B183 Week 1

A new semester is under way which means new classes, and new topics!  This semester I will be taking and writing about an introduction to entrepreneurship.  I'm taking this course for the second time because I failed it the first time around (complements to a life busier than most); however the most negative can be turned around to be a positive with enough effort and work.  So here I am, round two!  In this blog I will explore such subjects as creating a life full of meaning, business ethics, life measurements, mastery, driving passion, overcoming challenges, disciple leadership, dreaming big, life balance, becoming a change-maker, and a journey of gratitude.  I'm excited to get started and hope to share everything I learn here.

Week 13 Journal Update

Capstone Journal Entry

It's the final week in this class and I have some time to reflect on what I've learned.  Some of the most important things I want to take with me are knowing the customer, first who then what, be great not good.  Know who your target customer is so you can make informed decisions about your business.  Each decision should have the customer in mind.  The first order of any business is who, not what.  First you must find the right people, and then you must drive the business.  By finding the right people first you will find the drive is easier, and the people actually assist in the driving.  Good is the enemy of great, creating good content is pointless because there is so many out there that do just that.  There is a lack of great content because so many are just good.   Being great makes you, your business, your product, your service stand out so much more than those who are merely good.

This has been a very enjoyable semester.  I really learned a lot from the $100 challenge project as I was able to apply the principles and lessons we learned in class to real life at least on a small scale.  From the project I was able to see the importance of knowing the target customer and how this can effect your decisions.  I learned about the impact marketing can play in advertising your products or services.  I learned about challenges that may arise and how to deal with them.  You can either see them as a problem, or an opportunity.  Finally I was able to see the importance of giving back.  We are all children of a loving Heavenly Father.  I had this great opportunity to try out a few business ideas and had some success.  I was able to share that with someone around the world who probably felt more blessed than I ever would from my meager earnings.

Week 12 Journal Update

Failing Forward

To brace us for entrepreneurship we studied the lives of well known entrepreneurs who had to overcome great odds and failure before achieving success.  I wrote about Thomas Edison:

Often, the hardest endeavors in life are also the most rewarding.  The reward is won through hard work, and often many struggles and setbacks.  Building a successful business is no stranger to this principle.  In fact many of business’ most well known Entrepreneurs have struggled with failure until they finally achieved success.  Steve Jobs was fired from his own business, Milton Hershey started three unsuccessful candy companies before his success, and even Walt Disney was fired and told he lacked creativity.  What these men have in common is not how they fell down in failure, but how they picked themselves back up again and again in order to achieve success.   What makes all the difference is not how you fail, but how you handle that failure.  One such failure was Thomas Edison.  The man who failed over 1,000 times before finally inventing (or re-creating) a successful light bulb.

One thing that we can learn from Thomas Edison is he never dwelt on the past mistakes.  When we hear about Thomas Edison we almost always hear about the light bulb because that is his big success.  We don’t hear about his failures, and he had plenty of them.  Despite all of his failures however, Edison remained optimistic.  When questioned about all of his failures his response was, “I have not failed 10,000 times—I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”

This response shows me that he looked upon his failures in a positive light.  When we realize that we will have failure, or low points in our careers, we can become better by learning from those mistakes.  Even if we fail a thousand, or 10,000 times, that one success can more than make up for those failures.

Having a clear vision of my goals and how to reach those goals can help with this.  A well detailed business plan can help with this.  When we know where we are driving the bus, we can easily get back up after each speed bump, or failure.  Thomas Edison knew the light bulb could work (he wasn’t the only one to do it), and knew he could find a way to make it work.  If he hadn’t made it a success someone else surely would have; but he didn’t give up.  By knowing what we are after and having confidence in that vision we are empowered to press on regardless of any failed attempts.  For Edison, it was the light bulb.  We can learn from him, and from many great entrepreneurs the quality of perseverance.  With it we can overcome all things.

$100 Challenge Update

My final project has exploded over the past week that it has been online.  The homemade crossbow was a huge success.  I'm hoping the wind doesn't die down, but carries on in time.  Today it has seen 30,000 views in just a week.  I am glad I have taken on affiliate marketing for this project.  I have learned a great deal from it.  This week we submitted a powerpoint presentation on our projects.  Here is a link to mine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWCzp3pf5lQ