This week was great I was able to talk with a few business owners and I learned a lot about the priorities that they have. I found that family time is often sacrificed in order to build a company and keep it running properly. Often to save money, the business owner is the one that has to dedicate extra time to tie up loose ends because they can’t afford to hire someone else to do it. I was surprised to learn that most business owners that I talked to enjoyed being hands on and wouldn’t like to step back from their business and let it run itself or pay someone else to run it for them. They expressed concern for quality being sacrificed for quantity, which is the main reason that they prefer to be so hands-on.

I was very surprised to learn how even when a company is successful, established and self-sustaining, the owner still works long hours to keep it that way. It seemed like opportunity cost is constantly something that is being evaluated and often, time is more valuable than money, especially when it comes to spending time traveling. I also found it interesting that the business owners that I talked to aspired to step away from their business and be more hands off by age 40, but they all talked about new businesses that they would want to start up immediately after. It is almost like the hard working, successful people aren’t ever satisfied and are always aspiring to start up new companies or pursue new ideas and revenue. It definitely takes a certain type of person to be a successful business owner. 

Trust the baker!

This week I really enjoyed learning about ways that I am able to increase my networking. I really enjoyed the lessons on being trusting and how I can be a baker in life learning how I can better others at every turn and how I might be able to always think of others first. It is hard in our society not to think about yourself as the main or initial priority, for me it takes conscious effort to change my thoughts and really ask what I can do for this person or how I might help this individual. I always feel willing to help but then there is a built in status quo in my heart and mind telling me that someday this effort will come back around when I may need it in my life. I am starting to understand that this is not the purpose of service but a really good quote came to mind, “service enables you to grow and become more like Christ.” I really didn’t understand it before this week, service is not about Karma or a revolving circle that will help you in some way, but is about seeing the world as the baker, a person wanting to see the greatest joy out of something he has done, a person able to give everything they have for the end of happiness and pure love. There is no thought to one’s self when we trust, we give all of who we are to enable others to become more. When we do this we draw others like this to ourselves and form relationships of trust without doubt.

Learning about self-Mastery

Learning about self-Mastery

I really enjoyed this weeks videos and learning about the ways to master any subject in life, I realized that I had hacked a large majority of the topics in my life and that I really need to apply the principles found in the book of practice, study, and keen application. I really feel that I have gained knowledge that I loved but just stopped using and this lead to the loss of most of that learning. In the talk by Gordon B. Hinckley I really enjoyed his teaching of the ever changing world and the constant need to learn and apply one’s self in different fields to find those waiting opportunities. Sometimes it is really hard to find you notch in life and the only way is to explore.

I have had a very fortunate opportunity to meet and get to know a rock climbing guide the last few months and see how he and his family live their lives. It was really crazy to see how he had applied himself in many different ways and that he was really able to go and do what he loved and show people how to also enjoy and perform in his sport. It really opened up my mind to the possibilities that I can really do what I want in life if I am willing to apply myself and find a way to make money off of it.

I looked back to week three where we learned about the three circles, the things your good at, the things you enjoy, and the things people will pay you to do. As I thought about this I decided to write it out for my life and really look at what I am good at what I love to do and if I could make money doing it. It was very enjoyable and I really looked back towards my childhood when I would spend all day doing the things I loved to do, then I started to look at what things people really would or have payed me to do. I noticed that I really had drifted towards working with my hands and in sports. I love to make people happy and also to have visual accomplishment.

I really hope for you all to look at your lives and find a balance of what you love what your good at and what you can get paid for and then look at mastering those skills that line up in all three and sell yourself for your greatest worth never giving up on your dreams and taking time to become the master of yourself and dreams.

Family,God, & Knowledge

It was very interesting this week t learn and read about the importance of keep your commitment to God and your family first over all else you do. I really enjoyed hearing from many different business leaders about the importance of setting boundaries for your work and not letting it cut out and destroy other important areas of your life. Knowing that yes money is valuable but it is not the key to happiness and that you have the power to control your state of joy and happiness was really applicable   I feel in this week’s learning. Some of the talks were about the understanding of business skills and the drive that is inside you and how it might be hard to shut it off and allow yourself to be in the moment rather then accomplishing what you feel you need to. Really each person is faced with choices that will make up and define them in their character, we are all a bi-product of our choices and the more we limit those choices the more centralized we become.

I was really asked a interesting question the other day about my freedoms and if I felt that our current politicians had our best interests at heart. This came to mind through the readings because I really saw a important factor of Knowledge! I couldn’t pull to mind the 10 amendments and match them to the right ones, if I don’t know my rights how do I know if they are being represented and if they are being taken away. In the reading it gave three important knowledge principles of business: 1 In-depth knowledge of the competitive structure of an industry and a network of contacts within that industry; 2 The skills to run the daily operations of a small, rapidly growing company; and 3 The ability to raise money.

As I thought about this knowledge base I looked at it like I started looking at my rights, as if they were my blood line and how every detail of the first two principles would enable me to become a better business owner and more efficient owner and competitor. I like to think of it as the broker mentality, a wall street broker is a man with a sixth sense, this isn’t true but it does seem that way because of the vast knowledge and effort that he has put into every detail of his investment and learning about every little thing that could happen with a company or persons life that may influence his outcome. This principle can be applied to any business, learning and understanding the way the business works is one thing but then advancing and increasing the productivity of each stage is the next level, than by looking at similar business you will be able to see the flow of the competition and analyze what there next step will be and beat them to it and interact, attract, and rise above those that are not willing to put in the effort to acquire the knowledge needed to be the best.

Most importantly like we have talked about before do not let the enticement of money remove the reason you went to find the money in the first place whether that is family or God or joy of life, these are the things money is worth losing for.

week 4

Week 4

This week it was very interesting to think about who I would turn to for advice if I could have anyone through all of history to help me make decisions or run a company. At first I really turned to the great leaders of the bible and book of Mormon, Jesus, Moses, Adam, Helaman. Then I began to think about the importance that my family has in my life and how I would need to have my grandfather, father, wife and many others. I really had a hard time narrowing it down from all of the people that I have come to value the opinion of. The importance of knowledge and wisdom and morals really form the keys to my counsel and what I would want my business to be founded.

I found the case study to be very interesting, looking at it from a student some of the valuable things that I found were about the importance of moving at your own pace and how really the only person opinion that matters is the one that you put vale in. Erica really loved the cards she designed and wanted to give the best quality she could to her customers, I really began to see this when she was doing all the production from her house and this enabled her to guarantee that her product met the standards and those standards are what spread her business to the point where she could go big. This is where she put her trust and desire for recognition in her product and the people that it was going to.

I really started to analyze what I wanted, I think if your true desires don’t lie within your immediate actions that you will fail in those actions. I really started looking at who matters to me, what I am doing, is it really showing that I desire the best for those people. Those individuals that came to mind were my family and friends as I do not have any clients or patients yet I really was thinking do my actions show that they are most important to me or are they second in my actions and time. It is hard to look and evaluate your actions but it is necessary to progress and move forward in your live and carrier.

I really found a quote to help me through my hard times. It says this is possible through men, but all things are possible through god. This is how I feel that even though I am just a man I can achieve anything through god and keeping to the standards that he has sent for me. 

Week 3, The Sum of All Fears!

I loved this week’s information and teachings on how fear can be our greatest enemy but if we take the time to break down each fear into the individual questions and concerns we are able to weigh the concern on an individual level and analyze what really matters and if we really are going to lose everything or just a fall back to where we were when we started. I am at the peak of making a large amount of decisions and the fear can be overwhelming and spiral out of control if I don’t take the time to analyze the fear find the question, see the marginal cost and benefit and find the true risk of the choice. When I did this in the exercise this week it really put me at easy because I learned how to breakdown each of those little questions and find the true answers and not just assume that I would learn as I go. Fears are only established on the unknown I thought about this for a very long time and really related it to God, We can fear him if we do not know him but as we come to know him we come to love him because we begin to understand him. Satan has twisted the image of God from a father to an executioner and we fear his wrath rather than looking forward to his love.

I was also able to finish the book, The Ministry of Business, one of my favorite lines from the book came from page 55 talking about the importance of covenants and how progression in life comes quickest and in the right direction when it comes with the help of God. “The path provided by God for our lives-business and otherwise-reveals itself only when we have enough faith to live our personal standards and keep our covenants.” When we are able to be true and faithful and live according to the guidelines we know to be true then we will be able to be happy and successful. I took time to think about a Personal constitution and what that really meant. What is a Constitution, the Dictionary says that, “it is a body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is acknowledged to be governed.” Some other terms used as synonyms are Charter, social code, or law.  So I really started to think what laws do I let govern MY LIFE? This hit me hard because I can remember being young and letting what people think of me influence the way I acted and how the social standards drove the way most people moved. Being older now and having a change in priorities I really had to analyze what drives me and governs my actions, I came up with 3 main things 1^st was what my wife thought about me, I know this isn’t the way most people think but really I spend more time being sure I am meeting my wife expectations than anything else. Now this is a great thing because my wife’s first thought is the lord so she keeps me on the right path towards my second governing body the lord and his principles in my life, I find my happiness is directly influenced by my actions coinciding with the teaching of the lord that I know to be true. Lastly is what my family and extended family think of me I really find my time line influenced on the expectations that they have for me, sometimes their voices are louder than that of the lord in my life and I can become uneasy and overwhelmed but as I refocus myself on the lords time I really am at peace.

Now you might be asking how these things form my constitution but what it comes to is my level of trust in each of these aspects and how I know the Christ like virtues that I desire to have are gained by these people and areas of my life.

After this week I can say that there is no reason to Fear. The quote by FDR “The only thing to fear is fear itself,” really sums up that we have the power to overcome every situation and if we ponder, pray and trust, no matter what happens we will make it out. We live in a privileged nation where Trial and error most of the time will not cost us our lives or freedom and we can make it through everything else. Push the bounds and let the lord guide you!

Finding My Ethical Boundaries

This was a very interesting week, a large amount of the material was based on the importance of identifying what you want to be in life and how you will set the ethic guard rails to help you through the challenging times where you will have to choose between the next step in success or to sacrifice something outside your ethical guardrails.  In the readings one of the important things focused on was the level of lust for money that you chose to have in your life. As that lust for money increases it comes at the expense of your ethics or integrity, money is not a bad thing but was a fantastic invention as a medium of trade so that individuals would not have to have the same desires to barter. This changed the world but also allowed for great corruption and different forms of societies to be created. As we look at these societies we can see to main forms of economic systems were created the Command system and the Market system. The command system is where the government is in complete control of all resources and products and the distribution of those products. This system when perfect at all levels works like the law of consecration where everyone works to the greatest advantage of the group and all are provided for, there is great success found in this system because the society can grow very fast and for the betterment of all those in the society. There is also a negative side this was also talked about in a talk by Elder Lynn G. Robbins, "Making a Living and a Life" here he talked about the different types of people grading them from A-D and showing how each level after A sacrificed some type of ethical boundary and eventually had no integrity left but self-interest and greed. Money has great power, shown in a market system each level from producing to shipping and selling is driven by the self-interest and a desire to succeed. This system works but different levels of the system can be exploited without universal ethics it falls just like the command system. This is the reason for laws and limits established by government in a mixed market system and how the system is able to function with those who do not have ethical boundaries.

The reason I focused on those two examples is because we are living right among them both, if we do not set outlines now of what we are and are not going sacrifice along our way to make a living and more.

The three things that I will never do are, I will never get gain at the cost of someone else life or lively hood; I will never sacrifice the love of my family for greater success; I will never forget my eternal perspective and the foundation principles that I need to return to heavenly father. The three I will always are, I will always be home at night to kiss my wife and children goodnight; I will always be worthy of my temple recommend; I will always provide for the needs of my family.