my final thoughts

My most important realization from taking this course is the importance of making sure that your business career never takes priority over your family. If you do not have a family currently, I urge you to never stop searching. Never let your work consume you entirely. If you currently have a family, make sure that you spend the needed time with them not only for their benefit but also for your own. Make sure that you attend important family events, even if it means you cannot accomplish what needs done at work. I do not believe that the following thought was ever stated during the duration of this class, but it is something that I have thought about continually. The reason that family is so important in business is because being an entrepreneur or a manager of some sort will not be easy. It will be hard, time consuming and sometimes frustrating. The only way that one can find true success and happiness while in a position like this is to rely on family to give them the strength and the drive to do well. While some may not agree with this, I personally feel very strongly that this is very true. I have seen it in my own life and career thus far and I know that I will continue to see it in greater amounts in the future.

Another very important principle taught to me this semester is that of making sure that you surround yourself with a strong, reliable, smart, and diverse team. This will always provide a measure of success that will not otherwise be had. In order to be a successful entrepreneur, you must first realize that you will not find success by yourself. There will always be a need for others and you must be willing to accept that. This does not mean that you cannot be in charge. A good leader allows others to do the work needed as well as the work that they are good at particularly, but makes sure that it is done right and done in the best way possible. One thing to remember is that you need them in order to achieve success, so make sure you always are kind, and show them that you are a team and that you truly do care for them. They should be your support system for you, you are the foundation that holds them up, but without them, you are just a useless foundation. 

week 13

This weeks reading had me thinking a great deal about my current job. We read quite a bit this week dealing with the importance of not only finding a job that you are good at and can provide you with financial security, but also making sure that you enjoy your job. If you are not happy, are you truly ever successful? That is a question that I kept asking myself this week. I love my current job. I work in the retail firearms industry. I feel that it is one of the few jobs that can be your hobby as well. Currently it makes me very happy. I have realized that this is the industry that I want to be in. After graduation from college, I plan to stay in this industry whether it is where I am at currently or whether it is with another company or a company of my own. I love this job, and I am grateful. Like president Monson said, I need to always have an attitude of gratitude. He has blessed me immensely in my current career and will continue to do so. I feel that if you are grateful for what you have and what you have been taught, you will make it a point to find a job that I feel that if you are grateful for what you have and what you have been taught, you will make it a point to find a job that you love. 

week 12

One of the greatest traits in a successful businessman is what he does for others. While many say that you cannot be wealthy if you give to others, I know this to not be true. God blesses those who serve others. One of the things that I constantly recognize, and consequently thank my Heavenly Father for is the success and financial stability that he has given me. All of my success has been given to me from above, and I must always remember that. Humility goes a long way in the world of business.

One of the articles stated that trust is fragile in business and one must always remember that. I have a distributor that I order quite a bit of product from who has fallen out of us trusting them. Because of this, we do not order as much from him, and place our orders with others. The lack of trust has hurt both parties. We sometimes struggle finding hard to get product from other distributors, and his sales numbers are obviously down. But trust is everything. If you cannot trust someone who you are doing business with, nothing good will come of it. The Harvard article that talked about it was very interesting to me. 

The name of that article is: Whats a business for?

https://hbr.org/2002/12/whats-a-business-for

week 11

This week’s reading and material built upon the principles of family and making sure that one’s family is always put before a career. While the world may look at entrepreneurs who only focus on their business or career as successful, I feel that that is the farther thing from the truth. I really liked a few of the articles and videos this week that dealt with balancing ones career with one’s family. I feel that this is crucial to overall success. Currently I work in the retail industry. While the position I am in allows me to have time off when needed, I do work quite a few evenings as well as Saturday. An example of how I balance my job and my family is on my days off, I try my hardest to stay off of social media and I do not check my work email. This allows me the time that my family needs me to devote to them. Not only do they need it, but I need it. That is one of the major things that I learned this week. In order to be successful, you must be balanced. If your only focus is on work, than you will never measure up to your full potential.

A few questions that I was asked to answer are as follows:

What is my attitude towards money? Money is a good thing, as long as it is not your primary focus. There is nothing wrong with it being important, but the moment it becomes the most important thing in a person’s life, that person has failed. The way you live will change, the way you interact will change. My father used to tell me growing up that the more you earn the more you spend. That is and always will be a dangerous habit.

The following are some good rules to follow if you want to prosper:

Rule 1. Seek the Lord and have hope in him

Rule 2. Keep the commandments, that includes the temporal ones, tithing and fast offerings.

Rule 3. Think about money and plan how you can become self-reliant.

Rule 4. Take advantage of chances for learning so you will not be ignorant of these matters. Education, as President Hinckley has taught us, is the Key to Opportunity.

Rule 5. Learn the laws upon which the blessings of wealth are predicated.

Rule 6. Do not send away the naked, the hungry, the thirsty or the sick or those who are held captive.

week 10

One of the greatest realizations that I have taken from this weeks reading was from the talk that Dallin H. Oaks gave about the challenge to become. He said, “ In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something.” This really made me think about how we are children of our heavenly father. I liken that relationship to that of myself and my earthly father. He wants me to be happy, he wants me to succeed and he wants me to always make sure that I am stretching myself so that I can continue to grow. This is exactly what our heavenly father wants for us as well.

From a presentation entitled Think Big, Taylor Richards encourages us to do just that. Thinking big is a form a challenging yourself to become something or someone that is successful, reliable, honest, and respected.  His example of how his boat dealership was listed in the very top of the best 100 dealers in the nation for multiple years shows that he was following his own advice. When he filled out the application to be ranked, he was not planning on making it. He was a new dealer at that point in time, but wanted to create a goal or a path for his dealership.

I really enjoyed the readings this week and invite anyone who would like to follow the posted links and check them out.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2000/10/the-challenge-to-become?lang=eng&query=challenge+become+(name%3a%22Dallin+H.+Oaks%22)

https://vimeo.com/27928168

week 9

In this week’s readings on that stuck out to me was called Message to Garcia. It spoke about the rarest of all skills, the ability to execute. I feel that this is crucial to any success. If one cannot execute in whatever capacity they are in, they cannot find success. I see this in my current career. I am in a buying position for the company, if I do not make sure that I execute the needed purchases for the company, the product is not available for sale in our store. As a result of not having needed product, the store does not make the sales needed to turn a profit. Along with the ability to execute comes the ability to designate jobs/tasks. Often, because you just want to make sure that things that need to be done ultimately get done, you do them yourself. This will hamper success. You need to make sure that you have people around you that are competent and that you can delegate tasks to.

I also feel that my enrollment in BYU-Idaho and the classes that I have taken thus far have truly been a benefit to me. Elder Bednar says that this university is a disciple preparation center. The oxford dictionary says that a disciple is one who follows or attends upon another for the express purpose of learning. That is how we find success, we learn from others and then we become good at executing what we have learned. 

week 8

This weeks material couldn’t have came at a better time for me personally. My wife lost her mother this week unexpectedly. I had read a talk from Elder Holland (a leader of the LDS faith that I am a member of) about never giving up no matter how long it takes to achieve something. I am not going to speak about my family other than to say the material has helped me cope this week with the loss of a loved one. Throughout my career as a business leader, I will experience challenges that will make me want to quit, or to step back. Taking those actions will never bring me happiness, success, or growth. No matter how long the challenge or task takes, I need to see it through. There probably will be challenges that I might never overcome, but I need to keep trying. I need to never give up. That is the only way to truly find reward in life. I remember a quote from my mission president from years ago that I feel pertains to this weeks material, “coasting is not progression.” Coasting in life and or business will never lead you towards growth.

Eric Reis’s 5 whys were also very helpful to me this week. He said the 5 whys are so important to development and I whole heartedly agree with him. I feel that the example of a server going down and everyone felt that the server needed attention, while in the end it was actually a manager not doing the proper training because he didn’t believe it in.