Belief

Welcome to Week 13 of my thoughts. I can't believe how fast this semester has flown by. I also can't believe that we only have one week left! It was a great semester taking this class and learning all that I could about entrepreneurs. I am glad that I was able to learn more about what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

I think one of the main lessons that I took away from this week and from this class overall, is BELIEF. You need to believe in yourself because who else will? When you feel like no one believes in you or your ideas, you need to have the capacity to believe in yourself. Belief is such a powerful tool that we all need to be able to tap into. It can carry us through some hard times. We have read and/or watched quite a few videos this week of people that had hard lives but they believed in themselves and knew that they could get through anything because of that knowledge. I know that it will be hard to start my own company and to make it successful and to keep going but if I believe in myself, my dreams and ideas then I think that I am off to a great start. 

What's a Business For?

This was a good week of learning about businesses and how we can grow them. I liked how the videos and readings this week talked about how we can make a change in the world. I loved the talk "Are We Not All Beggars?" By Elder Holland that talks about how are all beggars which means we are all equal in God's eyes and we need to treat others better. We need to treat others the same way we would want to be treated. I thought that it was cool that Sarah Endline started her own candy company. It was inspiring to watch her story and to see how she got to where she is today. I also loved to see a woman entrepreneur to help inspire me. 

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• Based on what you read in the first two pages (pages 3 and 4), why are virtue and integrity so vital to an economy?

Virtue and integrity are important because otherwise, you could run the risk of major business problems. People need to care what they do and say when they feel like no one is watching them. We need to be able to trust others in this economy who know what they are doing and can be trustworthy to do the right thing.

• According to Charles Handy, what is the “real justification” for the existence of businesses?

The purpose of a business, in other words, is not to make a profit, full stop. It is to make a profit so that the business can do something more or better. That “something”becomes the real justification for the business. Owners know this. Investors needn’t care. 

• What are two solutions proposed by Handy that you agree with? Why?

I agree with his thoughts on virtue and integrity. Those are two important characteristics to have in anyone but especially in a business sense. 

Happiness

I titled this week's blog post, "Happiness" this week because that's what I feel like the theme was for this week. Happiness is something that we as a people strive for, year for. We all want it. It's that person that we all want to be best friends with. Sometimes we find it the wrong way. We look for it in the wrong places. With the wrong people and sometimes we never really find what we were looking for. We all want to be happy but is happiness? What is TRUE happiness and why does it sometimes feel like it's so far out of reach? 

The mini cases that we worked on this week got me to thinking about this topic more. I wrote that family always comes first. No matter what. The mini cases were really good for me to read yesterday. For the past little bit, I have witnessed this very same thing happening to someone who I know. It is heart breaking to see them time and time again choose something or someone over their own family. It makes me sad to watch this happen and make me wonder what I could do to help? I think that the best thing that we can do is decided how we want to react and how we want to live our lives. 

• What is your attitude toward money?

It is really a love/hate relationship with money. Obviously, we need it to survive and for the fundamentals but it can become such a greedy, selfish, evil thing if we allow it to grow into that way. 

• How can your view of money affect the way you live?

I think that it could affect a lot about the way that you live. We do need money to survive but we need to filter what we need and what we just want. Depending on how much money we have/make, it could determine our attitude towards life and others. Money can cause a lot of stress, anxiety and worry. It can ruin relationships and cause problems. 

• What rules are recommended for prospering?

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. 

Entrepreneur Interview

I really loved interviewing an entrepreneur this week! I interviewed entrepreneur, Lauren Bird, who runs her own cross stitch business called “A Bird and Her Thread”. She has an Etsy shop where she sells her own handmade cross stitch pieces for people. She made my husband and I one for our wedding and it so cute. We have it on our TV stand in our room and I love to look at it because she is so talented at what she does.

It was fun to talk to Lauren about her business and what she likes to do. It was cool to see that she is passionate about what she does and that she is happy doing this. This interview reaffirmed how much I want to start my own business and be happy doing something that I would LOVE to do. Lauren talked a lot about how happiness is really the end goal in running your business and that it is about you but it’s more about the customer and giving them what they want.

I learned more about what goes on behind the scenes of running your own business and what it takes. You always think that you will just magically have your own business but often times we don't think about the work and hours that go into it. 

Two Types of People

In one of the videos "Aspects of Building Trust" where Guy Kawasaki talks about the two different types of people in the world. There are the bakers and eaters. He means that there are people (the eaters) that just think that they need to eat as much of the pie as possible. There are the bakers that see everything as an opportunity to bake bigger and better pies. There are people that don't adapt to help others and don't gain their customer's trust. In contrast, there are the other business owners that know the importance of gaining their customer's trust.

Success in business comes from trust. You want your customer to trust you enough to buy your products that you are selling. They want to see that you love your product too. I think about my LipSense business and how I can be better with having my customers or ladies just following my business trust me. I need to sell my product better and show that I love it and hope that they will love it too. I also need to be available to answer their questions when problems or questions arise. There is an importance in having people trust you because you will be more successful that way.