Dream Big Dreams (June 27th, 2021)

The topic for this week's class is "Dream Big Dreams." The social path of entrepreneurship is dreaming big dreams. To dream is part of life, and most times we don't dream big enough. Most of us live below what our full potential is. As a result, we never really discover who we are or what we are capable of. Dreaming big puts us on a pedestal where we can have a vision or a peep of what we are capable of becoming.   

This week's topic delves into the life of an entrepreneur. The journey of entrepreneurship is not the exclusive preserve of some people alone. Anyone can become an entrepreneur if they chose to develop the traits and discipline to become one. 

The things that resonated with me the most this week are as follows:

Entrepreneurs are innovative, flexible, and creative. Do not over underestimate yourself. You can accomplish the goals and the dreams that you set. And if you involve the Lord you can do the impossible. I love that we can do the impossible if we partner with the Lord. If we involve him in what we are doing. We can do amazing things. We can do great things. Don't let anybody tell you you can't do it. If you involve the Lord you can. Dream huge. When I think about the impossible, my mind drifts to the miraculous events associated with some of the great patriarchs of the scriptures; people like Elija, Moses, Joshua, Elisha, Nephi, Peter, Abinadi, Joseph Smith, and many of their likes. These men were ordinary men but did the impossible when they partnered with the Lord or got the Lord involved in what they were doing. They accomplished the impossible. So the impossible is only done when we get the Lord involved in what we are doing. I am hoping to do the same, and may the Lord help me.

Disciple Leadership (June 19th 2021)

This week's topic was about Disciple Leadership. This is a topic that I have always loved. It addresses leadership with the small L. That leadership has nothing to do with a position or title. Leadership has got to do with the ability to take initiative and get the job done.

Entrepreneurial leadership will require you to embrace the ability to lead and execute.

What impressed me most this week is the fictitious story titled "A Message to Garcia." President William McKinley needed to deliver an urgent message to General Calixto Garcia, the leader of the insurgents in America’s war against Spain. But Garcia was lost somewhere deep inside the mountain vastness of Cuba. Someone suggested a fellow by the name of Rowan, that he could deliver the letter. Rowan was summoned and give the letter. Rowan took McKinley’s letter, “sealed it in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle and in three weeks came out on the other side of the island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter to Garcia.”

Rowan is used as an example of a disciple leader. A disciple leader does not ask questions about what needs to be done. He takes an assignment and gets the job done.

A discipline leader must have the right attitude, habits, and instinct. The secret to developing the right attitudes, habits, and instincts for crisp execution is cultivating a bias toward action. 

Behind every successful business is a good entrepreneurial leader. Learn to embrace the idea that leadership is not a title or a position, but it is the opportunity to be a change-maker every day in one capacity or another.

Overcoming Challenges (June 7th - 12th)

 This week's topic of study was all about overcoming challenges. As an entrepreneur, we would always encounter challenges. I believe it should become second nature for every entrepreneur to encounter challenges and also become second nature to learn to overcome them. Business success has never come easy, and will never come easy. It takes a lot of effort, a lot of commitment, a lot of guts to make it in business. Just like life. Entrepreneurship is life. Business success comes with a lot of opposition. Facing the opposition, not shying away from it brings out the best in us. Our best is plateaued. It solves problems at different levels while we move forward. I am particularly impressed by President Monson's talk entitled "Looking backward, moving forward." He said: "Mortality is a period of testing, a time to prove ourselves worthy to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. In order to be tested, we must sometimes face challenges and difficulties." So, challenges and difficulty are part of the equation of mortal test. So we must expect it, not shy away from it.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, "When days are difficult or problems seem unending, I plead with you to stay in the harness and keep pulling. You are entitled to “eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days,” but it will require your heart and a willing mind. It will require that you stay at your post and keep trying." The counsel is, "don't quit! hang in there."

The lesson this week also mentions the only three ways to grow a business. They are:

1. Increase the number of customers

2. Increase the frequency of purchase

3. Increase the average order

These three things will keep a business alive.

 In his book The Politics of Experience, R.D Laing said, "what we think is less than what we know: What we know is less than what we love: What we love is so much less than what there is, and to this.....extent, we are much less than what we are." It is a truism that we are much more than what we profess and show we are. Our challenges are not greater than us. We are far far greater than what confronts us. We would overcome if only we endure, be patient more, persevere, and stay around long enough to see the results. We don't have to face our challenges alone. Heavenly Father is there willing to help every one of us and make our burden lighter. We can turn to him for help if we feel overwhelmed. In the new testament, the savior said, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give your rest."

The 7 Habits (June 5th 2021)

 Which of the 7 habits has the most meaning for you?

Out of the 7 habits, the habit that has the most meaning for me is habit 1 - Be Proactive. This habit is why man is King over all living creatures on the planet. Other living forms on earth are controlled by instinct and the genetic code. Man is ruled or controlled by choice. Other living forms react to signals in their environment. Man can react if he choose to, but also has the ability to respond. The difference between the two is how we act. To react means to act without thinking. Response means to act after putting some measure of thought before acting. I love the fact that we can choose our own response to any signal or information we receive. Being proactive means to actively choose what our response will be in any situation rather than to react blindly. Proactive people are highly responsible.

It is not what happens to us that is important. What is important is our response to whatever happens. That's what makes all the difference. To be proactive means to control a situation from the inside out. It means to stop focusing on the immediate circumstances and instead consider your response to the condition that exist. To be proactive means you have no direct control over the consequence of your actions. You indirectly choose the consequence by the action you choose.   

Why will the 7 habits help you fill your life with passion and purpose as you seek to achieve both a private and public victory?

The 7 habits will help fill my life with passion and purpose because they are based on principles and natural laws that have been responsible for personal effectiveness and success in the primitive years. They are practiced then and modern day research has proved them relevant now for personal effectivness and success. The 7 habits embody many of the fundamental principles of human effectiveness. They represent the internalization of correct principles upon which enduring happiness and success are based. The 7 habits are based on charactic ethics. Character ethics like integrity, humility, fidelity, justice, patience and the Golden rule. When we master habit 1,2, and 3, we are promised we would experience private victory. This means we trust ourself for being prepared and in control of our private lives. When we master habits 4,5, and 6, we can then experience public victory. Our public victory means we meet the world - our friends, our partners, our customers and family, with the intent to help. We have learned to listen to them and help them win with us.