Last Lecture Updated

This week in class we are asked to give our last lecture.  It is funny that I have already done this project in another class a little over seven months ago. Not much has changed since then, but I think I can add a little more insight into my entrepreneurial 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.  It's scary to leave a secure paycheck, but it is worth it in the end.  Think of the difference you can make and think of how much you could love going to work instead of dreading it.  Take the chance, take the leap, just do it!  It will be hard, but it is better than regretting having never done it because you were scared.

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 happened at my previous 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.  Sometimes it is going to be physical labor, sometimes it is mentally draining, but in end you will feel proud of what you have accomplished.

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.  Walt Disney was told he was not creative, yet he created hundreds of short and full length films and thousands of beloved characters.  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. Usually as we enjoy our life, we find success in our careers.

A final note on my $100 challenge business.  It has been difficult to manage it with the other commitments.  Trying to run three separate business, two as start-up at the same time, is not easy.  But I stuck with it and am glad I was able to make a profit that I can now donate to Nijora and hopefully be able to follow her progress and success for her own dress making business.

Failing Forward

This week has been about learning from your failures.  It is amazing the number of successful individuals who once failed in one regard or another.  Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.  Steve Jobs was fired from his own company. Thomas Edison had 10,000 prototypes for the light bulb.  Abraham Lincoln was defeated 8 times before becoming President of the United States.  George Steinbrenner ran a basketball team into the ground before taking over the New York Yankees.  Bill Gates first computer company was a disaster before he founded Microsoft.  

The person I really researched this week was Walt Disney.  Did you know that Walt Disney was once told he lacked creativity?  They even fired him from a newspaper over it.  The biggest creative mind of our time had more struggles than just that.  In fact, it seemed he had one set back after another but each time something better came out of each struggle. 

Walt’s young life was very difficult and all of his brothers ran away at a young age.  Walt even lied about his age so he could begin driving an ambulance during World War I.  Because of the struggles of his childhood, he wanted a place where families could enjoy happy times together and that is how he came up with the idea for Disneyland.

He began a small movie company called Laugh-O-Gram films that created animated films.  Unfortunately, due to high labor costs and Walt’s poor business skills, the company went bankrupt and Walt lost everything. 

With only $40 and a few clothes he moved to Hollywood to become an actor.  Obviously, he never made it, but he and his brother Roy realized that there were no animation businesses in Hollywood.  So they gave it a go.  There he created Oswald the Rabbit for Universal Studios in New York City.  It was very successful, but after a trip to NYC, he found out that Universal Studios had somehow obtained ownership of Oswald the Rabbit.  Not to mention, they had also contracted all of his workers out from under him, except one, Ub Iwerks.  It was on his train ride home that he got the idea for Mickey Mouse.  Ub Iwerks ended up drawing Mickey Mouse and Walt was the voice of the character. 

Off and on throughout his career, Walt experienced stress and depression.  He spent many sleepless nights.  He would get angry with his workers.  Other times he would burst out in tears at the drop of a hat.  People encouraged him to take his wife on a vacation.  He expected to go on a voyage down the Mississippi River, but due to the Great Depression the trip on the boat was cancelled.  Years later, days before Disneyland opened, he took his wife on a ride on the Mark Twain Steamboat.  Most likely the ride was based on his desire and inability to ride a steamboat many years before.

With the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt and Roy built a house in California for their parents.  But it was built with poor construction.  Walt attempted to have his studio workmen repair it, but one morning they found their mother had died that night from carbon monoxide poisoning. 

Walt often said, "Get a good idea, and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it's done, and done right."  It would have been easy for Walt to give up many, many times.  However, every time life gave him lemons he seemed to learn how to make lemonade.  Walt Disney even said, “You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”  His kicks in the teeth certainly provided some pretty great things.  These qualities are an inspiration for me and help remind me that sometimes you fail, but it is important to keep on trying.  Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something.

My $100 challenge business is over.  I was able to find a new person to donate to.  Her name is Nigora from Tajikstan and I was able to finish funding her request for $125 to buy a embroidery machine for her home dress making business.  I hope that it helps her grow her business with this loan and find success in her country.  I put the remaining amount plus a little more towards a Kiva.org donation.  

Family Businesses

While in essence our rental property business is a family business with my husband and me.  But since I do the majority of the work with the tenants and the repairs, it seems like it is more my business.  Maybe I should consider my husband as the silent partner.  He does help with some of the repairs, but really we don't have anything set as to who does what.

We learned that it is important to clearly define roles and to have plans written down.  In addition, when we are planning on turning over our business to one of our children what the succession plan should be and how it should be handled to hopefully avoid hurt feelings.

This week's lessons were helpful and I believe that my husband and I should at least talk about the different things I learned this week, but I am not sure that we need to set things in stone nor do we need to implement them fully.  For one, we will always run the business together.  He knows that I do the majority of the management but he helps with the repairs.  In addition, we don't have to worry about a succession plan, because we only have one child.  At this time, we have it written in our will that the properties (including our own house) will be sold and the proceeds of one house will be given to my parents, another house to my husband's sister and the last house will be put in a trust for our son.  However, if our son reaches adult age before we pass, we will give him the option of taking the business or we will sell the properties when we are too old to handle the business any longer.

For my $100 challenge bread business I have nothing new to report.  All sales have been completed and my business is closed.  I need to research what and how we are supposed to donate the funds to Kiva.org.

Franchises, not my cup of tea

The past few weeks I have been researching about franchises for my class.  I have learned that it is not for me.  Maybe you could call me lazy, maybe you could call me a wimp, but the amount of time, commitment, and money it would cost to open a franchise seems overwhelming to me and not worth it.  Obviously, it is very worth it for many people or we would not have over 11,000 Dunkin Donuts locations and 35,000 McDonalds, with another 3,500 Holiday Inn franchise locations.

I also conducted an interview last week with a franchisee for Dunkin Donuts named Nick Apostaleres.  I would like to share some of his insights on franchising that I think are useful to anyone who is looking to start a business, even if it isn't a franchise.

• "You must be hands on and be prepared to work your butt off and pay yourself last."  
• “Make sure you don’t run the business by the numbers; customer satisfaction is the most important.”
• “You have to pick a franchise (or business) that is relevant to people.” 
• "You cannot expect to go into business just to make a lot of money, if that is why you are doing it you will be very disappointed."

As I stated in my last post, this past week was really the last week of my bread business for the $100 challenge.  I made the final loaves of bread on Friday that had been previously ordered.  I wavered back and forth and finally decided to use the remaining ingredients, especially of zucchini and make two final batches of chocolate zucchini bread.  I believe this was a smart decision, I did NOT want to make the bread, as I was totally over it.  However, I knew that by doing it, I could use the majority of the remaining ingredients and make a little bit extra money for the challenge rather than the money I would have paid myself to buy those ingredients to liquidate the company.  As I did so, I used the rest of the zucchini, sugar, cocoa powder, mini chocolate chips, baking soda,and applesauce.  (Earlier I had finished the shortening and honey to make the other breads.)  Essentially the only remaining ingredients were maybe 6 cups of flour, a 1/4 of a bottle of cinnamon and possibly a 1/3 of a gallon of milk.  I made the following post on Facebook to officially close my business:

Thank you for everyone's support of my bread business for my class project. My "business" has closed, but I still have four loaves of chocolate zucchini bread if anyone wants them. They are $4 each. Let me know.
Thank you!! I met the required goal by my class and almost met my personal goal. Thanks again and for those who bought and got to eat it, I hope you enjoyed it!

I sold the last 4 loaves of chocolate zucchini bread all to the same person at church and delivered them to her on Sunday.  With the final loaves of bread sold and my business closed, the profit for my business is $147.81.

Money and Business

This week we read an article that talked about seeking riches, called United in Building the Kingdom of God, by L Tom Perry.  This was an interesting read as I have pondered over the last couple of weeks with my family's financial situation changing.  As you know, I quit my job of 17 years at the end of April.  My husband and I had been planning this change for a little over a year.  We had worked on paying off our credit card, the car loan and purchased another rental property.  We thought that I would be able to not only manage the rental property business more, but I would also open an Etsy store.  I have done both of those things but we really haven't made any money at it yet.  We were smart as we worked through this change, we never relied on needing the other income to be able to meet our financial obligations.  We knew that it would take some time before I would make any money with the Etsy store and we knew there were serious repairs and upgrades that needed to be made at the rental property using the money we have been saving from the income each month.  So while we still haven't technically made money on either business, we are laying the ground work and eventually hope to make money, just to supplement my husband's income.  Maybe we will be successful with both businesses but maybe we won't and that will be okay because we have what we need.  It seems that people born in the late 70's and beyond want everything and want it now.  They want to own fancy cars, buy big houses and clothes to impress their neighbors and friends.  We have also found that as your income grows so do your expenses.  My husband and I have been talking about ways to downsize.  While we aren't planning on downsizing our house, we are considering selling the second car and some of the other "things" that we really don't need.  I think that we are coming to realize that we don't need all those things and the money we have been seeking in the past doesn't mean much if we end up spending it all, plus some and have to go into debt to get those things we think we want, but definitely don't need.  Elder Perry teaches us that we need to focus on seeking the kingdom of God and not necessarily the riches of the world.  If we are lucky enough to have both sought the kingdom of God and earned the riches of the world and are willing to use those riches for good, then I think we have achieved something few have.  However, if we are poor as dirt, but have the gospel and truly live it at all times, then we will be blessed beyond measure in the world to come. Ultimately for my family, we have decided that we would like to start making money with our two businesses, but it will just be able to be used to save money for our future or speed along the process of paying off our house sooner rather than looking to become wealthy or never having to work again in our lives.  However, if those things do happen, it will just be gravy on top.

For my $100 challenge, I fulfilled all the orders I received at the end of the last week.  I spoke to a couple of friends at church and other places I saw them and asked if they wanted to order anything.  I have realized this is definitely not a business I want to do.  It takes too much time and energy to fill these orders.  I feel like I don't have time to do anything else and am either making bread or delivering bread.  This is way too labor intensive for me...and during the middle of the summer in Florida, way too hot!  Since I am leaving on vacation and will not be back until class is ending, this is the last week of my business.  I posted on Facebook on Wednesday my going out of business sale so that I could sell the remaining loaves of bread that I have ingredients for or have already made that were the extra from the batch I had to make.

As a response to Brother Broderick's request to comment on his intro video.  The only thought I have is that if this is the first video students have watched of yours they won't be able to comment on what you need to do differently or be able to grade if they would watch them or not.  I would wait until week 3 or so to make that type of request.  Just my thoughts.

Hiring Slow and Firing Fast

This week we have been talking about hiring and firing.  As we have worked through the assignments this week, I learned that it is important to take your time to hire someone so you make sure you hire the right person.  Not only do you want someone who is a good worker, but you want someone who believes in your company culture.  If you have a certain vision for your company and the way it should be run, you must find someone who fits into that culture.  Otherwise, you will constantly be bucking heads with each other.  This is not productive or a good environment.  We learned that you have to be focused on what you want, have a job description of what the job entails and then be willing to wait until you find the perfect person for the job.  This could take days, weeks or even months.  What is important is that you find the right person to fill the job not the person to fill the job right now.

However, if you are unfortunate enough to hire someone that isn't working out, you need to be willing to cut your losses as soon as possible.  In this day and age, it seems as long as someone is working, at least a little, companies are willing to keep them on even if they really don't fit the company culture or aren't truly putting in an honest day's work.  Of course, also in this day and age, you have to make sure all your bases are covered as you don't want to find yourself in a legal battle for wrongful termination.  This makes finding the right candidate even more important to begin with.

The lesson learned for me is to don't be too anxious to hire just anyone.  Make sure to take the time to find the right person for the job.

This week has been a productive one for my bread business.  I was able to make the bread to fill all the orders from my bread party last Friday.  I had a small mishap where two out of the three loaves of a batch of banana bread the bottoms completely stuck to the pan and the bread was ruined.  I was so annoyed and not sure what to do, but my kind-hearted son offered to buy them from me so I could still meet my goal and not lose all the money for the lost bread.  However, I did tell him I would give him a two for one deal, he could pay me for just one bread and I would give him the other free.  He was STOKED! haha  Not to mention, glad to clean up my mistakes. So instead of the $2 per loaf I would have made I only made $1 per loaf, but any profit is better than a loss.  In addition, I finally got a chance to post about the bread business on Facebook.  In the 24 hours after I posted it, I received orders for 20 loaves of bread!  That will push my profit over the $100 mark and on my way to the $200 goal I had for the project.  So this weekend and next week will be busy making bread, bread, and more bread!  Luckily, my friend let me borrow her bread pans today so I don't have to wash them between each batch! This will make the process go a whole lot quicker.

Great Leaders

This week we have learned about being good leaders.  As I have read the articles and watched the videos for class this week it has reinforced the things that I have learned over the last six months about leadership.  The first one for me is trust.  It is important that we have leaders or are leaders that can be trusted.  If you say you are going to do something you need to do your very best to get it done. This has been huge this week for my husband and I.  We have worked our tails off at one of our rental properties for two weeks now.  We had told them we thought we could get them into the house last Saturday, but that we had to wait and see how the flooring went.  Well by Saturday we knew there was no way we would get it done so we told them we would do the best we could to get them in as soon as possible.  On Monday, we decided to tell them we for sure they could move in on Saturday.  However, the progress this week has been super slow even though we have been there for at least 4 hours every night after work and on a few days I went over with my son and worked on it during the day for a few hours.  It has been exhausting both mentally and physically.  We finally did get it done today and I am so relieved.  We had to ask for help, as we never could have done it ourselves.  I hate asking others for help, when I know people are busy and it is for our rental business where we will make money and not necessarily for a personal thing.  However, people were willing to help and we are grateful for it. In the end, we were able to keep our word and our commitment and the tenants took possession of the house this afternoon.  I hope we showed that we can be trusted and will fulfill our commitments, even when it is a difficult situation.  As a leader, those around you have to be able to trust you.

For my $100 challenge bread business, as you can see we were super busy with the rental property, so it wasn't until Friday that I was able to work on the bread business again.  I made several loaves so they were ready for the bread party in the evening.  I sold out and have orders for several more.  I will make those on Monday and deliver them to the recipients.  I am now up to $58 profit, the initial investment has been paid back and at this point I have almost all the ingredients needed to get me through the rest of the challenge, except for the perishable ones.  I will be setting up another bread party, hopefully for next Friday.  I am glad I have finally made a profit and have two repeat customers and one of the customers her daughter even bought some bread for her boyfriend.  It has been slow, especially with everything else that has been going on, but I have definitely made progress each week.  I still hope to make a $200 profit by the end of the challenge.  I'll keep trying until it is finished.

Customer Experience

These past two weeks have been difficult.  I have been working on repairs at two of our rental properties.  First, I have never been a handy person and my husband is even less handy than I am.  Second, I am overweight and have arthritis in my knees and back so manual labor is very difficult for me.  Even though we have all these road blocks standing in our way, we are determined to get the repairs done and make the properties acceptable and even more than acceptable but great for our tenants.  Last week I learned how to install a new subfloor and tub in one of our rentals.  This week I have been painting, cleaning, caulking and now we are putting in laminate.  It is exhausting and I hurt terribly.  I want it to be great for our tenants and I don't want to let them down but I have been overwhelmed by the amount of time and energy that it takes to make these repairs.  I don't want to fail, but I also worry that I am pushing my body too far.  It is difficult to find the line between customer service and your own personal health.  I know no matter what I will keep trying and keep pushing and take care of myself the best I can.  I want to do the best for my tenants.  I know they are counting on us to get things done so they can move in.

As happened last week, not much has been able to happen with my $100 challenge bread business because of all the time spent at the rental property.  However, I did get an order for 3 loaves of bread so I did make a batch of bread this morning and delivered it this morning.  I also sent an email to my mother in law and asked her if she wanted any bread since we will be seeing them on Sunday and I can take it to them (they live about 45 minutes away so it has to be on a planned trip otherwise it won't be profitable to me).  I have not heard back from her, but at least I am trying to make sales without overwhelming myself with the other stuff going on.  Progress is slow but steady.

Standing Out

Have you ever read the article "In Praise of the Purple Cow"?  The title sounded familiar, but when I read the article it didn't sound familiar.  I learned from this article that we need to find a way to stand out or be different with our companies.  But in a way that people will say "wow".

I took a class at work many years ago about providing "Wow Service".  We were split into groups and someone mentioned that Disney Cruises gives Wow Service.  At the time I wasn't so sure, however, since then we have gone on two Disney Cruises and I can definitely say that they do give Wow Service. Both our room attendant and our wait staff were so kind.  On our last cruise our son got sick on the last day and so we told the room attendant that he wasn't feeling well, but we wanted him to try to eat something so we went to lunch and when we returned the attendant had fixed his bed up with "Cars" sheets.  This is not normal; they usually just have the plain white sheets that most hotel/cruise rooms have.  While our son was quite sick he was so happy to see the Cars sheets and snuggled right into the bed for a long nap.  It was the special touches that made us feel special.  It also makes us want to return again and again.

I thought about the wow service this week as I was working on some repairs at one of our rental properties.  I thought that I really needed to pay attention to the birthdays of our renters and their children and send a birthday card (or maybe even a little gift).  I think that would help them know we care and hopefully make our properties a Wow experience for our tenants.  While there is more that I think we could probably do, I would definitely like to start doing some things to help us stand out from other landlords.  Hopefully by doing that also it would have the renters be willing to refer their friends or other people they know who may be looking for a place to rent.

As for my $100 challenge this week, with the repairs on the rental property and then going out of town for the holiday weekend, I did not have time to work on the $100 challenge project this week.  I hope that next week I will be able to get another party set up and start selling my bread again.  I do have some people who have said they are willing to have a bread party so I need to follow up with them one the repairs are finished on the rental properties.

Debt

Debt weighs heavy on my mind personally and in our rental property business.  This week in class we have read three talks in reference to debt and more importantly getting and staying out of debt in addition to paying tithes and offerings.

The first talk was by Elder Robert D. Hales called, "Becoming Provident Providers Temporally and Spiritually".  I really liked this quote about being a provident provider. "To provide providently, we must practice the principles of provident living: joyfully living within our means, being content with what we have, avoiding excessive debt, and diligently saving and preparing for rainy-day emergencies. When we live providently, we can provide for ourselves and our families and also follow the Savior’s example to serve and bless others."  How true is that?  You cannot provide for others if you do not have the means because you are overrun with debt and have not learned how to save.

President James E Faust gave the second talk titled "Opening the Windows of Heaven".  Who doesn't want blessings?  Who doesn't want to be successful?  I would be surprised if anyone you spoke to said no to either of those questions.  President Faust tells us we may obtain blessings by paying our tithing and offerings.  For those that have not lived this law it is quite difficult to "give away" your money when you feel you are barely making ends me.  But if you live the law of tithing, not only will you make ends meet miraculously you will have more than you need, you will be blessed, maybe not just financially, but spiritually and temporally and emotionally.  Honestly, I don't know how people can afford NOT to pay their tithing.

The last talk was by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin called "Earthly Debts, Heavenly Debts".  Elder Wirthlin talks about the five steps to financial freedom.

• Pay your tithing
• Spend less than you earn
• Learn to save
• Honor your financial obligations
• Teach your children to follow your example

These steps are also covered in the Self-Reliance program The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has put out and also by Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University.  

While I believe we have gotten the majority of our personal debt under control, we have one credit card left to pay off and our house.  We are lucky enough to not have a car payment and have been able to pay off almost $34k in debt over the past year.  Our personal debt does not weigh me down like it used to. Even with quitting my part-time job, I know we will be okay.  I know somehow we will make enough money to cover our bills, finish paying off our debt and be able to financially be self-reliant.

However, our business is another story.  We have two mortgages on the rental properties and because there were far more repairs than we realized on the new property we purchased, we have been saving and doing our best to try to get the repairs done without going into debt.  But then we found out that two of the three units the renters are going to be moving out within a month of each other and if we have two properties without renters then we will have to come up with the money to pay the mortgages on those properties and it could be a huge disaster.  So we have decided to put the supplies for the repairs on the credit card and then hopefully we will get the units rented quickly and will not suffer loss of rental income.  I hope and pray that once we get through these three repairs that have to be done then there will just be small maintenance to keep up with it and we can quickly pay off the credit card we put the supplies on.  Owning your own business is stressful as the debts still weigh heavily on your mind.  I hope that we can use the Dave Ramsey method in our business going forward as much as we do in our personal lives.

For my $100 Challenge business things are going really well.  I used my $20 capital money to purchase ingredients and supplies for my bread business.  I made a batch of each kinds of bread to take to my friend's house for a bread party.  I had my first bread party on Wednesday and I sold all the bread I had taken with me (6 loaves) and have orders for 4 more loaves.  We also set up a day to have another bread party the first part of June. So far I have not yet made a profit as I had to use the majority of what I made with these sales to buy additional ingredients.  But I think these ingredients will help me start turning a profit on my business.  Time will tell.

Goals

This week has been about looking at what we want our business to look like.  There are two things that help us do this.  First is having goals and the second is writing those goals down into a business plan.

We have to know what our goals are, what we want to accomplish with our business, to be able to know where we are going.  If we can't see our dream and our goals then we muddle around doing not much of anything.  While not all goals can be accomplished and life gets in our way, if we don't at least have goals to give us direction on where we want to be, we won't make it out of first gear. On one of my assignments this week there was a quote by Elder M Russell Ballard that said, "I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don't set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential.  When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life."  Goals give us the ambition and the drive to get us where we want to be.  I certainly don't want to look back on my life and say "what did I actually accomplish?" or "was I happy?"  It is no way to live just waiting for each day to be over.  I want to get up in the morning with things to accomplish and be working towards goals that I am proud of.  This is true in business and in my personal life.

Once we know what our ultimate goal is and several short term goals we can create a business plan to give us the directions and steps to reach our goals and dreams.  I have never created a business plan before, even though my husband and I have had our rental property business for over 3 1/2 years now. However, I am excited to use the business plan model we are working on this week in class to make a business plan for both our rental property business and my Etsy store, in addition to the $100 Challenge business.

I haven't had a lot of extra time to work on my $100 challenge, but I did make arrangements with my friend for when we are going to have the "Bread Party".  We are going to do it next Wednesday, May 17.  The other thing I did was work on the pricing.  I found a couple of websites that you can use to calculate the cost of the ingredients.  I need to do the final pricing this week so I can make some business cards that have the price and my information on them for people to use to order.  I also need to be prepared with everything so that I can be ready for the party.  It looks like the first part of next week is going to be a busy one.

Time Management, Business and Readings

Time Management
This week has been a huge struggle.  First, I am still trying to get used to permanently being home and so feeling like I have all the time in the world to accomplish things.  Second, wanting to be helpful any chance I can get.  Third, learning how to say no.  Forth, getting on a schedule.

This week I have had at least three fairly large "appointments" for lack of a better word each day, which has taken me away from homework and working on my business.  I know some weeks will be like this, but it felt very disheartening.  At first I was saying, "I love being able to help people all the time."  However, as the week went on I felt like it was so much that it was becoming a detriment to me.  It felt frustrating.  I believe that if I can make and KEEP a schedule I will not only feel like I accomplish more but I WILL accomplish more.  I know there are going to be days that I will want and need to help others, but I would like to limit it at least right now because I am really trying to focus on three things all at once and it makes things hard.  I need to get my homework done for school each week.  I need to work on my business/internship and getting it up and running.  I need to begin working on my $100 Challenge business for my school class.  All three things are quite demanding and so interruptions make it frustrating to me.

I know I can do this, it is just sticking to the schedule for a few weeks until I get over the initial start up hump and can move more into the auto pilot/cruise control mode. What I have learned this week is that I really need to stick to my schedule, as if I really was going to a regular job, so I can accomplish a lot in the time I have and not have to cut into family time all the time to make up for what I didn't get done earlier.  My goal going forward is to get up at 7am when my husband and son leave to go to work and school, get ready for the day and by 8am begin working on my tasks for the day.  Then I can be done by 3pm when it is time to pick up my son.  I realize that is not a full day of work, but it is better than what is happening now and I can really accomplish a lot during that time if I stick to my schedule.

Business
For my $100 challenge, a lot of background stuff has been happening with it.  I initially shared my ideas on Facebook with my friends and most of them thought the bread business would be the best. My friend and I went out on Wednesday evening and we were talking about it.  She asked me what kind of breads I was thinking and I told her, but as we talked I thought of a few other kinds I could do.  However, then I had to reel myself back in and realize for now I need to keep it to just a few and not create more work for myself.  One of the breads I talked about our family has made for years but we always just called it "Yummy Bread".  So I explained some of the ingredients in it and she was all excited.  I said, "I guess I need to be like Sams and have a sample to give out."  She said, "why don't we have a bread party at my house?  I could invite some people for a brunch type get together and you can have your bread there for people to sample and then take orders."  I thought it was a fabulous idea!  The next day she told me her daughter has appointed herself as my marketing director and is going to make bread invitations with a cute saying on them about "rising to the occasion" and the party would go until at "yeast" noon. I am glad to have friends who are willing to help out and make this successful!  Next week my goal is to work on the pricing and make the final decision about which breads I am going to make.  I also want to see if one of my other friends from church might be willing to have a bread party at her house as well.  Then I could have the sample to share with that circle of people too.  Or maybe I should just have the party at my own house and invite church people but also those from my previous job.  Or do both!  All of it is a work in progress.

Readings
We have been asked to read E-Myth for my class.  I was interested to read the first few chapters and the author stated that within a start-up business the owner needs to have three personalities.  The Entrepreneur, The Manager, and the Technician.  It was interesting how the author explained each one and why each are needed.  I believe that right now I am more of a technician with a manager thrown in.  While I am doing a start up, I don't necessarily believe that I am an entrepreneur.  I don't always see things in a new way, but I tend to think I can probably do something that is being currently done in a better way.  So I guess that is where you would see the Entrepreneur side in me.  I hope that as I continue to read, I will find ways to bring all three sides out in me so that I can be successful at both businesses we currently have and any that we may open in the future.

A Successful Entrepreneur I Will Be

As a new semester of school starts and the changes that have happened and will happen in the next few weeks, I pray that I will continue to learn the lessons that our Heavenly Father has in store for me.  I also plan on using my time to become a truly successful entrepreneur.

Right now to get us through this hurdle of me quitting my job and therefore less income coming into our house, I have chosen to read the book "Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey.  My husband and I have been on the total money makeover, but I have never read the book.  My friend showed me the videos and we were off.  We paid off one major credit card and have an emergency fund, we have saved for the remainder of my schooling (since I will no longer have tuition reimbursement from my job), and saved for three vacations so we can pay cash for everything.  There are still some things I think we can cut back on and my husband and I even discussed last night possibly selling his car even though we don't have a car payment on it, but we still have to do the maintenance, pay for a tag and insurance. We think that we may be better off if I am not working and he will be working from home every other day, there will rarely be a need for us each to have a car.  We'll have to pray and decide if that is the best option.  We know Heavenly Father will let us know.

I have not made a decision yet about my $100 challenge.  I was originally going to just use the Etsy shop I intent to start, but then I realized that it says I have to liquidate it at the end and I don't want to do that.  So I need to still make some decisions in regards to that.

I look forward to starting my own Etsy shop and hope that this class will help push me towards that along with my internship.  I know there will be so much to learn and I can't wait to learn it all and put it into use.  I will continue to record the things that I am learning here, as I have done in the past, so that I may go back and remember what I need to do and how I need to do it, so I may be a successful entrepreneur.

Well, I did it!

I finally took the scary plunge and turned in my two week notice at my job that I have been at for 17 years.  It is hard to leave a good paying job, but when you keep feeling like God is hitting you over the head and telling you, "I have something better for you.  I need you to do other things." It is hard to ignore and put off what you are being told.

I have been working towards this in many ways, we have been living on my husband's income for the last year and using my income to pay off a pretty large credit card balance, put money aside so I can finish my schooling, and build up our emergency fund and start towards saving to put a new roof on our house.  I worry that I am jumping the gun too early and could finish paying off a second credit card (which currently has a zero percent interest and fixed payments for 5 years) and save for the new roof, but I felt if last year when I decided to do this I didn't put a hard stop date I would always find something else that needed more money to be done and I would be there for another 17 years.  This would defeat the purpose of what God has been telling me to do.

Even though I worry, I know that God will take care of us.  I know that He is telling me to take the plunge and if I follow His path for me, I will be blessed.  Things may be tough for a bit and there will be sacrifices that will need to be made.  But I believe in the end we will find my more happiness because of the choice that my husband and I made for me to quit my job and go in a different direction in our lives.

My husband will still keep his job and we can live on his income.  Like I said, somethings will have to be sacrificed, but I still think we can do many of the things we have in the past.  It will not be a hard change for us, I made sure we did it on a trial basis for the last year and it has worked.

The big changes will be for me and what I do.  First, we have decided that I will homeschool our son. He has struggled for many years in school and we moved him to a private school three years ago.  It seemed to work at first, but last year and this year have been more and more of a struggle.  In October while on our family vacation, I felt like Heavenly Father knocked me over the head and I had a "Eureka" moment.  My son is smart, people comment on it all the time.  But he also has a learning disability that makes learning numbers or remembering formulas very difficult.  We have tried to learn his times tables and he can remember them long enough to do them right then but by the next day he has forgotten them and looks at you like he has never seen them before a day in his life.  It is frustrating for all of us.  However, we have found that if he has some type of an interaction with the concept that is being taught he remembers it for years.  We had multiple experiences on our vacation where he would remember something he had learned a whole year before (while on another family vacation) and could answer the tour guide or teacher of the class he took at the resort flawlessly.  Some of the things I didn't even know the answer to.  But what I realized was that he knew these answers from things he had done in the past, places we had gone, activities he had done.  It was all interactive and I realized at that point, he needs a hands on learning curriculum.  In school, most kids are told to sit down and be quite. But when you tell him to do that he shuts down.  He becomes bored, not because he is so smart, but because he just can't concentrate like that.  I know it will be a big challenge and some days I think I am going to want to pull my hair out, but in the end I know it is the best thing for my son.

The next change is that not only do I want to continue to run our rental property business, but I want to actually learn how to do the repair work.  I want to learn how to install a new water heater, replace a bathtub, seal a bathtub, put up new insulation, etc.  I have some repair work that I have schedule and luckily the guy is my friend and I have asked him to allow me to help him and learn how to do these things too.  He has agreed and after school is out, I will also take my son with us so he can learn these skills too.  Who knows, I may end up training a future handyman!

Finally, I love to scrapbook.  I don't have much time now between work, school, family, housework, and my calling so it is on the back burner.  But with the change in job status, I now want to use my skills to create digital invitations and cards.  I will sell them through Etsy and the good news is, I have a friend who will be my mentor and is currently doing it and loves it.  I know with some hard work and Heavenly Father's support I can be successful.

So the plunge has begun.  I have done it.  I finally got the courage to say goodbye to a job that has begun to take its toll on me mentally and emotionally and putting myself first.  I am looking forward to the freedom, the new adventures and changes this will bring in our lives.  It is scary, but exciting!

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.

Attitude on Money

This week we were asked to read talks and watch stories about money and happiness.  Many of the presenters had differing opinions on how it was achieved, but the majority of them did agree that money does not buy happiness unless you are using it to help others.

One of the talks was called, "Attitude on Money” by Stephen W. Gibson.  I felt he had two main points, first, that we all have a distorted view of money, whether it is distorted by our own thoughts or those around us.  It could be as minimally distorted as people should pay tithing to as large as the only way to get to heaven is to give all of our money away.  Mr. Gibson gave an example of glasses and how they distort the way things are seen even though that distortion makes what you see as perfectly clear, to someone else it is completely blurry.  But either way it is a distortion of what is really there.  His other, more important, point, in my opinion, is that money can be used for good or evil, but money itself is not evil.  We can spend time earning a lot of money.  But what is important is what we do with that money, do we use it for ourselves to buy large mansions or do we use it for others to build schools or for others to buy bombs?  One is good for just me, while the other is good for others and the last one is technically bad for all.  

We were asked to answer the following questions:

• What is your attitude toward money?
• Honestly, mine is a love/hate relationship.  I have always said that.  I need it, so I want to get enough for my needs.  Plus I really do want to do things or use the money in a way to help others.  But I find myself obsessing over it sometimes.  Not necessarily on how to get more, well some of that, mostly because I really want to pay off the two credit cards that we currently have, so I am always trying to think of ways we can cut back on costs or increase income so we can use the money to pay off our debt.  I don't like it having control over me. I want to be able to control it a lot better.  I am glad we are following the Dave Ramsey way of budgeting and working on paying things off.  This will really help us now and in the long run to be in control of our money instead of letting it control us.
• How can your view of money affect the way you live?
• I believe that your view dictates how you use money and in turn how you live. If you believe that it is there to help you and others you come in contact with, then you are more willing to live your life giving. However, if you believe that money is there to help you buy the bigger house, the newest car, or the next great gadget, then you will be obsessed with earning more to spend more.
• What rules are recommended for prospering?
• Here is what Mr. Gibson suggests:
• Rule 1. Seek the Lord and have hope in him 
• Rule 2. Keep the commandments, that includes the temporal ones, tithing and fast offerings. 
• Rule 3. Think about money and plan how you can become self-reliant. 
• Rule 4. Take advantage of chances for learning so you will not be ignorant of these matters. Education, as President Hinckley has taught us, is the Key to Opportunity. 
• Rule 5. Learn the laws upon which the blessings of wealth are predicated. 
• Rule 6. Do not send away the naked, the hungry, the thirsty or the sick or those who are held captive. 
• I really like these rules.  I think that as we focus on the Lord and what he wants us to do and how he wants us to handle money; we will do the right thing.  Ultimately, we are here to do our best and return to live with our Heavenly Father.  If we cannot say that we have loved others, given service in whatever way is required and followed the commandments of the Lord, then, I feel, we will have wasted our life.

Entrepreneur Interview

The past couple of weeks we have had an assignment to seek out and interview an entrepreneur.  As soon as I saw we were given this assignment I knew immediately who I wanted to interview.  There is an entrepreneur in my old ward who is a rental property business owner.  I wanted to interview her in the past when I was given this assignment, but it never worked out.  I knew this was the perfect opportunity.

I set up an appointment and went over to her house on Friday, November 11.  I did not feel like I had to ask her the questions in order that I had on my sheet as I felt the conversation flowed naturally and she would address the question sometimes before I even got to it.  

Here are the takeaways I got from our interview:

1. Start as early as possible, but only go as fast or as slow as you can handle
• The younger you can start in your business the better. Don’t wait too long because sometimes it takes several years to truly see the fruits of your labors.
• Go as fast or as slow as you can handle financially and stress wise. Sometimes it can be overwhelming and if you take on too much too fast you fail to do any of the things that need to be done.  Your business (and even your personal life) will suffer.
2. Pray for the direction you should go
• Always seek direction from the Lord in every decision and in how to manage your time and money wisely. 
• Be willing to follow that direction.
3. In the rental property business, it is nice to have a good cop/bad cop.
• Have one person who is the softy and can be kind and nice all the time.
• Have the other person be the one who is a stickler for the rules and can enforce them.
4. How to best manage finances
• When repairs are required, try to do as much of the work as you can as possible to save yourself money. Search google and YouTube videos or take classes at Home Depot or Lowes.
• Don’t get swayed by the large sum of cash that comes in at the first of the month and then spend it all before the month is over. Create a budget and stick to it.
5. Constantly be doing your homework.
• Make sure you get an appraisal and a home inspection to make sure you are getting a good deal.
• Look into creative financing or do things differently to get the down payment for the next purchase. 
• Always be reading or studying the market and the internet to find other deals or other ways to improve.

While a good majority of the things we spoke about I already knew, she tweaked some of my thinking or gave me other ideas to pursue.  I was able to tell her things we had done and she would say, "maybe you could try this."  I felt it was more of a refining process than a complete learning process.  It was really nice to be able to bounce ideas off of someone who had somewhat done what we are trying to do.  In her case, I found out they just have the one mobile home park and some one room cabins that they rent out and they have not tried to gain any other rental properties nor do they intend to.  So there were a few things she was unable to help me with, but overall it was an amazing experience and I felt like we are moving in the right direction.  I just wish we could have moved there a little sooner in our lives.

Good to Great

This week in class we have read many talks and watched many videos about going from good to great. In the book "Good to Great", by Jim Collins, he states, "Good is the enemy of great...Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life."  Do I have a good life, but not a great life?  At this point in time, I think so, but it is something I want to change.  I don't believe that Heavenly Father put us on the earth just to stumble through and be mediocre, but to be our own best self.

As I have thought about the concept of good to great, I have realized to in business, it doesn't necessarily mean being better than anyone else at their expense.  While you can be better than your "competition", it comes internally in wanting what is best for you and your customers and your competitor is kind of in the side or rear view mirror. They are there, but don't necessarily play a role in it.  It means keeping it internally and making you better than the you of yesterday.  I believe that it also means looking for opportunities to improve in just about every facet of life.

It seems the last couple of weeks these lessons are starting to meld together as a complete story.  I feel they are pieces of the puzzle that as I work on each of them and put them together to make one complete picture I will ultimately reach my own greatness and our business will emerge as a great one.  I know it will take time, I know these things won't happen overnight.  However, I think they can happen quicker than we have done in the past, that we can be as the flywheel that Jim Collins speaks of where one good decision and action on that decision, leads to another and another until the wheel builds its own momentum and turns almost on its own.  I believe that as my husband and I work on each of the different parts together we can eventually become the great company (and people) we want to be.  I think that is exactly what our Heavenly Father wants from us.  To be the greatest disciple and person we can be.  It doesn't matter what someone else is doing, we are not going to be compared to them.  What matters is what we personally do and how we treat those around us.  That is what will give us the ultimate goal of eternal life with our Father in Heaven and our families.