W14 Journal: Last Lecture

 

If there was one final lecture to share on what I learned from this course I would share the importance of lifelong learning. It takes humility to learn from others as an adult. I sometimes struggle to learn from others and their experiences and mistakes. I can be quite stubborn. However, I have seen how much I can learn from others. When I have humbled myself and taken suggestions and advice from trusted individuals, I have seen greater success. This course has allowed me to take case studies of other successful entrepreneurs to learn from their experiences and to have a road map as to how I can follow in their footsteps to also be successful. There are many ways to be successful, it is up to me to find my own path and do what best works for me. This course allows for a lot of self-reflection which helps to understand what I want my business to look like and what I want my future to look like. 

 My advice to someone who wants to begin the entrepreneurial journey is to start with the end in mind. Imagine yourself 3 to 5 years from now. Every decision you make from now on will make you who you will be in the future. 

 

Many people, because of the difficulty, will give up in the beginning stages of entrepreneurship. However, this course has helped me see that many people have been able to get through the difficult stages and find success thanks to the attributes that I mentioned above. I know that it is a difficult road ahead, however I know that if I apply the attributes that I mentioned above I will be able to find success.

W13 Reflection

 This week I loved the study material. The entrepreneur journey would be impossible without the help and guidance of others. Having genuine people around you that you can build relationships with make the entrepreneur journey possible. I am so grateful for everything I have learned this semester. I love all that I have learned on being an entrepreneur. I loved reading the talk by Thomas S. Monson, An Attitude of Gratitude. There were so many great lessons that I can and will apply to my life. I feel that the most amazing gift we have been given is the life and ministry of our Savior Jesus Christ. "He taught us how to pray. He taught us how to live. He taught us how to die. His life is a legacy of love. 

I enjoyed Randy Haykin for his desire to always learn. An example of this is when he said, "I always want to increase my understanding of how business models work." He could have thought he had seen them all and knew all that he could or needed to, but he didn't. He was humble and knew there was so much more to learn. This would be hard to do if you love what you are doing and just keep working though projects as the night comes. It would be really hard to balance work and family life, but Haykin was able to learn more of how to do this and is continuing to try. I hope to be like Haykin in that aspect if I ever started my own company.

W12 Reflection

 

This week was fun because the study materials were great! I really liked hearing about Sarah’s candy company. Her company really set out to make a difference in the world and I really admire this. I feel that when I start my own business, I will look to do the same in terms of having a business that focuses on changing the world as one of its primary end goals. If you look at the people that are super successful in this world, people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, they tend to have charities and other donor organizations designed to help and to assist other people. One of the things I was most surprised and happy about this week was how my essay for the DAG Group turned out. The idea that I felt that confident with my ability to make a decision and then to back it up with a logical conclusion was such a wonderful feeling. I look forward to using that in real life. It is an experience I have not had before.

W11 Reflection

 

    What is your attitude toward money?

I was remembering the words in the Bible Matthew 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." I personally, I have always considered money as a means, a way to reach a goal. I fully agree that money itself is not good or bad, that depends on the use we can give. I can do lots of good for many people, as well as I can do a lot of damage to many people with the use of money. The question here would be, what is the reason that drives you to get more money? Maybe the answer was always in the scriptures, where your treasure is there will be your heart.

    How can your view of money affect the way you live?

The world teaches us that money is a goal, not a means. Allowing money to point the way and decide for us is a bad decision in every way. There are much higher and special reasons that should always be our strength and purpose, such as helping our brothers, caring for our family, being happy. Money can do you a lot to do good, but it also has a lot of power to invite you to change your priorities. We must be careful.                         

    What rules are recommended for prospering?

Rule 1. Seek the Lord and have hope in him 

Rule 2. Keep the commandments, that includes the temporal ones, tithing and fast offerings.

Rule 3. Think about money and plan how you can become self-reliant.

Rule 4. Take advantage of chances for learning so you will not be ignorant of these matters. Education, President Hinckley has taught us, is the Key to Opportunity.

Rule 5. Learn the laws upon which the blessings of wealth are predicated.

Rule 6. Do not send away the naked, the hungry, the thirsty or the sick or those who are held Captive. We have time for just a few more thoughts on how to make money.

W10 Reflection

This week was a great week. I feel like it was busier than the past two weeks since we had to interview an entrepreneur and of course do the readings for the week. Doing the interview was actually my favorite part of the week that I wanted to talk about. I loved having the opportunity to interview one of my favorite entrepreneurs and learn more about their business and their personal life as well. I learned a lot from interviewing one of the examples in my life. There are people out there that put their trust in these entrepreneurs and they want to follow their path so they can be successful as well. Also, this week’s reading were so inspiring. This was especially true for the video from Taylor Richard and his place in both rounds of dealers in America. Just the way we think, can change everything. Thinking big is the key for opening some doors that maybe we haven’t thought about before. I loved President Oak’s talk that talked about the challenge we have to become what Heavenly Father wants us to be. We get to take it at our own pace. We are all working towards our conversion which is more than just a testimony. Conversion is about action. Action leads to success and happiness. Just like the example of the boat sellers in the Think Big video, when we work towards something we will be rewarded. Their company ended up being much farther up on the list than they had thought just because they worked hard.

W09 Reflection

From this week study I like what Guy Kawasaki has said about the two kinds of people. He said that there are two kinds of people. The first one is the Bakers and Eaters. Eaters think of the biggest portion of the pie for them to consume but the way bakers think is different. Bakers do think to Bake as many as pie as they can. With this lesson, I learn about living within or below our means. It reminds me that I have to invest my finance and engage in business that will create a passive income that will make me the Baker and not just thinking about how to spend my money every payday.

Part of our reading called A Message to Garcia gave some pointers that I wanted to put here so I remember them. The main idea is that an ability to execute is the most important quality. They listed some examples of how to do that. There were a lot, but these are the ones I thought were most pertinent to me: Delegate, Right Attitude, Under promise and deliver, Put results before schmoozing.

Lastly, I really like the video from Launching Leaders by Jim Richie. I like what he said about Leaders. He said that Leader is the person who takes others to higher grounds. Some people who are in a leadership position but fail to be a leader because they don’t take others to higher grounds. Sometimes they did the opposite which is to bring their subordinates down. To be a Leader does not mean that we should be in a leadership position. We can be a Leader in our own way. Great Leaders stand up for or against important issues.

W08 Reflection

    I learned to fight through that adversity and use it to, I believe, become, work on, and evolve into being a better version of myself. There is no guarantee that the challenges we face will stop — and a part of us holds onto them. We accrue them in our memories and threaten our abilities to define who we are.

    This week’s lessons were about overcoming challenges and never giving up. Something that I absolutely loved from the lessons was this quote by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Don’t you quit, you keep walking, you keep trying, there is happiness and help ahead.” I think something that we too often forget is though our hard times that they won’t last forever, things will get better. 

     For example, it may not be your first idea or your first attempt to have a successful business that will work out for you. I like to remember that Thomas Edison failed a thousand times before he could create the lamp, he then was once asked by a reporter: "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" Edison replied, "I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.".

     I think that live as an entrepreneur we are highly susceptible to hard times. Because our ideas and our lives are on the line. Not everyone is going to like our business ideas, but if we feel it is important and worthwhile and something that we are passionate about we should do it. And no matter how hard things get with it we can and we should keep pushing through. And not doubt ourselves. With the Lord by our sides we can do amazing things. 

    

 Entrepreneurs tend to think backwards and randomly, according to David Carrington. People are not always going to agree with us or understand why we do things the way we do. But all that matters is that we do and that we clearly know who we are and our brand. We may even come up with solutions to things that no one else has, because of our way of thinking. I think that this truly gives us an advantage! So don’t give up when times get tough, you don’t know what could right around the corner.