional.  Average is for losers."  I want to be exceptional in what I do.  I know it may take time, but I'm willing to work through it.

The Dip by Seth Godin

Being a Baker--Entry 9

Guy Kawasaki has an amazing video where he talks about baking and eating.  Not the actual baking and eating, but metaphorically.  He says that bakers are the people who see "the world as an opportunity to make more and bigger pies."  Eaters "need to get as much of the pie as possible."  There are moments in my life where I feel like a baker and other moments where I feel like an eater.  However, as Guy Kawasaki points out, "Trustworthy people are bakers, not eaters."  I feel like I'm a pretty trustworthy person so does that make me a baker?  Not necessarily.  I view owning a business as an opportunity to make it so that I can a) do something I love and want to share with the world, but also b) as something that can make me money without having me do a lot of the work.  I know that the latter won't happen unless I turn my business into some kind of conglomerate or franchise, or even the business makes the money I'm looking for to let me retire early.  Maybe this is why I should be an author since they are sort of entrepreneurs themselves.  Especially the self-publishing authors because they are entering the publishing world on their own, having to do their own marketing and sales, but if they do their work properly, they can be a baker.  The ones who make the money are the authors that just want to share the story with the world hoping to change someone internally.  To get them to connect with the author in some way through page after page of words that are captivating.

I have been a person that has been reserved in myself for a long time.  I have had hard times trusting people with things at certain times in my life.  Listening to Guy Kawasaki speak about trusting first, being a baker, and learning to think in terms of "How can I help that person?" really speaks to me that this is something I should work on.  I see myself as a baker because of how I'm always looking for opportunities to teach my children bigger and better things about life and living it.  I know I talk a lot about my kids and my family, but they are my biggest support and they are my life right now.  They are the ones that I am technically trying out all these new ideas of entrepreneurship on through different aspects of play, doing chores, etc.  I am learning to run a business through my life at home.  I think this may translate really well into the actual business world because I will see my business as my family and it will mean all the more to me then.

Video: Aspects of Building Trust by Guy Kawasaki

"Just Keep Swimming..."--Entry 8

"Just keep swimming," as Dory from Finding Nemo puts it so nicely.  This is my mantra whenever I'm stuck on something and don't know where to go next.  Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave a magnificent talk on trucking through the hard times to get to the better times.  He quotes Winston Churchill a lot which reminded me of my soccer team in high school.  "Victory—victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road may be," Winston Churchill.  I didn't even know this was a quote from this amazing man.  On my high school soccer team, our mantra was exactly this quote with more on the end of it.  "Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road may be.  For without victory, there is no survival."  When our team would look spent, we would chant this as the cheerleaders waiting to get on the field to help our team perk back up.  It always worked.  It rallied us together as a team.  People and other teams thought it was weird we had such a quote, but it certainly brought us together as sisters in soccer.

As I look into what I want to be, a published author, I see that this or even a screen-play writer is something to really pursue because of the lifestyle it allows me to have within the home.  I can work from home, I won't need to be gone from home all the time, and I can do most of my correspondence online through emails and phone calls.  However, when I look at the victory I can have as a published author, I see that light and I'm scared to go to it.  To go further past the initial first draft is scary.  I have tried having friends I trust read my very first novel and get feedback that doesn't help me at all.  I think they are trying to be nice when it came to helping me see what needed to be rewritten.  Then when I go back through and reread their notes, I realize, I am frightened to move forward.  I am excited to try again and write another full novel, edit it, then try and publish it.  I need to follow what Sister Holland said, "The only limitations you have are those you set on yourself."  This is so true when I see where the road to becoming a published author can lead me.  I am the one holding myself back.  My husband keeps asking me how the writing is going.  All I keep saying is, "The ideas are there, but I'm having a hard time implementing them."  Some of this is truth, and most of it is fear.  I am limiting myself to the thoughts of "I can't get published", "I only have good ideas", "Just do something else with your life that can guarantee payment".  I have to stop these thoughts.  I have to go at it with a mind ready for victory.

Elder Holland quotes Churchill here as well, "...unless we conquer, as conquer we must; as conquer we shall."  I will have victory this year for National Novel Writing Month, and I will conquer this fear of moving forward after writing my initial first draft.

I WILL HAVE VICTORY!  I WILL CONQUER!

I think I will go put this all over my house now.  It will be my new mantra, and it will be something to help me move forward through all my entrepreneurial goals.

However Long and Hard the Road by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland