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

Homeostasis--Entry 7

Wow, I can't believe how late I am on this journal entry!  I despise being late on work and things I need and even would like to do.  However, this past week couldn't have been helped.  I needed this past week to help me realize how to prioritize the things that are important to me in my life.

These past couple weeks I have been studying (pretty closely) the book, Mastery, by George Leonard.  This book is a lifesaver for me at this time.  I have so many goals, so many things I wish I could master, but I think I have taken on too much all at once and it has set me back into what he does state is homeostasis.  "Homeostasis works to keep things as they are even if they aren't very good." (page 110)  This right here reaffirms why things have happened to me that I would like to get done, but just fall backwards when I get into a rhythm and it dies.  I'm also lazy, and a procrastinator, but the procrastination is something I have considered that I have mastered (unless illness comes into play).  This chapter in his book about resolutions and how to keep them really has opened my eyes up to better prioritizing the things I need to do in my life.

Yes, I have goals.  I have lots of goals.

• I want to run a business of my own one day.
• I want to become a published author.
• I want to be able to play concert piano pieces with perfection and ease.
• I want to improve on my ballet skills.
• I want to learn to play the cello and violin.
• I want my kids to grow up happy, and to remember all the happier times of love and laughter in our home.
• I want to be financially independent.
• I want to tour Europe.

Some of these things seem like a bucket list of sorts, but that's how I see goals.  They are a bucket list.  They are my things I want to do and to master in my own way.  Guy Kawasaki said, "If you do what you love and you change the world, then you will be rich, but you shouldn't want to do it because you want to be rich."  I know a few of these things are things I do love doing.  I love ballet.  I love playing and practicing the piano.  I love to write.  I know I seem like I am all talk and do nothing.  I normally am that way.  However, I am constantly trying to figure out what I need to do to do these things with my husband's work schedule and with me being a mother and wife first.  I love everything that I accomplish, and I love having the support of my family through it all.

Mastery by George Leonard (link to Amazon)

Passion vs. Money by Guy Kawasaki video

Family--Entry 6

This week I was able to see from a different perspective in my time management skills and my personal finance skills.  I’m horrible at personal finance.  I’m horrible with my time management skills.  I’m good with ideas on how to make things better, but when it comes down to actually doing something, I’m terrible.  Like tomorrow, I have the Primary Program at church and I’m the chorister for the Primary and I’m not even ready for it.  I guess I should clarify, I’m ready for the program itself, but not for the actual time in the Primary later after the program is over.  

In preparing for this program, doing classwork for school, and in organizing mode in my home, I definitely have let my family time get crunched horribly.  Jan Newman said that there are two things we don’t want to ever crunch: 1) Loyalty to the Lord and 2) Loyalty to our Family.  I am loyal to my family, but there are days where I groan and whine about having to do things I don’t want to do for them.  Even some of these days are just changing a diaper.  However, while I listened to Jan Newman, I certainly knew that what he said, everything he said, is true.  He said, “Your greatest legacy will be your family and the service in the kingdom.”  My ward is my family here where I live.  Being in the Primary is a great blessing to me.  We have wonderful days and we have bad days, just like I do at home with my family.  

When I think of becoming an entrepreneur and continuing to fulfill my dreams, the thought at the front of my mind, every time is, “What’s going on with the kids today?”  I don’t know if men have this thought about their own families, but as a mom, I have think this every day, in everything I do.  I am currently working on some things with my family.  These include: making memories with them through things we do together, talking with them every day, studying the scriptures with them, and praying together.  I know I will always have the burning question of, “What are the kids doing today?” in the back of my mind, no matter what direction my life goes. 

Video: Loyalty to God and Family by Jan Newman

What Makes an Entrepreneur Tick?--Entry 5

What makes an entrepreneur tick?  This is something that I really am excited to know about.  I have begun my mentor studies this week as well in the book, So You Want to Be an Entrepreneur? by Jon Gillespie-Brown.  I’m really excited to dive into more of what makes ME tick.  How can I just improve MY life through my entrepreneurial spirit?  How can I persevere in my school work, in my writing, in my parenting, and in my everyday living? 

One of the readings was asking the question: Are entrepreneurs born or made?  The writer asks a group of seasoned entrepreneurs about the characteristics, skills, and luck within this career path.  Within the “skill” set, these skills mentioned are ones I recognize in myself. 

• “Being able to communicate clearly.”

• “Listening and questioning customers.”

• “Being a problem solver; thinking.”

• “Being curious enough to uncover and unravel the strategies of competitors.”

I’m not much of a problem solver, but being a mom teaches this principle since I was decent at math, but not the best at it.  

Within the character section, perseverance is spoken of at the very beginning with a quote by Calvin Coolidge, “Nothing in this world will take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”  This really stuck with me because no matter what we do, no matter what we decide to do, we have to have the persistence to stick with it.  It’s fun seeing the different things that my children are trying out to see what they like right now.  But the best thing is to see the perseverance in my 9 year old with her art and writing skills.  She is a reader, but decided a few weeks ago to write a book and she updates us on what chapter she has recently written.  I’m excited to see her stick with it to finish it! 

In another reading on perseverance, President James E. Faust states, “We need to carry on and endure to the end.”  

Going on to the last bit from the first reading, luck.  This is what one entrepreneur said about luck, “You can be the luckiest person on earth, but when luck comes to someone who is unprepared or lacking in character, or sees money as the most important thing in life, nothing good ever comes of it.”  For me, this sound advice really helps me see things a bit differently.  Yes, money is something that is needed, but it shouldn’t be what runs our lives.  If we let money run our lives, we won’t be able to get away from it.  What we do with our money is up to us, but if it controls us, our options are limited.  If we can see the potential in an idea and not be scared to take the risk by being prepared for the unknown, luck can be our friend instead of our downfall.

Readings:

Are Successful Entrepreneurs Born or Made? Acton Guide

Perseverance by James E. Faust

Becoming My Own Permanent Beta--Entry 4

This week I was so excited to finish the book, The Start-up of You by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha.  Although it makes me sad when I read success stories of other entrepreneurs, it still gives me hope that I can choose who to become and do what I can to get where I want to be in my life.  I really enjoyed learning about the little things that matter in business start-ups.  The assets, values, and aspirations of companies are really what make us tick.  We are our own company, our own business.  If we are not in permanent beta mode then we won't go anywhere.  We're stuck in the same dead end job making minimum wage and living paycheck to paycheck.  I had to write a book report on this and I forgot to mention in it how much it talked about savings.

For me, savings is hard to come by.  I grew up in a home where my mom was a big spender and my stepmom was as well.    However, my mom didn't shop sales when I was a kid, and my stepmom was the thrift shopper.  Now both are thrifty in their shopping, but still not good enough with their money. So I tend to be a bigger spender than I want to be while thrift shopping.  What I am planning on is making sure I put in savings every month with a purpose.  Some people can just put money in savings and say, "This is for savings only."  For me and my family, right now I am going to save up money for a Disney World vacation next year some time.  The book talked a lot of putting money away to see old acquaintances and friends in our network.  To save money for our planned business and those soft assets that would help us become more competitive.  I have also been taught that it's actually very hard to just put money away to save.  Money is there for a purpose, so in our savings there should be a purpose to it.  Call it the "Rainy Day Fund" or "Disney World Vacation" or "New Tires Fund", or whatever purpose you need to call it.  It is for this reason that I have named ours after a vacation that I would like to take in the future (preferably next year in celebration of paying off all debt but our house in a year).

One other thing I'm going to start doing is improve my soft asset of writing.  I've been told I'm good and that I can become a writer.  However, I lack that confidence in myself that I am a good storyteller.  I want to believe it myself.  So I am going to start planning for this year's National Novel Writing Month by studying more in creative writing as well as all my other classwork for BYU-I.  It's a lofty goal because NaNoWriMo (the short name for it) begins at the beginning of November and runs to the end of November.  In order to win, the writer has to write 50,000 words.  This is also something I want to do with my daughter who decided that she would also like to write a book, so I am going to help her get online to set up her writer's profile.  (I'll probably let her get a head start on it since she is only 9).  Something to help me improve my writing skills, and build a stronger relationship with my daughter.

Book: The Start-up of You by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha

Ethics and Assets--Entry 3

This week studying ethics in business, I could see the experiences I have had personally as a customer and as a business owner or just an employee for a business.  There are many things that contribute to good ethics in a business.  There is honesty, trust, loyalty, and integrity to name a few.  As we look at ourselves in our personal lives, we should look to see how we are as a person and if it translates over to our professional lives.  Jan Newman in his video clip, Risks in Business, said, “Never do anything dishonest in a business. It’s not worth any upside if you do.”  How will I be able to have trust in business if someone or even I are dishonest in any business I work in?  I see this as also losing trust in ourselves because if we can’t be honest or have good ethics ourselves, we lose ourselves down a deep dark hole that is hard to climb out. 

This weekend was General Conference and I really enjoyed everything that I was able to listen to.  My favorite piece was something that Elder Jörg Klebingat of the Seventy said, “Acknowledge and face your weaknesses, but don't be immobilized by them.”  While I’ve been reading, The Start-up of You, I really loved the chapter about fine tuning soft assets.  I find this to coincide with what Elder Klebingat said in General Conference because I see a lot of soft assets as things I see as my weaknesses.  For example, right now, one of my weaknesses is organization.  I am horrible at keeping my home organized.  It doesn’t help that I have three young children who I call, hurricanes or tornadoes, because cleaning and organizing doesn’t work too well with children coming into the room after all is done and messy it up again.  Another one of my weaknesses is major procrastination.  I put things off until the very last minute normally.  One of my strengths though is working under pressure.  My husband doesn’t think so, but I believe working under pressure actually makes me better at knowing how to do things in a condensed period of time.  I am slowly working on that soft asset that is not procrastinating.  I see these two assets to be very vital in the business world.  I need to not procrastinate and be better organized.  Maybe those will be my New Year’s resolutions in 2015.

Video Clip: Risks in Business by Jan Newman
                    Approaching the Throne of God in Confidence by Elder Klebingat

Go After Your Dreams--Entry 2

This week has been very enlightening for me.  I was able to study some wonderful lectures about finding my calling, following my dreams, and even created my fifty item bucket list.  There were a few things that stood out to me during my videos and readings to study this week.  One was from the talk by Jeffrey A. Thompson called, What is Your Calling in Life, “Think back on your childhood.  It may bring to mind something that you are good at.  To help you find your spiritual gifts.”  This stuck out to me because when I heard it I immediately started to think of the things that I realized I was good at as a kid.  Some examples of these were: I was good at bossing my siblings around, I was and still am a quick learner in hands on work, I loved and still do love to read, and I loved to make up stories.  When I thought of these things, it helped me reevaluate what I want to do with my life.

Another thing that popped out to me was from the eCorner video with Tom Kelley called, “Using Your Whole Brain” and he spoke about the Tortoise Brain.  I liked this a lot because it helped explain to me why I have the strangest dreams with amazing ideas coming out of them frequently.  I’m sure there is more going on than my “tortoise brain” working in the background of my mind and revealing things in story form in a dream.  However, this really enticed me to look again at the dreams I have kept record of and decide if there are any that are worthy ideas for a story of some sort for my dream of becoming an author. 

The last thing that I really think helped me is a reaffirmation of failing and being willing to fail.  I’ve heard of people who have framed their first failed business license or their first rejection letter from an agent or publisher because it helps them to remember that failure is only one step into achieving their dreams.  In the eCorner video with Tom Kelley called, “Treating Life as an Experiment”, he says, “You have to be prepared for some stuff to fail.”  This is my reaffirmation that it is always okay to fail at things in life.  I don’t want to be a failure at everything I try, but I really am willing to fail or be rejected in some things because I can learn what I did wrong.  As I start to work on my bucket list of fifty items, I know that some of those things will possibly end in many failures.  I will just have to get up, dust off, and move through the failure to succeed.

Video Clips: What is Your Calling in Life? by Jeffrey Thompson
                      Treat Life as an Experiment by Tom Kelley
                     Using Your Whole Brain by Tom Kelley

What Is An Entrepreneur?--Entry 1

Studying to be an entrepreneur was never something I planned on doing or studying.  After so many years of trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, I learned that an entrepreneur can do and be so many things.  As a college student, in my current course, I have the opportunity to watch videos of entrepreneurs, read up on some insightful (almost like a major pep talk) literature, and study cases of possible scenarios in which I may end up finding myself one day. 

This week I had the opportunity to watch a couple of wonderful videos of Guy Kawasaki and President Gordon B. Hinckley.  While watching them, they really put me in the spirit in starting to find myself as an entrepreneur.  The big thing that stuck out to me from Guy Kawasaki’s video, "Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow" was this, “You should really truly study and do what you love.”  I hear this all the time from people when I first tell them about myself.  My reply is always this, “I try to.”  One of the things I really love doing is writing.  I’ve always loved stories and how the really good ones can whisk us away from reality.  Take us away from our own stresses and worries in our daily lives, and help us to live as a fly on a wall or inside the mind of someone else. This is what I want to be and truly have always wanted to be.  However, I say “I try to” do these things is because I’m first and foremost the best entrepreneur job there is.  I’m a mother. 

Guy Kawasaki said this in another video, "Ideas: What Makes Them Successful", I watched. “It’s interesting as you go through your life, how your life changes and what’s important.”  As a mother, putting me first is never a question anymore.  My children come first.  No questions about it.  I am also changing and improving myself every day as a parent.  There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t learn something new about an illness that may be affecting my children, or how to do an activity that I've never done before, and even learning how my children learn changes every day. 

The video of President Hinckley made me cry at first because I miss that man.  He truly was and still is an inspiration to me.  One thing he said that I can definitely tie in with being a mother entrepreneur is this, “The world will look to you as the years pass.” (BYU-Idaho Hinckley Building Dedication)  My children are my world, and I know they look up to me. 

The readings are both addresses that Elder David A. Bednar gave at BYU-Idaho.  The first is about how the school is a Disciple Preparation Center.  This is a true statement.  Ever since I started my online study with BYU-Idaho, I have learned some traits that I never thought would occur to me to actually have within my life.  These are: discipline, faith, courage, and humility.  I know that through the reading, Elder Bednar speaks of temple and temples of learning.  BYU-Idaho has been my temple of learning.  I do love the temple, and the peace I feel there.  Although in the midst of my studies, I feel the same peace, and it helps me to know that what I am doing is right.  The other reading from Elder Bednar is that about faith.  He spoke about how to have a strong mind and a mighty heart to build up our faith and competence. 

This week has been really insightful already as to what an entrepreneur is, can be, and will be.  This week I’ve also learned that whatever I want to be needs to be something that I can put faith in myself and the Lord.  It needs to be something I love doing.  It needs to be something I have the courage to put myself out there to learn to do better.  It needs and will always be something that I will continue to grow and change and be a better person from doing it.

Video Clips: BYU-Idaho Hinckley Building Dedication with President Gordon B. Hinckley

                       Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow with Guy Kawasaki

                       Ideas: What Makes Them Successful with Guy Kawasaki

Readings: “A Disciple Learning Center” by Elder David A. Bednar

                   “Your Whole Souls as an Offering Unto Him” by Elder David A. Bednar