MY LAST WORDS

The semester is nearly finished and it is time to move on to new classes and new adventures.  This semester has been very enlightening and I have learned a great deal.  I took this class because I wanted to know about starting a business.  Since I own our company on paper I thought it would be good to learn more about what makes a business run smoothly and how to find more opportunities.  My husband sometimes asks me what I want to do after I finish college and truthfully I would like to work at the business getting new clients and doing the books and finding new creative ways to advertise businesses.  

It would be hard to have a full time job that I could not leave when I need to or to be able to choose my own hours.  I have also considered opening a business with my daughter, Stephanie.  She would bring a youthful component to the business and keep us fired up.  

These are some of the people who I found gave me good advice this semester that I want to use to build my business and my life:

Seth Grodin:  Grodin said that we need to make something remarkable.  Boring stuff quickly becomes invisible and the world is full of boring stuff.  We need to show originality, passion, guts and daring.  This is the only way to be successful.  He also said that you can’t be remarkable by following someone else who is remarkable.  

Guy Kawasaki:  Need to find something that will add value to your customer.  You need to be likeable.  You can do this by improving your smile and make your smile go to your eyes.  Always dress for a tie.  Dress for your audience.  Have a great handshake.  First impressions are important.  Customers cannot tell you what they need.  They can only describe their desires in terms of what they are already using.  Create a product that you want to use.  Changing your mind is a sign of intelligence.  Biggest challenges beget the best work.  Jump to the next curve.  Go beyond better and sameness.  

Daniel Coleman:  We need to have a deep awareness of our emotions, strengths, weaknesses, needs and drives.  Be honest with yourself and others.  Recognize how you feeling affect you and other people and their job performance.  We need to find ways to control our bad moods and emotions.  Learn to create an environment of trust and fairness.  Don’t panic, suspend judgment and seek information.  Be motivated, have empathy and learn good social skills.  

Hugh W. Nibley:  Leaders are movers and shakers, original, inventive, unpredictable, imaginative, full of surprises that discomfit the enemy in war and the main office in peace.  Leadership is an escape from mediocrity.  The leader must break the mold.  Those who have something to give to humanity revel in their work, and do not have to rationalize, advertise, or evangelize to make themselves feel good about what they are doing.  The drive for money is “the root of all evil”.

Sloan Brothers:  From the Sloan Brothers I learned the steps to opening a business.  How to make a business plan, market plan, find great people, find financing, selecting a business structure and other steps to preparing your business.   

  

Todd Ricks:  Owning a franchise is not a bad way to go.  You have instant recognition, can start faster and bring in money more quickly.  Franchises will help with training and the costs are sometimes much lower. 

Steve Jobs:  Do what you love.  Put a dent in the universe.  Create insanely different experiences.  Master the message, be a storyteller and learn to deliver your message.  Sell dreams not products.  People care about themselves not your products.  If you fail keep going. 

This semester has taught me many things and I have learned much from the lesson and from each of the people I met and those I have quoted.  I found that many of the lessons I learned can be used to build a successful business and a successful home and family. 

The End Is Near

This week in class we learned about and discussed our trials and errors.  Entrepreneurs are in good company with many now famous people who have tried and failed at many endeavors but through their trials and errors have persevered and gone on to be successful. 

Steve Jobs dropped out of college after six months because he didn't want his working class parents to have to put so much money into his education.  I probably would have gone to a different school but Jobs slept on the floor of his friends apartments and sat in in different classes being taught at Reid College for eighteen months.  He gleaned a lot of information from these classes that he used to start his business.  After he was fired from Apple he didn't give up he kept going.  He said it was probably one of the best things to happen to him.  After being fired he started NeXT, and Pixar and also was married and had a family. 

Many successful people have become that way because of the trials that they have faced and the times that they have failed but have not given up.  The only time we fail is when we give up.  It was mentioned that Thomas Edison made over 5000 light bulbs before he got it right.  That is really perseverance.  Many times our greatest trials bring our greatest rewards. 

I enjoyed doing the $100 challenge.  It was hard in many ways but it helped me to think about all the work that goes into starting a business and how many things you need to do.  Tom Null said that we need to be calculated risk takers.  We need to know about out product and do our research.  He said we should not just jump out there.  I think this is true but that we need to remember to "Jump".  We need to not be afraid of failing.  I think that the information that I learned in this course will help me if I go into business or not.  Right now we are working to change our business and what I have learned has been very valuable to us and has helped us.  It is fun to try something new and to have new challenges. 

Action Hero:  Tom Nall

When I first opened this week’s action hero video it was interesting to see a gentleman with a cowboy hat on.  He didn’t look like many of the other action heroes we have had in the past.  Tom Nall started his career selling life insurance.  One of his clients was a company named Fowlers Chili.  One day when he was talking to them about their insurance they offered him a job in sales and marketing.  Nall believes in being a risk taker and he said that we should not be afraid to fail so he took that job.  He worked there for 35 years.  Later he decided to go into a partnership with Ken Mackenzie to make a one hundred percent organic tequila called Republic Tequila.  Nall says that he was “born in Mexico and raised in Texas” so these were good fits for him.  Nall believes in wholesome core values and has a passion for providing opportunities for his team to make their mark on the industry. 

Tom Nall says that you need to be optimistic to a fault.  He said that the number one rule is the golden rule and then honesty, integrity and hardwork.  He wants people to work for him who want to do better at work and in their lives outside of work.  He said he didn’t just jump into a business he knew about the product and researched it before he decided to start. 

Here's to family

This week we have been studying starting or being a part of a family business.  There are many successful family businesses but only one in three family businesses survives past to the next generation according to Startup Nation.  That is a rather sad statistic but you can see how true it is by just looking around you.  Many times there is not a child who wants to take over the business his parent started and so the business has to be sold.  There can also be a lot of discord in a family business that can lead to the business being sold or dissolved.  That is sad to see.  A family business can be a great thing with deep roots and people who want the company to succeed.  There are many things you can do to keep a good balance when starting a family business.  They are from Startup Nation.

1.  Set some boundaries
2.  Establish clear and regular methods of communication
3.  Divide roles and responsibilities
4.  Treat it like a business
5.  Recognize the advantages of family ownership
6.  Treat family members fairly
7.  Put business relationships in writing
8.  Don't provide "sympathy" jobs for family members
9.  Draw clear management lines
10. Seek outside advice
11. Develop a succession plan
12. Require outside experience first

As a business owner who sometimes gets tired of listening to her husband complain about her son who works in the business I think these are great ideas and I have shown them to Jerry and I am going to work on implementing many of them.  We have hired family members before and they have worked well for us.  Greg, my son, works hard for the business but he there are many of these areas that need to be improved so that the business can function better and everyone can be happier.  While Greg was in China Jerry realized that there were many things he had turned over to Greg that he should still do himself.  This has helped the business.  We use to have weekly meetings and we are going to start that again and work on setting boundaries and making sure each person knows what their job is.  I think these ideas are good and will help our company run better.

I think family owned business are good and that they can have sound family values and be good for our country.  I know that there has been a couple of times that my son has gone down to work on Sunday and I have always told him that our values are not to work on Sunday and that he can wait or go in on Saturday.  I think if a family works to keep communications lines open and to treat everyone fairly then they can work well.  

Action Hero:  Erick Slaubaugh

Erick Slaubaugh’s father asked him if he was planning to go back to college and he said yes.  His father said that they would sell the house so that he could attend school.  Slaubaugh’s father had lost a major client in his business and there was not enough money for him to go to college.  At nineteen he joined the family business and worked his way up to CEO of ABSCO alarms.  He said that at first it was hard because he knew his friends were making more than him and had reasonable paychecks and that they were having fun on the weekends.  But he worked hard and bought out a major client of twenty-five percent of the business.  He then worked hard and bought out more equity over a number of years.  Slaubaugh said that when it was time for his father to stop coming to work because of health problems that it was very difficult for him but he said that if you use your values you will be able to make tough decisions. 

Slaubaugh said that he thinks anybody can start their own business but that you need to have a lot of courage to do it.  He said that he wished he would have asked more questions and talked to more people when he was younger.  He said that now at forty-one he has many mentors that he asks for advice and mentorship.

$100. Challenge

Nathan and I went over and cleaned the office again on Thursday.  We cleaned the bathroom, dusted, vacuumed, wiped the outside of the door, swept the front, cleaned the brake room and got the hard water spots out of the bottom of the sink. The water in the break room sprays out towards you but the business owner has not asked the owner of the building to fix it yet.  I will probably go and fix it for Nathan so he doesn't get sprayed in the future.  

I sold the business to Nathan for $10.00 and he is not going to be responsible to keep it clean.  Nathan can- not stand being alone in places so I will probably go along with him so he will not be there alone while he cleans.  The business owner has had problems with some of the neighbors over there.  

Franchising

This has been a busy week.  We have learning about buying a franchise.  There are many franchises out there for you to choose from and each offers something different and each has different fees and requirements.  The nice thing about owning a franchise is the opportunity to have to have a well-known name or trademark for your business.  This helps you get customers faster and takes some of the risk out of starting a business.  Franchises offer you training, site selection, product supply, marketing plans and even assistance in obtaining financing.  

I was quite surprised to find a couple of franchises that I wouldn’t mind looking at.  One was helping the elderly and the other was caring for children.  These would be businesses that I would be somewhat familiar with and have some experience in.  If I decided to start a franchise I would need a good lawyer to look over the contracts and give me advice.  

This week I also learned how important it is to work for your business not just in your business.  If we get caught up in the day to day operations and don’t stop and strategize and put good processes and strategies into place we will never be able to grow our business and we will get tired of it and leave it to our employees to run.  It is important to find a balance in our business just as we work to find a balance in the rest of our life.  I was looking at articles on line and there was one titled, “How To Run Your Home Like a Business”.  I didn’t have time to read it but I find so many times that what I learn in class can be used in my home.  Because of the lessons I learn in class my husband is getting interested and excited in trying new things in our business and finding new opportunities. 

This week at Kl33n we worked to do the upkeep on what we have already done and also we did some outside work to clean the front of the door and sweep so that as you came to the business it looked cleaner and tidier.  The business is staying clean and the employees and others are commenting on how nice it looks.  We try each week to clean something that we have not cleaned and to make a list of what needs to be done and when it needs to be done so that it will be easier when Nathan takes it over.  I have been trying to talk my son into hiring his brother to help but he is determined to do it on his own.  He may have to hire me on occasion.  I am not sure how he will get the bathroom clean.  It will be interesting.  I have tried to show him how to do things so he can do it on his own.  I even go a hard water ring out of the sink this week with a pumice stone.  I know it is not much but I felt I had accomplished something.  

Action Hero for this week: Nicole Donnelly

Nicole Donnelly lived life on the edge for quite some time.  She spent seven years snowboarding and pretty much nothing else.  There were times when she would sleep in her car.  After her baby was born she found that the homemade leg warmers that she used on her baby helped her baby’s diaper rash go away and they were stylish too.  Now they have become a diaper bag essential and are sold in fifty countries worldwide. 

Donnelly says that you need to embrace you fear and be committed.  She said that if you are doing a snowboarding trick you can’t stop in the middle and say you are quitting because you can be hurt. You need to commit to what you are doing and not stop half way into the project.  Donnelly said it was hard for her to be a good team player and leader and she has had to work at it so that she can keep everyone together and happy.  It is also important to learn how to work with others so that you can get the desired outcome. 

Donnelly said it is also important to give back to others and has donated thousands to children’s hospitals to help others have a better life.