The Last Lecture

Looking back on this semester I can see enormous growth in myself and the knowledge I have of entrepreneurship and what it takes to start a business. Considering the things that I have learned, if I were to have one opportunity to speak with someone who was wanting to embark on the entrepreneurial journey I would offer something along the lines of the following advice:

1.       Read “So You Want to be an Entrepreneur” by Jon Gillespie-Brown. I read this book throughout the semester and among the books that I have read on the topic of business and entrepreneurship, it is the most insightful. From performing the introspective activities in this book, I was able to determine that I am currently not in a place in my life where starting a business is feasible or a good idea. Sure there are lots of people that are starting businesses that are in the same stage of life as me, but I have learned that everyone paves their own road and I place more value on my familial relationships right now than on creating a successful business. I believe that all budding entrepreneurs should spend some time with Brown evaluating is starting a business really is what’s right for them.

2.       I would also say that they should develop a mission statement. This kind of document that declares what is important to you as a person and entrepreneur will be a guiding light when things aren't going according to plan and you are forced to make difficult decisions.

3.    I would also encourage these new entrepreneurs to develop a group of trusted advisors that can offer advice and insight. I found it really hard to take myself and my opinions out of the equation when developing the business plan. As the creator, of course I thought that the idea was great and it would make me rich but that doesn’t mean that it will. It can be really hard to maintain a proper perspective when developing the business and having eyes from the outside look at what you are doing and offer advice will be invaluable. I do believe that it will save lots of time and effort and potentially money as the business progresses.

4.    Lastly, I would remind these entrepreneurs that success in business is wonderful, but success in the family is what will really make you happy. How unfortunate is would be to launch a venture, experience incredible success, and then be all alone when you go home at night. Certainly a new business will require an enormous amount of effort, but don’t put forth so much of your personal resources that there is nothing left for those that matter most. Always make time for your spouse and family and no matter how successful you are or aren't, they will be there with you. 

Faulty Career Assumptions

Everything that I’m thinking about right now comes from a short video we watched for the course this week that was an excerpt from a lesson being given by Stan Christensen who is a professor at Stanford and a partner at Arbor Advisors. He talks about assumptions that are commonly made that lead people in the wrong direction. This was an incredibly timely lesson for me since a couple of days ago I was approached with the possibility of moving to a different department of the company I work for. In the last few days I have actually thought several of the things he points out as faulty so this was really helpful. You can watch the short video here.

The first assumption he dismisses is the thought that you should take a job because it’s a résumé builder. How do you know what a future employer will want to see on there? Choose to take a job because you want to, not because you think someone else will like that you took it. I had this exact thought earlier this week and hearing him talk about it made me reevaluate the decision I was leaning towards to make sure I was doing it because I wanted to, not because it would bolster my experience in the eyes of others.

Another thought that I had this week that he strikes down is the idea that we all should be specializing in something. I have developed a pretty strong skillset while I’ve been in the position I currently hold and have some data to prove that my methods are really effective. As I’ve developed these skills, I’ve thought about continuing on this path and then eventually leaving to offer these same skills to another company. What Christensen says here though is that instead of going with the trend of specialization we should be a generalist. And here’s why: 1) you don’t want to be stuck doing the same thing for the rest of your life (which it true, I don’t). If I become the best in the world at what I do, I will be doing only that. 2) There is a danger that the skills you specialize in will become irrelevant and obsolete, and that’s a scary thought. As I thought about this principle in the context of my current situation, I knew that a change would be right for me. I have developed some good skills in the area of digital marketing, but putting all my eggs in that basket could be pretty risky. Are we still going to be using twitter in 15 years? Maybe, but chances are technology will take us a different direction and my skills will be much less applicable.

Overall, this was the perfect video for me this week and I would recommend it to anyone who is currently faced with a career change/modification decision. It can really help you gain some perspective.

Adversity and Optimism

Thinking back on the things that we have done this week, I’m struck by a couple key things; number one is the ability to come out of and learn important lessons from adversity; number two is the ability to be optimistic. I think these two principles correlate very well and so let’s explore them a little bit.

This week I wrote a report on Steve Jobs and the difficulty that he faced in his career. Many people don’t know much about his professional trials since he started an incredibly successful company at the age of 21. But in 1985 after spending over a decade of building Apple, he was asked to leave. I honestly don’t know how I would deal with being fired by the CEO that I personally courted and hired as well as the board of directors that was full of my personal mentors. What a hit that must have been. But he learned from it and later identified it as one of the most necessary and important points in his life. He became more creative and more entrepreneurial. The things that he learned would prove invaluable when he returned to Apple in 1997. He would go on to build apple into a tech juggernaut that is currently the most valuable company in the world by market cap. I hope that I can always remember to keep a proper perspective and learn as much as possible from my adversity.

Along those same lines, our Acton hero this week was Tom Nall and one of his key points in the video was being able to be optimistic. He said, “I’m a lot like the guy that jumped off the Empire State Building. About half-way down he said, ‘so far so good!’” I was excited to hear him talk like that about optimism because I often think I may be too optimistic and am not thinking rationally. But I now see that the ability to be optimistic might just be the key to learning from adversity. If you are wallowing in sorrow over some happening in your life, you likely aren’t open to learning from the situation. I think that fostering my optimism will only bring the ability to better handle trials as opposed to creating weakness.

And…drum roll please…the $100 challenge is over.  Boy was it a learning experience. In the end, literally on last Saturday night, I met with a guy who owns some driving schools who was looking for email help. We chatted for quite a while and I gave him some initial pointers, for which he paid me. He implemented these now we are waiting to see how things go. With the changes we made, I’m confident that he will be very pleased with the results. So, all told, I made my $100 profit and had one very scary, very educational, entrepreneurial experience.

The 'Ole Family Business: Opportunity or Feud-starter?

Discussing family businesses was great for me this week. My parents own their own business and I worked for them for a couple of years. I also managed a restaurant which was family owned which showed me a different side of the family-owned business equation. From the experiences I have had and from the readings this week, I have learned that having a family owned business is great and provides a lot of awesome opportunities to the entrepreneur as well as his or her family members.

Along with these benefits of having a family business comes the increased challenges of combining family members and business operations. I really appreciated the insight that StartupNation brought this week and their 12 Steps to Family Business Success. In the end though, what became apparent to me is that most people probably see family businesses as more difficult to run because they are harder to run like a business. Whether its family owned or not, it's still a business and needs to be run like one. The challenge comes from having to fire your cousin or reduce your mother's pay.

This week I'm walking away with a new appreciation for family business. Honestly, I was one of those people that said I would never hire a family member; it complicates things too much. From the assignments I have gained the tools and knowledge to better prepare to own a family business if the opportunity presents itself. At least now I won't run from it.

As for the $100 challenge, it all rests on a phone call this evening. We had a call scheduled for Thursday night but it got bumped back to tonight because my contact was caught in meetings. I am learning some very important lessons from this experience, namely no matter how great you think your idea is it can be hard to sell, at least initially. If I really were relying on this income to support my family I would be completely stressed. But on the other hand, if I was relying on this as my income I would be doing it full-time which I currently can't do so I would have been able to dedicate a lot more time to customer acquisition. But no matter what, I certainly have felt at least a tiny portion of the stress that comes from being personally responsible for the success of a company.  

Muhammad Yunus and the Motivation of a Business

I can’t stop thinking about the principles and ideas I was  exposed to through Muhammad Yunus' commencement address at BYU. I have taken several economics classes and have studied the principles and theories of many different economists but none that I am aware of have the humanitarian vision of Mr. Yunus. He has made it his life's work to eradicate poverty from the earth and has gone about it in a way that no one else before him had. He isn't running from country to country supporting socialism and the redistribution of wealth nor is he developing an elaborate charity that simply hands out money, food, and clothes. Instead he created a micro-lending bank that gives loans to impoverished people, empowering them to pull themselves from poverty. 

As I read his words, everything he was saying rang perfectly true to me. One quote in particular will stick with me forever: "If we are not achieving something, my first suspicion will fall on the intensity of our desire to achieve it." Man that is powerful to me. His example was that we went to the moon. For goodness sake if we can put a guy on the moon can't we reduce poverty rates? Certainly. We just haven't put enough passion and resources behind making it happen. 

I would love to be able to find an opportunity to supply a need to people that would give them the tools to change their situation. I think running a business with the sole purpose of improving the human condition really resonates with millions of people, making them likely to participate in or buy a product or service. That kind of story will trump a profit-driven business any day. If someone has an idea of a way to put something like this into action, I'm all ears. Until then, I'm searching for that opportunity.

Franchising

This week we discussed a lot of the aspects of franchising and what goes into starting a franchise. For a couple years I managed a casual dining restaurant that was a franchise so studying some of these other areas of franchising was really interesting to me.

The main thing that I learned this week in relation to franchising was the fact that I’m probably not cut out for the role of franchisee. I completely understand the kinds of controls and processes that companies have to put in place when they are franchising because it is their name on the building. If a particular restaurant is very poor, a customer is likely to assume that all other restaurants from that brand are going to be the same way. So, I totally get it. They need to protect themselves and the brand they have developed. All of those regulations however make owning a franchise much like working for someone else and a lot less like owning your own company. I think if I’m going to go out on the entrepreneurial limb, it will be in a way that I have more control over and that doesn’t require me to take 5-10% off of the top of my sales to pay in royalties.

I am really in a corner with the $100 challenge. Every lead has fallen through, and my company still has $0 in sales. My last and only hope is a company in Washington that is owned by a friend of my uncle. I have a call with him late tonight and am praying that it works out. Otherwise, I have fallen face-first on this project.

Money

One of the most poignant and thought-provoking exercises that we have done all semester (at least in my opinion) was the one I just finished. The reading was a talk given my Stephen W. Gibson called "Attitude on Money." He discusses money in a way that for some reason is quite rare in the church. He specifically states that money is important and a proper view of it will lead to greater prosperity and thus the ability to bless more people.

Reflecting on that was really beneficial to me. I learned a lot about myself and what I want to accomplish in this life, both professionally and personally. Like i said in my reflections on the assignment, I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon for a very long time. What I came to realize though was I would be trading off a significant amount of family time for med school and eventually long hours at the hospital. The money that would accompany such a lifestyle just wasn't the kind of thing I was looking for and so I changed directions.

I have learned that I have developed a view of money that I certainly didn't have a couple of years ago. I view the accumulation of wealth as a stewardship granted by God to certain men and women and each will be held accountable for the way in which they dealt with the assets found in their control. I do have an earnest desire to acquire wealth to allow me to support my family, give generously to the church, and to then search for ways to bless others with the money my Heavenly Father has granted to me. I picture that has a perfect life and in that way, believe money just might be able to buy happiness, you just have to be shopping for the right things.

Inspiration and Panic

I normally wait until the end of the week to write in my journal so that I have a complete perspective of the course content for the week. What I have noticed is that I also save the Acton hero videos for the end of the week (they're one of my favorite parts of the course) and so my journal often reflects principles I picked up from those videos. This week is no different.

The videos from Catherine Rohr and Corey Bell were really inspirational to me. They both had totally changed the direction they were taking in life and were continually motivated by a desire and drive to help others. It makes me want to be like that. I certainly don't feel like I'm a bad person, but I do tend to look inward (not just at myself but also my family) first because I’m concerned about meeting all of our needs. I really do hope that one day I will be in a position to serve my fellowman; to extend a helping hand to someone who is having a rough time. I do see the resources that God has blessed me with as a stewardship and I know that when I stand before him he will ask what I did with it. I hope that I can maintain my current perspective throughout my life and will be able to say that I did what he would have done, were he in the situations I was. That will be a very satisfying and fulfilling day.

On the topic of my $100 challenge, I’m in panic mode. I think this feeling I’m having is similar to the one I would be having if I really were relying on the income from a start-up I was running to support my family and the money just wasn't coming in. The company that I had contact with this week turned out to be looking for something different than what I am offering. They didn't really have any email campaigns established and so they have no way to track the performance of an email if we were to send one. I agreed to meet with them again and go over some of the key learnings that have come out of my last two years of testing emails, but that will be a much longer project than this assignment will allow for. So, basically, I have no clients and only one week to round up some revenue…yes, I’m panicking.     

The Dip and Becoming

This week was an interesting one, lead off by the completion and reflection upon the book The Dip by Seth Godin. This book took me a little off guard, especially in the beginning when I didn't yet know much about the premise of the book. But ultimately, the book is about quitting. It’s about learning to quit the right things at the right times. It also gives advice and pointers on identifying when you are quitting for the wrong reasons and are making a bad decision.

I also really liked the principle Godin taught about the cul-de-sac. This “dead end” is when you find yourself in a job that’s going nowhere. There is nowhere to grow and you’re bored. Godin says that for a person with drive and talent, you can’t afford to waste your time and energy at a job that isn't taking you anywhere. You could be learning and growing at an incredible pace if you would just get out of the one that’s holding you back and go find the job you were meant to do.

I felt like this also had similar notes to Elder Oakes' talk “The Challenge to Become.” He emphasizes the importance of not just doing but becoming that which we should be. He used an awesome parable about a man who had amassed a large fortune in his life through diligent work and an honest living. He knew that he could not simply pass it all on to his son because his son did not yet have the knowledge and experience to handle the inheritance wisely. So, the father told his son he could only have the inheritance once he had become the man that the father is. To help him in his journey he gave him all of the rules and principles upon which he had patterned his life and gained his knowledge and wisdom. The son was then able to live as the father had and learn as he had, to eventually become as he was and receive the inheritance.

Obviously this has direct application to our eternal progression and made me think a lot about how our Heavenly Father created this whole plan so that we could learn and grow in the exact same way that he did so we could eventually become like him and inherit all that he has.

Relating this all back to the cul-de-sac, if we aren't becoming that which we desire to eventual be, what are we doing it for? If we aren't growing and developing into the kind of person and employee we want to be, then we need to move on to something else. We are wasting valuable time, wading in the knee deep waters of mediocrity when we should be swimming in the profound pools of progression.

It's all about the people

The importance of people was the key topic this week, and I found it very compelling. There was so much data behind the idea that the quality of people in an organization is often more important to its success than the products or services that the business offers.

In one of the readings there was a quote that basically said, an excellent idea in the hands of a mediocre team will flounder and fail but a mediocre idea in the hands of an excellent team is much, much more likely to succeed. I think that’s why VC's so often are just as much if not more interested in the person behind the venture as the venture itself.

This principle was supported by the jetBlue case we studied which highlighted the high level of importance jetBlue places on the management of human resources. I don’t think that jetBlue would be anywhere near as successful as they are if they didn't strive to have and keep the very best people available.

Looking into the future, these are lessons that I have to remember. I have always placed a very high value on people, but for me it was more intuitive than anything. Here we have many examples of why the people in a company is so important. I definitely will come back to these articles and cases in the future to glean and relearn what was taught.

As for my $100 Challenge, I had another small victory. The company that I was referred to and referenced last week has agreed to sit down with me via Skype to talk about the goals of their email communications. This isn’t quite an agreement to compensate me for consulting services, but it is more of an interview for both of us to see if I can really help them in the areas where they are struggling. So, while by consulting business is still without a customer, I’m very optimistic that this one will work out. As long as they are looking for the kind of help that I can provide.

Garcia

This week reunited me with one of my favorite readings/articles of all time. It’s a story put together by the Acton Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence called “A Message to Garcia.” The premise of the story is that President McKinley needed to get a message to General Garcia who was somewhere in the mountains of Cuba, no one was quite sure where. The president asked a guy named Rowan to take the message to Garcia. To quote the story, “Rowan took McKinley’s letter, ‘sealed it in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle and in three weeks came out on the other side of the island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter to Garcia.’”

The purpose of Acton’s telling of the story is to illustrate the qualities that rowan possessed. He didn't ask for a map to Cuba, he didn't ask the president for a boat to get there, and he didn't spend months calling together a task-force to develop the best plan to get the letter to Garcia; he just went and did.

The first time I read this which was a few years ago, it really was transformative. I feel that I am quite capable to accomplish most of the tasks given to me, but in an effort to meet the expectations of the person giving me the task, I asked a lot of questions. I wanted to know the format they wanted it in, the specific details they wanted highlighted, or maybe even the number of pages that the final report should be. “A Message to Garcia” helped me to see that immense value most people find in a person that is willing to take general instruction and then just go do it. In fact, this kind of direction is often more effective because the person carrying out the task has the ability to accomplish it as they see fit. It can lead to more creative solutions and often increases efficiencies. I’m glad that I came across this article again and will definitely be saving it for future use. 

Leadership

I spent a lot of time this week reading about leadership and what it means to be a good leader. One of the articles that I read took a really interesting look at leadership, examining the Savior and his leadership style which I thought was really insightful. From that article I took a lot of great nuggets of truth and some ideas of what I can do to be a more Christ-like and thus a more effective leader. 

The big piece that I want to record in this entrepreneurial journal is the importance of leading by serving next to those that work for you. When I think about the best leaders I know, they always take time to understand those following them. What better way to see what they see and feel what they feel than to roll up your sleeves and work right there beside them? I can't think of one.   

I had an exciting day in relation to my $100 challenge this week. I got connected with a small company in Washington that is having trouble with their email campaigns. The owner is friends with my parents and was referred to me by them. I spoke with him on the phone two days ago and he seems quite interested. It isn't a firm yes, but it’s the closest I've gotten so far!

You don't know everything, but just keep going

There were a couple of key topics from this week’s lesson that really stuck out to me; one from Elder Holland’s talk excerpt called “Good things to Come” and one from the Acton Hero video series which featured Heath Bradley.

Elder Holland gave some great advice that I couldn't help but associate with and feel that I will continue to need in future years. I have a young family with a wife, a two year-old boy and little girl due in 4 months. I am trying to finish up school and excel at a full-time job in marketing. I do love the life that I have and feel incredibly blessed, but sometimes I can’t help but feel like I’m driving Elder Holland’s old car whose radiator keeps blowing. It can be hard to see the future and the wonderful things that are in store for my family. His words, “Don’t you stop. Just keep walking” really were straight to me.

The piece that I really enjoyed from Mr. Bradley’s interview was the part about coming down off the roof. He had gotten into some trouble as a 12 year-old and his mother sent him up there to fix the leaky roof. He had no idea how to fix a roof and didn't know what to do. He eventually saw that he needed to come down off of that roof to get help from someone else. He went on to talk about the fact that an entrepreneur needs to stop being concerned about looking silly for asking a simple question and just ask! You don’t have to be the expert on every topic; you can surround yourself with knowledgeable people who can help you make decisions. He finished the thought by saying, “Life is about the amount of knowledge you can gain, not the amount you can give.” I think that’s really good advice. Always be learning. 

Virtue and its relation to a fulfilled life

Listening to Bud Brigham talk about the life that he has lead and the experiences he has had was really interesting to me. When he discussed his youth and family life growing up, I thought about how that could have really been a setback. His father died of alcoholism when he was 19, leaving him as the oldest child of a fatherless family and without any kind of a role model. It made me very grateful for the family that i did have growing up and the wonderful examples of fathers and husbands in my life.

While talking about life, he mentioned that through a study of philosophy he came to understand that it was a virtuous thing for him to become the best version of himself that it was possible to be. I hadn't ever connected those thoughts before, but it makes complete sense. Changing to a more spiritual line of thought, the best version of myself would certainly be very Christ-like. Christ-like living is most certainly virtuous and leads to many other blessings and future rewards. I have a renewed commitment to become the best "me" that I can be, for both me and my family.

As far as my $100 challenge goes, this week was a little disappointing. I've been really excited about the project for many weeks now and this was my first slump. I made virtually no headway with any of the potential clients I have contacted and thus am no closer to starting this business. I did have possible lead-generating conversations with a couple of co-workers who said they would mention my project to a few friends who owned businesses, so that's the silver lining on the week. Hopefully there will be wonderful things to report next week, like my first client.

Capability

This week we had to watch a video by Carla Fiorina which was an excerpt from a speech she gave to a group of students at Stanford University. The piece that we watched was a discussion on capability and what it can mean in relation to leadership. She said that capability can mean you have skills, extensive knowledge, or a resume filled will great work experience. But what she says is often one of the most important aspects of capability in leadership is the willingness and ability to ask "why."

I thought quite a bit about what she had to say and how it pertains to me and my situation, both current and future. This morning I was reading in the Lorenzo Snow manual we are using in elder's quorum this year. In the chapter I was studying, president Snow was talking about doing what the Lord would have you do. In there he told the story of Jeremiah being called to serve the Lord. Jeremiah was hesitant and questioned whether the Lord had the right guy. The Savior's response was, "Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee." Thinking about this in relation to leadership, most of us will be asked to lead one organization or another; be it at church or in the professional world or even simply as a father and husband in our own families. I think there will be several times when I will feel like Jeremiah and question whether the Lord called the right number; whether his lines got crossed when he asked me to do this thing. But how comforting to have the knowledge that was personally given to Jeremiah; "Son, don't worry. I know who you really are, even if you still don't. Trust me. We will do this together."

I am so comforted that no matter how incapable I may feel and no matter the task I am asked to step up to, the great God of the universe believes I can do it. That is all the confidence I need.  

Phil Romano and the Elevator Pitch

There were a lot of different activities this week that opened my eyes to a lot of various skills and knowledge that is needed to start a business. I certainly knew that starting a business wasn’t easy and that it would require a large amount of my time and monetary resources, but there is just so much that someone has to understand to help mitigate the risks associated with entrepreneurship.

I really liked the advice and comments from the Acton Hero, Phil Romano. He said that when you are starting a business, you have to focus in on a market need and build a business around that need. It seems that there are a lot of businesses that start without ever asking if anyone even wants their product or service. They want to be their own boss and make some good money in the process. Unfortunately they don’t do either for very long (if at all). Phil emphasized the fact that if you will meet a need, you will never have to worry about profits. You will make twice as much as the guy who is just trying to sell something.

The elevator pitch was also a really good activity for me. Having to describe the value of your business in less than 2 minutes is tough and you have to really get down to your business’ value proposition. What is it that makes you so special? Why would people buy from you instead of from your competitors? Then being able to hear what classmates (and potential customers) had to say is great. Something can make complete sense in your head but is pure confusion to everyone else, so getting that feedback is important. Honestly, I think that the elevator pitch activity should be a part of the very earliest stages of venture creation to ensure that you and everyone else understand why it is you are pursuing the business.

My $100 Challenge business is going well. I have been able to contact a few more potential customers, but I still haven’t landed that first customer. I’m in the process of putting together a modified resume to provide to these potential clients, so they don’t think I’m just some crazy kid who wants to mess with their email campaigns. I think this will help lend credibility to the business. 

Perspective and Stewardship

This week was full of words and advice from great leaders. There were a couple of things in particular that have caused me to reflect and ponder; the idea of correct perspective, and the idea that we don't own, only have stewardship over our assets.

Perspective, in my opinion has less to do with where you are standing and much more to do with where you are looking. Two people standing in nearly identical places and have entirely different perspectives on what was seen. The idea that eternal perspective is vital to our temporal happiness really struck a chord with me this week. The knowledge that the way I perceive the world is correct and that these perceptions will hold true for eternity brings me a real sense of peace.

The topics we read from the BYU Finance department were great, particularly the view of the material things we are blessed with. Pulling in the principle of perspective, it becomes much easier to utilize our material wealth for good when we realize that we do not own it, it belongs to God, and that he has simple given us stewardship over these resources. Then, looking into the future when we will stand before God, he will ask us how our stewardship performed under our direction; how we used the resources that were given to us. I think it is much easier for me to look for ways to bless others with by blessings when I see those blessings for what they really are. God gave them to me, so why not share them with others?  

Stewardship and Setbacks

One of the parts of entrepreneurship that my eyes were opened to this week was the responsibility that comes with being the steward over money. If you are running a company, you are the one that has to make sure everyone gets paid for the work they do, that the electricity and your vendors get paid, and that you are putting your company in a place financially to last, even through difficult times. That really is a big deal and a big burden to bear.

I have decided to pursue an email optimization consulting business as my $100 challenge. I have reached out to family members and friends for possible leads that I could pursue to get the company going. Since I'm just offering my time, my start-up costs are nothing and I hope that will provide me with stellar profits; however, I have to sell my services to someone first!

I also wanted to make note of one of the things I liked from Dr. Deshpande. He said, "Setbacks are a way to expand your comfort zone." I found that to be incredibly profound and I'm not sure I have even processed it entirely yet. But I want to remember it later, so I'm making note of it here.

The Hero's Journey

I'm still reeling a little bit from the video of a talk Jeff Sandefer, Founder of Acton MBA in Entrepreneurship, gave at BYU-Idaho. It took me 45 minutes to watch a 22 minute video because I had to keep stopping it to reflect on and write down different things that he was saying as well as thoughts that were coming to my mind as he spoke. There are two specific things that stuck with me from his talk; his joke about God and the "wise person" quote.

The joke about God illustrates how pride can show up in our lives and helps to realign our thought processes with those we have during rational, humble times. The joke goes, "Do you know the biggest difference between you and God? God never pretends he's you." For me, that is such a succinct way to remind myself where my blessings come from and to whom I owe it all. As soon as I start to feel like I'm pretty big stuff, I have to remember the origin of my gifts that make me good at what I'm doing. This is one of the pieces that I wrote down and will keep around forever.

The wise person quote goes like this, "A wise person does at once what a foolish person does at last." Sandefer followed that up by saying, that both people did the same thing, they just did it at different times; which are you? Timing really is everything and missing the moment when a task should be completed or an opportunity should be seized makes you foolish. As an entrepreneur, there is so much to learn from this; as a person there may be even more.

A Week of Revelations

I was really influenced this week by the story of Tom Monaghan. His willingness to give up everything that he had built with Domino's pizza (which was an enormous fortune) so that he could overcome what he perceived as his biggest sin, pride. As I reflected on his story and some of the others like the Boston Duck Tours, I pondered on what my motivations would be going into business, whether as an entrepreneur or in the corporate arena. I haven't entirely determined what my biggest motivator is, because honestly, it's hard for me to say that money isn't a significant motivator since I currently don't have much. But I feel that deep down, I want to be able to help people. I want to be able to support causes that I feel are important and back politicians that support those same causes. This has definitely been the most influential week for me thus far.

Also, just a quick update on my $100 challenge business: I have decided to start an email optimization consulting business. I currently work for Melaleuca in Marketing Operations with the primary role of managing Marketing Communication. With the implementation of several specific strategies, I have seen the click-through rate of the emails I manage increase more than 40% and open rates increase 50%. I have received certifications from Marketing Sherpa and MECLabs for email optimization and feel as though I can take the principles I have learned and help other businesses get better performance out of their emails and thus, more conversions. I have been in contact with several relatives and friends who own or work for companies that could possibly benefit from better email performance and am excited at the response I have received. I feel as though this will be a good venture because there is no start-up cost and I can charge reasonable fee for my knowledge. Hopefully it will convert into impressive revenues and thus the opportunity to give to a person in need.

The Journey

Reading the case about Magdalena Yesil brought home a lot of the things that I am reading and learning about in Hoffman's The Start-Up of You. Hoffman talks at great length about how a person's career must be viewed as a business if it is to achieve the kind of success the individual would like to enjoy. In this case, I got to see how some of Hoffman's principles apply to reality and how effective they can be. Yesil never took a position and just stagnated, like a failing business. She was constantly striving for more knowledge, more external insight, and more opportunity. Treating her career like a business lead her to incredible success.

I also liked how the Yesil case, at least in my interpretation of it, coincided with Sister Dew's remarks about integrity. It seemed to me the Magdalena was true to herself and what she stood for. She didn't care much about what people had to say when she was young and determined to move to the US and pursue a career there. What an important lesson for everyone to learn. In the end you really only have to answer to yourself and God; others are probably just concerned about the temporal implications of your actions. So as long as you personally are okay with a particular decision and you are also willing to discuss it honestly with God, it's probably an okay alternative.

A quick thought from the Bruce Thompson interview

What stuck out to me the most from the interview with Bruce Thompson was the emphasis he placed on the relationships in his life. Sometimes when I hear successful people say that money isn't that important I think, “Well that’s easy for you to say, you have it! You don’t have to worry about finances and can spend more time developing the relationships with the people that are close to you.” But I believe Bruce. I know that people are the most important “things” I can have in my life and Bruce reminded me of that. Money is great to have around but it sure is a boring companion.  

With this week coming to a close, I have hundreds of thoughts running through my head. Along with B183 The Entrepreneurial Journey, I have several other classes that focus on entrepreneurship or new ventures and it's almost too much to take in. That's where I hope this journal will come in handy. I can use it to sort through all of the random topics and tidbits that float through my mind during the week.

The readings this week included "A Disciple Preparation Center" and "Your Whole Souls as an Offering to Him" by David A. Bednar.  Both are great talks for discussing or studying personal growth and becoming a more faithful disciple of the Savior. I was particularly affected by Elder Bednar's description of BYU-Idaho as a disciple preparation center and it made me ponder on the question of whether I was treating it as such. I came to realize that I viewed BYU-Idaho much more as a university than I did as a place that would prepare me for a life of faithful service and love for the Lord. I will now more fully participate in the opportunities that are granted me while I'm here to build a life-long faith in Jesus Christ.

How important it is as an entrepreneur to have your life and values built on the foundation of the Savior with an eternal perspective guiding you. Temporal goals bring temporal results. Eternal goals bring saving results.