Entrepreneurship Journal - Week 10: "Business or Family?"

This week we were given an assignment of two different scenarios where we had to chose which course of action we would take. The first scenario went like this:

"Your daughter is going to have her first dance recital in a few days and you have promised her for months that you wouldn't miss it for the world. An hour before the performance, you receive a phone call from your most valuable client saying that their plant has had a fire and that you were the only person the client was willing to talk to about a solution. Do you continue to attend the recital, or do you assist in the disaster?"

The second scenario (paraphrasing quite a bit) was like this:

"Your dream has always been to be the coach of a basketball team. You've been working really hard and have been spending a lot of time on business trips to try to make this dream a reality for yourself. Finally, you get the opportunity you have always dreamed of: Being the head coach of a college team.  At the same time you are given this opportunity, your spouse files for divorce and says that they are taking your child and leaving because you don't spend enough time with them. Which one would you chose?"

These situations are very difficult cases because they question the ethicality of both your family time and the time you put into your business. If I were to decide immediately, my first initial reaction to each scenario would be to focus on the emergency so you don't lose the client or your job and keep following what you've always wanted to do your entire life. But, after thinking about each decision's consequences and outcomes I realized that in the long run family is what matters most.

While businesses and dreams come and go, your family is irreplaceable. Family is eternal, so if we take it for granted we are bound to suffer severe consequences for not making family a priority in our lives. It's a difficult truth, but following your dreams is a very lonely path if you do not have someone you love to participate in that happiness along with you.

What would I have done in each scenario?
First, I would offer the client a chance to meet with someone who's either my right hand man or whom I have complete dependency in. I would send as many people as needed so that my daughter will always know that I made that sacrifice because I love her more than my client.

Second, I wouldn't let my dream get to the point where I would sacrifice my entire family over it. Dreams are wonderful goals to have, and you don't have to be the only one who participates in the happiness that they can bring. Just make sure to let your spouse participate as much as possible and don't neglect them. It is possible to fulfill your dreams when you have a family, just make sure that you don't disregard your family in the process.

All in all, in the long run, focusing on your family brings forth many blessings that we will not receive until we make difficult sacrifices such as these. It is easy to decide what you will do in these situations once your truly know where your focus lies: you business or your family. No man can serve to masters, so once we place our focus where it counts, we must be prepared to handle the sacrifices that will come from placing our focus on what matters most.

Entrepreneurship Journal - Week 9: "Interview with Redge Allen"

This week I had the extraordinary opportunity to interview Redge Allen, a professor at BYU-Idaho University. He has owned and ran multiple businesses that have been successful, but he has also encountered a few failures in his career as well. The interview went amazing, and my perspective on 'what it takes to be a businessman/woman' was changed dramatically.

Despite the fact that Allen is a very smart and powerful man, as we were talking I could tell that he had a very humble spirit about him. As soon as I realized that I became curious as to how he was able to act so humbly in an environment where the egocentric always seem to get the best and quickest results.

One of the best moments of our interview was when I asked him the question, "What was one of your most significant gains and failures you experienced since you have been in the industry?"

He replied in a way that I was not expecting at all: "The greatest gain I ever had was losing every penny I had in a failed business. The greatest challenge of all was making too much money."

Wait a second... those seem backwards. My thinking was that making enough/too much money would be an advantage to you and your business, and that having a business fail would be a great challenge, not a blessing. I asked him if he could further explain this statement to me.

He simply said that when he had lost every penny he became very humbled and used that opportunity to learn from the mistakes he made with that business. It also helped him recognize those issues which he can stop from occurring during future businesses. He then explained that when he was receiving too much money he became too focused on the world, and ended up making decisions which could have had better outcomes if he had not been as haughty or proud as he was in the moments where he was most prosperous. Too much money only made him more proud, not successful.

After hearing this I was baffled that he, a successful businessman, could think that too much money was a bad thing. But, he ended up proving me wrong. I only hope as I walk with him more on the subject in the future that I will be bale to gain his mindset on business so that I can focus on more important aspects of business than the amount of profit I will earn or lose.

Entrepreneurship Journal - Week 8: "Mini Lessons"

I learned many different things this week, so I figured that a list of them would be most appropriate. A few of these principles I learned this week are from the articles I was assigned to read, while others are from my daily experiences.

- Success is not a solo venture
You need people in your life who can support you and offer assistance when you need it. It's easy to think that you are capable of so many great things, but in the big picture so many of your successes will be edified by the people who are willing to be there for you.

- It's possible to be both humble and a leader simultaneously
My first thought of a leader is someone who can take charge and guide a group with an iron fist. After reading the assigned articles for this week I was reminded that leaders correct errors when needed, but treat the other members of the team with respect and humility. That's the kind of leader I would like to be, so I was happy to read that the most effective leaders are those that give credit to their teammates or luck instead of themselves.

- See mistakes as learning opportunities, not roadblocks
Mistakes will always be made. Whether the fault is yours or your coworker's, the most important thing you can do is see these mistakes as opportunities to learn and to try to be better so that the mistakes won't be repeated. Don't let a mishap (or a culmination thereof) keep you from making progress. See these challenges as learning opportunities and take advantage of them.

- Don't let your past get in the way of what you can become
Everyone has a low point in their lives where they have made mistakes. When we reach these low points it is difficult to see the light ahead. I have been in this situation before, and I can say with assuredly that taking each day one step at a time will eventually bring you closer and closer to that person you wish to become. The process of trying to become the person we want to be is a difficult one, but it is so worth the effort the day you realize that you have changed for the better. This is a very important principle to realize, but indeed it is the action we take to change that will truly dictate just how capable we are of becoming our best.