My Last Lecture

I wrote this as if I am at my journey's end and I am giving advice to new entrepreneurs.

As I conclude my journey as an entrepreneur I have to say I am grateful for the journey.  It has been a journey but when I began I thought it was really a destination.  When I began years ago I wanted something easy.  I wanted to create a business in which I could make money without touching anything.  I could go on vacation and have money coming in.  That was why I wanted to become an entrepreneur.  The reality is it takes a lot of work and if you don’t know why you want to be an entrepreneur then stop now!  You need to have a purpose you need to have a vision.  That vision can’t be a selfish reason.  It has to be a vision about others and how to help others, first!  Then you can dream about your life.

The key to having a successful journey is service.  I have found that the vision of going to the beach and having income rolling in doesn’t motivate me.  What does motivate me is to serve the Lord.  In order to serve the Lord I must serve others.

The next key I would give is to find a need that others have.  Find the gift to give to others.  When you have settled on a target market and found a need to fill, be generous.  Over deliver every time!!  When you over deliver you customers will feel the love you have for them, the concern and the genuine desire you have to serve them. In turn your customers will become loyal to you. 

The next bit of advice is to serve your family.  Don’t forget about them in all of this.  They will stand by you and you need to stand by them.  Serve them.  Find ways to serve them.  Come home early one night.  Make dinner.  Take your kids to have ice cream cones at the park.  This will show them how much you love them.

The most important bit of advice I can give to you is to have your heart set on the Lord.  Do not be overcome by your own pride.  Nothing, and I mean nothing, that you achieve or receive is because of you it is ONLY a gift from your Heavenly Father.  The greatest way you can remain humble is to give and have gratitude.  When you recognize the needs of those around you in this world you will recognize the gifts and blessing our Father in Heaven has given you.  Just today on Facebook I saw a story of a young couple.  He had open heart surgery and they discovered a blood clot that went to his brain.  He was without oxygen for 2-3 minutes.  They don’t know if he will survive. The story doesn’t end there.  His wife gave birth to their first child this morning!  What can we do to help?  How can we rescue them?  Does this make you grateful for your spouse or your children? How about your health? 

The Lord gives us gifts whether it be talents, family members or income to use it for good!  In the book of Matthew, chapter twenty-five verse twenty-one it says “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”  Use your gifts wisely, whether they be few or many and the Lord will bless you!

Thanksgiving is Over, Can you Still be Thankful

At this time of year people show more gratitude.  They give more freely and they enjoy the blessings that come from doing so.  After the season is over can you still be thankful?  Can you continue to count your blessings?

Gratitude is something I have thought a lot about in the last six-eight months.  My life has not been the easiest to live in that time.  I had a baby, moved to a new house, four weeks later.  We then discovered that our income didn't cover our expenses.  This was discovered after very careful planning on my part.  Their were many tears and stress.  We prayed and fasted as a family.  I decided to start a new business but I knew I couldn't bring in that much money that month! 

During that time I thanked Heavenly Father a lot.  I thanked him that my father-in-law could buy a house for us and lower our house payment by $150 a month.  I thanked him for the six months prior when I couponed very heavily and created a large stock pile of food and other necessities!  I thanked him that I had a brand new healthy baby!  I thanked him that my husband had a good job and we have good kids that are healthy.  I was constantly counting my blessings! 

The answer to our prayers came one day in August when a sister in our new ward called and asked me to watch her little boy during the school year. She told me of how she had been praying to know who she could ask. I kept coming to her mind, even though she didn't know me.  I knew immediately this was our answer.  The next time she spoke she told me how much they could pay.  It is not much but it was the exact amount we needed for our budget.  In our family prayer and my personal prayers I thank Heavenly Father for giving me this experience.

I have "failed" several times in business.  I am grateful for those so called failures because I have learned from each one and it has brought me to the business I am in now. I am further ahead because of the experiences I gained! 

Each and everyday I thank my Heavenly Father for my blessings.  I believe in so doing I am happier!  I am excited to accomplish my tasks each day.  I am grateful to be alive!  That is what gratitude does for you.

Even though Thanksgiving is over I still can be grateful each moment I have on this earth!

Making a Difference

Since I started a new business this summer I have had an intention very different then when I started businesses in the past.  I want to make a difference.  I know everyone says that but in my core that is what is motivating me more than anything else.

This weeks material in class has moved me and brought me greater motivation.  I want to have a business that helps others but I also want a business that provides for others.  I have the desire to make a difference in the lives of children and people who feel there is little hope or love left in the world.

I believe with all my heart that if I have the desire to serve others that are in need the Lord will bless me with success!  This morning I read in the Book of Mormon in the book of Alma, chapter five.  In this chapter Alma talks of the mighty change in heart.  I believe that when you have this change in heart you do all things based on the will of our Heavenly Father.  In doing so we can serve others.  He will bless us.

The stories in particular about the girl and Darfur and those that die of smallpox.  These are things I want to change.  I want to make a difference.  In my mind I can't do it alone.  I have no way of understanding what I can do to change it but the Lord does.  Just as Elder Gay shared about the man in Guana, who twenty years before had had a vision of his brother.  He saw Elder Gay.  I want to be that instrument in the Lords hands to make a difference!

I know that if I am humble and faithful the Lord will bless me to accomplish what he wants done with his children!

Are you Happy

Today is Thanksgiving.  Happy Thanksgiving!!  This is quickly becoming my favorite holiday.  I am so grateful for all that I have be blessed with.  I even broke a tooth while I was a Costco the other day and I was bless to have that tooth break in a place on my gums that doesn't hurt and can wait until next week to be fixed.  Heavenly Father truly blessed me!

This week I set some goals for next year in my business with the assistance of my husband.  After having read the material from class we added a goal for our family.  More on that in a minute.

The thing that stood out to me in class this week was am I happy.  It was talked about in the guide "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness".  The thing I really learned was as we become more prosperous we will not be happier then we are right now.  Our happiness will remain the same.  This reminded me of something that I learned a few months ago.  We need to live our life now the way we want to when we reach our goals. When we reach our goals everything we do will be magnified.  For instance, if you gamble a little now, you will gamble a lot when you have more money!  If you give now, you will give more when you have more. 

Last night I was discussing with my husband that in order to have the life we want in the future we need to start living that way now. That doesn't mean over spending and living extravagantly but it means setting boundaries and standards for you life and knowing that when you have more money or a bigger business or more opportunities you will not ever cross those boundaries.

So as a results I have been thinking about what I can do now that I want to do in the future.  I have a strong desire to serve, to share what I have been blessed with. Next year my family and I are going to pick a project each year to work on.  Every month we will serve someone different.  Maybe we will create baby quilts or donate clothes to the shelter.  We have to brainstorm with the kids and see what they would like to do.  I am so excited.  It may not be a lot but we will be giving and when we have more of an income we will be able to donate a lot more! 

I am happy and it is mostly because of my gratitude for all that I have.  It is possible to be happy in whatever circumstance you are in!

Think Big

I had a conversation with my friend last night.  We were discussing how we were going to make enough money in order to go on a Beach Retreat with other people in our industry. Afterwards my husband and I went out to eat.  It was a business dinner to discuss the coming year.  I can't tell you how excited I am for this coming year!  We included the trips I am going to take for business and the family trips we will take. We also discussed the debt we want to pay off.  In all I need to make at least $14,000 in order to reach all our goals.

$14,000 is not pocket change!
$14,000 is a lot of money.  It is just over $1000 a month.  That is a lot of money for a work at home mom to make.  Well in the eyes of skeptics!  That is not true!  It is possible and it is very possible and doable for me.  Now this $1165 is above and beyond what I will need to make for our family.  That is not too much. 

Why am I telling you this?
I am telling you this for two reasons. I am excited.  I am excited to acheive these goals. I also believe that my goals are possible because I am thinking big!  I really liked the video this week about thinking big.  He shared a story about finding out he was the 11th highest selling boat dealership in the country and the next year he went up to third (If I remember correctly).  The point is he said if you build your business with the Lord it is possible!  It will be possible to accomplish anything!

Next year is going to be a fabulous year next year!

Loyalty and Honesty in Business

Would you like to have a liar for an employee?  How about a traitor? 

That doesn't sound good to me.  This week in class we watched videos about being Loyal and Honesty.  One of the videos I really appreciated.  The guy (of course I don't remember who he was) said "We hire nice people."  What a concept!  The thing is there are companies that don't hire nice people.

Another video talked about trust and the guy said that you have to trust first and that is why Amazon is so successful.  That is why Zappos is so successful.  I remember several years ago I called Amazon.  Now I am a long time Amazon customer.  I have had my account longer than I have been married!  I have been an Amazon Prime member almost since the program was launched.  I purchase one to five (sometimes more) items from Amazon in a month.  All the diapers my youngest baby has worn except two packages (small packages) have been from Amazon. 

When I called Amazon I was not happy. (This is the only time I have called them.)  I ordered two books, this was before the Kindle.  I have free second day shipping.  I was suppose to get my books the the Friday before labor day but instead I was getting them a week late. I was not happy!!  What happen was they shipped it and it went to the wrong location.  I ended up talking to a supervisor.  After speaking to him for a few minutes he refunded my money.  I got the books free! He knew that it was there fault and they weren't willing to lose me as a customer.

Trust, Loyalty and Honesty are essential in business.  I have been loyal to Amazon for years. On the other hand I do not and have not shopped and Walmart for seven years now.  My three youngest children have not been inside a Walmart before.  I know they have a great return policy but when you checkout at a Walmart the employees are not nice.  They don't take coupons if they don't scan on THEIR system.  They also in some instances have refused to allow people to shop at their stores.  There are a few problems with this.  People have given them (Walmart) the power to dictate how the market will be.  Since people think they are the least expensive, they have to listen to Walmart.  Well guess what Walmart doesn't trust you.  They tell you what to do.  In turn I don't trust them. They don't treat their employees well either.  There stores are not safe.  They leave palates on the store floor unattended.  They also sell Cheap merchandise!  Okay I will stop.  I can go on and on.  I have been happy to drive by Walmart for the last five years to give my money to stores I trust!

The point here is that in business you must be the one to take the first step.  You must show your loyalty to people and the city in which you serve.  You must trust them before they will ever trust you.  In everything you do you must be honest!

Victory at All Cost

Jeffrey R. Holland says: "The best things in your lives are worth finishing!"  This is so true.  The best things are worth finishing.  This is a little bit in contrast to the book I just finished called The Dip by Seth Godin.  He says it is good to be a quitter.  I agree with both.  Here is why:

In order to be the best at what you do you must be a quitter.  I know, I know that is not what you or I were ever taught growing up.  We were all told "Quitters never win and winners never quit.".  This morning my 12 year old son and I were talking about how the dip applies to him.  What I told him was that while he is at school he needs to try out different things and expose himself to different subjects to see what he really likes doing.  When he sees that something doesn't suit him then quit!  Take Spanish but if he doesn't like it after trying his very best then quit after one semester.  You will quit a lot of things by the time you find what you really love! 

The best things in life are worth finishing!  Your education is worth finishing!  Your goal to be the best piano player or violinist or artist or football player or fill in the blank!  These things are worth finishing.  In the process of finishing you have to quit a lot of things. 

I also appreciated a video I watched this week.  The man (I don't know his name) said if you involve the Lord you will see him do great things!  This is speaking in business but it really is in everything in your life.  If you involve the Lord in your business he will do things you never thought possible.  Also don't underestimate yourself!  You can achieve goals.  You can achieve huge goals, especially when you include the Lord.  People will laugh at you but you can still do it!

So the lesson this week is involve the Lord in all things, quit a lot of things before you find what you want to be the best in and finish the best things in your life!