Weekly Readings

Week 1
   Learn to deal with pain. Learn to be positive. Learn to live by faith. And learn to be excellent. Writing a bucket list really helped me to see what I actually want in life, and actually I was quite surprised with myself about some of the things I put on the list. The first few are easy, but once you get to number 35 or 40, it's gets interesting! Writing down goals and dreams is so important, and keeping those goals and dreams in sight is even more important.

Week 2
   Case studies help us with the three P's. Prepare, participate, and present. A good analysis for a case study should include the most important ideas that can be applied to my business or life. After reading and analyzing a case we should ask ourselves, what did I learn and how does it apply and relate to my experience and situation?

Week 3
   212 degrees is the power to move a locomotive by boiling water, whereas 211 degrees does nothing. Just one degree makes all the difference! A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value. GEM= Gather, Enhance, Marketing. There are no limits, there are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond. Walls are not to keep us out, they are to see if we want something bad enough. From the case study I learned that it's very difficult to juggle school and starting a business. You need to be completely committed to either learning about creating a business or actually starting your business.

Week 4
   Entrepreneurial Success = [idea+(marekt X money X management)] X passion
The secret to success is that people buy products if they're better than the competition.

Week 5
From the case study on Italia Factoria I learned a lot that can apply to my future business. I learned that it's good to stand up for yourself and defend your company or business no matter what it takes. It's best to always stick with your morals. I also learned that it's best to have your own ideas, rather than stealing everyone else's. It's okay to be inspired by others ideas, but you really should put in your own thoughts and opinions. When establishing a brand, I learned from Start Up Nation that you need to make your business unique, and you need to define and relate to your target audience.

Week 6
   It's all about the mindset, the way you see the world. Take the risk, take the plunge. The five P's of the purple cow: product, pricing, promotion, positioning, publicity, packaging, permission. The one sure way to fail is to be boring. Your one chance for success is to be remarkable. You can't be remarkable by following someone else who is. If you don't make dust, you eat dust.

Week 7
   Three things every customer loves are I care people, being right, and to say wow! Hire slow, fire fast. Listen to your heart and/or the Holy Ghost, hire for character and attitude, hire people who will challenge you and question your decisions. Build loyalty between your employees, create a good environment, and train your employees. Most of all, know your employees and have fun, attitude is everything.

Week 8
   Jet blue uses unique ways to create a culture of delight. They use human resources to get great results, with custom schedules, new planes, employees are able to share shifts, they're paperless, faster lines, more leg room, and they're cheap! They focus on safety, fun, and passion. From the E-Myth I learned the Fatal Assumption which is if you understand the technical work of a business, you understand a business to does that technical work. But this is true! And this is the root cause of most small business failures.

Week 9
   Eat the big frog first! Aka, do the biggest task on your to do list first! Some good time management principles: establish goals and set priorities, learn to delegate work, use the 80-20 rule, group activities together, learn to handle interruptions and say no. Christ is a perfect leader and he is a great example to us. Some of his characteristics that we can strive to be are: loving, compassion, caring, straightforward, integrity, humble, trusting, and most importantly He walked and worked with the people.

Week 10
   Our primary motivation in business should be a love of God and our fellowmen, with a secondary motivation of income. Before ye seek riches, seek the kingdom of God.

Week 11
 

Week 12
 Muhammad Yunus really inspired me, and I learned that one person really can change the world. We can create a poverty free world. Human beings are not meant to just survive, we have dreams and goals, that can and should be met. Learn, earn and return.

Week 13
   Failure is the fertilizer for the next opportunity. Live to start and start to live. Fail forward. Steve Jobs dropped out of college and he is extremely successful.

Week 14
   Creative creation needs to be the new focus of entrepreneurship.