Last Lecturer for the Entrepreneur Journey April 2015
Here it is my last few days of the semester. This has been the best class. I think all students should be required to take both of the entrepreneur classes as it helps you to be the best you can be.
My advice to those that want to begin a business or just want to do the best they can do in whatever work they chose for the future.
BE YOURSELF - know what your values our and stand by those values. You will find much more peace and happiness and contentment in your life if you do.
BE HONORABLE - always have honor, be trustworthy in all you do and say.
WORK HARD - Work hard and earn your pay. The company or your company did not hire you to be slothful or lazy. If you don't think you are paid enough then find a place that will pay you what you think you are worth. For now, do your best and earn a honest days work.
FORGET THE GET RICH SCHEMES - They rarely work and in the end you are only there for the money and nothing else.
PASSION - Have passion for what you do. Love your work. Do something that gives to the world. If you don't enjoy what you are doing make goals to find work that will fulfill your passion.
GIVE BACK - We have been blessed to be in a country that is free and has many opportunities so give something back. Service, money, your time, does not matter, it just matter that you give.
KEEP DREAMING - Always have a dream. If you don't dream you die.
MAKE GOALS - Making long term and short term goals is an important aspect of being successful. If you do not make goals you will have no direction and will not make it to the finish line.
************** did the assignment wrong so ignore from this point on --- but I did not want to lose it after all so I kept it here***************
$100 Challenge
The $100 challenge was a great learning project, even though I hated the time it took away from my studies. It has made me think twice about what to start, do I really want to start it? Is there potential? Is this for pocket change? Do I want it to grow big? All of those question really determine what type of a business you would open up.
I am now done with my project. Checks are written out to those that I sold their goods for them. Items that need to be picked up are and the rest I need to pack it up and send it to Salvation Army.
All in all it was a success, considering the time I put into it. I can see that a person could make fair money on this if they really wanted. It would be great for a poor person who did not have any capital to start a business. What is really important is the room to spread everything out so it is there and waiting for the customer to come and look at it, and keeping it on Craigslist or what other service you have. It all takes time.
MY LAST LECTURE
To my Children and Grandchildren,
The first and most important thing I want you to remember about me is that I love the Lord, I love the gospel and I know that my Redeemer liveth. Having the gospel in your life and striving to have a relationship with your Heavenly Father will be key to how you handle this life. Everything you decide on, everything you do in this life, really all comes back to faith and making those decisions according to how the Lord wants those decisions to be made. Having a strong faith in Heavenly Father will help you endure and get through your trials.
When you are deciding how many children to have, take it to the Lord. As you decide where to work, or where to raise your family, take it to the Lord. How to discipline your children, take it to the Lord. Who and when to marry, take it to the Lord. How much school and where, take it to the Lord. If your decisions can be made with the help of the Lord then you will not make bad decisions.
Pay your tithing and obey the Sabbath. Those are two of the most critical aspects of the gospel. Do not treat your tithing like your taxes. Just pay a generous tithe, the rest will work itself out. And obeying the Sabbath. The better you obey the sabbath the more it tells the Lord how much you love him. Keep your dealings on Sunday all about the Savior and Heavenly Father. Obeying those two commandments will help you obey the rest of the commandments more easily.
Remember to keep learning. I have always said an educated mom raises an educated child. That does not mean to sacrifice your children so you can go to school. It just means to keep learning. There is a time and a place to go to formal school. There is always a time and a place to keep a book on your bed stand that keeps you learning. Three books should always be on your bed stand, the scriptures, a fun book to escape, and a book about something you want to learn. Mom's if you will do that you will not be bored being a stay at home mom and you will learn how to be a better mom or dad.
Take it seriously when raising your kids. Focus on your kids. You chose to have them, now buck it up and do what is right. Once children enter into your home your focus should be on shaping and molding them to be the best person they can be. Take an interest in how to raise them. Teach them how to work. Read and learn how to feed them, discipline them, teach them the gospel, teach them about the world. Put down the electronics and spend that time with the children. Give up too much TV and computer and spend that time with the children. The future is going to be hard and if they do not have a strong foundation they will get lost. Do not raise the kids to get them out on missions, instead raise them to be the best missionary they can be once they are out there.
Remember to serve missions yourself. You have been given much on this earth and you have come from a long line (from your dad's side) of missionaries. Do not let them down. Serve that mission and give back to the world and to the Lord.
Remember the cheapest casket. It is money wasted. Go cheap on the funeral and spend the rest educating a child in another country. Potted plants and bulbs instead of flowers so they can go home and be planted in your yard as a reminder that we all live forever.
In all you do be honorable and honest. At your work, give a full days work and be honorable in your time spent at the job. If you start your own business be honorable in your dealings with other people. I would rather have you poor and honest then rich and dishonest.
Remember to love the Lord, love your family, and be kind to your friends and neighbors.
With Love Mom
Monday, April 6, 2015
Monday, March 30, 2015
3-30-2015
$100 challenge
How I wish I had only 3 classes so I could have the time to have developed and worked this business more. I am actually thinking of dabbling in it for fun for a couple of months and see what more I can do with it. At this point I am glad it is done. The PowerPoint presentation took some time but honestly I thought it would take tons more than it did. Learned how to add voice to a power point, that is amazing, I will be using that in the future.
Things I have learned from the business
BIGGEST - have the time to start it. If you don't have the time to start a new business than don't
Become organized from day one
Not sure in real life I want to deal with others junk
What I thought would go well did not go at all and what I thought would not sell sold. I do not know the customer.
Learning this week
Loved the week. Interesting enough I was home teaching last night with my husband. The woman begin talking about this show called Sand box or something like that. I have not seen it yet. But it is where people come out and pitch their ideas and the billionaires of the show decide what amount they will invest in the product. My husband just saw a piece of the show last week at the gym. She went on and on about different stories from the show. I now need to watch it. Then we all agreed that what we would like to see is not just the successes but did they invest in someone and it was a failure and what is there story?
Opened up my class this morning and it is all about 'FAILURE'. I needed this class because I realize after taking my web class that I have a fear of failure. I cannot stand to fail. Do not know where he came from but it is real. It is what drives me to do the best that I do. So if I fail my web class I am going to call it an experiment. I already know it is an experiment of what I am not going to go into for the future. Had thoughts of making web pages part time at home. Nope can't handle the stress of the classes. I want work that is fun and enjoyable in my old age.
I love this list I found on the internet about rich people who have failed at some point in their life.
1. They accept failure and can recognize their own mistakes
2. They compartmentalize their emotions and they don't internalize bad feelings
3. They have a bias toward action responding aggressively to a challenge
4. They change their minds sometimes -- discard old thinking and reprogram a dream
5. They prepare for things to go wrong and rebounders are not necessarily optimists
6. They're comfortable with discomfort - they are willing to accept inconveniences as long as it leads them closer to an important goal
7. They're willing to wait -- overnight success is deceptively untrue
8. They have heroes - rebounders set and meet nigher standards when inspired by others
9. They have more than passion -- success requires drive too.
I need to post that list for the next two weeks and read it hourly.
How I wish I had only 3 classes so I could have the time to have developed and worked this business more. I am actually thinking of dabbling in it for fun for a couple of months and see what more I can do with it. At this point I am glad it is done. The PowerPoint presentation took some time but honestly I thought it would take tons more than it did. Learned how to add voice to a power point, that is amazing, I will be using that in the future.
Things I have learned from the business
BIGGEST - have the time to start it. If you don't have the time to start a new business than don't
Become organized from day one
Not sure in real life I want to deal with others junk
What I thought would go well did not go at all and what I thought would not sell sold. I do not know the customer.
Learning this week
Loved the week. Interesting enough I was home teaching last night with my husband. The woman begin talking about this show called Sand box or something like that. I have not seen it yet. But it is where people come out and pitch their ideas and the billionaires of the show decide what amount they will invest in the product. My husband just saw a piece of the show last week at the gym. She went on and on about different stories from the show. I now need to watch it. Then we all agreed that what we would like to see is not just the successes but did they invest in someone and it was a failure and what is there story?
Opened up my class this morning and it is all about 'FAILURE'. I needed this class because I realize after taking my web class that I have a fear of failure. I cannot stand to fail. Do not know where he came from but it is real. It is what drives me to do the best that I do. So if I fail my web class I am going to call it an experiment. I already know it is an experiment of what I am not going to go into for the future. Had thoughts of making web pages part time at home. Nope can't handle the stress of the classes. I want work that is fun and enjoyable in my old age.
I love this list I found on the internet about rich people who have failed at some point in their life.
1. They accept failure and can recognize their own mistakes
2. They compartmentalize their emotions and they don't internalize bad feelings
3. They have a bias toward action responding aggressively to a challenge
4. They change their minds sometimes -- discard old thinking and reprogram a dream
5. They prepare for things to go wrong and rebounders are not necessarily optimists
6. They're comfortable with discomfort - they are willing to accept inconveniences as long as it leads them closer to an important goal
7. They're willing to wait -- overnight success is deceptively untrue
8. They have heroes - rebounders set and meet nigher standards when inspired by others
9. They have more than passion -- success requires drive too.
I need to post that list for the next two weeks and read it hourly.
Saturday, March 28, 2015
3/28/2015
$100
Well I am glad this project is over. There are some learning to be done BUT it was really a stress I did not need right now. My living room is still full of everyone's 'junk'.
Now I need to get everyone to pick it up.
Donate the items some of the clients told me to donate.
Pay everyone - luckily everyone said, just pay me at the end of the project. It made it a lot easier for me. In a real business that would not happen. It would be done on either a weekly or monthly basis.
I am just glad I got over the $100. It will be interesting to see how much everyone made. I hope there will be a discussion post so we can see everyones goods and bads and what they would do differently.
learned
Something that just comes back over and over and over again. Kids trying to start a business while they are still in college. People trying to start way too big. Not getting the experience they need before they start.
Line upon line, precept upon precept. Start small and grow big.
If you are old and seasoned maybe you buy something with multiple stores. But if you are not start with one store at a time.
Family business --- Not sure I ever want to step into that one. It just seems like there could be some real hurt feelings when it comes time for you to step down and someone else steps up.
My husband worked for Pope and Talbot before they went under. Interesting enough, the father told the daughter, you want to run the business go make a success some where else then come back. She did that. But in the end it was not good enough. My personal feeling - want too much too fast and spend more than they had. I know the wood industry took a hit in America and the spotted owl etc did not help, then Pope and Talbot had a lot of wood in Canada and the exchange went bonkers and that did not help BUT in the end had they adjusted what they spent (such as a private plane) than just maybe that company would still be around today. It was a business that began approx 1850 and had stayed with the same family all those years. So sad to see them go.
Well I am glad this project is over. There are some learning to be done BUT it was really a stress I did not need right now. My living room is still full of everyone's 'junk'.
Now I need to get everyone to pick it up.
Donate the items some of the clients told me to donate.
Pay everyone - luckily everyone said, just pay me at the end of the project. It made it a lot easier for me. In a real business that would not happen. It would be done on either a weekly or monthly basis.
I am just glad I got over the $100. It will be interesting to see how much everyone made. I hope there will be a discussion post so we can see everyones goods and bads and what they would do differently.
learned
Something that just comes back over and over and over again. Kids trying to start a business while they are still in college. People trying to start way too big. Not getting the experience they need before they start.
Line upon line, precept upon precept. Start small and grow big.
If you are old and seasoned maybe you buy something with multiple stores. But if you are not start with one store at a time.
Family business --- Not sure I ever want to step into that one. It just seems like there could be some real hurt feelings when it comes time for you to step down and someone else steps up.
My husband worked for Pope and Talbot before they went under. Interesting enough, the father told the daughter, you want to run the business go make a success some where else then come back. She did that. But in the end it was not good enough. My personal feeling - want too much too fast and spend more than they had. I know the wood industry took a hit in America and the spotted owl etc did not help, then Pope and Talbot had a lot of wood in Canada and the exchange went bonkers and that did not help BUT in the end had they adjusted what they spent (such as a private plane) than just maybe that company would still be around today. It was a business that began approx 1850 and had stayed with the same family all those years. So sad to see them go.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
3/19/2105
$100 Challenge
3/14 WEll I am at $98, so I need a couple more dollars to at least get to the $100. I have a big party at the house tonight for my son in law that is turning 50 and I am leaving all of this junk up in hopes someone buys something.
3/15 no takers. no one bought a thing. But I did find out that all the computer stuff someone gave me to sell is old school so it will be difficult to sale.
3/19 - Finally got over the $100 mark. Now we will see what the weekend brings. Get those ads up for one last time.
What I have learned
To work on your business and not just in your business
Interesting enough I have two friends who have started business, one a while a go and one recently. I have tried to get both of them to read E Myth book but one doesn't need the book and the other is too busy.
#1 - He has started several business and before they really push to the third level he sells them off. He gets bored. When the $ so going down he figures it is time to shed it off and start something new. Part of his problem his he can never stay on task, he constantly wants something new. He loves the beginning stages of starting a business but is not good at maintaining the business.
Several years ago he started an insulation business. He went hard after it and very quickly grew to 10 trucks and multiple employees. He is not a technician or a manager so he hires his good friend to do the books and be the manager. Things have worked great for several years now. Business is booming. I am impressed that he has stayed with this business for so long. They had a third partner - actually the person they bought the first few trucks off of, that partner wanted out so the managers dad stepped in and became the investor. He was a silent investor. He is an accountant that has spent his life moving all over the world. The business he worked for would come in to a business that was failing and the team would get them back up on their feet again, he was part of that team.
So he was silent for a while, but the numbers started not looking good. The boys said that the tax advantages for insulation were going away so they were needing to diversify. Owner had some great ideas and was proceeding forward with those ideas. BUT he seemed like the owner had too much time on his hands. For needing to keep the business growing and going a new direction he was home or off vacationing alot.
Soon the silent owner was back in town (lives elsewhere) soon the silent owner moved a trailer down so he had a place to live for a few months, then his wife came. I knew it was serious. Basically what happened was the owner was getting more involved in wanting to try new things but not willing to maintain what he already had. Maintaining what he had would have given him the capital to try new things.
The manager/accountant - his wife had a baby and had post partum blues bad. She would not get up and deal with the kids in the mornings so he was coming in late to work to help out his wife and get the kids off to school.
The owner wasn't coming into the office because he was off vacationing in Hawaii.
The office was going down hill, no one was coming into the office to run it.
Soon the could not meet payroll and the silent partner, out of his own pocket, paid the salaries. WEll during this time the owner is in Hawaii. He had to have known things were not going good so he took a last ditch vacation before going under and at the expense of his employees salaries.
Silent owner has now taken over the company in hopes to salvage his own money out of it. I do not know what the future lies but neither boys are allowed in the office at this point. The owner tells his mom he got kicked out and there are such hard feelings that even if the business got up and running again he can not work there. I think there is more to the story. This is a million dollar business with a lot of equipment. Surely you can salvage what have, start again, maybe smaller, regroup.
The second business is being started by an older woman that has a lot of get up and go and smarts about her. She is not into it for the money. It is a tutoring business that has been in our area for many many years and the owners just weren't interested and thinking of just folding up shop. She bought it to save it. She already has a good staff and accountant and trusted employees. Now she just needs to spiff the business up a little, and learn how to do the paper work etc.
Interesting enough she said to me the other day how exciting some of the work was but how much work it was AND how much she hated the paper work. I had to laugh because I thought of the pie lady and how much she just wanted to make pies and not do the manager type work.
It will be interesting to see how her business goes in the future.
3/14 WEll I am at $98, so I need a couple more dollars to at least get to the $100. I have a big party at the house tonight for my son in law that is turning 50 and I am leaving all of this junk up in hopes someone buys something.
3/15 no takers. no one bought a thing. But I did find out that all the computer stuff someone gave me to sell is old school so it will be difficult to sale.
3/19 - Finally got over the $100 mark. Now we will see what the weekend brings. Get those ads up for one last time.
What I have learned
To work on your business and not just in your business
Interesting enough I have two friends who have started business, one a while a go and one recently. I have tried to get both of them to read E Myth book but one doesn't need the book and the other is too busy.
#1 - He has started several business and before they really push to the third level he sells them off. He gets bored. When the $ so going down he figures it is time to shed it off and start something new. Part of his problem his he can never stay on task, he constantly wants something new. He loves the beginning stages of starting a business but is not good at maintaining the business.
Several years ago he started an insulation business. He went hard after it and very quickly grew to 10 trucks and multiple employees. He is not a technician or a manager so he hires his good friend to do the books and be the manager. Things have worked great for several years now. Business is booming. I am impressed that he has stayed with this business for so long. They had a third partner - actually the person they bought the first few trucks off of, that partner wanted out so the managers dad stepped in and became the investor. He was a silent investor. He is an accountant that has spent his life moving all over the world. The business he worked for would come in to a business that was failing and the team would get them back up on their feet again, he was part of that team.
So he was silent for a while, but the numbers started not looking good. The boys said that the tax advantages for insulation were going away so they were needing to diversify. Owner had some great ideas and was proceeding forward with those ideas. BUT he seemed like the owner had too much time on his hands. For needing to keep the business growing and going a new direction he was home or off vacationing alot.
Soon the silent owner was back in town (lives elsewhere) soon the silent owner moved a trailer down so he had a place to live for a few months, then his wife came. I knew it was serious. Basically what happened was the owner was getting more involved in wanting to try new things but not willing to maintain what he already had. Maintaining what he had would have given him the capital to try new things.
The manager/accountant - his wife had a baby and had post partum blues bad. She would not get up and deal with the kids in the mornings so he was coming in late to work to help out his wife and get the kids off to school.
The owner wasn't coming into the office because he was off vacationing in Hawaii.
The office was going down hill, no one was coming into the office to run it.
Soon the could not meet payroll and the silent partner, out of his own pocket, paid the salaries. WEll during this time the owner is in Hawaii. He had to have known things were not going good so he took a last ditch vacation before going under and at the expense of his employees salaries.
Silent owner has now taken over the company in hopes to salvage his own money out of it. I do not know what the future lies but neither boys are allowed in the office at this point. The owner tells his mom he got kicked out and there are such hard feelings that even if the business got up and running again he can not work there. I think there is more to the story. This is a million dollar business with a lot of equipment. Surely you can salvage what have, start again, maybe smaller, regroup.
The second business is being started by an older woman that has a lot of get up and go and smarts about her. She is not into it for the money. It is a tutoring business that has been in our area for many many years and the owners just weren't interested and thinking of just folding up shop. She bought it to save it. She already has a good staff and accountant and trusted employees. Now she just needs to spiff the business up a little, and learn how to do the paper work etc.
Interesting enough she said to me the other day how exciting some of the work was but how much work it was AND how much she hated the paper work. I had to laugh because I thought of the pie lady and how much she just wanted to make pies and not do the manager type work.
It will be interesting to see how her business goes in the future.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
3/12/2015
$100 Business
I am at $86 so I need to push real hard this weekend to get to the $100 mark. I had hopes to get the extra points but oh well, not going to make it. It really is my own fault. I did not have the time to invest in the business to make tons of money so it is what it is. But some things I have learned.
1 - have the time
2- be willing to change and adapt
3- be consistent
4. get your system done early on so it does not become a mess
Learning in class
I learned about an area I did not even know existed formally. Interesting enough I could take what I was learning and reflect back on some times when my husband has stepped into a situation and made changes to make the process go smoother. For example
He starts at a company - during the recession - and not really in his accounting field. He is over AR and AP. It is a packing company, mostly tomatoes and pears, but lots of other things. In fact they do the sauce for Papa Murphys. So there is no vacation from July 4th until Thanksgiving. That is pack season. And during those months he worked 12 hour days and every Saturday. He could see, after one cycle, that there could be lots of improvements so right after 'pack' of the first year he begin making those changes and these are some of the things I remember him doing.
He interviewed the gals and asked them what they thought could be done differently
He went to IT and talked to them about some changes
There was a team of them, not sure who was on the team, and they created a new way of accounting for the tomatoes and such. This cut the process down by tons
He saw who was talking too much in the office and who was not accomplishing their work.
He pulled up reports that did key strokes monitoring(hmmmm never knew they had such a thing) and looked over how many accounts each person was handling and not handling. He gave allowances to the accounts that were very time consuming.
He moved the office desks around and installed little walls so gals could not talk to each other. This eliminated some of the chit chat that was making is so they did not work as fast as they should.
Next pack came, they hired their normal temp BUT no one worked overtime. The gals were not happy because they liked the extra money that came in. The owners were happy because overtime was expensive. The new system worked so much faster and better.
Next year he redid some more stuff including squeezing out a gal that did very very little work. She probably did not know there was such a thing as monitoring key strokes and such. Her presence actually impeded others from doing their work. Her life was always in drama and it was brought to the office to be solved. With her gone everyone's key strokes rose. Just that one thing.
Next pack, no overtime and no temp was hired. Amazing what you can do with some research and some planning.
I am at $86 so I need to push real hard this weekend to get to the $100 mark. I had hopes to get the extra points but oh well, not going to make it. It really is my own fault. I did not have the time to invest in the business to make tons of money so it is what it is. But some things I have learned.
1 - have the time
2- be willing to change and adapt
3- be consistent
4. get your system done early on so it does not become a mess
Learning in class
I learned about an area I did not even know existed formally. Interesting enough I could take what I was learning and reflect back on some times when my husband has stepped into a situation and made changes to make the process go smoother. For example
He starts at a company - during the recession - and not really in his accounting field. He is over AR and AP. It is a packing company, mostly tomatoes and pears, but lots of other things. In fact they do the sauce for Papa Murphys. So there is no vacation from July 4th until Thanksgiving. That is pack season. And during those months he worked 12 hour days and every Saturday. He could see, after one cycle, that there could be lots of improvements so right after 'pack' of the first year he begin making those changes and these are some of the things I remember him doing.
He interviewed the gals and asked them what they thought could be done differently
He went to IT and talked to them about some changes
There was a team of them, not sure who was on the team, and they created a new way of accounting for the tomatoes and such. This cut the process down by tons
He saw who was talking too much in the office and who was not accomplishing their work.
He pulled up reports that did key strokes monitoring(hmmmm never knew they had such a thing) and looked over how many accounts each person was handling and not handling. He gave allowances to the accounts that were very time consuming.
He moved the office desks around and installed little walls so gals could not talk to each other. This eliminated some of the chit chat that was making is so they did not work as fast as they should.
Next pack came, they hired their normal temp BUT no one worked overtime. The gals were not happy because they liked the extra money that came in. The owners were happy because overtime was expensive. The new system worked so much faster and better.
Next year he redid some more stuff including squeezing out a gal that did very very little work. She probably did not know there was such a thing as monitoring key strokes and such. Her presence actually impeded others from doing their work. Her life was always in drama and it was brought to the office to be solved. With her gone everyone's key strokes rose. Just that one thing.
Next pack, no overtime and no temp was hired. Amazing what you can do with some research and some planning.
Thursday, March 5, 2015
3/5/2015
$100 Challenge
Well this has been a much better week on the $100 challenge. I little change in the company: Sell any item new or used for the customer. This includes bazaar type items. Does not matter what it is as long as I can sell it out of the home. This brought me in more goods to sell. Not that they have sold yet but just the motivation of doing something different has spurred me on to keeping up with the business on a daily task.
I have made a list of what needs to be done daily, which is mostly taking items that are online for sale and making sure they have not expired, if they have posting them again online. I have also figured out the perfect timing for putting them on so they are at the top of the list for Saturday morning. Saturday morning seems to be the best time to sale.
When I sale an item I talk to the customers about my project and where the money is going. In turn I don't have any haggling over the price and some of the customers have brought to me goods to sale for them. I have items from complete strangers that have trusted that I will mail them the money if their items sale.
Setting up a simple accounting system in the beginning has made it a lot easier. The minute I get the money, even if I am in a hurry, I put it right off in the right envelope with the right sheet and it is all together. No money just laying around thinking I will remember or I will get to it later.
Things I have learned
Hire slow and fire fast - probably the best 4 words in a business. I have watched my husband sweat through having to let someone go. He usually spends a sleepless night before going into the office to talk to the person. It would be so much better to just hire the right person from day one.
I like the list we learned in HMM to get ready for an interview
1. define the job requirements
2. recruit promising candidates
3. interview
4. evaluate the candidates
5. make a decision and offer
Guys advice that it is better to hire someone who loves the job more than someone who does not but has the qualifications. Enthusiasm makes a big difference. A motivated person will do what it takes to get qualified to do the job. Of course the best is the right education and motivation combined.
E-myth revisited - not sure I agree 100% with everything but basically it is this:
Takes three to run a business
1. Entrepreneur who has vision
2. Manager who manages
3. Technician who does the work
The business goes through 3 phases
1. Infancy - when the technician is the business
2. Expansion - when better management skills are required
3. Maturity - where an entrepreneurial perspective is needed
Turn-key or Franchise perspective - the best model for building a successful business.
Business development process
1. Foundation activity #1 - Innovation - the new idea is put into practice
2. Foundation activity #2 - Quantification - numbers that show how much impact the innovation has made
3. Foundation activity #3 - Orchestration - process of embedding the best practices into your business.
Step 1: Primary Aim - what is your life purpose and your business purpose
Step 2: Strategic Objective - how you will measure your success
Step 3: Organization Strategy - need an organizational flow chart
Step 4: Management Strategy - simple systems put into place which will allow ordinary people to produce extraordinary good marketing results. Make it simple
Step 5: People Strategy - Create an environment in which fulfilling their responsibilities is more important than avoid them.
Step 6: Marketing Strategy - Forget about your vision and focus on the customer exclusively.
Step 7: Systems Strategy - Three types of systems
a: Hard systems - inanimate objects
b: Soft Systems - animate objects such as people, ideas, procedures
c: Information systems - provides data about the interaction between soft and hard systems.
Quotes I love:
The difference between a warrior and an ordinary man is that a warrior sees everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man sees everything as either a blessing or a curse." Carlos Castaneda
You should know now that a man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting, nor by thinking about what he will think when he has finished acting. A man of knowledge chooses a path with heart and follows it." Carlos Castaneda
Well this has been a much better week on the $100 challenge. I little change in the company: Sell any item new or used for the customer. This includes bazaar type items. Does not matter what it is as long as I can sell it out of the home. This brought me in more goods to sell. Not that they have sold yet but just the motivation of doing something different has spurred me on to keeping up with the business on a daily task.
I have made a list of what needs to be done daily, which is mostly taking items that are online for sale and making sure they have not expired, if they have posting them again online. I have also figured out the perfect timing for putting them on so they are at the top of the list for Saturday morning. Saturday morning seems to be the best time to sale.
When I sale an item I talk to the customers about my project and where the money is going. In turn I don't have any haggling over the price and some of the customers have brought to me goods to sale for them. I have items from complete strangers that have trusted that I will mail them the money if their items sale.
Setting up a simple accounting system in the beginning has made it a lot easier. The minute I get the money, even if I am in a hurry, I put it right off in the right envelope with the right sheet and it is all together. No money just laying around thinking I will remember or I will get to it later.
Things I have learned
Hire slow and fire fast - probably the best 4 words in a business. I have watched my husband sweat through having to let someone go. He usually spends a sleepless night before going into the office to talk to the person. It would be so much better to just hire the right person from day one.
I like the list we learned in HMM to get ready for an interview
1. define the job requirements
2. recruit promising candidates
3. interview
4. evaluate the candidates
5. make a decision and offer
Guys advice that it is better to hire someone who loves the job more than someone who does not but has the qualifications. Enthusiasm makes a big difference. A motivated person will do what it takes to get qualified to do the job. Of course the best is the right education and motivation combined.
E-myth revisited - not sure I agree 100% with everything but basically it is this:
Takes three to run a business
1. Entrepreneur who has vision
2. Manager who manages
3. Technician who does the work
The business goes through 3 phases
1. Infancy - when the technician is the business
2. Expansion - when better management skills are required
3. Maturity - where an entrepreneurial perspective is needed
Turn-key or Franchise perspective - the best model for building a successful business.
Business development process
1. Foundation activity #1 - Innovation - the new idea is put into practice
2. Foundation activity #2 - Quantification - numbers that show how much impact the innovation has made
3. Foundation activity #3 - Orchestration - process of embedding the best practices into your business.
Step 1: Primary Aim - what is your life purpose and your business purpose
Step 2: Strategic Objective - how you will measure your success
Step 3: Organization Strategy - need an organizational flow chart
Step 4: Management Strategy - simple systems put into place which will allow ordinary people to produce extraordinary good marketing results. Make it simple
Step 5: People Strategy - Create an environment in which fulfilling their responsibilities is more important than avoid them.
Step 6: Marketing Strategy - Forget about your vision and focus on the customer exclusively.
Step 7: Systems Strategy - Three types of systems
a: Hard systems - inanimate objects
b: Soft Systems - animate objects such as people, ideas, procedures
c: Information systems - provides data about the interaction between soft and hard systems.
Quotes I love:
The difference between a warrior and an ordinary man is that a warrior sees everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man sees everything as either a blessing or a curse." Carlos Castaneda
You should know now that a man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting, nor by thinking about what he will think when he has finished acting. A man of knowledge chooses a path with heart and follows it." Carlos Castaneda
Friday, February 27, 2015
2/27/2015
$100 challenge
I am not going to be getting the extra points on this challenge. Oh I sell stuff, but so slowly and the time is not worth it. This is not a business I would to have forever.
I have changed some tactics to get more people to buy and that helped selling a little more. I have agreed to mail something, if they paid for postage which is something I did not think I would do.
One thing I have learned with this. NEVER NEVER NEVER start a new business unless you have the time to do it. If I had the time I could do so much more but when I am constantly constrained with time I just do not do what I should be doing or putting the time into it.
Thank goodness I did set up early on forms we fill out and envelopes attached to it so when something sells I just put it all in the envelope and it is organized and ready to go and easy to handle.
This next week is going to be my push week.
Things to do - repost on craigslist
repost on some other sites I have
keep it at top on face book
call a couple of my friends who say they have stuff and get it over here and on line so I can get it sold
What I learned this week
Pretty interesting week. The leadership style survey says I am participative style - thank goodness because I thought my personality would be authoritarian. I already know I don't delegate real well.
I loved the article by Pres Kimbal and Jesus: The perfect leader. I have never read that before.
His attritbutes Fixed principles, understanding others, selfless leadership, responsibility, accountability, wise use of time, secular leadership.
I have read before the DPC article by Bednar.
Factor #1 BYUI is a temple of learning
Factor #2 BYUI will be located next to a House of the Lord
Factor #3 BYUI is surrounded by strong stakes of Zion
Kim B Clark's "Leadership with a small "L" is the best.
Principle #1 Lead by example
#2 Lead with Vision
#3 Lead with Love
Lots of learning. So I think if you lead in a business like you would lead at church then you just can't go wrong.
I am not going to be getting the extra points on this challenge. Oh I sell stuff, but so slowly and the time is not worth it. This is not a business I would to have forever.
I have changed some tactics to get more people to buy and that helped selling a little more. I have agreed to mail something, if they paid for postage which is something I did not think I would do.
One thing I have learned with this. NEVER NEVER NEVER start a new business unless you have the time to do it. If I had the time I could do so much more but when I am constantly constrained with time I just do not do what I should be doing or putting the time into it.
Thank goodness I did set up early on forms we fill out and envelopes attached to it so when something sells I just put it all in the envelope and it is organized and ready to go and easy to handle.
This next week is going to be my push week.
Things to do - repost on craigslist
repost on some other sites I have
keep it at top on face book
call a couple of my friends who say they have stuff and get it over here and on line so I can get it sold
What I learned this week
Pretty interesting week. The leadership style survey says I am participative style - thank goodness because I thought my personality would be authoritarian. I already know I don't delegate real well.
I loved the article by Pres Kimbal and Jesus: The perfect leader. I have never read that before.
His attritbutes Fixed principles, understanding others, selfless leadership, responsibility, accountability, wise use of time, secular leadership.
I have read before the DPC article by Bednar.
Factor #1 BYUI is a temple of learning
Factor #2 BYUI will be located next to a House of the Lord
Factor #3 BYUI is surrounded by strong stakes of Zion
Kim B Clark's "Leadership with a small "L" is the best.
Principle #1 Lead by example
#2 Lead with Vision
#3 Lead with Love
Lots of learning. So I think if you lead in a business like you would lead at church then you just can't go wrong.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)