Week 10: Measuring the Cost: Life Balance

Measuring the Cost of Entrepreneurship. For some it is the right decision. For others it is not. Each person will have a unique answer and reason.  For me being an entrepreneur doesn't mean being dependent on the income a start up will make. It doesn't mean being my own boss or setting my own hours. For me being an entrepreneur is being a productive member of society and living a life that is fulfilling for me.

Formula for Success - President Monson discusses the parable of the talents.  Each of us has been given talents and it is up to us to decide how we will use our talents. Do we know what our talents are? Will we be satisfied with what we have been given?  Will we strive to develop what we have been given?  Will we seek to develop additional talents?  These are questions we must ask our self. We have been taught that if we will take what we have been given, develop it and look for more opportunities, the opportunities will be given to us.  If we do nothing we can expect nothing.

Is Life Balance Possible - This is the key question I think this course is trying to have us understand. For some being their own boss can create balance.  For others like me, I need the balance that comes from working for someone else. Something that takes me away from the everyday environment and allows me to feel successful. Owing a business wouldn't allow that kind of balance in my life. The constant stress of work spilling into family time would take a toll that woudn't be worth it.  Part of creating balance is making sure that you are in control of your career/business and that you don't allow the career/business to begin controlling you.  If you allow this to happen you stand to lose more than your business will ever provide.

Mini Cases - What are you willing to sacrifice in order to be successful?  Will you miss your children's activities? Will you allow clients to dictate the terms?  These mini cases allowed us to determine what our values are and what we are willing to sacrifice for success.  These are important decisions to make prior to accepting a position or starting a business. You and your family need to be on board with the values that you consider most important.

Attitude on Money - Money is not the root of all evil - The love of money is.  In this essay we discussed what role money plays in our life and how money can be used to bless others. We have been taught that being wealthy is all fine and good as long as we use our money for the right things. We should consider the story of the Good Samaritan.  He used his wealth to provide for one who could not provide for himself. He didn't just provide the minimum instead he provided all that was necessary to improve this man's life.  We need to look at our increase and consider how we can best use it to build the kingdom of God.

Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness/Mentor Session 7 - What are you willing to sacrifice to achieve your dreams. This article reminded me of the movie staring Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness. He was down on his luck his wife had left him with his young son. He had to humble himself to survive the challenges he had to endure but his son was part of what kept him motivated and helped him achieve his dream. The message really is that family is the most important thing and they can help get us through anything. Without family I don't think Will Smith's character would have been able to achieve as much as he did. He found happiness and shared it with others. In the church we learn that family is central to God's plan for his children. We are not taught that money and career are central to His plan. There are many poor people who are much happier than those with lots of money.

Week 9 Dream Big Dreams

The main idea from this week is dream big but don't do it alone.

The Dip - Book report submitted.  Know when you should quit and when you should persevere and propel yourself to new heights.

Application Activities
Heart of Entrepreneurship - Being in business alone can limit your success. Dreaming big is great when you take the ones you love with you.

Become - Dallin H Oaks reminds us that this life is a journey and it is up to us to become the best us we can. The best us should resemble Christ

So Your Want to be an Entrepreneur & e-corner videos
Balance is necessary in all aspects of our lives. Being an entrepreneur can be time consuming and cause strain on our most valuable relationships. Part of God's plan for us is to live in families. One reason is because we need love and support. That support is what can get us through the challenges we will experience. WE must remember to stay in control and not allow our pursuits to control us.

I am not really looking forward to the next book report, "So You Want to be an Entrepreneur".  I have not really enjoyed this book and it has been really difficult to relate to. I am grateful that I was able to work a week ahead in this class. Hopefully I can get another week ahead next week over the Thanksgiving break.

Week 8 - Loyalty and Leadership

This week's learning really came down to hire people that get along with others and are loyal. They will be more successful for your business and can be trusted because they are loyal to you and your goals.

LDS Perspectives
In" Leadership with a small l" we are taught to lead as the Savior did. We lead through example and serving others.  In "Loyalty" we are instructed to be loyal to our true self and expect the same of others.

e-Corner
This weeks videos encouraged us to find those who will be loyal and to learn to be a "Yes" person. Instead of asking what someone can do for us, we need to ask "what can we do for them."  We also need to realize that the majority of youth today do not know how to really work. They live in a gimme culture and it is critical that we change how they are raised.

How to be an entrepreneur
Mentor Session 5 led us through an introspective exercise that had us list what our wishes are, what we believe our personal mission statement to be and set goals for how we will fulfill our list using our mission statement as our guide.

The end is in sight!!!

Week 7 - Overcoming Challenges

This should be the title for my life! Especially while I am taking classes on-line. It seems that the assignments I struggle with the most are the ones that aren't clearly defined.  Definitely a huge obstacle that I need to overcome.

LDS Perspective
"The great work is you - your life, your future, the very fulfillment of your dreams" (Elder Holland) How often do we take the time to consider that we are the "great work" and our ability to come off conqueror is what we all hope to achieve?

There are so many who have given so much to be members of the church, they used the same dedication to live a life worth living. What sacrifices are we making to show God that we appreciate all that we have been given and all that we are able to accomplish?

Children were once taught the value of hard work, as a society we no longer know what hard work really is. Work is a gift and the ability to work should be cherished, it builds character and refines who we are.

e-corner Videos
All of the videos really focused on getting to the root of the problem. Often we try and treat the symptoms but until we get to the root cause we really aren't moving forward.

So You Want to be an Entrepreneur?
This section of the book asked us to take a personal inventory of our skills, accomplishments, abilities. It then asked us to identify people in our life that could be resources for starting a business. The inventory assignment was fine, albeit lengthy but I really didn't like the format of the people that could be resources section. I felt that it focused too much on using people. I have seen so many relationships ruined by people using the "friends" as financial/capital investors for their start-up businesses, mostly MLM.   This is especially true amongst members of the church. It wouldn't surprise me if someone said that it is easier to "sucker" a Mormon into an MLM than any other group of people. At the same time, I think that it is interesting that most sales companies actively seek young RM's because of their ability to cold call customers. I think that there needs to be a real discussion about how abusing relationships in this way can be detrimental to being successful in business. It would have been nice to have had the option of doing this assignment from a potential start-up or an entrepreneurial employee. Our friends and family can be a great source of strength and knowledge. We don't always need to think of them with dollar signs on they back.

Week 6: Moving Forward with Driving Passion

The theme for this week was Moving Forward with Driving Passion. I find this interesting because the book "So You Want to Be an Entrepreneur" focuses so much on owning your own business, being a start-up, etc that some people might this this is the only way to move forward with driving passion. I do no believe this to be true. I think that there are many opportunities to move forward with passion within the bounds of an organization or already established business. I think that sometimes trying to branch out and do it on your own can be your demise. You can have all the drive and passion you want but owning a business is just not the right thing for everyone. Business would fail with out people to work in them. As business grow you can't just do it on your own anymore. I you start-up fails you have to be humble enough to realize that may not be your calling.

Assignments:
Submitted my book report for "Mastery". The next book up is "The Dip"  thankfully I have already read this book (prior to the start of the semester) and have already begun writing my book report. I actually enjoyed this book and thought that it had good point about knowing when to just stop.

Stand True and Faithful - We must always remember to do what is right even when it may not be the popular thing to do. This is true in business and in all aspects of our life.

e-Corner - Our goal in life is to make the world a better place be this in our personal scope of the world or the world at large. We have the opportunity to influence many and should see to do so in a positive way.  We must also recognize that there is always something more we can learn.

D&C 122:7 "know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."  (aka Grandpa Dave's Learning Scripture)

Mentor Session 3 - Finally an opportunity to speak candidly about what an entrepreneur really is and not just about how the book defines one.  I really wish that they was a different book/text for this course. It forces one definition and yet we are asked to be open-minded. There isn't enough of the entrepreneurship "realities"  to balance what is being taught, especially for an intro course.