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

Week 11: Family Business

Week 11 Journal Update

Running a family business comes with it's own challenges that must be dealt with appropriately.  After work is done for the day you may have to see those with whom you work.  To make a family business run effectively you must create an equitable business plan.  All parties involved in the business need to contribute to the plan and the plan should outline at a minimum the roles of each family member, decision processes, and pay.  

One thing I learned from this week's lessons was that a family's relationship structure should not always extend to the business structure.  Many families will go into business together and the father automatically assumes the role of CEO because he is the "CEO" of the family.  If the father is in fact the CEO he should be so by coincidence, not because he is the father of the family.

There may come a time when a family member must be terminated from the business.  How will your thanksgiving dinners be after that member of the family is fired by you?  If you use your values as a guide this can be done effectively and can be rewarding as well.  

$100 Challenge Update

Well I have finished my final project and it is up and running.  We should start seeing some results in a few days, but I expect I will meet my goal with only $30 left to obtain.  I have enjoyed the project immensely and have learned a great deal.  Going into the project I had higher hopes, but I have gained some great experience.  A lot of time and effort went into the projects including the actual build and documentation of each one.  I was expecting more sustained results; however revenue from marketing appears to flatline after a week of posting each project.

Week 10 Entrepreneur Journal Update

Week 10: Fanchising

This week was all about franchises.  I have looked at it mostly from the perspective of a franchisee and not the franchiser; however I have learned a great deal about both.  When a business becomes successful enough to branch out and sell that model to others they franchise.  To get to this point a company will create systems and procedures that are run so well that it can nearly run itself (hypothetically speaking).  At this point a company will consider selling it's model/system to franchisees.  The benefits of owning a franchise include lower risk, much quicker returns on your investment, lower costs associated with product supplies, marketing is taken care of, and having a well known company.  Of course there is a list of cons including not being able to create something new, following an established system, fees associated with owning the franchise, and loads of legal paperwork.

In my own opinion the pros far outweigh the cons.  Find something you are passionate about, and research what might work in your area.  There are loads of franchises to choose from.  Check out franchise.com, and entrepreneur.com/franchises/ for a list of potential franchises to buy.

$100 Challenge Update

This week I made great progress on finishing my last project for the assignment.  I don't see any problems with having it finished next week which will give me a week to pick up some advertising fees for my marketing.  I'm confident I will produce enough with this final project to make at least $100 for my Kiva recipient.  Amazon paid me $70 this week for the sales generated from my affiliate links over the last month so I will only need to bring in $30 more.

Week 9 Update

This week my biggest takeaway was from my "interview with an entrepreneur" project.  I learned a great deal from my interviewee that would have taken me months to find out on my own.  Some of my key take-aways was the importance of knowing your customer.  When you know your customer you can cater your business to meet their needs and hit that target every time.  Guess work is ineffective and costly.

This weeks lesson topic was production, operation, and location.  I took more from production and operations than I did from location so I will share what I have gained from those.  In your own company it's important to have some formal processes to streamline your business.  This is the whole idea of franchises (which we will get into next week, I know I'm excited too).  Without order to how the business is run it can be chaotic, confusing, slow, and costly.  This will require some time upfront to formally create those processes, but the work will pay back big time!  This is especially true when you have employees who will then have some way of learning how to do a particular task step by step, and then be able to do that every time.

$100 Challenge Update

It seems my last project "the solar cell phone charger" has already flatlined.  I haven't seen much activity in a few days, and this week in total I've earned only a few dollars.  I've felt a greater sense of urgency to finish the "survival crossbow" as I feel this will bring in more traffic at the onset, and throughout it's lifetime.  I've been working hard to get it done, and expect to have it finished next week.  This has to be a good one as the semester is coming to a close within a few weeks.  I hope to hit my target of $100, but if not I have learned a lot during this project, and had great fun as well.  I will make sure to take extra steps to ensure the success of this final project including marketing through social media like pinterest, facebook, and Youtube.  Doing this just might be the push I need before the semester ends.

Week 8 Journal Update

Who do you hire for your company and what do you look for?  Most people will tell you to look for proven teams, with proven technology, and traction.  That is the most experience, and education you can find.  I don't think this is true.  I think the best people you can find for your business are those people who have a passion for the business.  If you're in the surfing business, hire surfers.  Do you own a Subaru dealership?  Hire salesman who eat, drink, and breathe Subaru!  These are the kinds of people who have passion, are self driven, and will treat your business like a way of life, not a job.  These are the kinds of people you want to find for your company.  After you've found people like this, hold on to them, and take care of them.  They will be your company's greatest asset.

I don't think I can stress this enough.  You need to surround yourself with great people who are infected with this kind of passion.  This needs to be the first step in moving forward with your company.  If you don't have the right people on the bus (the company), and in the right seats (positions) you will always struggle to drive the bus in the right direction.  Many leaders begin their journey with great vision first, and seek the right help second.  This is backwards and will lead to struggle.  First who, then what.

$100 Challenge Update

It's been a week since releasing the "Solar Panel Phone Charger" diy.  Since then I've had 507 clicks, and 41 ordered items.  In total I've made about $20.  Not too bad I'd say.  I've started my next big project this week as well, the homemade crossbow.  I expect this will bring in a great deal more because not many have done this.  I need to focus on great content that sets me apart.  I'm going to do this by building a powerful bow (100 lbs. or more) with an exceptional trigger and safety system.  I'm also going to focus on appearance as this will likely be a big driver for traffic.