Week 14 (December 14, 2020)

I'm back for an encore!

If I had one final lecture to share with a group of students on what I have learned from this course, I would tell them to not only be prepared for their entrepreneurial journey but to also trust their intuition.  Striking out on this journey will be time-consuming at first with its share of ups and downs (hopefully more of the former and less of the latter).  Make Heavenly Father your partner and don't scrimp on your work/life balance.  Know you will fail.  And what do you do if you fail?  Give up?  No!  You learn from the experience and keep going.

My last bit of advice to someone wanting to begin the entrepreneur journey is to not make it all about money.  Of course, you need to be concerned with breaking even and making enough to cover your needs.  Eventually, though, you may be earning more than you can spend.  That is when it is a good time to consider giving back...to charities, your community, your church.  Invest in the future and offer a scholarship at the local high school for a budding entrepreneur.  If you have been lucky enough to be sustained by your passion, offer that opportunity to someone who is just like you when you started out. 

My words of advice that I would share in my last lecture would be to always be learning.  Ongoing learning helps you stay at least one step ahead and, in turn, stay prepared.  Ongoing learning can be invested into your business to enhance it or take it in a new direction.  Ongoing learning may make you aware of issues about your business that need attention.  Just like learning what would be best for your journey, you may also learn what is not best for your journey and avoid those pitfalls.  You can't lose when you're constantly learning!

Week 13 (December 7, 2020)

How is this even possible?  My final blog post for this course!

As Elder Thomas S. Monson said in his talk, "An Attitude of Gratitude," "if ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues."

I say "thank you" a lot, and, when I do say it, I fully mean it.  I have volunteers who give of their time to help at the museum; I thank each of them every time they are there.  I do not want them to ever think I take their sacrifice of time and skill for granted.  When someone does something around the house, I thank them.  I do this so they are recognized for helping out.  I thank our Heavenly Father daily, sometimes multiple times, because of all the good in my life.

Have you ever pulled through a fast-food drive-through and the person who took your money did not say 'thank you' or anything at all for that matter?  It could be they were at the end of their shift and worn out, it could be that they just do not care about the job, it could be they just forgot.  I thank them so that they know I recognized the work they are doing.  Later, I thank God for giving me the opportunity to go to that fast-food establishment and purchase food and make contact with someone who works there.  I may have been the only person that entire day to thank that employee.  For that, I am eternally thankful.

I carry this attitude with me when speaking to potential clients or visitors to the museum.  An attitude of gratitude must be front and center with whomever you interact.

I am thankful for this blog and for the chance to reflect on my thoughts about the course.  I am hoping that soon I will be launching my business and will share here my trials and tribulations.

Thank you for reading!

Week 12 (November 30, 2020)

This week, we studied an insightful article in the Harvard Business Review, "What's a Business For?" by Charles Handy (December 2002).  First of all, virtue and integrity are important to an economy because society relies on people’s savings to spur wealth.  If virtue and integrity, or truth and trust, are lost, people will save their money in a tin can buried in their backyard and not pump it into the economy.  Lying to people and breaking their trust will cause the economy to tank.   

According to Handy, the purpose of a business is “to make a profit so that it can do something more or better [for society].”  Today, intellectual property is the basis of many businesses, or the people doing the work and not investing their money.  Yet, the people doing the work to make the business profitable are not recognized as an asset.  For example, I worked for 20 years at a hospital as a medical transcriptionist (transcribing physicians’ dictation).  To the hospital, my wages were considered a cost to the hospital, not an asset.  Several times it was said that just anyone off the street could do my job without training, which turned out to not be true.  My co-workers who coded medical charts for insurance reimbursement, were considered an asset.   

I believe the solutions proposed by Handy of “do no harm” and developing “a new vision of the purpose of business” will work.  “Do no harm,” like the Hippocratic oath, covers sustainability of our planet and our humans.  This refers to investing some profits into taking care of earth so that we have a safe, viable place to continue to conduct business and investing some profits into taking care of our humans so that they can continue to own businesses or do the work for the businesses without working themselves to death.  As noted in Handy’s article, “Profit often comes from progress.”  Another solution of Handy’s that I feel is worthwhile is “developing a new vision of the purpose of business.”  The old vision of the purpose of business was it existed to make money for its shareholders.  The new vision must include the group of people who come together to do something collectively that they cannot do separately; all in that community called a “business” should share the wealth.

Week 11 (November 23, 2020)

This was an interesting week with a lot to study and ponder.  To me, measuring the cost equates to how much does your job/career mean to you?  Are you willing to put people you love on the back burner to make a buck?  Are you willing to devote every waking minute to building and maintaining your business?  In my mind, I see a yard stick.  On that yard stick is a mark signifying the time I will spend on work that week, or month, or year.  Over the years, I have worked for employers and according to their schedules.  Many times I have worked over.  As a medical transcriptionist, I could not just stop in the middle of a report when the clock said it was time to punch out.  As an executive director, I cannot just lock up and leave knowing I still have items to catalog, research to do, a letter of gratitude to write.

I believe that is why entrepreneurship is so appealing, especially to those of us who have worked as employees most of our lives.  To have the freedom to set your own hours, work as much or as little as you want in a day, choose your vacation length.

And then, I see that yardstick in my mind's eye, reminding me that "this much" work needs to be done so that I can pay my bills, take that vacation, or eat...depending on how business is going.

Where is the mark going to land on my yardstick as I transition into becoming an entrepreneur?  Will I push myself like I have in the past or will I finally achieve the freedom to inch the mark back a bit?  I suppose it comes down to the measure of my life...an equalizing of what mattered most to me.

Week 10 (November 16, 2020)

 BIG DREAMS!

We all have big dreams.  Do they ever come to fruition?  Are they so lofty that you think “there is no way this will ever happen!”

This week was about big dreams and steps to take to try to achieve them.

Taylor Richards in his presentation “Think Big” stated, “Don’t underestimate yourself!”  He also added to involve the Lord when pursuing your goals and dreams.  The Lord knows us.  He wants us to succeed in a righteous fashion.  He is our partner and best supporter.  He gives us strength to act on our big dreams.  Heavenly Father urges us to have faith in Him and in ourselves.

Kathy Huber, an Acton Hero, related that you need to have a sense of responsibility while going after your big dreams but be tenacious.  I loved her tip about working on problems that others cannot solve.  If you solve that problem, then you and your skills are needed.  She also shared that if you fail at whatever you are doing, learn from it.  Chances are, you are not the only who has failed at it.  Figure out your error and then put that knowledge to use by helping others.

This was great advice for entrepreneurs.  It encourages you to have big dreams.  Start with a big dream and scale it back if need be to something doable.  Dreams mean you are thinking, innovating, creating, figuring out ways to solve problems.

I hope to learn ways to rein in those big dreams and harness them in a way to make them appealing to investors, customers, and clients.  Where do I find like-minded people with whom I can share my big ideas?  With my faith in Heavenly Father as my partner, I will lean on his wisdom to guide me to them!

Week 9 (November 9, 2020)

This week we studied disciple leadership.  When I see the word 'disciple', I think of being a disciple of Jesus Christ, learning from Him and following Him, growing to be like Him.  In terms of disciple leadership, I think of a leader who is a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, spoke to Stanford Technology Ventures Program on May 2, 2007, about three aspects of leadership: capability, collaboration, and character.

Capability: A capable leader's best attribute is the ability to ask questions and hear answers.  In other words, are the customers satisfied?  Experience and skill help make one capable, as well, but the capability to listen outweighs all the rest.[1]

Collaboration: Good decisions are a result of a group of diverse people coming together and bringing their ideas to the table.  This aspect, done effectively, drives change.  If you can't adapt to change, you lag behind.  I thought, "Did Jesus just meet with those who were like him?  No!  He helped and taught all."[2]

Character: Includes judgment, perspective, and ethics.  Judgment and perspective cause a good leader to pause and think before making a rash decision, to make sure they have the needed and correct information to see a situation in the right light.  Are they considering all differences and do they understand those differences?  In terms of ethics, “Values are what guide your behavior when no one is looking and you think no one will find out,” Fiorina stated.[3]  To me, if you are working every day to become a better disciple of Christ, you are living those values already.  Your leadership will be stronger because of those Christ-like values on which you base everything you do.

This week’s lesson was very enlightening with regard to discipleship and leadership and how the two work together.

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[1] Carly Fiorina, “Leadership and Capability,” Brigham Young University-Idaho, BUS 110.

[2] Carly Fiorina, “Leadership and Choice,” eCorner, Stanford University (https://ecorner.stanford.edu/podcasts/leadership-and-choice/ : accessed 13 November 2020).

[3] Ibid.