Week 6

I loved reading “What’s Business For?” by Charles Handy. One thing that stood out to me was when he said currently, major companies treat their employees like liabilities, not assets. I want to make sure that my business never takes advantage of an employee’s time and effort. I want my workers to feel that they belong doing what they are doing, and want to make them love it as possible. My goal is to always keep my perspective as it is now-not as a corporate robot. My whole reason to building my company is to help people in my community and around the world. I don’t want to ever forget that or trade it in for money. Before I forget, I want to mention something I actually learned last week but forgot to include it. During a marketing video, I learned the Japanese word otaku. To me, this means someone being someone totally obsessed with what you’re selling that they are willing to tell everyone they know about you. These are the people I want to market to-not the most common person in my area. I really enjoyed answering the mentor questions from reading “So You Want To Be An Entrepreneur” this week. I used my imagination and created a little future business in my head. It was so nice to forget about all of the technical aspects of building a business and focus on the fun stuff. 

Week 5

This week I read Success Is Gauged by Self-Mastery by N. Eldon Tanner. There are so many things that stood out me, and I feel that the best way I can remember my thought are through sharing some provoking quotes. In the future, whenever I may be feeling down or inadequate as an entrepreneur, I’m going to force myself to read, “I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—and I will be heard!” (William Lloyd Garrison, Salutory Address of the Liberator, 1 Jan. 1831.) What an inspiring speech! It motivates me to never give up and work hard-no matter what. During this course, we have read many different articles on how to balance family life and career life. While both things are very important, I feel that this quote (also from Tanner) gives us the perfect advice. He said, “If you wish to achieve financial success, if you wish to be happy, if you wish to be healthy, if you would be morally clean, if you wish to find religious peace of mind, there is only one sure way, and that is the straight and narrow path—the way of honor, the way of industry, of moderation, simplicity, and virtue.” It is so simple if you think about it, if you keep to the straight and narrow path, we will be taken care of. Lastly, I’d like to write down the most important lesson I learned from the Rich Dad Poor Dad video. He drew a diagram of the difference between broke, middle class, and rich people. Broke people receive income then spend it. Middle class people receive income, create liabilities (house, car), then spend money. Rich people receive income, create assets, and then spend money. What a great guide to live by!

Week 4

I really enjoyed this week’s reading about Erica Mills. I appreciated learning about an entrepreneur that is caught between being a full-time business person and a full-time mother. I, and I’m sure many other women in the class, could relate to the decisions she had to make. All of the reading has been inspiring thus far in the course, but those have all been about men who are able to dedicate their careers to pursuing the things they want to accomplish. That isn’t very realist for a woman, like me, who wants to dedicate her life to her family, as well as start a business. It’s just different. I also enjoyed answering the questions from the book “So You Want to be an Entrepreneur”. I was able to take time and think about who I am and what I want in life. The ten characteristics of successful entrepreneurs gave me courage to pursue my career in business. At first, I didn’t think I had that many traits in common with successful business people, but I learned that all you need is: Courage, Vision, Confidence, Action, Persistence, Dedication, Faith, Communication, Integrity and Adaptability. I then realized that if I work on all of these traits, one at a time, I could eventually exhibit them all! I’m excited to see where that book will take me and how my answers will change over the course of the chapters. I would like to share a quote so I don’t forget it, Mark Twain said, “All you need is ignorance and confidence and the success is sure.”

Week 3

We’ve read and watched a few videos about living your life in a way that will make you the happiest, at least that it what stood out to me. The video “Do What You Love” outlined what we should be doing with our lives when he explained ‘the three circles’. He talked about balancing our lives and career between doing something that you’re good at, something that you’re born to do, and something that someone will pay you for. If you hit all three of these circles right in the center, I believe that you would have a happier career and personal life. This week, I learned a very important lesson about myself and what I want to do with my life. I lived in the UK with my husband for a year and a half and never had the chance to visit any family or friends. I was rarely even able to call anyone! Right before I started this new online semester at BYUI, we moved back to California and we are constantly around (most of) my family. It has been great, but I realized this week that I have been putting work over some people dearest to me. I have always been very close to my sister, who lives in Utah. Since I’ve been back, she has called me multiple times, but I have always cut the conversation short because I was either on my way to one of my two jobs or doing homework. I promised myself that I never want to be so busy that I forget who and what is most important for me. I know that there are times in life where you need to work even harder than usual, but what is the point in working so hard, for whatever reason, when you can’t even spend time with the ones you love? In the article “How Will You Measure Your Life?”, Clayton Christensen said that he always made time to have breakfast and dinner with his family. What a great example this is to me! Family is first, so I should act like it!