The Sword and the Shield

This week we learned about gratitude. What does that have to do with entrepreneurship. Well to me most of business is about relationships. If we are not living a life full of gratitude we are forgetting to thank others for their kindness or service. This may not damage a relationship but it certainly won't improve it. The more we express gratitude to others the better we will be. We can make a difference in the world just by spreading gratitude.  I have a good friend who is very generous with his money. He likes to give lavish gifts and trips as reward to his employees and even friends. However, when that is returned he doesn't say thank you. At first it wasn't something I noticed but it has become glaringly obvious. It is almost as if he sees the kindness offered to him as inferior to what he gives so it doesn't warrant a thank you. I am not sure. I do know that I want to be the opposite of that! I want to make every person I come in contact know that I am grateful...

In reading the article "What's A Business for?" by Charles Handy. He discusses what businesses do for society and the community. Good or bad. I was astonished at how many of the top 100 NASDAQ companies had fraudulently reported income on their financial statements totaling more than a billion dollars. How can we trust these companies. What can we do as the new generation of small business owners to show the proper way to conduct oneself in the industry. Reading the Book Launching Leaders by Steven A Hitz has changed my life. I am so excited and inspired to begin. I might have to do things a little different. I will get up at 5a and go straight to the gym. After I get my kids off to school I will use the first thirty minutes for mediation and prayer. I will write in my journal and set my goals and intentions for the day/week.  I participate with a group called Teamserve to help kids become involved in service. We serve once per month. I also try and serve my inlaws at ...

This week we looked at a couple mini cases that helped us realize there will be hard choices throughout our lives. There will be times when we have to choose work or family and the choice won't always be easy or clear cut. I took from this week that I need to establish now what is most important to me and decide now what I will and will not do. In my accounting class we discussed personal mission statements and compared them to the 13 articles of faith. We discussed what would and would not be included and what our own personal mission statement looks like. I realize that my family is the most important thing to me. I want to make a lot of money and I want to have nice things but not at the expense of missed time with my children. I want to make a difference in the world but I realized the biggest difference I can make is in the lives of my own children. I need them to see that I value and love them and want to give them everything they need, especially my time. My mom went bac...

Notes from my interview with Rena Doman, Perk Energy.  Gary had created other products and had relationships with people for outsourcing.   Greatest thing that has come out of this is relationships. Do not underestimate relationships. People need to value relationships. She has met people and supported them in their endeavors and she in turn gets support from them. She had a relationship with Emily Nelson who started High Fitness. The community itself has been phenomenal. Different fitness @simplysadiejane (Instagram) real relationships are way more powerful than anything you could ever pay for. Biggest learning experience boils down to balance. She is learning that she needs to focus her energy where her talents are magnified the most. She has let go of things that are not talents and designated to other people. Do you believe you have something of worth? It has to be something that changes lives and that is of so much value. The money will come. She attribute...

I love this plan for dealing with that overwhelm feeling: If the objective seems overwhelming or you are unsure of where to start, break it down using the Vision, Strategies, Projects, Tactics (VSPT) framework: Vision: This is your objective – delivering the letter to Garcia. Strategies: What are the ways you could achieve this objective? Sometimes there will be many strategies to choose from, other times only one. For Rowan, there was only one strategy: hand-deliver it. Today, other options might be to deliver the message by phone or by e-mail. Projects: What big things need to get done to accomplish the objective? Create a series of major milestones. For example: Sail to Cuba, trek through the forest, find Garcia, plot a course back home. Tactics: What do I need to do today to make progress on a project? Make a checklist: Hire a boat crew, find a guide for the trek, arrange for provisions, buy mosquito netting. Quickly start on these tasks, and before you know it, you will be execu...

This week has been a little crazy for me. We are getting ready for my husband's surgery and my time for homework has been lacking. I wanted to have researched the real possibility of starting a business to help people de-clutter and get organized. I haven't been able to get to that just yet. I am currently taking an accounting class and it has become clear how important it is for one to understand financial statements and accounting principals. If left only to the accountant one could risk hard earned money being misappropriated or even stolen. Accountants have a lot of power within a company and without a basic understanding it might be difficult to find errors (accidental or other). Many companies have lost everything because of dishonest accountants. So even if you come up with a crazy successful idea, you better understand the books in order to keep your earnings where you want them. I have been trying to decide what type of entrepreneur I want to interview. One that I ...