Final Lecture

My four key takeaways from this year and how you should apply them in your life:

1. Find your passion. Life can be difficult at times. When life gets tough we tend to only focus on what is most important to us, and naturally so. If there is no passion in what your are doing when things get difficult it is that much harder to continue down your path. Not only that but why spend a lifetime doing something you may not even like? If you have passion in your work then you will find fulfillment in everything you do. Having passion can sometimes lead to excess Which is lead into my next takeaway.

2. Know your limits. After you have found your passion you should think about what your limits are. How far are you willing to go to achieve success? Everyone is unique and willing to tolerate different things. Some people can not stand working over 50 hours per week while others happily embrace it. Honesty and integrity in business can be difficult especially when the rewards could be quite large. However, knowing your limits and what you are willing to do will help keep you on the straight and narrow. Once you have set your standards you are prepared for the next part.

3. Find your balance. Similar to knowing your limits, you need to find your balance. As time goes on you may begin to tweak your balance and discover more about yourself. Some people have families, some have school and most have personal lives outside of business. This balance is not just a personal decision. This balance should be decided with everyone effected by your decisions and how you will spend your time. With your balance established you're ready for my next step.

4. Don't give up. It's true that life beats you up sometimes. Businesses fail and people can disappoint you. Sometimes we need to know when to walk away. That is okay. Do not quit though. Reset and and start making new plans. Fix mistakes made and move forward once again. We can learn a lot in failure about ourselves and in business. We do not learn anything if we choose to give up.

In summary this is not an exhaustive list of how to govern your life and make decisions. It is however a useful tool to help make some of the harder decisions you will face in your life as an entrepreneur.

Reflections and a New Life

Wow? What a journey it has been. This class and its experiences can be summed up in a recent experience I had with my wife. We were on vacation for our 5th wedding anniversary and during our drive my wife brought up an interesting story. Her friend's child had been attending a Lutheran middle school because of its small class sizes. As part of the school curriculum they have a small religious hour. During that hour apparently some very questionable and ignorant things were taught about other religions. Being of a separate  faith it made him uncomfortable. This is where the entrepreneurial seed was planted in my wife's brain. What if there was a religious school that afforded all the benefits of small class sizes and curriculum control but was operated under various religions and not just one. The school could provide a cultural, religious and educational experience for all the kids to benefit. We must have talked for over an hour and began to work out in our heads about how you could go about creating such a business/school. It was also interesting because I have never seen my wife so passionate about something and it clearly was something she believed in. That's the spark, that's the entrepreneurial spirit taking hold. Once we have that desire we can begin our journey and follow the many steps laid out in this course.