$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.
Monday, March 30, 2015
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
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