What would you do?

This week we had two “mini” case studies that made us think about potential real life scenarios that could occur in the life of an entrepreneur. I enjoyed thinking about these scenarios because it helped me solidify what matters most to me. Over the course of this semester I have come to the conclusion that true failure for an entrepreneur is a failed family. I always struggle a little when hearing about a successful entrepreneur who has been divorced but in the end their business was successful! Wrong priorities. But to one extent or another we will all face similar scenarios in our lives and I feel a large part of knowing what to do comes down to setting standards beforehand. The youth are told they only have to make the decision not to do drugs once, because once that decision is made it is not even an option anymore. I feel this is the same for all of us. I only have to make the decision once to keep promises to my children (and only make promises when I truly mean it).

Another topic I appreciated was the attitude towards money. It was nice to hear from an LDS perspective someone encourage us to be successful and be profitable. Then what it really comes down to is how that money is used. I don’t think it is any accident that the greatest examples of rich people are typically those that came from humble beginnings. They realize there is more to life and they are more giving with the money that they do have.

Dream Huge!

I remember as a missionary listening to an EFY song called Dream Big. I really don't remember the words but I remember feeling inspired to do my best. Taylor Richards takes it a step farther in a video we watched this week where we are encouraged to Dream Huge! In the video he explained how they were selected for the top 100 of a specific type of company. His initial thought was “I’m in the top 100! I could have quit right there and been thrilled to death.” To their own surprise the first year they reached number 11. That is huge! And the next year they were number 6. Imagine if they had settled with being okay as number 100. Where you settle is where you will end up. Taylor encourages us not to underestimate ourselves. This can be very easy to do especially in the pessimistic society we live in, be we really were meant to achieve incredible things. “You can do it, if you involve the Lord you can do great things. It’s a lot more fun to do great things than to just do good things.” The reason this inspired me so much is for the simple fact that at times I think I limit myself. I want to be successful but when I see the people that have been incredibly successful I never can imagine myself being where they are. I have to keep in mind that with the Lord I can accomplish many great things.

Going along with this is a quote that hit me in the article Heart of Entrepreneurship. “It’s much easier and safer for companies to stay with the familiar than to explore the unknown.” We are all victims of the comfort zone. The most successful people are those who are brave enough to leave their comfort zone. In fact they even find it fun! I want to expand my comfort zone as I learn new things and have new opportunities I want to take those chances to do great things!

 

 

Execute!

A coworker of mine took this course last semester and it is always fun for me to come to an assignment that he had talked about. This week it was about the ability to execute. I have a feeling this was one of his favorite topics, he talked about it quite often and still talks about it. As discussed in A Letter for Garcia the ability to execute is an incredibly valuable attribute that most do not quite have or understand. I agree that this is a great attribute, but I do struggle a little when the conversation turns to complaining about people who do not have this ability. First off it is typically a hypocritical conversation, and while the article argues that this is a very old problem and that modern excuses are not to blame I have to disagree to an extent. Many people receive mixed signals throughout their lives. Students are excellent examples. A student will have many teachers throughout their life, each teacher will manage their classroom a little different. Because of this it is natural for students to become very good at clarifying what exactly is being required. The teacher finds it annoying, but the student finds it just as annoying when a teacher doesn’t clearly define expectations. It is easy to sit in the seat of the task giver, you already know what you want (or what will be acceptable), and if that task giver isn’t fully competent the tasks they assign may very well be confusing. I once wrote a paper thinking I knew exactly what was expected only to have it given back with a big D+ written in red on the cover page. I was baffled! As I read the comments I came to the conclusion that my understanding of the teacher’s instructions were quite different than the teacher’s interpretation and sadly there was nothing I could do about it.

Nevertheless! I still stand by the idea that this is a great attribute to have, I just feel like there needs to be a certain level of “knowing your audience” to be most effective at implementing this attribute.