Last Lecture

This has been a great course and I feel like I have learned a lot from taking it. If anything it has strengthened my resolve to one day become a successful entrepreneur and create jobs not take one. As I look around society today I see people everywhere who want to take something, or be given something. We have an entitlement society where people think that just for being alive they deserve something. I used to blame politicians for this dilemma and expect them to fix it but now I see the the responsibility lies on society as a whole. We need to each do something with our lives that is meaningful and inspire those within our sphere of influence to do the same.
I have learned from this course that it is very possible to build a successful business and put people to work. it is also very possible to do a lot of good with the money that you earn. I am going to take my life and destiny into my own hands. I will build businesses and pursue dreams that are worthwhile and do as much good as I can in the process. I will not ask to be given anything for free and will do my best to earn all that I receive. I want to be a self made man and help others to be the same. We cannot wait for the president to give us a job. The power lies within each of us to make that happen for ourselves. I will not sit around and wait for someone else to move me through life. I am going to be an entrepreneur and take total responsibility for my progression.

This has been an exciting week for me as far as business goes. I have an idea for a retractable truck canopy that I have been kicking around in my head for a while. Last year when I was running my yard care business in washington I found that I was constantly wanting to take the canopy on and off my truck. I decided I wanted to try and come up with a design for a canopy that could either fold down or retract quickly with just one guy. My room mate is an engineering student and pretty good and making computer designs of things. I got talking with him and we actually have a pretty solid design drawn up! It may actually work. I am sure I could sell tons of them to contractors up in washington state where it rains a lot but is a pain to have a permanent canopy on your truck.
I also am spending the week down in utah with my friend's family who owns a large landscaping compay. i have worked them in the past and it has been exciting to watch them grow. This is the first year where they really feel like a big experienced company. They have tons of new contracts and twice the equipment they had last year. It has been fun having them show me around and show me all the changes they have made. Not only have they gotten a lot more equipment they have drastically improved their business systems. It has been a really fun learning experience and I am really excited for them. It is good to see entrepreneurs doing so well.

This week I had a lot of fun learning about acquiring businesses and thinking about having a family business someday. Ever since I decided to become an entrepreneur I have wanted to have a business where I could create jobs for my kids. I think it would be so awesome to be able to give my kids and job and teach them to work hard and think hard.
I used to think of buying a business as being out of reach and something that I would have to wait until later in life to do. Now that I have learned more about the process and various ways to find financing I think that it might actually be one of the better options I may have. I would love to find a business or franchise to buy that wouldn't cost a great deal of money. It would be really nice not to have to build a business and its customer base from the ground up. If I bought a business then the equipment, employees, client list, and processes would already be in place. I think I would enjoy improving an existing operation more than creating an entirely new one. Especially as a young and inexperienced business owner.
Still no progress on the $100 challenge. I have given up on it since it is now so close to the end of the semester. It just is not a good idea for the Rexburg area. I would still really like to try it in a more urban environment though. I think it would be really fun to run errands for people and get to know the city really well.

This week there were not any readings or questions assigned to the readings but I really enjoyed what we learned about owning a franchise. I have always been intrigued by owning a franchise and really liked learning more about it. Now that I know more about the process behind franchise owner and how it works I actually think that it would be a lot of fun to buy one and that it would be a great option for me and my family. Building your own business takes a long time and it can be a while before you are profitable. I would still like to build my own business at some point but it would be a very good idea to start by owning a franchise. This would be profitable quickly and it would help me to raise capital that I can save up for when i want to launch my very own business.
This week was really busy so I again did not have much of an opportunity to promote my errand running business. I did get a few cards handed out and there are already lots of my cards spread out around town. I have realized that this business idea just is not a good idea here in Rexburg where people live close to everything and really don't seem to have any need for an errand boy. I still think that the idea has potential but a small isolated community is definately not a fertile growing place for this business idea.

This week has been an exciting one for me. Although i have still not made much progress in my errand running business I had sort of a break through with an idea that I have been kicking around for about six months now. Last summer I had a yard care business in Washington state where it rains a lot. I found that there were a lot of days that I wanted a canopy on my truck but other days that I did not want one. As a result I regularly went through the hassle of taking the canopy on and off my truck. I always wished that I could have some sort of fold down or retractable canopy that I could slide on and off myself.
Well, I have a room mate who happens to be an engineering major so I shared the idea with him. Last night I got home late and we got talking. Neither one of us were tired so we got on his computer and started making design. I am really excited because we came up with an idea that might actually work! He has friends who are machinists and thinks that we might actually be able to get a prototype designed and built! I am really excited about this one and I hope we can get it to work! I think contractors all over the country would love to have a product like this.
This week I learned a lot about money and the uses that it has. What stuck out to me the most and which has always stuck out to me is that money is not evil, people might do evil things with money but in and of itself money is actually a good thing. I think that a wealthy person with a giving attitude can do much more good in the world than a poor person can. Not that the poor person is worth anything less than the rich one but if we have the resources there is so much good that can be done! I hope that I can one day be a wealthy man and have the ability to do great things with that wealth.

Who to Hire

This week was a really interesting week as far as the work for this class went. I have always been really interested in the hiring process and that is honestly something that really gets me excited. I would love to be a part of the hiring process and selecting people who would be a good fit for my company or maybe one that I will work for. The best piece of advice that I drew out of the readings was from Guy Kawasaki when he said that if you were to run into a candidate at a public place and you don't get the urge to run up to them then you should not hire them. It really is true that small companies are like families and you should be able to interact positively with coworkers and employees in non business settings. I will definately remember this principal in my future business endeavors.
As for my $100 challenge project I am still having trouble with it. I came to a realization of why I am not being successful with my idea though; I have zero desire to run errands for people. Since spreading the word about my business I have found that when an unidentified number calls my phone I immediately hope it is not a customer. It is a good thing that I only need to make $100 at this business because I hate doing it. I love business but I hate this one. I guess I learned my lesson that just because something looks like a good idea that does not mean it is a good idea for me. You need to love what you do, or at the very least like it.

I still haven't had anyone call with an errand that they need run for them. I think that I need to somehow market more to the students rather than community members because the community is just too small and the  students make up the largest market segment in Rexburg. I still haven't thought of a real great way to reach the students though so I will keep working on that and try to put something into practice by next week.

I enjoyed the readings this week and took a lot from them. I liked the recurring theme of selflessness and a focus on others. I think that goes a really long way and resonates with the people that you lead. I have had a lot of leaders and have had the opportunity to be a leader many times throughout my life. I have found myself to be the most effective as a leader when I am more focused on the task at hand an those underneath me than I am on my own interests and needs. People just don't respond well to self centeredness and there is no place for it in the business world. 

This weeks readings and videos were pretty good and the one that stuck out to me a lot was the video on increasing your likeability. It's funny how simple the concepts were that Guy talked about. Improving your smile, having a good hand shake, and dressing for a tie. These are simple things but are VASTLY overlooked by many. I am shocked at how many grown men give me the dead fish handshake. First impressions really are everything and it is very easy to make a good one by having a great hand shake. I have even met people of influence and when I shake their hand I am instantly disappointed to find that they have a mediocre hand shake. I have found myself saying, "wow, how did they get to the top with  a wimpy handshake like that." Maybe I just have a weird little pet peeve and I am over exaggerating but there are enough people that mention that I don't believe I am alone in this. I remember being taught how to shake hands by a cub scout leader and have never forgotten that lesson. Weirdly enough I have received several compliments on my hand shake and even had a friend of mine interview me because of it. She was doing some sort of paper on human relationships....
The $100 challenge is coming along pretty good. I don't have a great deal to report this week as I didn't have a lot of time to get out and push the business but I always like to have plenty of time to mull over a business idea before putting it out in the public. I am feeling very confident about the idea and pricing now and next week I should be able to make a big marketing push.

This has been a good week in my entrepreneurial ventures. A lot of encouraging things have happened!! I decided against using the hot chocolate backpack for the $100 challenge and opted for the errand service after all. I figured the errand service had more of an opportunity for growth and was a more viable business option. I got a small start on marketing for the business by going to the three hotels located in Rexburg. At the first one I got to talk to the general manager who was really excited about the service and said that he had always wanted to have a business like that himself. He had a lot of ideas and good recommendations for me to consider. He recommended that instead of going straight to the consumer he suggested that I go to the small businesses in town that have competitors with delivery services but they don't. I could offer them a cheaper option than starting their own delivery service and do it for them. This would mean that they don't have to hire a driver, or pay insurance for the driver and their vehicle. I have a few friends who might be on board to help me cover all the deliveries so next week I will start going around to restaurant owners.
As for the reading I have done this week I have already made a pledge to avoid excessive debt and not have a credit card but all of the reading has reaffirmed that decision and strengthened my resolve. As a student I will have to take out some student loans but will not take out more than I need.

Professional Interaction

This week I had the pleasure of reading a really good book called "How to Win Friends And Influence People" written by Dale Carnegie. The book is all about how to handle people and win them to your way of thinking in a tactful and honorable way. Everyone should read this book at some point but expecially anyone going into business should have the skills and topics covered in this book mastered. The biggest thing that I took away from the book is that people really aren't interest in you. if you want to be a successful person you need to get your mind off yourself and make the happiness of others your top priority. Although there may be many things about you that are interesting, others would almost always prefer to have you ask about their lives. This is especially true in business relationships and salesmanship. If you want to win, make others feel important and needed.
As far as the 100 dollar challenge goes I have been kicking around a few ideas. The first one I played with was starting a small errand running business. The problem with that is that I really don't know the rexburg area yet so I wouldn't be very efficient and I would have a hard time finding my customers because I simply don't know where they are. The second is the idea of starting a hot chocolate club. This idea came to me as I was walking to class in the subzero temperatures of rexburg. I wanted so badly to have someone just hand me a cup of hot chocolate as I went to my next class. That is when it occured to me that I had seen someone with a backpack that could hold hot chocolate and dispensed it through a hose. I was thinking that you could sell people tickets that they could present to you and get unlimited hot chocolate on campus for an appointed period of time. I would be in the busiest areas of campus at appointed times that ticket holders would know and if they brought me the ticket they would get a quick cup of hot chocolate from me and my back pack. The big problem is that the backpacks cost several hundred dollars. I will either take the risk and buy the backpack or try and make my own back pack. I will have to report back on that in about a week or so.