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