Last Lecture

This week in class we are asked to give our last lecture.  I feel the last lecture is supposed to be something moving or profound.  I'm not sure I have that just yet at least not in an entrepreneurial sense.  This last lecture seems a bit overwhelming so I am going to try to just speak (or type) from my heart.  Through the things we have learned in class and the lessons I have learned in my life as a budding entrepreneur, there are a few things that I believe will help you be successful. 

The first and most important lesson for myself, and I hope for others, especially Christians, is to have faith and pray.  So often people go through life floundering along without any direction.  However, we have the knowledge that we can pray to our Heavenly Father and receive answers to our prayers. Heavenly Father can give us inspiration and guide us in the direction we should go.  Most people believe in chance or luck, but I do not think it is just chance or luck, I think most of the time it is our Heavenly Father giving us direction (even to those that do not believe or acknowledge him), possibly even pushing us into the situations or the path that we need to move forward on our journey.   My favorite scripture is Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."  If we are able to recognize his hand in our lives, trust his inspiration, and not be stubborn; thinking we know everything, he will let us know the way we should go.  He will "direct thy paths" to help us go where we will learn what we need to learn, experience what we need to experience and meet the people we need to meet so we can be successful in our lives.

The next thing is to get going on that path as early as possible and find any way to make it work.  My husband and I wanted to begin in the rental property business many years ago.  We took a couple of courses and had a couple of different opportunities, but they fell through.  One in particular, was a duplex.  It was perfect, two incomes for one mortgage, in a decent area.  The seller was asking $95,000 for it.  Unfortunately, the place did not appraise for $95k and we were unable to get funding for it. Thinking back on the situation now, I do have regrets, I wish we would have pushed through and found a way to come up with the money or negotiate the price so we could get the duplex we really wanted.  At this point, it would have been paid off and bringing in income all this time.  I think the important thing here is to find your calling and take the steps to get you there as quickly as possible. People get sidetracked by J-O-Bs (Just Over Broke) and just punch the clock to make a paycheck, but don't actually start on their stepping stones to get them to their star.

The third thing I would suggest is to get an education.  This does not necessarily have to be in the classroom.  It could be life experiences.  It could be working with a mentor.  It could be reading books from the library in your chosen field.  Get as much experience and education as you can while you are young, but continue to learn throughout your life.  Don't stop learning.  Surround yourself with people smarter than you who are willing to impart their knowledge to you.  Be hungry for new knowledge and skills.

Forth, you must be willing to work hard.  More and more young people want to sit back and have everything handed to them.  What happens at my job is everyone stretches out their assignments for the whole day instead of getting it done and asking what else you can learn or help with.  Put in an honest full day's work.  Those that work hard tend to be the ones that truly succeed, not just at work, but at life in general.

Lastly, never give up.  Don't let someone tell you that you can't.  If you think you can, keep trying, keep going and find another way until you find what works.  No one knows your drive or passion.  I am sure many people told Henry Ford he could never made a "horseless carriage", but he did.  I am sure others told Thomas Edison that light could not be produced without fire, but he kept trying until he invented the light bulb.  We have not lost until we quit.  As the saying goes, "where there is a will, there is a way."  Just make sure it is your will and way you are following.  You can do it!

No one's path is the same, but we all have one.  We have a calling that we should be fulfilling.  If we can find that calling and go after it, we will have an enjoyable life.  

Overwhelmed but Grateful

This week we did not have a specific topic we were supposed to write on, so I wanted to share what has happened and how I can apply the lessons from this week to it.

I feel like I have a ton of things on my plate and am feeling a little overwhelmed.  This week in addition to school and work, I have been at the church for three days straight working on decorating for the church Christmas party (6pm-11:30pm), then having the actual Christmas party (6pm-9:30pm), and today to make the ornaments that we will be giving out at the Relief Society (women's organization for my church) Christmas party (10am-1pm).  I still have Christmas decorations to be set up at home.  Luckily most of my gifts are bought, but they still need to be wrapped.  I try to get things done early because I get overwhelmed easily and then the holiday becomes one of stress instead of enjoyment.  However, this week has been very overwhelming and frustrating to an extent. The hours spent at the church have been daunting and I come home exhausted and in pain.  I know part of the pain is my own fault because of my weight and my other health issues.  But some of it has to do with we always feel like things need to be grandiose and people always think they can do more things than they can in the time they have.  Plus people don't always complete the things they should when they should (or show up on time).  So for instance, the leaders decided they were going to do this decoration that required crepe paper to be taped to a hula hoop. The understanding was that it was going to be done prior to the night so we just had to hang the hula hoop and then tape the ends to the walls.  Well, even though I told the person doing it, if they needed help to let me know, she told me she would have it done Wednesday night.  I told her again if she didn't to let me know and I could do it during the day on Thursday so it would be ready for Thursday night.  She didn't and it wasn't. So we spent at least 15+ minutes putting it together with three of us doing it.  Not to mention the person bringing it was already 45 minutes late to set up.  So now it was almost 7pm when we actually got started decorating.  Not to mention the boxes that were put together the night of instead of having them done at home while people were sitting around watching TV.  All things that would have shortened the duration of time spent the night of.

While the event turned out great and the decorations were beautiful, sometimes I think we try to do too much and then people get burned out.  So when it is no longer their assignment they don't want to help because they have already put all the time in previously.  And so then others get burned out.

When I returned home today I told my family we had to get our decorations done and they grumbled.  So this year we decided to just put out the things we really like (our trees, our stockings, our hearth decorations, the nativity set, the dining table center piece and some Christmas books, oh and a the two strands of lights on the house, pretty much everything else stayed put away).  The other things I love seeing, but it was too exhausting for me this year.  Maybe I am getting tired out too easily in my older years, but the time was not worth the reward for me.

In all the hubbaballoo of the season and despite the complaining I am currently doing, I really am grateful for this time of year.  I love the music, the decorations, the food and activities.  I love finding the perfect gift for each person.  But most of all I am grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, who came to this earth as a little babe so many years ago, in such humble circumstances.  He gave his life for me and for all of us, that we may return to live with our Heavenly Father.  I am grateful that we have this holiday season to remember Him and his love for each of us.  Each year we try to do things to remind us of the reason for the season, going to the nativity display, going on a "Walk Through Bethlehem", attending church, spending time with family and friends. These things remind me that the craziness of the season is not what it is about, but the love we share with others and with our Savior.  I am grateful to experience it all.

What's a Business For?

This week we read and watched videos about using our businesses for good.  They spoke about how especially as entrepreneurs we have the opportunity to help others, whether it is through actual charitable contributions or by our business providing a service to those around us.  I believe that the Lord will help us with our businesses, especially if we are using it as a tool to make the lives of others better.

Charles Handy, the author of “What’s a Business For,” says that the “markets rely on rules and laws, but those rules and laws in turn depend on truth and trust.”  If a company cannot be trusted that they are following the rules, then no one will want to do business with that company.  If the market as a whole becomes untrustworthy, then people will no longer want to invest in companies, will not purchase goods from untruthful companies, will not put their money in banks, will not request loans and the whole market will collapse.  Just as the Enron and WorldCom scandals shed light on the scandalous accounting practice of inflating numbers and creating off balance sheet accounts, the world lost trust in the accounting world and their audits that are supposed to protect consumers and shareholders.  Handy says, “Trust, too, is fragile. Like a piece of china, once cracked it is never quite the same.” If no one can be trusted, then who will we do business with?  Who will want to do business with us if we follow unfair and untrustworthy practices?  No one.

According to Charles Handy, the “real justification” for the existence of a business is to “do something more or better”.  Meaning, that a business is not just here to make money for the owner or shareholders, but to do something meaningful with the business.  This could be creating and producing a new gadget that will make people’s lives better.  Or it could mean to provide a service for the people in a community.  What is the vision or drive a company has?  If it is just to make money, then that is not much justification for a business.  But if it is to make a difference, then that is the real justification.

One of the solutions mentioned by Mr. Handy that, I believe, is a large key to a successful society and economy is the “contribution ethic”.  It piggy backs off his “real justification” for business, to make something more or better.  Basically, that you are contributing to society through your business.  This contribution can be in any form, but it is providing that merely to make things better and not for profit, the profit just comes as a result of truly following a vision or passion.

Another solution Mr. Handy brings up is the sense of community within an organization.  I work at a large credit union that has always been within the top 15 largest credit unions in the country for over 20 years.  When I first started, I truly felt a sense of family and community.  I felt like we were all in this together to help the members and in fact, our internal slogan was “Be the Member.”  There were and still are many people that have been here for 30+ years.  Over the last 5 years or so, it seems that we have lost our vision a little bit.  It feels that in our desire to help more people we are no longer helping the one.  We don’t know our members personally and we seem to be quick to make blanket decisions and implementations to avoid risk but aren’t willing to look at how this might affect the one person.  As I said, I felt like we were a family 17 years ago when I started, but now, it seems everyone is out for themselves, we no longer work as a team or community.  Maybe it is just within my department or maybe it is the younger generations, but previously people would work to get their own assignments done so they could help out the others.  But lately, it seems that people want to drag their work out for all 8 hours when it could be completed in 5 or 6.  The sense of family is lost (or maybe that is how families now work).  But I don’t see the changes in society as a good thing, because I know it is not just in my own company, but in others. I see us going farther away from a community mentality to a “me mentality”.  It’s not just in business, but it is in our actual communities.  How often do people get together to have “a barn raising” or sit and talk on their porches?  When was the last time you even heard about a community dance or picnic?  We are losing our sense of togetherness to an individualistic lifestyle.  As these things happen, we lose what truly makes people great, their love and charity.  This cannot be just a business mind set, but a life mind set.  If we could learn to love and serve others more fully, the community mentality could return and make things better in all areas of our lives.  I know that maybe that is not possible in the world we now live, but maybe at some point people will wake up and realize we are all brothers and sisters and what truly matters in life is not how much money we can make for ourselves, but who we love and help along the way.