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!

Week 2

This week was all about honestly and business ethics! So many things stood out to me during my studies and I am re-dedicating myself to always being honest in my life and dealings with other people. In my previous point of view, I pictured “businessmen” as slimy car dealers who rip honest people off. Obviously this was a terrible perspective, but I am so glad that I have made a full turn around. There are so many great business people in the world today, many of whom are completely trustworthy. I’m blessed to be able to learn about so many examples of what I want to be during my time in this class. “Making a Living and a Life” by Lynn G. Robbins must be one of the best business related devotionals I have read. I loved how he talked about the primary motivations of different sorts of people. The one that I want to be is A: Having a love for God and fellowmen before money. This reminds me of the scripture Jacob 2:18-19, “Before you seek for riches, seek the kingdom of God.  And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good.” If we seek God before riches, we will be taken care of. It may not be in the ways that we expect, but we will be blessed. Lastly, I enjoyed the video by Jan Newman. He spoke about having “skin in the game”. If we do not fully commit ourselves to our business or goals, it will take much longer to succeed. He taught me to always treat money as my own and, very importantly, take risks!

Week 1

It is rare that I have such an inspiring week of lessons as I did this week. In Randy Haykin: The Making of an Entrepreneur, he talked briefly about failing and how it is inevitable. The e-corner video, Treat Life As an Experiment also talked about “fail forward” and learning from your mistakes. This week I have made a huge mistake that has definitely taught me a lot about myself and this class. Being the first real week of classes, I decided to do all of my homework for my Entrepreneurial Journey class on Saturday, today, which it is all due. I really cheated myself. Even though I did take the time to read and watch everything, I didn’t have a chance to ponder the material throughout the week. I seriously regret this because I fell in love with every video and article that I read, and I was so rushed that I couldn’t fully enjoy the things that I was learning. So my first lesson: Leave time to enjoy and ponder the lessons of my own entrepreneurial journey.

As I stated, everything was such an inspiration to me this week. But I feel that I got the most from, “What is your Calling in Life?" - BYU Devotional by Jeffery Thompson. I realized that I should look out for my calling in life, and make whatever calling I hold, the calling of my life. Everyone always says, “Don’t get a job for money”, but I never believed that it could be that easy. We live in a world where we need money. But after this speech, I truly believe that can be happy, successful and well-off if we do what we love and trust in Heavenly Father.

I have a new favorite quote by Randy Pausch, “The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” What an inspiration! I hope to never forget this quote. I’m pretty sure that I am going to frame this. This has taught me to change my perspective about what I can and cannot do. No one is trying to stop me from getting that perfect job, or getting into the best school, they are trying to stop everyone else who don’t want it badly enough.

Week 0

I just finished my first week in the Entrepreneur Journey class and it went great! I especially enjoyed the LDS Perspective section where I was able to read A Disciple Preparation Center and Your Whole Souls as an Offering Unto Him by Elder David A. Bednar. I was able to gain a deeper appreciation for Brigham Young University-Idaho, the curriculum, faculty and peers. I am thankful to have the opportunity to study at this “temple of learning” and will try my best to put their advice to practice as I go through this class. I also benefited from the clip Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow by Guy Kawasaki. I’m pleased that we were instructed to watch this clip early on in the semester because it made me think of why I want to start a business. This made me more certain that I am going into the business industry for the right reasons; I believe in my product and want to share it with the world. Finally, the task that stood out most to me most was the video clip of President Hinckley dedicating the Hinckley building at BYUI. He gave such an inspirational talk and I hope to always remember the guidance he gave to us as students, “There is no end in sight for the good you can do. Do you know it? You are just simple kids. You are not geniuses. I know that. But the work of the world isn't done by geniuses. It is done by ordinary people who have learned to work in an extraordinary way, people of your kind who can do these things”.