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!