My last lecture

Here is my advice to all you would be entrepreneurs. This is  what I learned after taking this entrepreneur class:

1. Go into business with a mindset to serve. If your goal is to serve others with your new stat-up, then you find greater fulfillment and success.

2.Be a lifelong learner. Constantly learn new skills and develop new talents .This will give you advantages and opportunities others may not have. Entrepreneurs need to have generalized skill, not specialized skill in today's business  world. The more skills you have gained, the more versatile you will be as an entrepreneur and you will be able to  see and take advantage of opportunities that others may not see.

3.Choose good companions along the way. No one can run a business by himself. The more support you have in your venture, the better your ability to get through the rough  patches. However, choose your companions among those with high integrity and moral principle.

4.Start small. Don't bite off more than you can chew. almost every venture has started with a small venture first. don't be afraid to start small and let your business grow at a pace you can keep up with.

5.Get experience and knowledge in business before launching one of your own.Don't be afraid to start at the bottom and work your way up. As you work in a sector, you may see opportunities that you can take advantage of because of your position.

6. Be on the lookout for patterns and connections to build ideas. As you work in different sectors of the business or nonprofit world,  look for ways you can connect patterns in trends, emerging markets, and  consumer or societal need. Then seize the opportunity to build an enterprise on that need.

7. Have a mentor to help you get started, to listen, and to help analyze idea for viability. Everyone needs  someone they can go to ask questions and who is willing to help build your business. Choose someone who has done the hard work  of building a business and see what insights he can give you.

8. Look for unmet needs in society. Use the talents and resources you have to bless society with either your ideas or the earnings from your venture. If we always keep the mindset of service, we will  be able to make our life mean something, and make the world a better place because we took action.

9.Keep relationships as a priority, they are the only thing that will stay with you through eternity and support you along the way. Life is empty without relationships.

10.Follow your dreams and talents. Find out what your God-given talents are. In other words, get to know yourself.This may require  taking time to ponder and pray about your life's goals and  dreams. Find what you are better at than anyone else and capitalize on your strengths.

11.Keep the Lord as a partner along the journey. Seek inspiration and have the courage to follow it.

12.Remove the phrase, “I can’t”  from your vocabulary; never give up.

13.Find your calling in life and follow it.

14.Build business for the sake of helping build a better world and to serve the human family.

Following these principles will  not only help you become a successful entrepreneur,  but  it will also build a better you.

Looking for patterns: the key to entrepreneurial ideas

      Do you remember when you were in first grade and you had to match patterns from colored blocks? Then, as you learned addition, subtraction and multiplication, you realized they all had patterns? How about spelling patterns, the water cycle, life cycles of butterflies, and the cycle of seasons.? They all had patterns too. Well, generating ideas for new ventures also relies on seeing patterns in the business market, in people's habits, and in emerging technologies.Would be entrepreneurs would be wise to  study patterns all around them in order to create connections within markets and business. The more people you know, the more connections you can make with societal needs;thus a new product, service, or application for technology can be discovered. Sometimes, the ideas are born after working in a company for a number of years. Other times, the ideas arise out of a personal need. What matters is that patterns have been spotted and connections have been made.
     Once the entrepreneur has discovered an unmet need in the market, he can talk to people in his network to see how feasible it would be. This would be the place to receive  support and encouragement,or caution, for the idea. The entrepreneur then moves ahead with laying the foundation  for the business plan. After successful implementation of the plan, the entrepreneur will continue to tweak his product or according to market forces.  As the company grows and expands its customer base, the search for patterns begins again.

What is the purpose of business?

    What is the real purpose of business? In my lessons this week, the answer to this question  was somewhat unexpected. The purpose of business is to bless the world  and  to enable individuals to develop their God-given gifts and talents. Business owners have a responsibility to build the world, and to rescue those who need rescuing. For example, Muhammad Yunus  started a business loaning money to poor people in Bangladesh and found they were more than trustworthy in paying back the loans.those who received these loans  became productive citizens who were able to sustain themselves. Mr. Gay of Huntsman and Gay private equity firm is another example of  how sharing his resources as a businessman helped  the poor. He told a story of a young man who had built a school in Ghana.The government destroyed in  a war. He did not have the capital necessary to rebuild it. Mr. Gay  offered to rebuild the school for him. When businesses focus on serving the community they are in or aiding the world community, they will find more success and will be fulfilling the real purpose for which business was intended. that purpose is to, in the words of Charles Handy, " make a profit so business can do something more or better." That " something more" is the real justification for business.

Why are virtue and  integrity so vital  to an economy?
They are vital because without virtue and integrity  no one will trust you and thus no one will do business with you. This will create a populace that is more and more dependent on government to supply their basic needs.


According to  Charles Handy the real justification  of business is to  make a profit so you can do something more or better. That "something" is the real justification of business.

What are two solutions proposed by Handy that you agree with? Why?
the first proposal I agree with is sharing after tax profits with the workforce that produced the  profit. this would be good incentive to the workers to continue doing good work and will give them a sense of success and of working for a higher goal.

The second solution  I  agree with is to remake the laws to favor the workforce, not the corporations. This means that the employees will  be counted as assets again, not as costs, and will give the employees more say in company policy. This will bring dignity back to the workers and give them a sense of pride in their work.

Pursuit of Happiness

    This week I read the article titled Life Liberty and  the Pursuit of Happiness: a Cautionary Tale, published by Action Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence. This article discusses the elements of true happiness, fulfillment and satisfaction and  argues that  contrary to popular belief, money, wealth and power will not bring happiness. Rather, it is when you find and use your gifts to do something you enjoy, that also benefits others, that true happiness can be found.One of the conclusions of this article is that  a real hero's journey requires understanding  your past, understanding the world as it is and  then connecting to a transcendent power.  This journey will require you to lose preoccupation with yourself in the following ways:2)develop loving relationships, 3)have gratitude, 4) Connect to the transcendent.
  After reading this article,  I realized I need to work on developing  loving relationships.This is my weakness right now. If I want true happiness as an entrepreneur and in life, I need to forgive past injustices and start over. If I hold on to the painful past, I will not move forward, and  I won't have the support I need to take risks and begin to use my God-given talents to bless others in more meaningful ways. Once I have developed those relationships, I will be able to take the next step on my hero's journey..

Thinking Big

   This week  I learned the advantages of thinking big and making time to be creative. I listened to the owner of Taylor's Boats, who taught  listeners to never underestimate yourself. In sharing his experience, he  shared his experience his first year of being invited to a big dinner for companies who made it to the top 100 boat retailers out of 7,000. He expected to be close to the 100th company. It turned out his company was number 11 that year. In his second year, he also expected to be in the lower tier of companies.   To his surprise , that year he was number 6  in North America. He concludes his presentation saying " don't let anyone  tell you you can't do it."

     The second thing  I learned  was to take time for creativity.  Marissa Mayer, a Google executive,  told viewers that  their company sets aside 20%  of employee time in creative pursuits. Nearly half of all new  projects launched  came from the creative moments set aside every week for employees. She concludes that if you give employees  license to be creative, it can bring a huge amount of innovation.
   
     When I build my company, I want to encourage creativity in my workforce. However, to get started,  I need to dream big and not let anyone tell me I can't.

People Make the Difference

   This week we learned that we need to have ethical people in our business organization and that it is the people that make the difference between good and great companies. Frank Levinson, founder of Finisar,  said that the personalities of team members are "vital to success." He explained that unethical people cause "stress, tension, and ultimately division" within a company.  Jim Collins,in his book, Good to Great  listed characteristics of great leaders. This list included  hiring the right people, and being humble, but passionate. These traits are essential to have in a leader in order to make a company great.
     Since every great company needs a great leader, Jim Ritchie, in his Launching Leaders presentation, discussed some example of great leaders. All of these leaders have common character traits. The most prominent character trait  is the resolve and courage to stand firm on principles. Some of the examples he mentioned were Nelson Mandela, Joan of Arc, Mother Theresa, Margaret Thatcher, and many others. These leaders all had the ability and resilience to bring others to higher ground.  They were willing to sacrifice for  a greater cause.  Ritchie concludes that  great leaders
 "cause things to happen."
   When I start my business, I will want to hire ethical people who have the potential to grow into great leaders and who can make a difference in the world. I want to be the type of leader who makes a difference and causes good things to happen.
 

Perseverance

The most important thing I learned this week was that now matter what happens, I need to persevere. This is really difficult but it is essential if I am to achieve any worthy goal. Jeffrey R. Holland said it well in his address to BYU students in January 1983. He said, " It is simply a truism that nothing very valuable can come  without significant  sacrifice and effort and patience on our part." This means that in order to achieve anything of lasting value  in this life, we must make choices that will enable us to continue onward, regardless of how long it takes. Holland says later in his devotional address  that

"the baking of life's best cakes takes time." This means that we need to be patient  in the process  of achieving our goals. we have to be wiling to wait for our dreams to come to fruition. It may take more practice, more experience or just more diligence until our vision is realized.  Nicola Tesla put forth this diligence and effort,even when he failed to receive recognition. Reverend Robert Sirico's thoughts, titled  The Persistent Innovator,  concludes that Tesla's was a  "resounding model of perseverance in the face of obstacles. He pursued his dreams, his ideas, even when doing so was hard, draining, and even demeaning." Sirico  continues, " We need brilliant men and women like Tesla: we need people with a broad vision of what can be and what really is of lasting value, people with strength to surmount obstacles and maintain a  definition of success that is deeper and more authentic than what we find in today's... tabloids." I want to have that  kind of perseverance.I want to be that kind of entrepreneur.