Week 13

Well here we are in week 13, and it's been a great ride.  There has been many things that have sparked my interest and helped me in my journey.  Learning of the different places we can focus on in business is very interesting.  It has made me more excited about my upcoming class in accounting and how that might be very interesting.  It has also helped me look at my business now, and where I would like to take it.  As always, integrity has been a big point that has really hit home. As I work, I want to be known as someone who can be trusted.  I believe that comes from action.  As people see who we are, they know how we will act.  Throughout this semester, I have seen many opportunities in my life come.  I have seen how Heavenly Father blesses those who put in the effort and the work.  As we strive to become better, he will give us that extra push, that extra help we need.  I have come to know that He has a plan for me!

I am and continue to be very grateful for this opportunity that I have to be pursuing my degree at BYU-Idaho. I know that through continued lifelong education, we all can be better people and better business men and women.

Winding down

Well, here we are in week 12 of my Business 183 class. This long (well, not really that long) journey is almost done.  Throughout this course, I have had the opportunity to learn from many wonderful people through articles and through video lectures.  One of the biggest reoccurring themes that keeps standing out to me is integrity.  Another, we must take risks if we are wanting to excel in our lives.  We must decide that what can come is more important that what happens if we fail.

This week we watched a video listening to Sheryl Sandberg (http://ecorner.stanford.edu/videos/2238/Make-It-Personal-and-Make-It-Work).  In it, I really enjoyed how she grew in her career and how dreams can be successful if they are scalable.  She also emphasized that we must be willing to take risks to realize this success.  We must look at the world differently and how we can change it.

I know that if I can continue to live and work with integrity, focus, dream, and take risks, I will be able to realize great things and help change the world, and so can you.

We were also asked at the end of our post to answer the questions below.

• Based on what you read in the first two pages (pages 3 and 4), why are virtue and integrity so vital to an economy?

As we have seen in companies like Enron or in other large scandals, dishonesty and greed not only affect those in that company but the market as a whole.  If trust from the consumers is not there, markets will struggle.

• According to Charles Handy, what is the “real justification” for the existence of businesses?

    Charles Handy talks about how most people look at profits or shareholders as the reasons for businesses to exist, but the real justification as he puts it is to make more money so the business can do something more or better.  I think that is true.  We must have a goal in mind above money, yet pursuing money will help us fulfill that goal and is very necessary. 

• What are two solutions proposed by Handy that you agree with? Why?

    Two of the solutions I like are first, profit sharing and second, the organization of community.  Profit sharing allows dividends and profits to be shared with not only shareholders but also those in the company who are contributing directly through their work and skills.  I think this promotes incentive to work hard and makes workers care if the company is profitable beyond just keeping the doors open. The second is achieved in Europe by having things like longer annual vacations, leave for fathers when their babies are born, etc.  I also think that this would help the workforce not get burned out, stay more loyal, and help up production and creativity. 

Money, what is it good for?

In this week's blog, we are asked to think about our relationship with money and respond to a few questions.  First, we were asked to read an article, Attitude on Money by Stephen W. Gibson.  The questions we are asked are as follows.

First, what is your attitude toward money?

When I think of money, I do believe that we need to be very aware of it in our lives.  If we are the breadwinner or not in our families, we need to make sure we know where we are at and where we are going.  Money can be used for a tool of great good.  The love of money is evil, not money itself.

The next question is how can your view of money affect the way you live?  I believe that if we are afraid of money, or don't choose to be smart, we can limit our ability to provide for our families, limit our potential, or especially limit our potential to eventually give.

Finally, what rules are recommended for prospering?  In the article, there are a few given.  The two that really stood out to me were Rule 3. Think about money and plan how you can become self-reliant and Rule 5. Learn the laws upon which the blessings of wealth are predicated. I think these two rules who the importance of having a good relationship with money.  It is how we can become self-reliant and it helps us understand blessings and how they work.

I know that through a proper relationship with money and knowing how we can use it to give, we can become closer to our Heavenly Father.

Mentors

Through my business classes, I have the excitement of stepping outside of my comfort zone and getting great ideas to try. In my Business 100 class and now my B 183 class I have had the chance to interview mentors or entrepreneurs.  These last few weeks I have had the opportunity to interview two men I look up to.  Tom Campion and Dave Stevens.
Both of these men are successful business men and have taught me lessons.  It is wonderful that in this world there are people who are willing to show compassion and help others.  When the business world is painted, sometimes it's shown as a land of greed and winning and losing.  These men taught me that through great partnerships, we can build great things!
So many times we give up when we are down.  We cannot give up.  We must keep trying.   I was listening to a podcast the other week and they were interviewing one of the founders of Airbnb.  He shared a story of how Chris Sacca, an investor in such companies as twitter, uber, and kickstarter, not only didn't invest but told them they shouldn't do the business.  He was sure that someone would get killed or raped in one of their houses that were being rented and they would get sued or worse.  Now Airbnb is now valued at around 30 billion dollars!  Good thing he didn't listen!
We must keep moving forward.

Week 9

This class is really flying by.  It has been such a great experience so far. I really enjoyed our topics we learned about this week. It focused on building great teams and building trust with others.  I know in my personal life, I can focus on my own integrity and how I act.  It can be harder to find others that feel the same way.  Frank Levinson of the Finisar Corporation shared in a video said that they hire nice people.  Even though that probably sounds silly, he shared how people getting along is extremely important.  Being nice and kind to one another can help build workplace trust and relationships.  They also focused on not overworking their people.  No 100 hour weeks, although they do work hard.  This helps keep talent and allows them to still function in the community and in their families.

Guy Kawasaki shared in a different video about trust.  He stresses that in order to receive trust, we must trust first. He shares examples of amazon allowing you to return books up to 5 days even if you have read it, Zappos return policies (paying shipping both ways without question), and Nordstrom.  The organizations trusted their customers and received trust back.  I also loved his example is there are two types of people in this world.  An eater or a baker.  An eater sees a pie and takes from it (eats it). It's a zero sum thing.  A baker can create more pie, knows it is not a zero sum game.

I continue to enjoy these lessons and know that building a business with ethics and trustworthy people can lead to greatness!

Week 8

What a wonderful week I've had.  I have really looked to the future and focused on the good things that can come into our lives if we focus with the end in mind and have faith.  So often we let things like worry, fear, and caution drive us. If we want to do things that are great and exciting, we must sometimes take risks.  We must take leaps of faith.  We must be bold.  We must take the hero's journey.

This brings me to a great book we started to read this week. A Field Guide for the Hero's Journey has been a great book to start this week. It helps us realize who we are and more importantly who we can and need to be.

I have continued to get up early this week.  It has been a little bit of a struggle, but still well worth it.  I have gotten so much done lately.  It helps me be ready to go early in the day and have a lot of energy.  Pairing that with exercise and a good ketogenic diet has also really helped me focus.

I know as I focus on what is right, true, and powerful, I will be successful, and so can you!

Week 7

Well here I am in week 7 of my Business 183 class. I am still very much enjoying my class and enjoying the reading and learning I get to do.  This week we talked about the seven habits from Stephen R. Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change.  I would like to focus on one of them, habit 4, think win/win.

Especially in today’s world, we tend to think if someone wins, someone else must lose.  We are taught to think of ourselves, crush the competition, and disregard the other side. Mr. Covey stresses that this doesn’t have to be the case.  In business especially, we need to work on this win/win principle.  He stresses that we must focus on results.  An example of a win/win situation is bringing a product to market.

 In the process we could look for losers if we wanted to.  Maybe we were try to undercut a supplier and squeeze them promising more business later, maybe we make a cheap product and sell it high to hurt the consumer.  Instead, if we think of the win/win situation, we can work with our suppliers so we can get product at a good price and they can have a good and lucrative deal with us.  In turn, we make a good, quality product for our consumer and price it fair where we make a good profit, but we add value to our customers.  I know this is a simplistic view, but it shows how winning on all sides is better for everyone.

On another note, my waking up at 4:30am is still going great.  I’m eating well and able to focus on the things I need to.  I would continue to challenge anyone reading this to try it out.  Until next week.

It is time to wake up!

So I have had an epiphany this week.  After reading in my textbook, The Ministry of Business, and other articles we have been assigned, something kept coming up over and over.  I will paraphrase, but I kept seeing people say, they didn't know of any successful person who didn't get up early.

Now a little background on me, I am NOT an early riser or a morning person by nature.  I would consider myself much more of a night owl.  I don't exactly sleep in (wake up at 6:45am to get my kids ready for school), but my mornings were mostly unproductive.

Fast forward to this week.  I decided a change needed to be made.  I downloaded a great app called Sleep Cycle and decided to wake up at 4:30am.  I also had this idea after a mentor interview with my good friend Ryan for my B100 class.  So, I set my alarm and tried to get to bed early.

In conjunction with this new sleep schedule, I needed to get myself physically ready for work and business.  I decided it was time to eat better as well.  I have been on a ketogenic diet for a few days now, and that coupled with sleeping and getting up early has been amazing.

When the alarm went off at 4:15 or so, it was hard not to turn it off and go back to sleep, but I didn't.  I got up and woke myself up.  After getting some water, I sat down at my computer.  It was spectacular.  After about 15 minutes of waking up, I had so much energy.  I dove into my school work.  I was able to finish a large majority of my school work without distraction, without worrying that something would interrupt my schedule.  No more working late or having kids activities make it so I have to cram homework, I was in the zone.

Fast forward a few days, and its Wednesday morning at 5:45.  I am no track to have all my schoolwork done for the week and I'm jumping into next week already.  No last minute cramming!  I can finish my work, plan my day and focus on work and my family.

So to anyone out there reading this, make yourself a morning person, you will thank yourself if you do!

Fantastic Five

Well, here I am in week five of my journey.  We have started a new book called Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment by George Leonard.  I will report more on that in weeks to come.  What I really wanted to talk about today was the hero's journey. In a lecture given at BYU-Idaho I learned about what it means to go about your life in the hero's journey.  The hero's journey has a purpose, a goal, an end in mind.  So many people try to succeed by putting others down and only thinking about themselves.  To live a hero's journey, we must not only think of ourselves, but serve others.

He talked about what most successful people over 60 say about what is and has been important to them.  Was I a good person?  Have I contributed something meaningful? Who did I love, and who loved me?

I really tried to ponder on these question in my life.  Are these the things I am focusing on as I go about my life, my business and my family? Are you?  These are the questions that I challenge anyone reading this to ponder, who do you want to become?

I hope you can take this journey with me.

Week 4

Well, another week has passed in my business class at BYU-Idaho (online). This week I finished our assigned reading for the book,The Ministry of Business: How Correct Principles Magnify Business Success.  It's a great book that teaches about how to be a great person, and a great business person.  In the book, you learn about many great principles, including relying on your Heavenly Father, being honest, getting mentors, and having a plan.  It really helped me in the way I look at running my business personally.
This class has been really helped me focus on who I am, who I want to become, and how to get there.  I wrote my personal constitution this week and focused on some of my fears.  Through these exercises, I was able to look deep into my own heart and be extremely honest with myself. I had to really ponder who I wanted to be.  How would that look?  How would I get there?  What were my daily, short term, and long term goals that would help me accomplish these things?  After doing that, I then had to write down four fears I had, what was the worst that could happen, what I could do to prevent that from happening, and how, and how long, it would take to recover from such a bad state.  It helped me understand that maybe these things weren't so bad.

We can ALL do great things.

Week 3, integrity

Week three has now come and gone in my business class.  I am really enjoying the texts I’m reading the lessons I am learning. This week we continued to learn about how our character is of major importance in our lives.  We can choose to put God first, money first or ourselves first.  We can be the type of person people trust, or one that others fear.  I know I want to be someone who always stands up for truth and can be relied on.  To do that, I must always focus on one thing.

Integrity!

When reading about integrity it really made me think about who I am and how I run my current business.  Do I always do what is best for my customer?  Am I always honest in all I do?  Those might sound like simple questions, but I think they are something all of us have to truly ponder.

The other aspect I want to emulate is serving others.  Growing a business (or many) and the financial gain that can come from it can enable us to give to a greater degree.  Money is not evil, love of it is.  I know plenty of very well off individuals that give greatly.  I also know some whose only pursuit is to gain more and more wealth.  I know which I would rather be. 

Week two: The Bucket List and Who I Am

This week in class was an enjoyable one.  Through our many assignments and readings, I was able to gain a greater understanding of who I am and where I want to go.  One of our assignments this week included making a list of 50 goals in our life, or a bucket list.  I have never done an exercise like this before and I was surprised how hard it was to come up with 50 unique things that weren't just a list of places I wanted to see. It helped me reflect on what I wanted and what I wanted to do.  Family is a big part of my life, and focusing on myself was difficult.  I would like to share a few here in no particular order.

1. Eat sushi in Japan
2. Take my wife to Europe
3. Skydive
4. Visit every major league baseball stadium
5. Umpire a professional baseball game.

In class, we also read an article called, What Is Your Calling in Life? by Jeffery A. Thompson.  In the paper, he shared some, what he called, heresies about having a calling in your work.  The one I wanted to share here was, "When you find your calling, work will be bliss."  I have been blessed to own and operate my own I.T. company for over 10 years.  I love what I do, and love the people I help. It is rewarding and often challenging.  I enjoy that my work changes day to day.  With those positive things, it's also very hard at times.  I work alone and don't have anyone to help with everyday things and when it gets hard, it's completely up to me.  I don't get paid sick days or paid holidays.  I have learned that through that, those things help me enjoy what I do.  The hard things are part of the journey.  Easy does not equal best.

We also talked about dreaming this week.  I think dreaming is very important in our lives.  If we don't dream big, we stay stagnant.  When I get comfortable in life, I stop pushing boundaries.  When I was a kid I also dreamed of owning a large business and being a millionaire.  I was well on my way owning my own business in my early 20s.  Then after having kids I was afraid to expand and grow because what I had was pretty good.  Now I know that I need to pick up that dream again and move forward. With time I know I can get there.

We also listened to Randy Paunch and his final lecture. I think he fulfilled his dreams because he wasn't afraid to "fail".  He was always learning, building and trying.



I'm looking forward to new readings and lessons next week.  Until then.

Brad

Hello everyone, and welcome to my new blog.  I am currently enrolled in BYU-Idaho online classes and for my Business 183 class I have been asked to start writing an online journal, so here we go.

This was my first week of classes and it has been extremely business.  Learning the new tools has been a little bit of a struggle but the information has been great and exciting.  We are currently studying not only LDS principles in business from the likes of President Gordon B Hinckley, we are also using the books, A FIELD GUIDE FOR THE HERO'S JOURNEY by Jeff Sandefer, 

The Ministry of Business: How Correct Principles Magnify Business Success by Steven A. Hitz and James W. Ritchie, and Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment by George Leonard.  I'm excited to dive into these books and pull out the knowledge within them.

This week we watched a handful of videos and read a few articles for our classwork.  I really enjoyed President Hinckley's video talking to the students of BYU in 2002.  He truly inspires and lets all of us know how important education is and what kind of responsibility that gives. The world's work is done by ordinary people like us, and we need to be the leaders of tomorrow.  The video Launching Leaders video was also very good.  I loved how they discussed networking and making friends.  They showed how we would do that going forward by the articles and books we would be reading.

I'm looking forward to this journey and hope this journal will help me remember the lessons I learn.