My Entrepreneur Journal

A question I have really been asking myself lately is if this is really the path for me. The entrepreneur path. I feel like I am very risk averse and cautious and I am not sure I have what it takes. Let alone the education, work experience, and anything else that most entrepreneurs have that I don’t and probably won’t before I were to try. But the thing I can’t ignore is the pull I feel in my heart that this is the right path for me. I don’t know why. I know I have many gifts naturally that could benefit me in business, but it makes me nervous with the time commitment since I do have a lot of kids and still want more. And I just don’t know how it will work out. But then I think, we are living in a man’s world of business still, and what if there are paths we haven’t explored yet that work better for moms/women? What if we have gifts to getting there that haven’t been used in the ways that I could? And that could help me have a good work/life balance but still achieve major success? I m...

This week we read the article "What's a Business For?" and it was very insightful. Some things it points out right at the beginning is how important virtue and integrity are. There are so many instances in the recent path of people being dishonest and screwing up lots of companies around the country due to their selfishness and greed. When people are honest and having integrity and feel a need to be ethical and fair in their choices then everyone gets treated fairly and no illegal activity is taking place, for any reason, at any time. And everyone benefits from that. Plus, when people inflate numbers in their company or do little tricks to make their business appear a certain way, it affects the economy on the way up and on the way down from those lies and exaggerations. The real existence for businesses is to help people progress and to give the good things of life to those around the world and make them accessible to all. The way business is set up can help to spur tho...

I really enjoyed the readings and videos from this week. And that was especially true of the article "Attitude on Money". So what are my attitudes on money? I remember many years ago I was watching a BYUI devotional by my husband's aunt and after hers another professor came on talking about money. I knew my husband had this man as a teacher and really liked him so I listened to it and I think about it often. He talked about how God cares about how we use our money. It is the love of money that is not good. If all we do is just to make money, then that isn't great, but we DO need money to live. So how do I use money in my life? He made another point that I loved. He said that the way we treat money and giving it to those who need it will be the same no matter how much money we have. So if don't have a lot of money and we are looking for ways to help still, when we DO have more money, we will continue to do that. But if we don't care to help those when we have s...

This week something that really stuck out to me was the message of trusting those you work with. And showing them that you trust them. I think this is huge. I often think about that. I know for me, I really need to be trusted and expected to do well or I won't. I have a hard time when someone doesn't think I can do it. Sometimes that motivates me to prove them wrong, but most of the time I just find myself feeling depressed and down. So to really find people who maybe aren't in the best place with their resume, and show them that you believe they are ready for the job, capable of doing a great job with it, and that you trust them to do it, is important. I especially feel this because a major goal I have for my corporation I'm going to build someday (hopefully) is to have different locations around that really help those who could use good jobs and just don't have the opportunities. When we lived in Texas there were many Hispanics living in our town and they mostly w...

I think the biggest concept I got from this week is that it is hard to go from good to great, and few will do it. I really struggle with getting great at anything. I settle too quickly in so many areas of my life and give up trying to master things. I love that he says to believe you are the best and that will help on that path. And to find the right people to help you do it. I have so many ideas and dreams and I want to succeed but lack a lot of motivation and drive at this point but want to start working on that. One way I was thinking I could start trying to do better at this is to really start working on a goal I have always had which is to learn to decorate cakes, and do it well. With YouTube there are so many to teach me if I'll let them through their online videos. I think I want to start attempting a cake two times a week and just give them to people as service. This way I don't get stuck with endless amounts of cake, but I am learning and practicing and figuring out di...

This week was a really good thing for me to look back on my life and reflect. Watching the Mormon Message from Elder Holland's talk about not giving up and things will work out, it made me think back on the last 9.5 years of my marriage and our times going to school together and with kids. It was really hard in many ways, but so sweet and good. It made me realize how much God has helped me throughout my challenges and obstacles. Things that seemed impossible at the time (for me anyways), were made possible and became amazing learning opportunities and sweet experiences as I saw how intimately God is involved in my life and will help me. As I pondered these things, I realized I can apply that to my future as well. I have so many dreams and hopes for my life besides having a large family, but my family is a large obstacle to SO many of my dreams because once you are a mom, you can't undo that and it takes so much of my life physically, mentally, emotionally, and with my time. I l...