Last Lecture

To those of you who have an entrepreneurial heart and are getting ready to begin your own journey, I would offer 3 pieces of advice. First, choose something about which you are truly passionate. Second, find a mentor who will be able to offer advice along the way, who can be your cheerleader and sounding board, and who likes you for you rather than your money or possessions. Third, evaluate what matters most in your life and set clear rules and boundaries for how you will behave in your career and how you will manage your time.

Finding something about which you are truly passionate may take a long time, or you may already know exactly what you’d like to do. In my own experience, I’ve found that if I think something is beautiful, interesting, or amazing, someone else is likely to consider it so, as well. The key to having your passion become a successful business is figuring out if someone would be willing to pay you to make or do something beautiful, interesting or amazing.

After about a year of running my small, online craft shop, I was blessed to get some great advice from an old friend. She told me, “Caitlin, you aren’t charging enough for your products. Your time is worth much more than what you’re charging. Not everyone can do what you do, and you could probably increase your prices by 100% and still have enough customers who are willing to pay it.” She works in marketing, so she definitely knew what she was talking about. I decided to follow her advice and I raised all my prices. That year, I made almost twice as much as I had the year before, and I was busier than ever. I just needed someone to say that I could do it! Finding a mentor who knows and understands what makes you tick, who will tell you what you need to know, even if you don’t always want to hear it, and who will still be your friend if everything falls apart, will be one of the greatest moves you can make.

Finally, I hope you can understand that money is not the most important thing in your life. It may be family, education, service, friends, religion, or any other good thing, but just acquiring money will not bring true and lasting happiness. Figuring out what is most important to you will help to shape your entrepreneurial journey and define your success. Setting boundaries that you won’t cross in any circumstance will help you to avoid the slippery slope of small infractions that can lead to life-altering decisions. Balancing your time so that you have enough time to focus on what is most important will keep your creativity from growing stale, and will help you to perform better in all aspects of your life.

Hopefully these three pieces of advice will help you as you begin, so that you can find fulfillment along the way, and avoid major heartbreak.

Balance: Work & Life

Something that has gradually been grabbing my attention this semester in  my business class is the idea that our lives are centered on our priorities, and that it can be difficult to stay true to the most important priorities in the face of great success. Many of the stories and examples we've read this semester bring out the fact that some of the entrepreneurs are divorced, or have poor family relationships. I think that this can happen when we let business and success crowd out the more important things and people in our lives. My highest priorities are my family and my religion. The way that these will stay my priorities is by setting clear boundaries on what I will and won't do in my business. "I will not work on Sundays." This is something that I, thankfully, have great control over. I don't have to work on Sundays to support my family, but it can be tempting to just get on the computer, or even on my phone, to answer a customer's question. But breaking my rule in a small way could eventually lead to me completely disregarding the rule all-together. My life could go in many different directions, based simply upon the small choices that I make consistently each day. I choose to include my Heavenly Father in my day-to-day activities, and focus on spending quality time with my family. I hope I won’t ever let success in business crowd out these most important things.

Purpose of Business

One of the most interesting articles that I read this week was Microlending: Toward a Poverty-Free World by Muhammad Yunus. He explained how the way we think about economics has influenced the way we view people, classifying some people as entrepreneurs, while categorizing others as fit for only labor. He says, "Today we would live in a different kind of world if economics had started out with the premise that all human beings are potential entrepreneurs, which they are. All that an individual needs is an opportunity." I've seen this firsthand in the lives of my daughters. If I give them the supplies, they will use their creativity to make something unique. As I'm typing this, my 5-year-old is gathering all the jingle bells in the house and comparing the tones they make with the bells that are attached to our Christmas stockings. That may not seem like something important to most people, but I know that she is developing an ear for music, and comparing tones like that will help her to sing better and closer to the tunes she hears. I think that as humans, we tend to look for opportunities for growth and creativity all around us. Yunus' article demonstrated his faith in people as he created a lending institution that gave small loans to the poor, those who couldn't qualify under the normal credit qualifications. He gave opportunities to people to help them get started on their financial journey. Sometimes, all we need is a little encouragement and opportunity.
He continued his article with his belief that we could create a poverty-free world, if we want to. We went to the moon! The only reason we don't have a poverty-free world is because people haven't come together in order to solve the problem.

Thoughts on the article What's a Business For?

Virtue and integrity are so vital to the economy because everything tends to fall apart when lying and deceit are brought to light. When the public finds out about a scandal, something like embezzling, stock prices drop and spending comes to a screeching halt. When business leaders short-change their company in the short-term, it affects many people for many years.

The real justification for the existence of businesses is not just to make a profit. It is to make a profit so that the business can then go on to do something more, or something better. That something can be any number of things, from giving back in some way, bettering the lives of it's customers, or even creating a company culture in which people enjoy working.

I agreed with the idea of creating a shorter work week. I've seen many businesses that have meetings  simply to have meetings. Nothing productive is discussed or decided on, but a meeting was scheduled, so they have the meeting. If the work week was less hours, those hours would likely be more productive, because people would be happier for having more time with their families, or spending time on hobbies that they enjoy. If you knew you only had 6 hours at work each day, you would probably be more motivated to accomplish the necessary tasks, rather than filling extra hours with fluff, or just counting time.

Another idea from the article that I could see working well is having a good portion of the seats on the supervisory board of a business reserved for the employees, rather than only management positions. This would help to bridge the gap between what the company wants to have done, and what is actually being done by those who accomplish the work. Needs could be explained, and a better consensus could be reached by knowing the entire picture.

Attitudes About Money

    This week, the lessons that stood out to me are how important it is to maintain a balance between family and work, as well as the need for quality rest. I think I do a decent job of maintaining a good balance between family and work, especially since I can just put my business on hold for however long is necessary. I have a rule that I never work on Sundays. At times, it is definitely tempting to answer a customer's question, or do a quick check, but it's more important to keep that day sacred and set apart from the rest of the week. I want my Sabbath day observance to send a clear message that I love the Lord, that I honor His day, and that there are more important things in my life than making money. 
    I've also tried to do a better job of balancing my daily tasks around my home with creative endeavors (work). I have a daily checklist of chores that need to be done, which motivates me to actually accomplish those tasks first in my day, and then, when I'm finished, the rest of the time can be spent doing things that I want to do. When my life is less chaotic and more organized, I find that I am more creative, and that I am able to focus on one task at a time much better.
   Quality rest is something that has become a bit of an endangered species. In today's technology-filled world, moments of quiet contemplation have been replaced with the latest game app or Facebook post, or constant texts being flung back and forth. Bedtime is forgotten and pushed back several hours as we get distracted by a trending story, the latest pin, or an inflammatory tweet. Contemplation, pondering, and true rest is essential to our spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being, and without it, we can become overwhelmed by work and daily to-dos.
  Finally, I was asked to contemplate the following questions:

• What is your attitude toward money?
• How can your view of money affect the way you live?
• What rules are recommended for prospering?

    I feel like money is definitely a necessary part of life, and something which we should be learning how to acquire and manage wisely. I recognize that money is necessary to live in the world today, especially if I want to serve others in any capacity. It's hard to focus on giving back if I'm constantly worrying about how I'm going to provide food, clothing, and shelter for my family. Recognizing that all blessings come from Heavenly Father helps me to not focus so much on acquiring as much money as I can, but to be able to earn enough to live comfortably, and then look for ways that I can use that money to bless the lives of others.
  Some of the rules that are recommended for prospering include planning how to become self-reliant, gaining education, keep the commandments, and serve those in need. If I learn how to use the money with which I'm blessed to become self-reliant, making wise and righteous decisions with that money, I will be able to live a fulfilling life, and help those who may not be so richly blessed.

Doing and Becoming

In recent months, as I've gained more experience managing my own business, I've come to understand something that I think is significant. It's not exactly profound, but I think it can be overlooked because it is so simple. Here is what I've learned: not everyone can do what you do, or even wants to do what you do, discovering something that you love to do and figuring out how to make money doing it will bring success and happiness. This light-bulb moment came for me as I interacted with a customer who wanted a custom designed birthday invitation. Creating the card took a minimal amount of time, and made me think about the fact that we may not see business opportunities because we don't realize that people are willing to pay for skills that we may find extremely easy. Not everyone can do what you do! I need to remember that as I expand my own business.
One of my favorite articles from my study this week is called The Challenge to Become by Elder Dallin H. Oaks. He says this, "The Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts--what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts--what we have become. It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become."
I read this quote during one of my institute classes last year, and it has been on my mind a lot recently. Ultimately, I want to be found worthy of eternal life, because I have become like the Savior. I want His image to be reflected in my countenance. I want people to recognize Him when they interact with me. I hope to be a true Christian, not just at church or when I go to the temple, but during my business dealings, while I'm driving on the freeway, when I encounter someone with whom I disagree, and when I experience difficulties. This road requires dedication and humility in order to learn how to be like the Savior, and ultimately to become like Him.

How to Lead

One of my favorite articles from my study material this week was an article by Kim B. Clark, former president of BYU-Idaho, called Leadership with a Small "L." The points that stood out to me were the three principles of leadership that we should apply in our lives. The first is Lead by Example. I feel like this principle is one that I learned quite suddenly, when I heard my small children first start saying something that I didn't realize I said often. My husband and I learned very quickly that we needed to be more mindful of what kind of example we were setting for our children (not that we were doing anything horrible, we just could have been doing better). They learn so much more quickly by observing what we do and say, rather than just listening to what we tell them they should be doing and saying.
The second principle is Lead with Vision. I feel like this principle encompasses the "why" of what I'm teaching my family. If my children don't understand the underlying reason behind what I'm asking them to do, they are much less likely to do it. For example, my younger daughter went through a phase of getting out of her carseat belt while I was driving. It wasn't until I explained the safety reasons, and the laws of the road, that she finally understood that she should stay in her carseat. It wasn't just that I wanted her to do it, she needed to know why it was important.
The final principle is Lead with Love. This is probably the most important. Ultimately, I want my children to feel loved, and to want to share that love with others. I want them to love going to church, to love the gospel, and to love the Savior. I know that I can teach them the right things to do as I minister to them in love.
I'm looking forward to learning more about leadership, and how to apply it not only in business, but in my home, as well.

Learning by the spirit

I have to say that taking classes through a church college is a vastly different experience than the one I had when I went to college after high school, over ten years ago. My study is filled with articles by church leaders, scriptures, and other inspirational literature. The entire experience has been quite uplifting, and I'm looking forward to this style of learning in future classes. Since we are encouraged to invite the spirit to be with us while we study and learn, I find that many of the things I learn while studying have absolutely nothing to do with the course material, and much more to do with my own personal struggles and my daily circumstances. I will have an idea pop into my head for how I can be a better mother, or something I can do to better serve in my church calling. I feel that these insights are just as important as whatever material I am studying for the class.

I feel like these thoughts struck me as I studied this week from conference talks, especially one by President Monson when he was first called to be the prophet after President Hinckley passed away called "Looking Back and Moving Forward." I felt, as I read, that he was teaching me that it is important to learn from, though not to obsess over, past experiences and struggles. I should use those as a springboard for jumping into a future that is hopeful and bright. Yes, more struggles are certain to come, but planning and preparation can help me to be ready, and to have a positive attitude when those trials come. I am looking forward to also implementing these ideas into my business life, as well. Not every product that I've designed has been a huge success. In fact, some have been complete failures. But I've probably learned more from the failures than from all the successes. I know that I can do better, and that drives me to be more creative, try new techniques, and branch out into new avenues. I am excited for the future of my business, especially once I learn all the tools that the business management program has to teach me!

Put First Things First

    This week, the focus in my class was on developing good habits, as outlined in 7 Habits for Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey, as well as how to stay on the path to mastery as I finished reading Mastery by George Leonard. I've been impressed with the ideas that Leonard outlines in his book, and I have certainly seen areas in which I can improve myself and the way I approach my every day tasks. He basically says that in order to truly become a master, at any skill, the key is to stay on the path. The moment I decide that I've reached the finish line in any skill, and stop progressing, my skills will deteriorate, until I find myself back at where I started. He also suggested that a master's journey can be applied to any activity or skill, even the mundane tasks that tend to fill our days, like washing dishes, or doing laundry. If I decide to approach my life with that mindset, I can find satisfaction in a job well done, no matter how small the job may seem.
    Those ideas tied nicely into the 7 Habits for Highly Effective People, and the habit that jumped out to me as something I'd like to work on. The third habit is "Put first things first." Organizing myself and my schedule so that I have time for the most important things means that I will accomplish necessary tasks before they become urgent. I tend to be a procrastinator, but I know that I definitely do not do my best work when I'm rushed, so I'd like to focus more on putting first things first. Some days, that may require that I spend a large portion of my time folding laundry, or washing a pile of dishes, while other days it may mean taking time to play games with my children.
    I've found that I do my best when I take the time to create a list of tasks that I need to accomplish the next day. I have 3 different types of tasks: habits to develop or break, daily tasks, and to-do items that need to be done once. Having a small reward for checking off an item is a huge motivator for me, and having responsibility to others for whether I accomplish my tasks, or not, helps to keep me honest about how I do each day. I know that as I employ my daily checklist and focus on doing first things first, my life will be much more organized, and I will have the time and energy to serve more, and spend quality time with my family.

More on Mastery

One of my favorite study materials this week came from the book Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment by George Leonard. In the book, Leonard lays out the path of mastery for any type of skill. In the chapter on practice, this idea stood out to me, "The people we know as masters don't devote themselves to their particular skill just to get better at it. The truth is, they love to practice--and because of this they do get better. And then, to complete the circle, the better they get the more they enjoy performing the basic moves over and over again." When I read this, several examples immediately popped into my head. The first comes from my littlest sister who is currently 17. She has played the piano since she was little, and has gradually become quite masterful at the art. She loves to sit down at the piano and play songs from memory, tweaking them, and changing them here and there. She's also been trying her hand at writing her own music lately. For her, playing the piano is not a chore that she has to do, or a box she has to check, it's something she loves to do. She loses track of time while playing, & even has her own piano, which my parents moved into her bedroom.
I also thought of my own life and many of the hobbies I enjoy and skills on which I work. When I was first married, I wanted to learn to crochet in order to make some lacy snowflakes to hang on our Christmas tree. I started with a basic washcloth in order to learn the stitches, and once I had mastered those, I moved on to the snowflakes. They were challenging, but I pressed on. I loved making them, and even had a few people ask me to teach them how to do it. I taught a large group of women from church how to make the snowflakes, and I know that they've gone on to make them as gifts for others. It was something that brought me joy, and I loved passing on the knowledge to others.
The only way we get better at something is by practicing. When my children come up to me and ask for my help when they haven't even tried to do it once on their own, I usually encourage them to try it, reassuring them that if they try and can't do it, I will be more than willing to help. Often, they are surprised when they can do it on their own, and enjoy that feeling so much that they continue to do it. I am excited to learn more about the path to mastery. I am by no means a master at everything in my life, and I certainly see areas in which I can improve. Hopefully Leonard will have more good advice for conquering my lazy habits.

Find your calling

This week, during my Entrepreneur class, the subject of Mastery was a bit of a focus. I think many of us have heard the idea that it takes 10,000 hours of practicing something before you can become a master at it. When I originally heard that number, I thought, "Holy cow! That's a lot of time! That would take forever!" But, as I've discovered my favorite activities in my adult life, I've realized that when you love to do something, love it so much that you don't even notice how much time you spend doing it, it's not about the time, it's about doing what you love, and enjoying the time you get to spend doing it. I'm sure some people might look at how much time I spend sewing and think, "I could never spend that much time at a sewing machine!" But for me, I find my flow, forget how much time is passing, and get into the groove of creating something beautiful from unrelated bits and pieces.  I'm looking forward to learning more about mastery, and how to become better at following through with goals I've set.

Another focus from this week was an address titled, "A Hero's Journey." What stood out to me from the talk were three questions that Jeff Sandefer said that most people ask themselves at the end of their lives:
Have I contributed something meaningful?
Am I a good person?
Who did I love and who loved me?

Those are definitely important questions, and I think they reveal the most important things about life. As I make new goals, I will keep these questions in mind.
The great advice that Sandefer gave was about finding a calling that fits your special gifts. He said, "You'll find that your gift is something you assumed was easy, because it is easy for you." Asking people who know you well what you do better than anyone will help to reveal your gifts and aid you as you search for your calling. I know that the things I love doing the most are things that I find easy that others might not. And I've been able to find a calling that utilizes those gifts, giving me the opportunity to earn money doing what I love most!

The Business of Motherhood

This week, as I've studied the articles, books, and videos, the thought that keeps coming back to me is, "It's up to me. I decide how I spend my time. The choices I make today affect my future." Choosing each day to accomplish tasks that put me on track to reach the goals I've made and to become the person I want to be is completely up to me. Some of the topics for the week touched on doing what you love, making effective choices, the little things are important, and how we measure our lives. As I read all of these things, I kept thinking about my own purpose and the most important things that I should be doing with my life. While I do have my own small business, which brings me great pleasure, I believe that my most important "job" at this point in my life is to be the best wife and mother that I can. In the article How Will You Measure Your Life by Clayton Christensen, he says, "Don’t worry about the level of individual prominence you have achieved; worry about the individuals you have helped become better people." I believe that this applies so beautifully to motherhood. I'm not sure how much prominence is really available to the average mother, but if I measured my success based on how well-known I am, I would have to measure myself as a pretty poor mother. But, if success as a mother is based on how many individuals I have helped become better people, I would look at my achievements far more positively. Teaching my children to live righteously, to treat everyone with kindness, and to serve others and love God, will have a much farther reaching effect than almost any other action I could take. My business is raising children, and I will do the very best that I can, with the help of my husband and my Heavenly Father.

The Formula for Happiness

This week, as part of my study, I read chapters 4-6 of the book The Ministry of Business by Steven A. Hitz and James W. Ritchie. In those chapters, they present the formula that they follow to achieve happiness in their own lives. The steps are as follows:

1. Get up early
2. Work hard
3. Get your education
4. Find your oil
5. Make your mark
6. Get prepared to be of service

I certainly have room to improve on many of the items on this list. Surprisingly, I've actually been doing pretty well with getting up early. It's amazing what having a child in all-day school can do for motivating me to get up on time in the morning. I'm obviously working on getting my education, in the formal sense of the word. But I love learning, and when I come across a topic which I find interesting, I will do my best to learn all I can, checking out library books, searching on the internet, and discussing the topic with friends and family. I feel like this is a great way to get an education on things that aren't necessarily taught in school.
The other items are ones at which I have worked for many years. Finding oil means finding a product or service which you can offer the world, and for which people will be willing to pay. I think I stumbled onto my oil when I began my Etsy shop and began getting custom orders for the party decorations for which my shop is popular.
I do believe that the items on this list, while helping to ensure a happy life, can also be a great guide for entrepreneurs as they try to create their dream job. I hope to be able to keep this list in mind as I expand my entrepreneurial knowledge and advance my own dreams!

The Right People & Dreaming

As I read my coursework for the week, there were some themes that kept popping up, which kept my mind pondering them throughout the week. The first: set goals and plan out the future you want. I remember my dad telling me, quite a few times, that "a goal is only a wish unless you write it down." One of the assignments for the week was to create a bucket list of 50 items. You know what, it was a lot harder than I anticipated to come up with 50 things that I want to accomplish in my lifetime. When I first saw the assignment, I was a little jealous of all the 20-year-olds in the class, since they could list items that I've already completed like "get married" and "have children." But as I wrote my list, I realized that some of the things I chose to list were things I probably wouldn't just happen to do, without having written it down and made it a goal. Will "having my own hive of bees" change the world? Probably not. But it's something I'd really like to try, especially when it comes time to harvest some honey.
The second theme that I noticed through the week is that I should surround myself with the right people. If the popular saying, "You are what you eat" can be assumed to be true, then I think it's even more true that "You become like those with whom you associate." I've seen this to be true in my life, whether it was the kind of boy I was dating, or the fact that I've inherited my parents' corny sense of humor. About a year after I started my Etsy shop, a friend from high school sent me a message. She was working full time in marketing and just wanted to give me some friendly advice. She told me I wasn't charging enough for my products. She told me that my time was worth more than what I was charging and that what I was making, not everyone can do. It was exactly what I needed to hear, and gave me just enough of a push to have the courage to raise my prices. And you know what, I made more that year than I ever dreamed that I would. I had more sales, more positive reviews, and more custom order requests. As a thank you, I sent that friend a custom book garland for her baby's nursery.
So, my themes for the week:
1. Set goals, plan for the future
2. Find the right people (networking, socially, and personally)

After watching and reading about Randy Pausch's Last Lecture, I believe that he was able to accomplish his childhood dreams because he had amazing people around who built him up, encouraged him to follow his dreams, and loved him even when he failed. He also kept things fun. I love how he said that "You just have to decide if you're a Tigger or an Eeyore." Our experience in life is definitely shaded by our attitude. If we expect bad things to happen, we're definitely going to see them. But if we're looking for the good, we'll find it. If we expect to accomplish our dreams, eventually we will, mostly because we'll keep trying until we do.

I believe that dreaming is an important part of life. Without dreams, where would any of us end up? Technological advancements begin with an inkling of a thought and then someone dreaming that it can actually come to pass. I do think that we should consider our dreams with a pinch of salt. I can dream all I want of living on the moon, but if I focus all my energy on an unreachable dream, what am I missing out on during the rest of my life. It's difficult to draw a line, and say, "You should stop dreaming here, or that dream is unattainable." It's a personal choice, but one that should certainly be considered.

When I was around 5 years old, I was crazy about bugs and wanted to be an entomologist. I collected bugs of all sorts: butterflies, caterpillars, beetles, praying mantis, and anything else I could find, except cockroaches, because they're disgusting. As I grew up, other dreams crowded in and became the focus, but I've retained a love of little critters. Even though I'm not technically an entomologist, I'm still drawn to study the insects I see in nature. If I can't be an entomologist, I can at least pass a love of insects on to my children. I recently made butterfly nets for my girls, and I always make sure to bring a jar or two along on any camping trips. Our dreams shape us, whether they come to full fruition or not.

1st week of school musings

I step into this journey of obtaining a degree in Business Management with a different goal than many of my peers. I'm not planning to run a huge business, create a few startups, or become a manager of a franchise. I don't really plan on making large amounts of money. My first goal is to simply earn a degree. My other goals have more to do with simply improving my mind, learning new skills, becoming a better wife and mother, and learning some things that will help me manage and grow my small business.

In this, my first week of study, a few quotes from the readings stood out to me and spoke to my soul. Elder David A. Bednar said, "As we live the law of consecration, we are willing not only to offer anything and everything we possess for the sake of the gospel, but we also promise to develop and devote our best selves--our time, talents, and strength--to the building of the kingdom of God on the earth. Consecration includes and encompasses sacrifice and much more. We are not only willing to offer up our possessions, but we will become the best we can be and assist however possible in building the kingdom in righteous ways."

The other advice that stood out came from Guy Kawasaki. He teaches that you should "do what you love and the money will follow." I've definitely found this to be true. I began my little shop with some handmade items that I simply enjoy making. It's gradually grown, and I've added more products, but they are all things that I enjoy creating. I love having my craft time every day, and I love even more that I am able to contribute monetarily to my household while doing something that brings me so much joy. I know that my greatest calling in life at this time is being a mother and homemaker. I have a large role in raising righteous daughters, and I know that I am setting a wonderful example for them by pursuing my education. I know that the knowledge and experience that I will gain through this journey will help me to be a better and more well-rounded person, which will help me to serve my family and serve the Lord in better ways.