Entrepreneurial Journal #8 – Week 8 – E-Myth Revisted

This was a great week! We covered an assortment of different topics and activities. The main focus of this week involved finding great people and in hiring the right people for our companies. We studied a great article on that subject and also read a case study about Jet Blue and their efforts of making that happen. We also did a Harvard Manage Mentor assignment on the same topic. In addition, we read an article from Jim Collins which focused on this principle quite a bit. Each of these exercises taught me much about this subject and really helped to ease some of the worries I have had with finding people to work for me. I’ve come to realize in all of this that there are always people out there who want to work. It’s just a matter of going out there and looking for them. I hope to utilize each of the resources that we used this week in helping me look for employees who will stand by me and be best for my business. I also hope to remember this knowledge and apply it into my life in the near future.

The topic covered that of hiring and finding great people. The biggest thing which stood out to me in all of this was our book report that was due this week where we finished reading the book E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It. I spent a lot of this past week finishing up this book and, I have to say, it is my one of my new favorite books. It is phenomenal! It is very applicable to each of us going into business and many of the principles that were shared were those that I have seen before in my life and in business. This book covered every inch of what a successful business is; from the owner, to the inner workings of the business, and dispels the myth that is found prevalent among many businesses today. The whole crux of this book involves: playing the three roles of Entrepreneur, Manager, and Technician; working through the Infancy, Adolescence, and Maturity stages of a business; and creating a system within your business that is Systems Dependent rather than People Dependent. The book goes into detail with each and shares what is needed to run a successful business in today’s world. The book also highlights what not to do and gives personal examples with each. I love this book and am grateful to have the opportunity of reading this semester. There is so much incredible things that you can learn from reading. I feel a much stronger urge in making reading a priority more in my life! It’s incredible. Also ties back into our lesson’s topic and the need of finding and hiring great people.

All in all, it’s been a great week! I look forward to next week’s batch of lessons and assignments. I’m looking forward, especially, with applying these things into my own business endeavors and, in particular, with my $100 Challenge idea. Sales have been pretty slow this week with getting this idea off the ground. I can use E-Myth’s counsel and improve on the inner workings of my business rather than in my products. I feel that next week should be better. I’ll give an detailed update next week on how that’s going. Great week! Look forward to all that lies ahead!

Weekly Reflection #7 – Week 7 – Small Business Creation

I had a great week this week! This week, again, felt much more lighter in comparison to that of our past weeks. Typically we have two assignments and two discussion boards that are due per week in addition to any projects that we may have due as well. This week, however, we only had one assignment due on Monday, a discussion board that opened the following day and closed on Wednesday, and this Weekly Reflection that I am currently completing and are writing for you here on this blog, and that was it! Though, I am not complaining. I actually enjoyed quite a bit. It was especially needed considering our next project coming up and what the topic of that project is connection to this week’s subject/assignment we had due on Monday. The assignment had to do with Google Adwords again and, this time, we learned how to create an ad that would appear in the search results on Google. It was such an incredible lesson/assignment! It showed us how to lay out ad, what keywords to use, what the focus on our ad should be, and also how to set it up using our Google Adwords account. It was an incredible find! I always wanted to learn how those ads were created and now that I know, I can create one and utilize it to bring more people into my website! I’m just loving everything that I’m learning in this class! So much useful stuff that I know will help me in the future. The discussion board for this assignment also gave me the opportunity to look at my classmates’s ads and websites and to receive feedback for my own and how I can improve on what I’ve made. It was a great exercise to say the least!

Overall, this week was great! After having completed the discussion board for this week, I focused my attention on updating my ad and in toying around with Adwords just a little bit. I also continued to update my website a little more; adding in a few photos that I didn’t have the opportunity of adding in when I first completed the website. I also found out this week that with my current Weebly account, I can have up to ten different websites with the package that I have purchased. I have a couple of ideas for websites that I know will be good using Weebly and I look to create a few more and exhaust that resource when I don’t have to pay anything extra! Great week! Grateful for everything that I’ve learned! Hope to utilize all of these resources and to make the most of everything that I’ve learning!

Entrepreneurial Journal – Week 7 – Leadership

This was a great week! A busy week, but great nonetheless! I loved this week’s lesson and the topic that we discussed. It was truly edifying and one that helped me to take a look at myself and what I can do to improve in this area. This week’s topic is leadership. When speaking on leadership, a mentor once taught me that in every undertaking or organization in the world, there is only one true problem that is constant and that is leadership. Whether it be for Church, for your business, for your family, or for something as simple as group work in class, the one constant that will always be there is leadership. If you want a great ward, you call a great Bishopric. If you want a great Relief Society, you call a great Relief Society Presidency. If you want a successful, Celestial family, you be a great father or mother and leader to your children. And lastly, if you want a great business, you find a great leader. This week, we spoke on this topic, a few components which made up this important attribute, and we participated in a survey which described what type of leader we really are. One of the articles that we studied was a talk given by President Kimball entitled “Jesus: the Perfect Leader.” In this talk, President Kimball spoke on Christ being a leader and the attributes that He exhibited throughout His ministry as He led His flock and His Church. Something that surprised me with this talk was the fact that we’re speaking of Christ as a leader and not in the same light as we typically do in the Church. Not as a babe or as a man or as the Son of God, our Savior and Redeemer, but rather as a leader and the greatest leader that we’ve ever had walk the face of this Earth! It was incredible to learn from President Kimball what made up this incredible leader and what we can do to follow in His example. Reading this talk reminded me of a project I once did where I was asked to describe Jesus Christ by His attributes. It was an idea that came to me from Hyrum W Smith that I did and I cam up with over 100 attributes which exemplified our Savior. Incredible, but very daunting to say the least! This talk shared many of the attributes that I had written down. Christ truly is the embodiment of a perfect Being and if we were to just follow Him, our lives would be impacted in such a profound way unimaginable to us now. It makes me grateful to know that Christ has done so much more than we can possibly imagine. He came to show us the way and went further than what we already know. Everything else that we’ve studied is not even worth mentioning when we could sum it all up in only two words: Follow Him. I’m grateful for my Savior and especially for the leadership He exhibited throughout His life as the head of His Church and as our Savior.

This week, we read another article on the topic of emotional intelligence. We read about what it is, what attributes make up this term, and how we can develop this ever important characteristic in our lives and in our businesses. We also read another article on the topic of Leaders to Managers by Hugh Nibley. We completed a leadership survey that showed which leadership style resonated with us most out of the Authoritarian, Participative, and Delegative styles (I’m Participative). And we lastly completed our Action Hero assignment this week on Ken Zolot and gave an update on how our Interviews are going. All in all, a great week. A packed week full of great assignments! Also this week for our $100 Challenge, I finally received the packaging that I’ve been waiting for for a couple of weeks now and look to begin my sales this week! Hopefully I’ll be able to meet the Challenge goal. I’ll give a more detailed update with how that goes next week. Great week! Grateful for all that I’ve learned!

Weekly Reflection #6 – Week 6 – Web Business Creation

This was another great week for me! This week seemed much more lighter in comparison to last week’s assignments. Ever since I completed my website for this class, I’ve felt much less pressure than I once did. Knowing that an essential part of this class is over has helped me to lighten up a little and to, now, build upon what I have created and to focus on how to make it better. I look forward to the upcoming week’s assignments. I know that each future assignment will help in that regard. This first week’s assignments began to do just that.

This week’s assignments, again, included the use of Google Adwords. We learned how to create an Adwords campaign which turns out to be an add that will appear on Google in the ad’s column/section when somebody searches one of your keywords. It was very interesting to say the least that this was how you create one of these types of ads. I’ve seen many of these ads when using Google and now creating one just like this and seeing how it would look blew my mind. It was incredible to say the least and the process for creating one of these ads isn’t quite too difficult. Creating the campaign included such elements as, first, deciding on twenty, or so, keywords related to your website; deciding which countries and languages you wanted to campaign to and which devices you want your campaign to show on; choosing the automatic or manual bidding function for your campaign; and, lastly, setting a daily budget for how much you may spend on your campaign being posted. We weren’t required to set up payment for this campaign (I couldn’t afford it currently), but it was cool learning how to create something like this which I know will greatly hep in marketing our website and our current products.

This week also found us building upon what we previously learned with Adwords and we learned the difference between what makes up a good keyword and a bad keyword. Of course this stems off of what we had previously learned with Google Adwords and our Campaign from earlier in the week, and, of course, after learning this I realized just how much this differentiation was needed; for I have chosen many bad keywords to use in these past assignments. Nonetheless, it was a great assignment. The discussion board was also a great medium to discuss with my fellow classmates what they’ve found to be a good keyword and to learn from them about this subject.

Overall, this was a great week! I am grateful for all that I’ve learned. I see the relevance in each of these topics and assignments and I’m grateful to learn a little about the inner workings of the internet and how websites are created and marketed. I look forward to next week’s assignments. I will keep you all posted on how I do for each and how this upcoming week goes. Thank you all very much and I’ll see you next week!

Entrepreneurial Journal – Week 6 -Love Your Customer

This was another fantastic week! It was much slower in comparison to past weeks, but it was a very great week nonetheless. This week helped to prep for future weeks ahead. I was able to get a jump on a few upcoming assignments. I completed my interview with my Entrepreneur this week and also set up an appointment for this week to interview my Franchisee Entrepreneur. I also had much needed time to read E-Myth. I fell behind on my reading and had the privilege of catching up this week on it. I’ve been enjoying this book a lot. It’s an incredible book! I read the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad at the beginning of semester and what amazes me is just how much information is out there on the subject of Entrepreneurship. There are so many other “Rich Dads” that are tried and tested in this subject. Who have experience and are not afraid to share what they know. Such “Rich Dads” as Michael Gerber, Robert Kiyosaki, Jim Collins, Dale Carnaigie; even our very own Bro. Broderick. I’ve learned throughout this course and especially throughout my journey in business just how essential it is to have these type of people in your life and I’m grateful for these types of individuals; whether it be through book and especially in person and I hope to grow my networking pool and especially find those people who will stand by me and help me. It is so very important! One of the most important things we have access to.

Much has happened in this past week. I’ve rattled on quite a bit with some of the things that I participated in as far as assignments go. The main topic that we covered was Love Your Customer; which I feel is another essential part of business. Everything in business revolves around the customer. They are what make up businesses and all that we do. There were many striking similarities that I’ve found when speaking about this subject that ties back into my days as a missionary. As a missionary, we were called to preach the Gospel. There were many ways that we went about in doing this; many tactics that we used to find people to teach; but, ultimately, our entire aim and focus was on the investigator. Once we found people to teach, we loved and caressed them spiritually. We served them selflessly and helped them with all that they needed. We helped to improve the quality of their lives and spent most of our time either with them or contacting them. This same mindset, I feel, should be had with our businesses and those who consume our products and our whole aim and mission should be to find and, most importantly, retain what customers we have. Help them become lifelong consumers of our product rather than have it be a one time thing.

Overall, this week has been great! Just to share a few quick words about our $100 Challenge. All that is really holding me back with getting underway with sales is my packaging. I have acquired everything else that I needed, but am now waiting on my packaging for my products to be delivered. I ordered them almost two weeks ago and am surprised with how long this has been taking. I’m hoping at least in this final full month of school I can crunch down and sell to as many people as I can. I have made strides with my business, though, and set up some key and essential things to be completed. I created a Facebook page for my business so that I can reach the masses through Social Media and market my product in some way. I also created a website for my product as well and set it up so that they can get the details for how they see what type of meals and deals that we offer; not to mention how they can order and pay for their product. I also registered for a few additional ways that our customers can pay for these products such as Square. I have found that the days of money are over and the need that there is to find some method of pay which include credit and debit cards. Other than that, everything with this Challenge has been going well. I hope that packaging comes in so that I can get a jump on now earning money. I will keep you all updated with how this assignment continues to unfold. Thank you all very much!

Weekly Reflection #5 – Week 5 – Web Business Creation

This was a great week! We had many great assignments and discussions within our respective groups. We studied the topic of business structures and looked into the legal system quite a bit. We researched what the requirements were for starting up a specific type of business in each of our respective cities and, with Project #2 almost complete, what respective steps we will have to take to legitimize our business. It was fun reviewing the different type of business structures there are and to see just how simple some structures are with starting a business and how others are not so easy. Idaho is not too ad in comparison to other states such as Hawaii or California. With using the sole proprietorship method and with doing something with food, I do not have to register for any real licensing in comparison to other industries; which is a plus. I can easily start my business and do work and possibly get any extra licensing if needs be.

The majority of this week was also consumed in completing our Project #2 that was due by beginning of Monday. Project #2 is known in this class as being one of the bigger projects that we have due and one that will determine how the rest of our projects will carry out for this semester. Project #2 consisted of completing our website which will be equipped with our own domain name, hosting service, website content, and the ability to carry out payment transactions on our website. I’ve successfully been able to do the first three. The fourth, however, I have struggled with competing. I know and have created a custom PayPal button for my website, but for some reason, cannot seem to get it linked onto my website. I hope I can resolve this issue before I turn in this assignment. With this assignment, I decided on also using Weebly as my site builder over Wix and got to say, I love Weebly! Weebly is so much more simpler than WordPress and much more smoother than Wix. I was able to create the website that I wanted with Weebly and it looks great! I have a few more things in terms of customization that I have to do with my current product, but I have to say, I am very pleased to say the least. I hope I can get the PayPal function to work and I should be in business!

Overall, this was a great week! I definitely can’t complain whatsoever with what we’re doing. I’m loving my website and especially everything that we’ve learned up to this point! I look forward to everything else that is coming up and how we will incorporate what we are doing to what lies ahead. Great week!

Entrepreneurial Journal – Week 5 – Elevator Pitch

This was a great week! There weren’t as many assignments this week as there were in past weeks. We did have one, though, that was very fun and that I enjoyed very thoroughly. That assignment was our Elevator Pitch. The Elevator Pitch was a video that we had to create in similitude of pitching an idea to an individual with as little time possible. Hence they call it the Elevator Pitch because most of these experiences in the business worlds somehow take place in an elevator. The subject for our Elevator Pitch was either our $100 Challenge or our Big Idea business and with my ideas for both being similar, this gave me some great practice on how to articulate so much information in under a minute. It was a little tough to say the least, but very fun. It got my gears churning and gave me the opportunity to think outside the box ad problem solve just a little bit. This practice also helped me in getting in front of a camera. I’m not necessarily camera shy, but I rarely take pictures or videos of myself whatsoever. I was out of my element and had to definitely get used to it; especially considering the fact that our video will be both public and posted on a discussion board for some of our class to see. After many tries and failed attempts, I feel like my first attempt went well. I posted it on our first discussion board, and, surprisingly, many of my fellow classmates enjoyed it! The second time around came much easier. Overall, this was a fun assignment and hope that there are more assignments such as this in the near future.

This week was also the official beginning week of our $100 Challenge and with the positive feedback that I received from my fellow classmates, I have a great feeling about the potential that my business idea has. Sadly, I was not able to begin selling as I wanted to. Being caught up with other obligations took me away from much needed time working on getting this business idea off the ground. I’m still in the planning stages as of now. I’m close to starting. All that is really holding me back is some packaging that I had to order directly from Hawaii specific for the product that I am selling. It wasn’t expensive; just time consuming. I hope it comes in soon. I received some concern that I may go over the allotted starting amount that we are given for this assignment., but having done some calculations, I’m actually doing quite well on my limited budget. About $10 was used for my packaging. The other $10 will be used for the ingredients that I will purchase. Thankfully, a few other items that I’ve needed for this project was already purchased in the beginning of the semester by me. With all that, I feel like I will be good. To begin, I will have to limit myself to only selling what I can make with the remaining ten dollars and hopefully double my profit so that I can by more and continue selling more. I’ll keep you all updated with how I’m doing as far as this challenge goes.

Overall, I feel like this was a great week! I look forward to this upcoming week and all that we will be participating in for this class! I also look forward to this week and how my business idea will span out. I hope I receive that shipment really soon!

Weekly Reflection – Week 4 – Web Business Creation

This was a great week! We are gearing up for the second project of this semester, which is to now create the website that we’ve been planning for thus far. I began in this process and have been trying a few things that were recommended by my fellow classmates. I have attempted to try other website platforms in conjunction with my own and have also tried utilizing a few of the host websites that I researched. I can attest that using those type of websites are much less familiar than what I’m used to. As for site platforms, I have been using both Wix and Weebly. I love both of these websites. I haven’t had much hiccups yet in the process and hope to keep plugging away at them. For those who are curious, I am not planning on creating two websites. I am currently sticking with Wix as my starter, but am also prepping a secondary Weebly account just in case the Wix one doesn’t work out and if it does work out, I’m going to move forward and create another website for fun using Weebly.

I am definitely enjoying this process. I am having so much fun with it! I’m definitely struggling with it as much as I had previously did; using WordPress and stressing myself out over learning how to customize certain things. This week was also great in adding to what I had previously learned in prior weeks. I love how each of these lessons stack upon one another and which ultimately escalates up to the apex; which is creating our website. Something that I especially loved this week was learning about the PayPal button. I’ve always wondered how certain websites configured their website to accommodate this feature. It’s incredible how easy it is to configure and create this button and then to place i on your website using the coding. I was expecting some crazy process in creating this at first, so this was a huge sign of relief for me. It’s cool just how much stuff is out there nowadays that help in creating your very own website and business. It’s incredible!

This week we focused mainly on our websites, on researching other websites, on how to create a PayPal button, and on our discussion boards. I love the different discussions and things that I learn from my fellow classmates. I hope this upcoming week will be well with me and that I will be able to get done everything that I have planned on completing; both for this class and for others.

Entrepreneurial Journal – Week 4 – Funding

This was an incredible week! It was a revelatory week! I say that because of the topic that we covered this week; which was funding. Funding, in my opinion, is the most important element of a business. It helps to get the business of the ground. Whether it be buying the necessary materials or paying off specific expenses such as rent or fuel, funding is at the heart of every business. It’s part of the three choke points of any business which include content and distribution. We learned many ways this week on the subject, but what I am most grateful for was the opportunity to hear what the Lord had to say on such this important subject.

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe in continuing revelation. We believe that God has once again called living Prophets and Apostles and has restored His Church back on the Earth. Just as He has revealed what was important to those of earlier times, He does so today with specific topics unique for our day. Through His servant, Elder Joseph B Wirthlin, an ordained Apostle, He speaks on this subject and expounds five different ways that we can stay out of debt. He suggests that we: 1. Pay our tithing. 2. Spend less than you earn. 3. Learn to save. 4. Honor your financial obligations. and 5. Teach your children to follow your (good) example. All very practical, but inspiring points nonetheless; especially when you live each in succession and do so diligently and sincerely. Reading this talk helped me to recognize the Lord’s voice and to remember a few very key lessons that I have learned in days past on the subject. It’s incredible just how much the Lord spoke on this subject and in other very similar things as well. This week helped to strengthen my testimony about the truthfulness of these things. The fact that God loves us, He cares for us, and that He wants to help us and He will do so no matter what the situation may be. He will bless us if we but follow Him and put our trust in Him.

It makes me excited for what lies ahead. We officially begin our $100 Challenge next week. I have begun gathering what I could find with the limited amount I have been given. It’ll be slow at first, but attainable nonetheless. I’m hoping that I could take this idea off the ground and truly run with it. Make it my own. Possibly grow it into an actual business. That would be incredible! I look forward to this upcoming week, the things that we will learn, and how the challenge plays out. I’ll keep you all posted! Thank you!

Weekly Reflection – Week 3 – Small Business Creation

This was a fun week! Very informative on many levels. It reminded me much of last week where we covered the topic of brokers and wholesale, and the difference between the affiliate and drop shipping business models. This week we covered two topics that go hand-in-hand with one another. We researched different site builders and different hosting websites. We learned the difference between the two; how its needed to have both. There are some site builders that have all of the same capacities as a hosting site and there are also some hosting sites that have the same capacities as a site builder. This was my first real introduction into the difference between the two and it was interesting learning about each and how they correlate to one another. What made these topics even better was the opportunity of participating in two individual discussion boards dedicated to each topic. I shared what I thought, but gained so much more from interacting with my fellow classmates and their findings. I wasn’t dead set on any one particular website application for either, so my vote was swayed many times. I have a desire to try a few different sites for each such as Wix, Weebly, iPage, Blue Host, and Go Daddy. It’ll be fun to see which site builder and host website (or maybe even one or the other) will take the cake for me.

Another huge assignment that was due this week was the first part of our project that included choosing a product for us to build our site around. Now, to be completely honest, I thought that the assignment would only include us writing a paper stating what we would do and why. I was terribly wrong! Instead, we utilized everything that we learned up to this point in class and used it in determining what product would be best for us. We used a phenomenal spreadsheet which did the majority of the work. We also used Google Adwords quite a bit for a good part of the assignment. Once all of the data was put in and the recommendation spit out, my number one choice was for myself to create a Gospel column/blog. To be honest, it was not what I was expecting. Of course, I wouldn’t mind using this idea. After all, I did put it on paper. If I were to choose which idea to use for this assignment, without having taken into account such factors as Google Adwords, I would’ve picked an entirely different idea. I don’t mind creating a Gospel column/blog, but I want to get Bro. Poole’s input on this question.

Well anyways, that was it for this week. The next stage of our project is soon upon us. It looks like we are this close to creating our website. I look forward to next week’s assignments and topics and to see where they fit with everything that we had previously learned!