Final Post

Having finished the B183 course and looking back at the entire semester the things I take away from the course are mostly going to be tied to the stories of the individuals we studied and the personal reflection I had to do on myself.

Each of the individual we reviewed in the lessons be it through the Acton Hero’s or the other videos, each of them had a unique experience to share. Basically, to be an entrepreneur doesn’t require an individual to fit a mold, anybody can make it as an entrepreneur, all it takes is determination to succeed. I’ve often thought that it takes a special breed of people that have all the right qualities to have an idea and turn it into a business. In reality, they’re all just like you and me except that they decided to take the leap of faith and go for it. They didn’t have all the skills or even all the brains to launch things successfully right off the bat, they were just determined to make it work and learn all they could along the way.

A common thing among all the individuals too was that they surrounded themselves with people who they knew could make them successful because of what they could learn from them. They did all they could to glean whatever bits of advice they could apply to their business and improve their business with.

Another common theme I found with all of them is that they read. My dad would always tell us kids that “smart people were not just born smart, smart people are smart because they read. Smart people are always learning.” I see entrepreneurs very much the same way. Each of the individuals we read about and reviewed are constantly learning and reading about how they could improve or just reading because it keeps their mind constantly moving and developing.

Lastly, I took a lot away from having to reflect on my learnings and then write about them in a blog. I struggle a lot with having ideas but where I fail is in writing those ideas down and doing something about them. While doing this class I was reminded about a quote by Benjamin Franklin. He said “the dullest pencil is better than the sharpest mind”. No matter how much I enoyed learning new things unless I put them down in writing I would tend to forget them. Putting my learnings down on paper has helped me to internalize and have them more committed to memory and available to me for review. 

Week 13 Post

What I’ve appreciated most about this course has been learning through the experiences of others in the real world. So much about getting an education is beyond what a book will teach you about being an entrepreneur but rather what the real life experiences are of others that we can turn to and apply to what we see and face every day. For instance, there is much to be learned about being a good manager and a resilient entrepreneur from Randy Haykin and Larry North this week. Each comes from diverse backgrounds and has their own unique experiences that led them to be successful entrepreneurs. There isn’t just one way to do it and there isn’t any guarantee that it will work in the end.

With Randy he developed strong relationships with former colleagues and bosses who he was able to call upon when he was considering new ideas or wanted a change of scenery. He didn’t just wait for things to happen but rather took his experiences and let the ball start rolling by parlaying those experiences and skills he learned from each of his jobs and started new companies. He made it a point to be well rounded and use his knowledge and relationships as an asset to begin new businesses. 

Week 10 Post

To many people money means freedom, happiness, or fun, to me I've come to realize it's each of those things in some ways but much more in others. To me it's mostly just a tool to help me provide for my family and live comfortably but never has it been what motivates me or brings me happiness. I've always been told that many only magnifies whatever problems you already have and whatever person you already are. If you're greedy you'll want more, if you're humble you'll keep it quiet and not change what type of person you choose to be. 

Unfortunately, I know of too many individuals who have allowed money to be the source of their life to the point that they've given up some real joys to get it. I've seen fathers ignore their family before eventually losing them altogether. I've seen others desires to have money and toys cloud what their purpose in life is and give up their beliefs and lose their way. The scary part is that it's not that hard to do when life is going well and money is coming in. I've been asked by some good friends why I still pay tithing even because it's a 10% boost in my income if I chose not to! The truth of the matter is that when money becomes the root of your motivation in life you lose sight of what invaluables you have around you and what makes this life so good!