Skip to main content

Week #13

This week was another great week of study. I truly enjoyed listening to the talk by President Monson. I love his ability to tell a story. His stories of gratitude were truly inspiring and left me wanting to do more, especially at this tender season of the year. I love the story that he shared about his Sunday school teacher and the impact she had on the class when she asked them to donate their party money to a class member in need.

Larry North was a very inspiring character that was introduced this week. I think that it is wonderful to understand that our background and experiences we have can propel us forward to better things, even if those experiences were not the best. He took his difficult childhood and used that to fuel his successes. He had a lot of gratitude for the every day and for the mentors he had found along the way. It was truly inspiring to see!

I especially enjoyed the presentation by Ted Zoller about the deal-maker pathway. I found it to be interesting that working for larger companies tended to be a good way to be successful as an entrepreneur. I like the fact that we do not have to choose path A or B and stop dreaming. We can use the time working for larger companies to help us gain needed tools to be successful when we branch out on our own. I also like the case study about Randy Haykin and to see how he was able to wait for the right time. He worked for larger companies and then when the timing was right he was able to find great success launching his own business with partners he had worked with for years in one capacity of the other.

The last piece of wisdom that I want to remember from this week was from Stan Christensen. He talked about how we had a lot of decisions about what to do and how to figure out the path to take. He said that part of that decision should not be what we think other people expect or want us to do. He said that this is a way to lead to a lot of unhappiness and things that will not fulfill us. The advice to pick something that we personally enjoy was great advice that I want to use. It seems simple but it was so well timed for me this week!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Week #6

I feel like this week we really started digging into some of the strategies of being a good entrepreneur. I thought that there were some great action items that I could take from the readings to apply to my entrepreneurial ideas and really start heading in a good direction. One of the things that I liked about this week was the idea that you need to do your background work but then you also need to start somewhere. I also was impressed with the idea that you likely will need to make peace with the notion of raising funds for your business. I do not know why this was such an eye opener for me, but it really was. It always seems like people just bring these successes to life and I have never really thought about the fact that securing funds is just a part of it. When I think back on all of the success stories from other people, most had to secure funding before they could get their ideas off the ground. Another key component with this is the fact that you have to have skin in the game as...

Week #5

Skill, Character or Luck? Those were some serious things to ponder about this week. I liked that there was a focus on the fact that it probably takes a little of each thing, but it mostly takes a lot of focused work and direction. One of the parts of the course that had the most impact on me this week was the short video clip by Randy Komisar. He talked about how becoming hyper focused on what we are passionate about and what is the ultimate mark we want to leave on life can be paralyzing. This was something that I have felt. When you try and narrow that focus down to one point, it can make you quit before you start. I like the advice to marry your opportunities with your passions, and look toward the horizon. This seems like much better advice. You really can only look back and make sense of your career path in the rear view and not the windshield. One of the other great points this week was from Dan Freidberg when he was talking about how entrepreneurs typically don't make mil...

Week #11

This week was a great reminder about how we have to make sure we pay attention to the most important things. I think that in our quest to realize our dreams, our life can become a nightmare. This is something I have seen repeatedly. When I was 18, I had the opportunity to live in the Silicon Valley at the height of the .com boom. I lived in a very rich area with many extremely well educated and extremely wealthy people. I got a first-hand view of the fact that money cannot buy happiness. Luckily the family I worked for had a lot of experience with money and the pitfalls it can bring, so they were not facing the challenges that many others were facing. For someone who had grown up in farming communities in Idaho, I always thought that the answer to life's problems was money. I am ever thankful for the opportunity I had to learn otherwise so I could set my priorities.  There are times when we all have to face difficult decisions between work and family. I think that it can be a ch...