Week # 14

If you had one final lecture to share with a group of students on what you have learned from this course, what would you share?

 

The biggest thing I learned from this course was to find your passion and purpose in life. The beautiful thing about the entrepreneurial spirit is you don’t always need to own a business to have the spirit. Entrepreneurs are always looking for ways to improve their industry and business. They are an asset to any employer, but before you can be an asset, you have to have passion and know your purpose. 

 

What would be your last bit of advice to someone wanting to begin the entrepreneur journey?

 

You can’t focus too much on what outside influences say about your business idea.  If you have done your due diligence and discover there is a potential market for your skills, product or service then go move forward. Starting a business is hard enough without focusing on what others have to say. I have a few examples of this personally but one specific example from my personal small business is from family and friends who told me to “sell merchandise”. My business name and brand are pretty good if I can say so myself, but I spent over $500 on various shirt sizes and colors and besides the headache and time I spent researching a company to process the order, I only actually sold 10 shirts. Eventually, shirts were used as promo items for people who booked me but it ended up taking up space and was one more thing I had to take with me when I went out to do business and ultimately didn’t do anything for me.

The bottom line is you are your best expert when it comes to your business and unless someone else has the skin in the game that you have, their feedback is usually just words, unless you have a lot of people telling you the same thing. 

 

What words of advice, direction, or caution would you give him or her if you had only one chance to give your own last lecture?

Treat every interaction with every person and every group like it was the most important thing you did that day. People have a desire to feel special and the best thing any business can do is make the client or customer feel like they are the most important thing. It makes people want to come back, makes them leave feeling satisfied with the interaction but most importantly just makes them feel good.

Last General Conference Elder Vaiangina Sikahema talked about a person who had an impact on his life. His name was Ned Brimleyer and most of the church don’t know but this man owns 2 sandwich shops in Mesa AZ that locals consider a staple. Ned’s business and life outside his business made people feel good. A friend of mine said after the conference his reaction to being talked about was “I never knew anyone was paying attention to what I said”. To me, that’s proof that he was always treating people the best and to him, that was his norm, regardless of the audience.