Entrepreneurial Journal Final Blog

Ladies and gentleman! The time has finally come to end this semester. I have to say... Hurray! Not because I didn't enjoy the class, but because things have been absolutely bonkers with COVID-19. There are a few questions that I think are really important that I'm supposed to address on here, so I'm gonna list them off and do my absolute best to answer each as meaningful as possible. 

• If you had one final lecture to share with a group of students on what you have learned from this course, what would you share?

      

  First of all, this course was extremely beneficial if you ever do decide to become an entrepreneur. The reason is that it helps you to honestly and sincerely discover what type of person you are and what you want to achieve in your life. Some people start businesses just for money, but usually there are driving factors that help them to achieve the goals they set out to reach. This course breaks down step by step how to at least get in the right direction of the type of entrepreneur your want to be. That, or it will open your eyes and help you decide that living the non-entrepreneur life is more your style. It isn't any wonder that there are a ridiculous number of factors to consider when choosing to take the risk, the leap, or the dive to becoming an entrepreneur. You have to decide if you are going to work with others, what type of business, how you will fund it, what you will do if there are set backs, how to pay your employees and ensure everything is going to be okay even on the downsides. It is a lot to take in really. My lecture would be to take this could because it will help remove a lot of those doubts or burning questions on whether or not being an entrepreneur is for you. 

 

• What would be your last bit of advice to someone wanting to begin the entrepreneur journey?

I would tell them to make sure that they are fully invested in the endeavor, to prepare for failures, and to embrace successes while staying humble. If they aren't 100% invested in making the company run and risking their time on a company that may or may not succeed then it wouldn't be worth starting. If they aren't willing to accept that there are going to be losses and to just push through them, then don't start. When there are successes, don't get over cocky and make sure you are always pushing for excellence, because it can be easy to get blind sided by success. Assuming a person is fine with all of those factors, then they should at least do decent in their chosen market. 

• What words of advice, direction, or caution would you give him or her if you had only one chance to give your own last lecture?

I'm not sure how to respond to this without repeating myself to be honest, but I will give it a whirl. A piece of advice that I would emphasize very heavily is that any endeavor that they choose to think about, involve the Lord. If Heavenly Father isn't involved, you could be missing out on a huge opportunity for yourself and for others. Think of all the times that Heavenly Father has influenced someone to do something great with their gifts/talents. Sometimes gifts/talents they didn't even know about. If the Lord isn't involved then you need to reassess the situation before proceeding. Involve him in ever facet of your life and things will turn out A-Okay, regardless if you pursue being an entrepreneur or not. 

Attitude of Gratitude

This week, I had the opportunity to reflect on gratitude and a case study on an interesting individual named Randy Haykin. I just wanted to share some thoughts on a few things that popped into my head this week as I was going through these topics. 

Currently the world is an absolute mess. People are dying every day due to COVID-19, and many people are losing their jobs. So much bad stuff is going on, which can be debilitating for many. For me, it has been difficult to work from home because my children always want to invade my work space. It has been difficult to be productive and to feel stuck at home (very little social interaction for me, a social butterfly). What I am grateful for in all of this though is that I get to be close to my pregnant wife and three children, though it isn't always easy. I love my family and know that they are the best part of my life. I am grateful to be able to receive the sacrament in my home and feel the spirit, even when we are unable to attend church meetings. I am grateful for my boss who has worked hard on a day to day basis to ensure that our jobs stay secure to take care of our families. I am grateful to know that God loves us and is ultimately going to provide in such a dire time of need, especially if we show our faith in Christ and are prayerful. We are lucky to have such a loving Heavenly Father. 

I wanted to give a quick shout out to Randy Haykin on a few different things. The first thing that I loved reading about is that he set quality time with his family as a priority when he was in Harvard Business School. Currently, I am in school and working full-time. I don't always feel like I have time to spend with my family, but if he could do it t hen I definitely can. The case study encouraged me to review my time management and reflect on how I could be better. Everyone should evaluate their time management on a regular basis to see where they can improve. Nobody is perfect at it. The other thing that I wanted to point out about Randy is that even though he had struggles in his company, he always did his absolute best to do right by his employees and be honest. Some companies are really not too concerned with their employees. I feel that my boss is very much like Randy because I can feel his love and concern for my family in this trying time. I want to encourage all company owners to really think about how they can support their families, but also help their employees to do the same. I pray that each business owner that is struggling right now will do their best to do right by themselves and those who have worked so hard for them as well.