The Mark of Courage

The Mark of Courage. Have the courage— To dream the impossible dream, To fight the unbeatable foe, To bear with unbearable sorrow, To run where the brave dare not go. To right the unrightable wrong, To love, pure and chaste from afar, To try, when your arms are too weary, To reach the unreachable star! * And you will thus become a finisher. From Thomas S. Monson's talk "Finishers Wanted"

Gratitude

Gratitude is a huge part of success in anything. Why? I don't think that it is really because if you are grateful you get more and accomplish more of what you want. I think it is because through gratitude for even the tough things we do or the challenges, we learn and are strengthened. Heavenly Father gives us opportunities to learn lessons in life, and sometimes it is necessary that we learn them through unpleasant experiences, but I think it is important to make a habit of living gratefully in every stage of life. I have had a really difficult few years where I have carried a lot of stress and had a lot of hard lessons to learn. There have been many times that I have felt sorry for myself and have wished my circumstances to be different. Through this I have learned many lessons though. I was thinking about how I would change my circumstances if I could create anything I want in my life, and after reflection on that, I realized the truth is that I already have what I wanted. I am already on the path to reaching my greatest dreams. The path is a lot harder than I wanted it to be, and I am constantly challenged on it, but would I really take the change at getting on a different path?? Absolutely NOT! I am where I want to be and where Heavenly Father wants me to be, so I need to be happy and grateful daily for even the hardships that are bringing me closer to my dreams.

Changing the World

Wanting to have money is not enough reason to become and entrepreneur. There is so much to it, but one of the biggest reasons to become an entrepreneur is because you want to change the world. We can all change the world in our own ways, but I want to leave my mark for good on the world and society. I want to create and develop ideas that will help others to better their lives and inspire them to want to change the world too. You can change the work right in your own community or you can do it on the other side of the globe, it is your choice and the life on entrepreneurship offers so many options. It really is about what is important to you, and what you can do to help others. I would like to help others to set personal goals and see their personal worth. I would like to help them progress personally and along side of their families. I want to help women to be strong and young girls to see the vision of how wonderful they are and how wonderful they can become. It is really important to help my family and extended family with these things too, and I think that there are a lot of ways that I can do that.

Dream big Dreams

This week I thought a lot about my dreams and if entrepreneurship is really the way to accomplish what I want. Here are some things that I want to have and do with my life: First and foremost I want to be a wonderful wife and a fabulous mother! I want to spend precious time with my children when they are small and I want to teach them and learn with them. I would love to be the one to teach my children to read, even though I know they can learn that at school, I would really love to be the one to teach them. I want to be able to take my children on learning trips and to be able to see the things in the world that we have been studying. If we learn about butterflies, then I will take them to see a butterfly migration, or if they like geology I want to take them to visit some caves. I know a lot of this can be done with any occupation I choose, but money and time are essential to accomplishing some of the things I would really love to do with my family. I also want to spend time with my extended family and have my children get to know all of their cousins and really build strong relationships with family. I think that with a big family like I have this will require a lot of traveling and so I want a business that I can sometimes work on the go. It doesn't have to be all the time, but if I can accomplish a business that will offer me the time and money to do these things I will be happy. It is also really important to me to have a safe, comfortable home to raise my children in and even after they are gone, that they will want to come back often and bring their friends and future families to visit. These are some of the goals and dreams that are most important to me.

Week 10 - Journal

This week I learned a lot about the value of money and how it can be used for good in my life. I think that money is only a tool and it can be used for good or bad, so managing my money is important to me. I want money to bee a tool that I use to better my life and those who are around me including my family, friends, and all those I know who are sick, hungary, captive, or needful in other ways. These are some of the things that I learned this week that have most impacted me: So if you want to prosper: (from Brother Gibson's talk at BYUI) 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, as 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. Also this scripture about the talents: 29. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. I also thought this was important to note: Brigham Young said. "...if we are the people of God, we are to be the richest people on the earth....I am ashamed to see the poverty that exists among the Latter-day Saints. They ought to be worth millions and millions." JD 17:43-44 I think that money does not buy happiness, but what can bring happiness is a life of helping others, personal learning and progression, and creating something meaningful that will help others. This is what I enjoyed about the Life Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness article: "finding the Hero’s Journey you were meant to live requires you to lose your preoccupation with yourself. There are at least four ways to do this: First in overcoming challenges; then in relationship; next in gratitude; and finally, by connecting to the transcendent." "A calling is finding that special place where your most precious gifts allow you to do something you love, in service to others, in a way that changes the world." “How can I create something meaningful for others?” is the right question because it helps others and will change you in a profound way." (LLPH - Actonfoundation.org)

Week 8 - Getting the job done.

This week I learned a lot about myself and I know exactly where I need to focus my attention in order to move to the next step of becoming a great entrepreneur. I need to work on getting the little things done. Sometimes the little steps in a process seem to feel like an annoyance to me and I really have a hard time getting them done. I like to be the big picture person and come up with great ideas that then other people work on the little steps. I learned this week that the little steps are really important and I need to stop asking questions like "why should I do this" or "is this really important", and stop making excuses to myself and allowing myself to procrastinate the unpleasant things in my business. I just t=need to jump in and get them done. I have realized this week that even if I don't do those little things, they do not go away. They will sit there and hang over me until I complete them, so why not just jump in and get them done as quickly as possible? I know that as I start doing this that I will feel less of a weight on my shoulders because I will have less things to think about on my "to do" list, and I may be able to find time to relax more often.

Week 7 - Challenges

One thing I have realized through the process of owning my own business the last 5 years is that owning my own business is never without problems. There is always something that needs attention and improvement. Owning a business is not just about having other people work for you and make you money, and you get to sit back and relax while the money rolls in. I believe that your business will bring in money according to your efforts. There is always improvement to be done and employees to train and new ideas to develop. So, how do you find the best ways to spend your time and efforts, and get the most out of your resources and time? This week I watched a video called "the five whys" found here: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2296 The ide this video shared was to examine where the root cause of your problems are and then start there and work all the way back up to the evidence of the problem. I liked this concept because it does more than just create a huge list of little things to fix about my business. It helps me to have a real understanding of the problems, and then to be able to choose the best and most effective places to work on. I think this will be really helpful to improve many small things by focusing on a few root problems. Another thing I have been learning about this week that really stuck out to me was the idea that as an entrepreneur I should be asking for help. I have been resistant to this idea in the past and I have wanted to solve my own problems. I am starting to see that I can progress so much faster with a little mentorship and help from others. I had an experience recently that forced me to ask for help in my business. I had resisted this for a very long time, but eventually it came down to a situation where I felt I had no other choice. Luckily I had a family member that was the perfect mentor for my problem and was very willing to help me when I asked him. The problem was not an easy solve, but my mentor put in many hours of his time, and much effort and thought into helping me solve my problem. In the end we got things worked out, but I have learned from this experience that asking for help is a wonderful tool, and I can't let my pride hold me back from progressing.

Week 6 - Whats a business for?

Why should I start a business? What is a business for? The first thing most people would say is "to make money". I think that is part of it, because of course I want my business to be profitable and to be worth my time financially, but there is much more to it than that. Here are some reasons I want to start my business: -I believe that my ideas will make the world a better place. -I want to share my creativity with others. -I want to enjoy life and help others do the same. -I want to spend quality and quantity time with my family. -I want to have plenty of time to devote to my church callings. -I want to be able to help my extended family and my friends when they need help. Whether that is financially, or with my time, or other resources that I can share. -I want to challenge myself and learn as much as I can. I want to continually progress and expand myself. These are the most important reasons that I want to start my own business.

Week 5 - Self Mastery

This weeks reading made me thing about what I am doing to help myself along, and what I am doing that is preventing my own success. I think I can agree that the most difficult challenge for an entrepreneur to overcome is their own short comings and their own doubts. I know that can be true for me, so this week I am thinking about what I do that is sabotaging my own success and how I can turn those things into strengths that can help me along my way. One thing I realized is that I like things to be perfect, and sometimes that holds me back from moving on until I feel that everything is perfectly put together. I don't think this is helpful in business because things are rarely going t be perfect at every step. Movement is the key, so I am going to try to keep movement as a big part of my plan. Move forward even if things aren't exactly the way you want them. They will get better as you learn and progress. Another thing I learned about myself is that I am good at coming up with great ideas, but I would prefer if someone else did the little details for me while I focus on the big picture and direction. I like to be the creative mind behind the ideas, but the follow through down to the details is a challenge for me. I think that noticing these two things this week has been really enlightening for me and will help me to improve the way I do things in the future. Taking notice of weaknesses is the first step to mastering them and turning them into strengths.

Week 4 - Skill, Character, or Luck?

This week I have thought a lot about what it takes to be successful and what things I need to develop in myself. I think that Skill, Character, and Luck all have some part in success, but here is how I would personally rank them and why... #1 Character. This is the idea that you can teach someone how to do something, but you can not change who they are. I think that character is partially something that a person is born with, and partially comes from the experiences of life that the have had and that have shaped them. Character really is who you are, not what you know. You can accomplish a lot if you have strong character and are willing to do what it takes and continue to try and try again. Character is made of things like Determination and Honesty. #2 Skill. The things you know how to do and are able to do well are the skills that you have. Some of these can come naturally as gifts of character, but skills can also be learned. That is why I think skills are important. Anything in the world that you take and interest in and want to learn about, you then have the potential to learn that skill. You may or may not be good at it naturally, but there are many things you can do to strengthen your skills and learning. #3 Luck. By luck I mean the particular circumstances around you that help or harm your chances of success in any particular area. I think that luck has some weight to it, but I do not think it will make or break your success on its own. After all, if you run into some circumstances that are not good for what you are trying to accomplish, maybe you try a different area or different crowd, or different approach. Usually people that "luck" into success loose it pretty fast. That is not truly success to me. I think success is something that you work for and that you build over time.

Lots of Ideas...!

I really learned a lot this week from a video I watched about a 10 things you need for start ups... I won't share all the 10 things, just the ones that I really took note of. One of the things that surprised me was that it was mentioned that you don't need the top of the line furniture and décor. I think this is absolutely true, although I hadn't put it together until hearing this from someone else. It is not as important how you look, as what you do in your business. Customers will be able to tell if you are all for the "show" or if you can provide a great service and effectively help them solve their problems. The second thing that REALLY, REALLY hit me hard was that you need to little money. That's right, too little money. I had to rewind the video a few times because I kept thinking I was sure that he meant the having too little money was the problem. Nope, apparently having too little money is a good thing. Here's why: Having a shortage on cash created a need for urgency and action... if you already have plenty of money, where's the heat? A lack of money created motivation and breed growth, ideas, and creative problem solving. So far in my experiences in business, there has never been a time when I have had more money than I needed, it has always been at least a little bit of a stretch to get by, but I never realized that this was a blessing that was working in my favor. I totally see that now. I have done more and gone farther than I ever thought I could in the beginning of my journey, and that is directly related to being motivated by having "too little money". Weird, but true! The next thing I really liked was that you should have the "pride of a fat baby" (haha, no pride at all). This was something I needed to hear. I know I often holdback from things because they are uncomfortable or I don't particularly want to do them, or I may look silly, but those are all feelings to be left behind if I want to be successful in business. The last idea I want to share that really impacted me this week was having confidence that you will have thousands of great ideas, and not just one great idea. Even giving away some of your great ideas because you are creating a culture where new ideas are expected. I LOVE this concept! The idea that you will continue to progress and that you are not building everything on just one idea.

Week 1

This week I found this advice to be very insightful: "Look around you. Take a fresh, hard, and uncompromising look at life as you see it. Ask this question, 'what needs to be done?' When you have an answer, and it may take some time to get it, then go and do what needs to be done. Do it better than anyone else does it and the world will beat down your door for your help. Then you will not need 'a good job'; and you will have more than a career. You will have a mission." - R. Buckminister Fuller I really like the concept that whatever business I spend my time and energy building is not only for the purpose of earning money. I think that a career and a business should be so much more than that. I think it needs to be. The process of building a business and creating something from your imagination and hard work is not simple or easy. I think that if you start with a mission in mind, then it makes it easier to move with the changes and opportunities as they come, but still remain on course with your original mission. This is another thing I appreciated and learned from this week: "A good leader has more than "vision" - a good leader sees and end point, and then somehow garners sufficient resources around him or herself to work towards that end. What they see may be five years our, but they say, "I've got this vision, and I'm going to keep pushing and pushing until we get to that point". They are always thinking ahead, trying to be two years or so ahead of the rest of the crowd. For me, that defines leadership, but it also defines how you find these opportunities. If you sit back and wait for them to come to you, then every other smart person who's there with you has figured out the same thing. SO you have to try and take a guess at where things are going, and then work backwards from that point." - Haykins I think this also applies to knowing your mission and where the journey needs to be leading you. If you have a mission, there are many ways and many business opportunities that will help to accomplish that mission, but the end goal needs to be the mission you have for yourself and your life.

Hello!

This is the beginning of my journey to become a better entrepreneur. I am excited to expand my mindset and learn more about how to succeed in business. I think I have always had the "Entrepreneurial Spirit", but now I am ready to learn more so that I an do more with the ideas that I have. Something I have been thinking a lot about this week is the difference between doing what you love for a passionate purpose, and doing what you don't love for money. I think that money is an important factor, especially when you have a family to provide for, but I think that doing what you love and know will make a difference in the world is even more important. I don't think it is necessary to choose between doing what you love and doing what pays, I think it is a matter of priorities. I believe that it is truly possible to find a way to make a decent income while doing what I love, although, it may take some creative thinking. That's okay with me, I think I am up for the job. I am hoping that I will begin to understand the key organizational concepts for becoming a successful business owner and entrepreneur so that I can get started executing some of my business ideas.