Last Lecture

It has been fourteen weeks.  They have not all been easy but they have been rewarding.  During this time we have read the thoughts of many great leaders and spiritual men.  We have watched videos on others who have gone on to be great successes in the business arena.  Along the way we have been challenged to venture outside our comfort zone to reach our entrepreneurial potential.  All this information and advice has been beneficial and enlightening, so now what? Where do we go next?

Now, we start!  We come up with our idea, if we haven’t already, and we make a plan.  During these last weeks we have been given tools to form our ideas and take well thought out steps to action.  So now we do just that.  Look ahead to possible pitfalls, so you can have the answers already in place if those obstacles show up.  Seek out those with your best interest at heart and ask for their thoughts and incorporate the most advantageous into your plan.

Now go!  Take that next step, rent the space or get the business license or print those business cards.  Take a step.  Do not run headlong into the unknown but take well planned steady steps.  Always keep yourself open to new avenues of expansion but temper those adventures with your well established priorities.  It is so easy to chase after the newest shiny goal and leave behind what really matters most.  Make your priorities early and stick to them.  It may be that each of us will not become filthy rich or world famous but to those in our lives and those who seek our services we will be heroes.  Throughout all the lesson material, with all its myriad of stories and advice, the one thing that stuck out to me the most was to be true to who you are and who you want to become.  If I have learned one thing in my years as a business owner it is that have a lot of money is not the best thing about being a business owner, it is doing something you enjoy and finishing a job well done.  Don’t get me wrong if you don’t make some money you won’t be in business long but it doesn’t have to be the end all of why you do this.  Find the non-monetary reason for being in business for yourself and the journey will be a whole lot more enjoyable.

A Journey of Gratitude

It has been thirteen weeks since I started this class and have enjoyed most all the articles and videos I have reviewed.  This week was filled with knowledge on how to make the most of the entrepreneurial experience and having gratitude for the opportunity.  I most related to the Randy Haykin's article.  While I do not claim to have had as successful a career, I faced many of the same events as he.  I had to balance many o the same priorities as well.  Being successful on a large or small scale still requires you to make many of the same decisions.  Reading about how Randy handled the decisions made me appreciate the choices I made in the past.  It also made me grateful for the opportunities I have been blessed with and the people I got to work with along the way.  We don't always see it but we are influenced by so many around us.  We need to take time, regularly, to remember all those who help us along the way.  Whether they make large or small impacts, they still effect us.

Vision

It is almost over.  I have spent the last 3 months learning about being an entrepreneur and being encouraged to figure out what kind of entrepreneur I want to be.  There has been amazing articles and videos discussing planning and integrity and vision.  There have been discussion boards where we shared our thoughts and dreams.  Through it all I have used the information and evaluated how I did as an entrepreneur in the past and what if anything I would change going forward.  I can see where I could have made different decision and there is more than one cautionary tale that I wish I had heard decades ago but by and large I follow many the admonition with the benefit of having them pointed out.  So much of what was shared is based on being a good person first.  Even the  articles evaluating the idea of less capitalism in the business community was enlightening and worthy of evaluation.  I agreed with the thoughts that perhaps upper management personnel were more concerned with their gain then that welfare of those under them.  I identified with premises that business owners should consider employees and assets not cost to be reduced.  However having been in business for so many years myself I believe a level of compromise is needed for a business to truly succeed.  While employees are assets, too many assets can overburden a business and it will fail.  Likewise if upper management does not get fairly compensated for the level of time and responsibility that is required then no one will be willing to take control and lead a business through the difficult times.  In the end I think the only way to fulfill a dream of the perfect company is to keep it a dream.  Otherwise an entrepreneur simply needs to do the best he can and never get to full of himself to remember the start.

Attitudes & Priorities

So this week we talked about priorities and responded to a couple of mini case studies where we were asked to share how we would best handle it.  Each case study set the family against a career choice.  While I qualified my answers somewhat I believe that we should always put our family's needs first.  However I did qualify one scenario with the family also needing to understand and accommodate the work needs too.  We need to keep our family in the forefront of our mind when making large decisions but sometimes our job just requires us to place its needs first to endure we have a job tomorrow.  The other aspect we looked into was our attitude towards money.  I have never had a strong need for a lot of money.  I prefer memories to things and the thought of cleaning a large home has me dreaming of a small 500 square foot shack.  I like less because then I have more time for memories.  I am not sure if this attitude truly effects the way I live since I don't have a lot of money to begin with but I don't miss not having a lot of stuff so I guess it does.  I am not sure if this will lend to my prosperity but then if I view relationships and experiences as valuable then it means I am more prosperous the more I do, I guess.

Dreams

This week I completed a paper on an interview I had with a friend and entrepreneur.  My friend has had an incredibly successful career as a private investigator and real estate investor.  He is driven, talented and humble.  He is the first on to say he is not the smartest person in the room but brags he knows where to find the smartest people and work with them.  He was a pleasure to interview and had many of the same things to say that the course material this week shared.  Throughout this course several recurring themes have been brought up.  To be successful you need to have a dream, make a plan, press forward, working hard and always look to the Lord for guidance.  It was reassuring to hear my friend share many of those same ideas and thoughts.  Being successful is attainable you just have to be willing to put in the time and effort.

Leadership with a small "L"

This weeks lesson material focused on leadership.  There were many great articles and videos discussing how to be a great leader but the one that stood out tome the most was Elder Bednar's talk about being a small "L" leader.  It is so easy to be the kind of boss that barks orders and hands out praise and punishment in equal measure but Elder Bednar presented an much more Christ-like leadership style that I think, if used by business men in general, would lead to an industrial revolution.  The simple concept of leading by example.  The idea that you do not ask anyone to do something you yourself have not already done.  Sharing you time, talents, and resources to improve not only yourself but those around you.  It is such a foreign concept to the business environment and relegated to the religious circles that businesses miss out on the chance to change, maybe not the whole world but, the entire dynamic of their company and quite possible those companies they associate with.  How much better would not only the employees perform but those in decision making rolls if we were small "L" leaders.

In for the Long Haul

The lessons presented this week in a couple of classes have focused on staying the course or digging deeper.  Somehow this was an inspired course curriculum as half way through the week I was informed of my younger sisters death.  I lost all focus for a couple of days and had no interest in any outside work needs.  I simply did not care.  In the back of my head I knew I had obligations that needed my attention and it was that knowledge that I needed to dig in and get myself through it that kept me from completely shutting down.  I have done most of my work looking through water and needing to reread everything to make sure it made sense but I persevered.  I can not say I will be as good at it next week as we travel to and attend her funeral but for today as strange as it may sound my lesson material got me through to the end of this week.