My Last Feast For Thought

Feast For Thought: My Semester Closing Thoughts

Just like any meal there are so many "bits" I could write about from this semester. I could feast on the turkey meat of our $100 challenge raise my turkey leg in victory having surpassed the $100 by a lot. I could look over at Aunt Bertha's yams (that no one likes) and reflect on just how negatively something as simple as not posting by Tuesday would affect my overall grade. Yikes. Or I could look at the food that was prepared and left for the dogs because I couldn't figure out how to submit it (My $100 Pitch video). Regardless, of the negatives and positives from this semester I am leaving full and ready to sleep. I am done. I am tired. I am happy with the beauty of the overall meal. If I focus on aspects of the semester individually it frustrates me but collectively I am happy having successfully passed the course and being that much closer to being done with getting my secular "feather."



TO THE ENTREPRENEUR:

So you are thinking about being an Entrepreneur eh? Well, great. Me too. I am not some wise man on the mountain so proceed with caution. I speak of my own feeling being out of this long dark tunnel of this semester. Now I want to speak to you Mr. or Mrs. Entrepreneur. What should you learn? Learn that you need to jump in and start. Learn that there are some resources out there that are awesome. I particularly enjoyed Brother Morris' Large Venture creation course and learning about the Business Model Canvas. I loved in this course learning from Harvard's Acton Heroes and watching the "AHA" moment for so many people when they wanted to point out money isn't everything and that they wanted to leave a legacy. I would say that school is very important and a rite of passage you must go through but fully expect to learn a lot from life. Learn from everything. Don't assume you will learn everything from college or anyone else. You must learn. You must learn from everyone and everything. Learn from failure and learn from success. Better yourself Daily.

In conclusion remember the wise words of President Monson "Green things grow and ripe things rot. You should remain green all your days."

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." -Helen Keller

There are so many thoughts floating around my head from this week. I have "concluded" my $100 challenge (although I still have a lot more orders to fill before Christmas). I feel as though I did very well with the $100 challenge considering a couple slow weeks and a slow beginning. I feel this showed me a glimpse of both how hard a lack of sales can be but also how hard success can be as well. At this point my profit after all my expenses is: $413.25

Additionally, I additional $30 or so coming in before Christmas.

I chose the above quote because I really have been thinking a lot about the semester seeing that it is coming to a close. After my computer broke I have had  struggle in many of my classes and am not getting the grades I as hoping for this semester. I have struggled with depression on and off my whole life and I have been trying to make the best of the grades I am getting in this class and others. I suppose the reason I liked this quote because I was considering the inspirational thought I got from our Acton Hero assignment this week when Tom Nall spoke of optimism and spoke about a phrase he likes to quote to employees and people stating that he wanted to be like the individual who jumped from the Empire State Building and 3/4 of the way down he said to himself " So far so Good."




In conclusion, I feel like it is important to remember that even in the darkest of moments we can chose to focus on the light that is surely somewhere nearby or we can simply become lost in the shade. I think this is applicable in both life and business. 

Christmas Thoughts this Week

As I listened to Eric Slaubaugh and how he was speaking about business being essentially hard at times I was able to relate with what I am going through at this time in my own life. My wife's mother was in an accident when she was 14 on Christmas Eve and ended up passing away on New Year's Eve.

I felt like this is relative because as he spoke of the hardships of business I was thinking of what my wife and I had just done. My wife struggles with this Holiday season. Instead of doing what we have tried to do every year which hasn't helped her be happy. Maybe I am being to artistic in my comparison but I think in Metaphors. As I assist in the process of healing for my wife I can see how this applies to business as well. We have had a Christmas tree every year we are married but this year we went out and cut one down and started a new happy tradition.

In business we need to be able to iterate and find news ways to do the same things at times (even and especially when it gets hard).

I really enjoyed Eric's thoughts on valuing and trying to get as many mentors as possible. I feel like I have been looking for good solid mentors all my life. I am not about to compare mentors to Father Christmas (Although he would be a great mentor for bringing the spirit of Christmas). I have enjoyed the feedback I have received from individuals on my $100 challenge.


Weekly Follow Up



$100 Report

Although, I have not made as much money as I figured I could I have learned a lot from this assignment already. This week I had no orders so my total earned money remains the same as last week but I have gained a lot more orders for later in the month. I have a guaranteed $50+.