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
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