Last Week

My group ended up winning the class competition that Brother Nygren challenged everyone with. We decided to sell little wristbands that were raising awareness for the Children's Cancer Research Fund. One of the members in our group has a little brother that was recently diagnosed with cancer. So we went door to door with these little green wristbands and sold them however we chose. My method of selling turned out to be quite effective. When someone would answer the door, I would tell them that I was there for a class project and asked if we could gather all the roommates into the living room area so I could tell them why I was there. I would then tell them about the twenty four hour challenge and tell them we were raising money for cancer research. I would then show them the picture of the child that was our inspiration and our reason behind the wristbands. And finally, I would hold up a bag of change and a few bills and tell them we were accepting any amount of change that they could donate and if there were to donate three dollars or more, then they would receive a wrist band in return. I was probably at it for an entire hour and a half and I raised over one hundred dollars by myself! I was amazed at how receptive people were and how nice everyone was. After winning the competition I decided to go back to every door that I knocked and handed out little twix bars to show my gratitude. And for the apartment that donated the most money, I told them that I would get them a Papa Johns pizza half off! My brother in law works there so I knew I could hook them up with that prize. The apartment was very happy to see me again and was really happy to win a half off pizza! Anyways, I was overall very happy to be a part of raising awareness for cancer research and still wear the band proudly!

This class has been a wonderful experience. I really like everything I learned and have put most of it into play already. One of the first things I learned was accomplishing your life dreams and don't be afraid to do everything on your bucketlist! Out of everything I learned, I would have to say this has given me the most inspiration. The reason is because I went back to my bucketlist I had made on my mission and decided to accomplish my biggest project this summer break. My idea has to do with bringing investigators and non members to church. I don't want to give away my awesome idea on the internet just yet because I don't want anyone building my project before me! But as soon as I complete it, I will be happy to let anyone do whatever they want with it.

I want to give a big thank you to my entrepreneur teacher at BYUI and all the work he put into helping us gain confidence and fulfill our dreams. I went ahead and started a business already and I am starting to try to live my dreams of becoming a successful entrepreneur. Without this class, I would still be timid and scared and doing nothing to accomplish my goals. I will go on to be a successful entrepreneur and I have this class to thank for getting me started.

Week 13

Week 13 was pretty interesting and I discovered the meaning of risk when selling a product or service. People might be unhappy about the product or service and demand refunds or maybe they just changed their mind and decided that they want to eat more fast food this week. Owning a business means risk so its a good thing to be prepared for it when it comes. This is why contracts are important instructions clear enough for a toddler to even read. There is always going to be someone that changes their mind and tries to shake things up a bit.

I had an idea this week to finish the semester strong. I figured out how to clean a bathtub in about 15 minutes. You have to spend a lot getting all the products ready, but it is possible to do any bathtub in a short amount of time. Because of this, I figured that it would be a good idea to go to different apartments near the end of the semester and offer to clean their tub for a small fee. Not only would this be a great donation to the KIVA Foundation, but it will help me get out there and make something happen. I’ll update next week and let you know how it went.

Week 12

This past week was actually pretty good. I was able to do a ton of pre-sales and I found out that my recipe is very popular. I didn’t even have to mention the fact that it was a donation to KIVA during the pitch to get people interested. Of course, I would tell them afterwards, but I like how popular my product became and I was able to reach my goal. 

Being an entrepreneur is harder than I imagined. There were times when I would second guess myself and even start to convince myself that what I was doing was a terrible idea or a mistake. Each time this happened, I would just stop myself and think “A man makes his own luck, A man makes his own destiny.” I want to push through anything to reach my goal of becoming the ultimate entrepreneur. It doesn’t matter what feelings of doubt creep in, I will never stop until I find success. As long as I keep telling myself that I make my own destiny, I will succeed. After going out and going door to door, I found a huge measure of success and only a handful of people said no. It’s amazing what you will find if you ignore the negativity and just get out there and work.

Week 11

This week was really awesome! I got to do some pre-sales to market a product for our class project. The assignment is that we have to sell at least 100 dollars of any product of our choosing and we only have one day to do the big sale day. If we fail to sell at least one hundred dollars of the product, we fail the assignment. All the proceeds go to the KIVA foundation to help less fortunate people set up their own businesses. 

So this week I went out and gave people a bunch of surveys. The survey just had a few questions and it was to see how many people are interested in donating or helping out with the project. Also, this was a big help for me to get out and go talk to strangers to see how successful we could be. And even if we decide to go with a different direction and sell another product, at least I know that the one I am soliciting is a popular sell in the future and I might be able to make a business out of in the future! The plan is after two weeks of pre-sales, I will be able to just go to every person that agreed to buy and do a quick exchange of product and money. There were some people that wanted it right away so I decided to get them one anyways regardless of whether I use it in my class project or not. And the coolest part about my product is that it is just a recipe! Next week I will have another update on how my pre-sales are going. So far I have gotten 16 “yes” answers and 4 “no” answers out of 30 people. The rest said “maybe” so we will see how many of that group will agree to buy. 

Week 10

This week I realized how important it is to reach your goals. Last week I failed to follow through with my idea of knocking on some doors and asking if I could wash windows. I failed because I was afraid to fail so I set out a goal this week that I would at least knock one door and see if they would accept my window washing service. As I was knocking, I made it my goal to have at least one person accept my invitation and lo and behold it happened!
I figured out that people have been telling me the wrong thing all my life. Mentors, teachers, coaches, and others have always told me to not be afraid to fail but I think this is the wrong way to put it. The right way to teach the principle of courage is "Be excited to fail!" Without failure, you cannot have success so be really excited to get out there and fail. Once I realized this little gem, I gained an entirely different perspective and was able to go knock doors no problem.
This week I have a few more ideas I want to try out. I want to try selling a product door to door this week and see how it goes. I will be sure to write and tell all about it next time for week 11!

Week 9

This week I learned how hard it is to be an entrepreneur. My wife brought to my attention that she feels a little bit of stress now that she is the only one working to support both of us while I am in school. She graduated last semester and has been working since then to support us while I am in school. This is a bit stressful for my wife so I decided that I need to have some sort of income myself to help out. I couldn’t really think of anything so I came to the idea that I would go door to door asking if I could wash some windows. As I was driving around looking for a good street to knock, my mind kept playing through different scenarios of me failing. I saw people outside working, busy, and the idea of going up to them to disturb them was impossible. Would me going up and asking them if I could wash their windows ruin their day? And what if their kid answered the door, what would I say? All these thoughts kept coming to me deterring me from my objective. It took quite a bit of driving until I decided that it just wasn’t my day.

I know that this was the wrong choice, however it taught me something. This whole entrepreneur thing is harder than I thought and not all that I thought it would be. Now I have a goal and am determined to reach it. Before next week is out, I will have knocked one door and asked them if I can wash their windows. This is my goal and I will report next week.

Week 8

What I learned from about entrepreneurship this week has to do with balancing time spent with family with time spent doing work. This class has inspired me to begin a new business and that has required some start-up. Start up takes quite a bit of time and is really new and exciting. When I think about working now, I get so excited and cannot wait to try something new. I love the idea of bootstrapping everyday and being creative. But I have found out that this takes a lot of energy and time. My wife can feel a bit neglected at times when I get too excited about work and lose all sense of time. Not only do I lose track of time, my brain doesn’t care to eat, sleep, or do anything that is naturally healthy. I tend to lose myself in work and I forget to care about other things that need caring. This is why I have decided to start early on in my career and devote a set amount of time to family and free time.

Each time I start to get really caught up in what I am doing, I take a minute to analyze what I need to do that is important before I get into a project. Sometimes I will just get up from my computer and go jump over the back of the couch to surprise my wife and watch a movie with her. This is a small gesture, but I know it means a lot to her and it also means a lot to me. I wouldn’t get that same pleasure if I were to always be working because I forget what matters most. I am thankful for a great wife that supports me and glad I didn’t start my business before I was married because I probably wouldn’t have had time to get married otherwise.