Get OVER it

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

-Theodore Roosevelt

This week really just taught me that I'm going to have to take some risks. A lot of risks. I think to do that I'm going to need to be a lot better at believing in myself and my ideas. I really liked this quote from Theodore Roosevelt because life will be more exciting and vibrant if I shoot for things I dream about than if I play it safe.

The Heart of Entrepreneur article really made realize that I'm much more on the trustee end of the scale, worrying about security and feeling threatened by change. I need to work on being more of a promoter, taking risks, and seize opportunities. Of course, I don't want to be at either extreme, balance is good in all things.

Also I want to remember this question:

"So the question for the would-be entrepreneur is:
How can I make innovation, flexibility, and creativity

operational?"
                              -The Heart of Entrepreneurship by: Howard H. Stevenson and David E. Gumpert

Also, being confident is important but so is being humble. Don't be worried if you're not number 1 (at least not right away) just be happy that you're even in the top 100! 


Basically, it's time to get over my fears and launch forward with faith. Have fun while I'm doing it. Learn from my failures! Relish in them even. Then jump back into the game.

Be hot or cold, yes or no.

    This week I learned that you shouldn't quit just because the going gets rough but if the going isn't going anywhere. 

    I learned that staying loyal to your vision and your standards is crucial just as President Hinckley explained in his 2003 talk, Loyalty , "I think of loyalty in terms of being true to ourselves. I think of it in terms of being absolutely faithful to our chosen companions. I think of it in terms of being absolutely loyal to the Church and its many facets of activity. I think of it in terms of being unequivocally true to the God of heaven, our Eternal Father, and His Beloved Son, our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ." 

I also loved thinking deeper about how this scripture can apply in my life: 
“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth” (Rev. 3:15–16).

I aways thought about this scripture in regards to my faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But thinking about it with a set of entrepreneurial glasses on made me think differently. I need to be strong with the choices and I make and stick with them. I need to not compromise on the things that matter most. I know there are times when we need to shift gears or to compromise but it's not on those deep core things.

I also really liked in the Harvard article when it talked about building and shaping with the things you have where you are. I think that it's really important to know how to work with what you've got and love it.

I also really liked the stress on growing the roots. Not worrying about having a ton of funds at the start because it'll help you grow those roots. It'll make you resourceful and I think stay humble. 

Will you be the strength to my weakness?

I have to say the mentor session this was the pits. It just seemed to take forever and I felt like I was repeating myself in it and from past mentor sessions.
But I guess when you have similar questions it forces you to think more deeply and reading back you can see whether or not your ideas/desires are actually consistant or if they shift about.
I think it also helped me to be honest about my strengths and weaknesses. Not really stuff I didn't already know but forcing me to put it to "paper" makes it more real and makes me realize that I need to improve a lot and to really use my network to find people to help be the strength to my weakness.

This was a part of Elder Hollands remarks that was really great:

"My concern this morning is that you will face some delays and disappointments at this formative time in your life and feel that no one else in the history of mankind has ever had your problems or faced those difficulties. And when some of those challenges come, you will have the temptation common to us all to say, “This task is too hard. The burden is too heavy. The path is too long.” And so you decide to quit, simply to give up. Now to terminate certain kinds of tasks is not only acceptable but often very wise. If you are, for example, a flagpole sitter then I say, “Come on down.” But in life’s most crucial and telling tasks, my plea is to stick with it, to persevere, to hang in and hang on, and to reap your reward. Or to be slightly more scriptural:

Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.

Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days. [D&C 64:33–34]

I am asking you this morning not to give up “for ye are laying the foundation of a great work.” That “great work” is you—your life, your future, the very fulfillment of your dreams. That “great work” is what, with effort and patience and God’s help, you can become. When days are difficult or problems seem unending, I plead with you to stay in the harness and keep pulling. You are entitled to “eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days,” but it will require your heart and a willing mind. It will require that you stay at your post and keep trying." (However Long and Hard the Road, BYU, 1983)

I think that this is really important issues for people my age and younger. Sticking to it. I think the attitude of entitlement is a plague of my generation. That feeling of deserving the rewards and instantly too. We really have a weak work ethic. That's why I like Elder Holland's words. He's reminding me that I need to stick to it and work hard because I'm laying that great work of myself. After all, we can't accomplish much in the world of others if we're not doing anything with ourselves.

I think something else I learned from President Monson's talk was that unity or vision in a business is really important. He talks about the unity of the quorum of the twelve and how they work together to build up the kingdom of God. They have a common goal that they all help each other work to achieve. I think that's important with business partners and employees for greater success.

Find that something you have passion for...

This week I learned more about what it can really mean for me to be an entrepreneur. I was reminded about how money is less important than passion. That I will always be happier if I love what I'm doing, even if it means making a little less money.
I also really loved what President Hinckley said is his speech, Stand True and Faithful about choices and being true:

"You constantly are faced with difficult choices. Your problems are not new, but they are intensified. You are subjected to temptations that areattractive and appealing. You represent the future of this Church, and the adversary of truth would like to injure you, would like to destroy yourfaith, would like to lead you down paths that are beguiling andinteresting, but deadly."

"We believe in being true. How very important it is to be true to ourselves.Each of us has a thing we call conscience. We know the difference between right and wrong. We do not have to be instructed concerningwhat is good and what is evil. I think we know that. We know when wehave done the wrong thing, and we suffer pangs of conscience. We knowwhen we have done the right thing, and we experience a sense ofhappiness. To be true to ourselves means being an example of righteousliving in all situations and circumstances."


I was reminded about how the customer is right and that we can learn so much from what they have to say. Sometimes those great new ideas will come from them. I also learned that being capable is important. You can dream up ideas all you want but you need to be capable enough to go after them and make it happen.

I learned that business can be better if business people are better. If we make decisions to do more than what the law says then improvements and progression can come more quickly. Especially, when we look outside ourselves more.

I also really liked the explanation of 'real justification' that came from the What's a Business For? article. Basically it means that a business is there so that something can happend to make something more or better. It's about improving some aspect of life.

Cash MONEY! and self CONTROL!

Ok! This week I learned so much about cashflow. I knew about it and I knew you want assets and income. The richgrad video's illustration really helped it click in my mind. To be honest, that guy really annoys me when he's doing those videos but the way he visually explained the different cashflow scenarios or the poor, the middle-class, and the rich. It really made sense to me.
It looked a little something like this!


Practice is what the journey is about. 
Also, with the So You Want to be an Entrepreneur? book did help me recognize some myths of entrepreneurship that I personally had. Including that you have to be rich, smart, and young to start out or that you have to have the latest greatest invention to be successful. Oh and that you don't just flippantly go around taking risks that put your whole self in jeopardy all the time, but you make educated and calculated risks often.

I hope this is okay for the blog; I figure that it is since it's supposed to be a place we record things we want to know where to find in the future. But I wanted to paste my entry for the LDS perspectives discussion this week because it was a really important one for me:

"This is a great talk for me. I was just thinking yesterday that I need to engage my self control/ self mastery more. I know that's it there because I've used it a lot before. But I really loved how Elder Tanner talked about his 100 percenter grandson and how he was consistant and made choices and sacrifices to be 100% in his church attendance. This taught him to have great self mastery and it's an amazing example of diligence and devotion to the calls of the Lord. So how do we do that too? I think one of the biggest things is to recognize where you are not in control of yourself, or rather, you're letting your natural man walk all over you. Once you've recognized where the problem is, then you can start to remedy it by doing all you can and petitioning the Lord for help. I've got some things to work on.

Elder Tanner quoted some philosophers and artist and that part really stuck out to me,

"Plato said: “The first and best victory is to conquer self; to be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile.”

And da Vinci once said: “You will never have a greater or lesser dominion than that over yourself.” Then he goes on to say that “the height of a man’s success is gauged by his self-mastery; the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment. … And this law is the expression of eternal justice. He who cannot establish dominion over himself will have no dominion over others.”

It just really struck me that if we cannot master ourselves or exercise dominion over ourselves how are we ever supposed to run a kingdom and have dominion over anything thing or anyone else? Even on a smaller scale, how will I be a good wife or mother if I cannot control myself?"

It just really hit me at the right time. I need to use my self-mastery in all aspects of my life.