ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNAL: LAST LECTURE EXERCISE by Glenda Caceres

While thinking about what would my last lecture be to someone wanting to begin in the entrepreneur journey, some ideas came to my mind. I will make a summary of those and also complement them with some insights I have been developing during this semester.

First step to start in this journey for me is to make the decision to START In the field to fight the battles. Turn the “I CAN” in our favorite words and believe in ourselves even when sometimes we may failed. You should understand that you are going to try over and over again throughout our life because there is not effort without error and short coming. That will help you see what you are able to do and what do you still need to learn. For sure after you take the first step no one will never say you didn´t do it because you were afraid, instead of that you will gain experience and a possibility to keep going in that path.

After you take the most difficult step which is start, now is time to see what you are made of, who you are and what you are able to achieve, I call this “What is your calling in life?”.  It is important to know what I really want to do my whole life because this will give you vision about where you want to go and what you want to achieve. You also need to understand that even when we are able to accomplish anything because of our divine nature, in our way we will always need help from others, we don´t know how or when but, we know that as there is the chance to need help from others, we can be that help for them as well even when we think we do not have the capability to help them. Think about this question: What would you like to be known for?

Now that you are in the track, it is important to set up some strong guardrails as part of your everyday life pay attention to them when circumstances tempt you to violate their boundaries. The importance to be honest in what you do is what I learned here not just lying is the problem but also how you treat those around you. I like the story of the Emperor of flower seeds what a great way to teach and to know someone, sometimes we can be like that try to fool people just to receive their grace, but how hard is to be honest, even harder recognize that you try and nothing happened as the little girl. At the end we see what happened, she was the only one who said the true and was blessed for that act of honesty.  Do you think that one small failure in integrity is not big deal? There are some times when we are about to pass over the line and are tempted to do what is not right. I like the idea we were given the list of “I will never” and “I will always” guardrails.

As we know, we need partners to run our business. It is important to learn how to recognize those around you, and to think since now what kind of companions do I want with me in my journey? A friend who is full of enthusiasm, but disappears when the going gets tough? Or Do you want a friend who will stay with you and help you when the going gets rough? I liked the story of The Travelers and the Bear, which teaches about friendship and what the friend answers to the question. I understand that is always important to be surrounded by good people those who are willing to be one with you and that will help you in what you need but also will tell you what they think you are doing and how you are doing it, a friend who will keep me awake on the journey. But it is also important that we can become that kind of friend we wait for. We know that when we work as a team is more difficult to be defeated for others and that is what we need in the business area.

The life of an entrepreneur is not easy but if we have a good attitude and work hard difficulties can be bearable. There will always be stones in the road which will help us become better or help us grow. Most of the time we just need motivation to do things, maybe we worked hard and we didn´t get what we want at the beginning but after a while will be able to recognize the blessings of that hard work. We won´t be able to get much or to see the results if we don´t try again and again until we get what we want. I liked the story of The Crow and The Pitcher and how this didn´t give up and we know the result, the crow got what he wanted at the end, but after hard work. Are we the same as the crow? When faced with problems, are we willing to try , try again?. It is important to find some kind of people we recognize as an example of trying hard for what they wanted. I am bless to have family and friends who are always working hard to achieve what they want, that help me keep going at school, job and everyday life chores.

Another important thing and that we sometimes don’t do is rest. Do we think that we are so important that without us, things won´t work? A wise man said, “No one is indispensable.” Can you be humble enough to admit that the work can function without you every now and then? I like the blessing we have to rest one day of the week from all our labors and we focus on what is most important, remember Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. Since the old times we have that teaching and it was pass through generation to generation. It is important to have a proper and balance of work and leisure, if we do that over the time we will learned how to react over certain kind of problems and hold things more lightly or not worry too much or to be more open and flexible. As it was mention in one of the stories but, humans were not created for slavery; we were created for stewardship and relationship, purpose that involve creative labor but for which creative labor is not the be all and end all.

After you learn about everything that can make your journey as entrepreneur more comfortable and secure because you already pass through experience that taught a lot you are ready to go forward in the path you choose. Nothing can assure that you will be a successful one, but either the other way. We all need to learn from something. What if you lose and do things the wrong way? Even the big ones once passed through that experience but what make them different? The difference was that they kept going even when the circumstances were tough. That teaches us that we need to be prepared we won´t lose in the way that matter most, you won´t dishonor yourself, your dream, your companions, or your God. You will be faithful to the end, and in doing so, even in defeat you will triumph.

"Paths to an Entrepreneurial Career" by Ted Zoller

What path will lead to my success, I'm going to do this very quickly. I did analysis of all the dealmaker pathways, and there were bunch of different pathways and I'm going to just interpret this, this is the hand waving portion. I thought for sure most of the people who're really successful will start out in investment banking, go to business school, go to the investment banking world and come back to - get their MBA and then get into private equity or get into venture capital and become mega financial guys. Those are the guys, that's the pathway in the top.

Then I thought the other pathway would be, the person who starts a company, then who he starts the second company, who starts the third company, serial entrepreneur, that's the pathway at the bottom. Then I saw all these other pathways when I was studying their backgrounds and it was like, who are these people? These are the guys who go to corporations, they start working for large companies and then they, ironically, as they get senior in their career start working for smaller and smaller companies, private equity-backed companies or high growth companies, they left IBM to go work for some of the companies you all admire in Silicon Valley, while ironically there was a set of profiles that came about by looking at this work. And I did this really clever kind of pathway analysis and based on that I looked at the centrality of the pathway, and sure enough going and becoming a financial engineer will lead you to become a dealmaker, but not most likely.

 Being a serial entrepreneur will lead you to be a dealmaker, but not most likely. What's the most likely path? Getting to the C-suite of a large company and then backing into a private company. So what we've been saying is, go start a company. It's not a bad idea to go work for a company and then go fuel a company's growth. Is that interesting? Please. Okay. Can you cut out years by doing management consulting? Well, I think consulting - as a matter of fact, consulting is one of these pathways and there's - it's actually a very common path.

 This one right here is consulting and services company, so yes. The answer is yes. I wish it was definitive, but it was an interesting pattern, I didn't - that surprised me. So don't leave the idea of working for enterprises out. I'm not saying go work for the big huge corporations necessarily, but learn something that you can leverage ultimately in the building of your of entrepreneurial career.

"Avoid the Wrong Job" by Stan Christensen

Stan Christensen, Stanford instructor and a partner at Arbor Advisors, outlines a few of the erroneous career assumptions that land workers in an ill-fitting career. Don't take a job simply to build your resume; follow your passions, rather than guessing what an employer will want. The fun should outweigh the drudgery - even in entry-level positions. Don't feel that by taking one job, you're committing to a career; people switch teams often. And remain a generalist, rather than specializing in a single pursuit, as this will retain your flexibility and keep your skills from becoming irrelevant.

"An attitude of gratitude" By President Thomas S. Monson

The first thought I had was that of percentages.  Only one in ten lepers returned to thank the Lord after he healed them.  We are asked to give one tenth of our earnings in tithing (another act of gratitude), and I have noticed where I live that about one in ten people I know are LDS.  What other area does this one in ten percent apply?  Gratitude and the gospel are rare, and in economic terms, something rare then has greater value.  Living all the laws of the gospel including gratitude and tithing are ways we differentiate ourselves as Christians and hopefully we then become tools for the Lord in our communities. 

The second thought I had was that of the Savior’s comment in Luke 9:58 “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.”  The Savior really does understand every trial we face and has experienced it.  Even he, who was divine felt so very alone on many occasions.  He had such great power and yet he was still subject to the same difficulties that we all face.  I am humbled by his example and his unconditional love.

"A New Breed of Entrepreneur" by Larry Brilliant

Young people with mammoth commercial success have bred a new kind of philanthropic entrepreneur, says Google.org's Executive Director Larry Brilliant. And Brilliant also explains his optimism in smallpox, using it as a case study on a managed disease that once killed half a billion people worldwide. Through global unity and a concentrated effort, akin to what Google.org strives to accomplish in other areas, the virus was eradicated; thanks, in equal parts, to scientific discovery and philanthropic will.

"Make It Personal and Make It Work" by Sheryl Sandberg

Connecting community and making information accessible are the two overarching threads that run through some of the most successful companies of the last century, points out Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Here, she cites her own personal career path that began in the non-profit sector and evolved into technology, and numerous examples of companies with purpose, drive, and scalable vision, including Google, Apple, Nike, and Starbucks. She speaks of these as case studies to drive home her point on effective leadership containing a vision that will scale over time, place, and product line.

CONSTANT TRUTHS FOR CHANGING TIMES by President Thomas S. Monson

I loved the quote President Thomas S. Monson shared about luxuries and necessities. He said, "Avoid the philosophy and excuse that yesterday’s luxuries have become today’s necessities. They aren’t necessities unless we ourselves make them such." This is so prevalent in our culture. Look at cars, and phones. years ago, only people that were really well off had these luxuries, now everyone and their dog has them. One of the greatest things to learn, is to learn to do with less. Living within our means is key to financial success. I think that applies to businesses as well. We should not go in to extreme debt to finance a giant business we are launching. If we are launching a giant business, we may want to get venture capitalists, or partners that have more means at their disposal. If we are insistent on starting our own business, and owning 100% of it, I feel like it is wise to stay within our means, maybe that means you run it out of your basement until you have enough income to rent a building. Bootstraping has proven to make business more efficient at managing available resources. 

I also loved President Thomas s. Monson's call to action when he said "We cannot afford to be complacent." It is so true that we always need to be on our guard. The media around us is always influencing us, independent on weather we want it to or not. If we do not want to have thoughts about drugs, and alcohol cross our mind, we should not be listening to songs about it, or watch television shows where that is prevalent.