My Entrepreneurship journal

 How to start the Entrepreneurial Journey I have thought a lot about what it means to be an entrepreneur a lot during these last few months. I think that one needs to figure out firstly what they want their life to look like. Think about what makes you not want to have a job. Think about why you want to do something that forces you to be creative, and on your own. How come you have that desire in you? I think when you recognize that, when you feed that desire and realize it, then you have your Why. This will allow you to have clarity on what you really want in life, what you want your life to look like. I would say that this is the most important thing to remember and identify on your journey to be an entrepreneur. You will face lots of uncertainty and challenges doing your own business or creating an idea for products that haven't existed yet, or starting a new service that hasn't been given yet. Remember what excites you and what you hate about where you're at right now i...

 How to be grateful at all times Have you ever thought about why it's hard to be grateful even in hard times? Why do people say it's important to be grateful in times when life is hard? I feel like people often say that, but we don't hear the reason why it's important to be grateful, especially why to have that attitude in hard times. It's easy to be thankful when life's going well, and you have what you want, and nothing is changing too much. However, we forget all the sudden the good things we have, when something bad comes along all too often.  In the videos about an attitude of gratitude, and the readings that I had this week for my class about how to be grateful and positive, really helped me understand what it actually means to be grateful. We usually think of it as being thankful for what is happening in life at the moment and thankful for what we have. But, I think I learned that it means not letting those negative things that can happen in life, affect...

 How to become a Change-Maker Have you thought about now what it takes to make a lasting impact in the world? How does one make a difference in their ideas, innovation, creation, and service? I have thought about the thing that makes people stand out, and why others don't stand out. I think it involves a couple things, but one of them is adaptability, and being able to think ahead, quickly, and think unselfishly. One of the keys to success I believe is to be always unselfish, striving to serve others before yourself. I read a talk this week that was titled, "Are we not all beggars?" by Jeffrey R. Holland. It was really helpful to me to remember that we are all in the same boat in this life, just striving to make it back to our Heavenly Father. He loves all of us the same, and we all have similar needs to be met in life too. We have more similarities than differences in the end. The talk was about how we need to be more merciful to others, have compassion to people that ar...

 How does one have a balance between your work and other responsibilities in life? It’s important in life while you enter the professional field, to know how much time you really want to give to your work. People often have a hard time trying to figure that out, and can get caught up in the wrong priorities. How do you think you should prioritize your time? I think that is a questions people can answer if they think deeply about how happy not only they are, but their family or friends are.  For me, I think that my work sometimes will require more time away from my family, than I would want. Sometimes this can happen, but we cannot let it start to become a regular, often occurrence. When work or your business takes too much time each week away from your family and home, you will start to notice a difference in how your relationship with your family is.  One thing I’ve learned is that you need to plan your work and business, around your family, not the other way around. You...

 How to Dream Big Have you ever thought about what it means to have a dream? What do you remember from when you were little, and said 'I want to be _____ when I grow up?' We often forget about those dreams when we grow older. Why did we have that dream when we were little, then? What is it about children that makes them feel like they deserve those dreams or that they are capable of achieving them? You have to remember when you were little and confident in yourself, to remember who you are really inside. Often, we can still really keep those dreams in mind when we grow up. When we keep those dreams, we can feed ourselves hope and a purpose in life. In order to grow your business as an entrepreneur, you need to think about the general theme and main reasons for your dreams that you had when you were a child. This can help you figure out what you really want out of your business that you are creating now, and why. This will drive your vision for your business today. I think that ...

How to be a Christlike Leader Have you ever thought about what it takes to be the right kind of leader? How do you teach people, but also not push them? How do you teach by example, but also ensure that the people follow it and emulate it as well? These are questions that many people face and have to try to answer. There are interesting differences between those that can actually lead as Christ would, and those that just get people frustrated with them, leave, or don't care about what they are supposed to do. Some videos that I watched and readings about leadership taught me that to be a great leader, and not just a good leader, there are some key attributes that you need to have. Some of those are the ability to adapt to change, ability to innovate in ideas, being humble, delegating, asking for advice, and doing what they say. Many people need to develop these traits over a long time, because it's not easy to adapt these into your behavior all the time. Becoming a great leader...

 How do you face trials and problems in your life? We all have faced, and will continue to face, challenges that come into our life unexpectedly. In life, we are tested with our ability to solve those problems and overcome the trials. Some people accept them as an opportunity to grow and learn, others get down on themselves, or give up sometimes. Having your own business can come with many trials, which can either tear you down or cause you to grow. Some trials in owning a business might be that you loose customers, you expenses grow higher than your revenue, or you get criticized by others that you should stop. Most people can’t see the vision that you have for yourself and the future.  In order to overcome these challenges that you’ll most likely face, you need to have a couple things available to you. You need to have some kind of support system, where you have at least one mentor, or a partner, a supportive family member or friend, someone that will believe in you and show...

 7 Habits of Highly Effective People     Many people have read, or at least heard of, the book called, "7 Habits of Highly Effective People," by Steven R. Covey. This book as been highly acclaimed and millions of copies have been sold all around the world. It has brought many people to change and led them to become successful. It's a book that often needs to be re-read and have notes taken while reading it. Have you ever thought about why?     I believe that principles of success are inherit, natural laws that God has set and that this world abides by. For example, people will naturally gravitate towards people who are good leaders, have caring personalities, show that they have their priorities straight, and people who are good at managing time, not wasting it. These are some of the things that are discussed in the book, but they are things that most people can get and know already a little bit. Why, then are some books more effective and famous that others? I ...

Can you imagine if you became more than you thought you could become? Some people don't know how much they can become or change, until someone shows them their potential. I think that becoming an entrepreneur can push you to become different, and not just do something different. When you set your mind to do something different that you've never done before, you're going to become something different as well. When you want to do something that will set you apart from others, that expresses and idea that hasn't been tried yet, you will change. When you step apart from the status quo, you will become something different and change your thinking and perspective.  How do you accomplish this? You need to have a plan, find a mentor, become more positive about your future and hope for your dreams. If you don't believe you can be different and don't believe your dreams are achievable, then you don't know how to be an entrepreneur. A mentor can help guide your life in...

 How do you know if you have what it takes to be successful?      Think about successful people that you have heard of in your life. What is it about that person that you like so much? What draws you to people that you admire? Is it their personality, their character, what they have been through, their talent, or hard work? To me, I think that it's people's hard work that I'm drawn to. When I hear stories of people that worked very hard to reach a goal or dream, or to become something, I am always in awe of them. I admire that so much, because it purely is their own work and effort that got them to where they are. I love that because it shows that even I, or anyone else, could do what they do if I had the same desire. It means to me, that people can do anything that they put their mind to, if they want it enough. If you have the guts and focus to get it, if you have the passion and belief that what you want is important, then you will succeed. It means that people ca...

 How do you know you’ve lived a successful life? How you live your life, is really up to you. Many people don’t truly understand that or believe it, because they live in a very passive lifestyle. Most people 'let life happen' to them and go with the flow. However, if you live in a proactive way, where you decide you will do what you want no matter what, you can live a meaningful life.  To live a meaningful life, you need to live in your true identity and give time to think about your dreams. If you don’t give yourself time to think about your dreams, and plan to develop them, you won’t feel fulfilled and truly happy with yourself.  In order to live your full potential, then you need to make the most of your daily habits, and write them down, and think about your goals. It’s important to keep track of these goals and habits each day in order to eventually, over time, change to be the person you want to be. If you never start to make daily habits different, you will always ...

 Why is your vision, integrity, and ethics so important in personal and professional life?     A lot of people may wonder what the importance of honesty, integrity, and values are in life. I have wondered that myself at times, whether or not it is important in some situations, but in others, not so much. Yet, the scriptures teach us that it is important to be honest in your dealings with your fellow men.  Always, as much as you possibly can, because we aren't perfect.     In your professional life, you need to remember those that you work with, and even not immediately close to you, are important to you. You are affected by them, and they are affected by you. If you are not honest in even one little interaction, that will come back to you most likely. You should never take your chances with that. Your reputation both personally and professionally will be hurt if you show even a little bit of dishonesty with people. This matters to both yourself, and to othe...

 Do you know what your passion is?     One of the things that I've learned this week is that you need take time to truly think about your life, where you are going, where you want to be, and how you want to get there. We need to map our goals out, and list 'stepping stones' that will get us there,-which can be different jobs, experiences/opportunities, volunteering, or other network connections, like meeting people. We need to take control of what happens in life, and not just go through life passively. When you know what your passion is, then you can take control of your life and feel your purpose. In order to have a fulfilling life, we need to take action steps to work towards building that purpose.     One of the things that Randy Pausch was able to do, was to live his life intentionally, following what I stated above. He challenged the things that stopped him, put a block in the road, and were an obstacle for him. He let his dreams move him and lead him to a...

 Why should I be an Entrepreneur?      What is an entrepreneur? It is a person that works for themselves, not being employed, and owns some kind of business(es). I learned this week that being an entrepreneur is something that each of us has the innate ability to become. We are born with the ability to be independent, the ability to think cognitively and problem solve; we have the ability to be creative and find solutions to difficult situations. This is something most people have inside them, except for a few who may have some mental and/or physical limitations. We often are raised to not be independent, however, and often are told to stick to the 'status quo,' and do what other people do in life. Often we are told to not take risks, and we get fear instilled inside us. We lack courage at times to do what we feel is calling from us inside ourselves.      I learned this week, however, that to be an entrepreneur we need to change our mindset, if it hasn...