The Last Lecture

The journey of an entrepreneur, for me has been to discover that I am not totally there, I do create my own money, in other words, I create a job but I do not create a business yet, I am on my way, though. I would strongly recommend saving money and think carefully on the ideas you may have in mind. To own a business is not as difficult as it seems, but sometimes, it takes many tries to find out the best way to do it. First you have to focus on something that you like doing it. I failed with big capitals for trying to do things that I have no expertise about, only did it because others were making money on it. It was not a good way to precede, consequences? Money lost in big amounts. Then, I decided to continue doing what I do, The thing is when you have a wife and children, it is more complicated. Keep the eternal perspective on the things you are planning to do, do not make it for the money, find a business where you enjoy doing it and doing it solves anybody’s problems or needs, take your family with you, help them see and enjoy what you are doing, It is very interesting to end up concluding that It is actually   If you have a job, consider it a base for your independent endeavor, but if you do not have one, depending on the country where you live in, consider an advantage, you will not experience the frustration of losing it, you already do not have it, on the contrary, you will discover the power of making money out of nothing. You need to give credit to yourself and work, believe in your idea. Any beginning is hard, yours will not be different, but Serve others, When others find their needs satisfied after buying your product, you have the beginning of a business, Save money and be generous with your profits, Organize your time and schedule your activities, a good organization takes seriously time and it does not give any problem to any body, as long as it lasts, A business in our own is hard work but hard work is the business.

I want to point out what I actually have lived so far. I have never lasted in a job more than two years, sometimes I wish I were like my fellow friends where I see them living an apparent happiness, I do not know If I have wasted money, time or opportunities in trying to build my own business, Now at the University taking this business courses, I learned that I do not own a business yet, but I have the potential to have one. It is taking me a lot of work. Because now I learned by experience that I can actually make money every day and that I do not have to wait anything. I do not have to wait for a big loan or whatever similar. In my eyes I have seen others making more money than me selling other things, while I make forty cents per soda others make like $ 1  per sell, may be the difference is the times I sell something, I have chosen selling sodas because it is something it is needed at the moment, it is a seasonal business though. I have also learned that you can sell it anytime of the year and at any hour of the day. I believe that if I keep working, I will get to the day where my capital will be enough to start a business, without a loan. In conclussion I know now, that I am working to raise my capital and to invest on something that I am actually working, and I am working on 3 things so far, I am teaching English, I am doing translations, and I am selling sodas in the street. But now, I have a website and I learned more skills, I started to think on guiding tourists. Two of my first ideas, I need to work on them, selling things in the street will give me the capital for it. I do believe more than ever that it is possible. It is going to take me time and work but I will do it. Taking this course has helped me to discover and assured in me that I have always been in the right path, I am not only one occupation, I want to do more things in life and my life, it is not the life I wanted to live but it is the beginning, I have learned many lessons and I learned to put the knowledge into practice, It is possible and I can do it. I will do it.

A Journey of Gratitude

I am thankful for all the blessings of this course I remember hearing this message from Elder Monson, about the importance of being thankful, I wish things would have been different in my life, but they are like they are, they are not perfect but it is my life, for all that I am thankful, I will keep working, assuming less and trying to make my decisions on facts instead of tricks of my  mind, there is a world out there I have to face, and I feel blessed for taking part of the university now. It is only the beginning and with the mercy of the Lord in spite of all the difficulties, I will make it to the end. I am thankful for having the chance of knowing about the program, for taking that exam at the beginning of 2014, I am thankful for the way ended up that year as a pathway student and I can not believe a semester has gone, I will make better decisions next semester but most important, I have already started to use the things I learned to start improving the businesses I have started, I thought I did not have any, but I have, they are not big, but If I keep working they will, I just need to apply the principles I have learned so far, and the ones for sure I will learn.  I have stopped thinking and acting like someone without a north, I have a north in my career, I am the middle of it and I will be more proactive about it, I have to recognize that after experiencing many different activities, I have become someone with different skills, I am learning to see that.

Changing the world

I have learned a lot from the speaking of President Monson about the importance of avoiding debt, taking care of the family and about not judging to others, I also learned to love more and be thankful for the things I have

I like the mentor assignment I have taken and the questions I answered helped me see that there is hope for me in the entrepreneurial career, I am an entrepreneur who needs to sharp his work. I am going that way,
Create a community, not just a product, a community, to have a vision on the things you create, make something personal, a vision something compelling, make information accessible. It takes a strong will to create a medicine that destroy smallpox the same will we need to build a new company. From all the things I will or I want to do how much I am prepared to quit when the time comes, I have always learned and knew that whatever I build it is going to be for the glory of God and whatever he wants to do with it. It is something I always try to keep in mind to find the kingdom of God and then do whatever his will is on the way.

Measuring the cost: Life Balance

This week I read the words of President Thomas S. Monson and the formula for success, First fill you mind with truth, In spite of all the knowledge we can acquire, we must always return to the truth of God and bring all the things we learn to the confirmation of the spirit, even scientific knowledge he will guide us to find.
second, fill your life with service: because in helping others it fullfills the fact of knowing things and possess wealthy after all what other purpose could be peaceful for a man a poor man like me when turn rich if not serving the Lord and others?. Fill your heart will love, I may keep my heart the efforts my mom did to keep me alive, When I was born I was diagonesed with Hidrocephalus, she took care of me and I survived. There I found the closest sample of love near to the Love of God for me or in other words the way the Lord love me through the Heart of my mom. Balance your life is challenging, especially when you face many other challenges at the same time, I like the experience of the sheperd in the alchimist while he was traveling in serching for his dreams he got robbed, in his mind "what to think poor me victim of this luck? or Well this is part of the journey, let's embrace it and move forward? I am in a journey and I am taking my family with me. Money is important but we truly need to learn how to live a life where money is a tool but not the end of life. It is vital to be able to tell the difference and live according to it.

Dream big dreams

Loyalty and leadership

Overcoming Challenges

It is 3: 38 am. here in Lima Peru, It is a miracle for me that in spite of the fact of all the challenges we have been facing I have been able to pay my rent, feed my family and buy materials for school now the school year has begun, I am more than thankful to the lord for the blessings, This week I thought the lessons were personally designed for me As I read from president Thomas S. Monson in the reading " looking back and moving forward" " It was said of the Savior that He went about doing good... for God was with him" I have not complained about my challenges but at times it was tiring and sometimes frustrating not being able to do the things I wanted to do. Prayers with my family have helped a lot though.I tried then to be in good shape to help others in spite of my own difficulties. I also found Inspiring the words of Elder Jeffrey R Holland when he cited Winston Churchill in his speech "However Long and Hard the Road" “I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government: ‘I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.’“We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and with all our strength that God can give us: … That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory—victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road may be” (Churchill, the Life Triumphant, American Heritage Publishing Co., 1965, p. 90). I will keep moving forward From the e- video I learned to ask the proper question to find the problems that most of the time are humans. I want also to mention that in this part of my life the video "Good things to come" I have watched before, this time has a special meaning and effect. I even shared it on my facebook account and quoted this: "Don't you quit, you keep walking, you keep trying, there is help and happiness ahead, some blessings come soon, some come late, AND SOME DON'T COME TILL HEAVEN, but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, They come, it will be alright in the end, TRUST GOD, and believe in good things to come" I feel like this these days. the other thing that helped me a lot was the report I made on mentor session 4. It made me think and be aware about important things that are going to be useful in my entrepreneurial journey.

Moving Forward with a Driven Passion

There are many things that I learned or remembered from President Gordon B. Hinckley this week. some of the phrases that touched my inner self are these:
" Because evil thought lead to evil deeds" this helped me to remember that even thinking of surrender to opposition and difficulties, or feeling sorry for myself blind me to the opportunities in challenges and I do not grow then that is an evil deed that hurts my progress.
"Be true to yourself" this sentence it may be common but it is important to be and not to "act" I have been motivated by Jesus Christ example all my life, He has taught me how to be and not how to act.
"They paid such a terrible price for their faith" This is probably the strongest spiritual testimony I have of the veracity of the testimony of the pioneers. I consider myself one in my generation, my family and place around. I remember what I learned from the former HP CEO about leadership: about customer satisfaction, about how important it is. to keep oneself creative and willing to learn new things. I like this expression: " The old answers are not good enough anymore"
I also enjoyed Guy Kawasaki quotes about Passion and money: " You should not do it because you want to be rich - it is not lofty enough a goal"
" Money is not all that is cracked up to be that you know"

So you want to be an entrepreneur

"Success is Gauged by self mastery" I was very encouraging to read this words. Yesterday after talking with the Doctor about my surgery. He asked me. Do you smoke?. I answered, No. Do you drink beer? I answered? No. How is your sexual life? My wife and I are getting along well, was again my answered, and the Doctor replied in disbelieve. Anybody else? No, Nobody else, He finally muttered. Good that seems a healthy life so far. He confirmed a blood analysis and prescribed some medicines. He asked me for previous surgery, I experienced. I told him about the hydrocephalus one I survived. Our next visit will be in ten days. That conversation let me thinking. My wife had a surgery some days ago. She left the hospital sooner than expected, and now she is recovering well. I was first diagnosed one thing and sent to the surgeon. He is now taking a different turn. Are these blessings for the word of wisdom? I honestly did not want to go through the surgery room. I really expected this. Although I can not say or "sing: Victory" yet but It is good when good consequences come after living the word of wisdom. "Loyalty to God and Family", this video actually helped me to reinforce the idea I had while working one Sunday many years ago. I told myself:" I am going to have my own business, so I would never have to work on Sunday or any body under my command" So far I created my own job. I do not work on Sunday. I always spend Sundays with my family, reading the scriptures, watching "living scriptures episodes" I downloaded from "you tube" or videos we have. They are strong stones and guides during these times of challenges. So far we are OK but I know I can do it even better. What I liked about this lesson is the fact of being an entrepreneur, my grandparents showed me the first steps. Now that I am understanding better the way it should be done. I am after it. Was I born to be an entrepreneur? I do not know. But I am always thinking on how to improve things on any business I have the chance to work in. I am always suggesting for free. Now, I am working on my own endeavors. I never lasted on a job salary for too long. Life has been really dynamic for me to keep the "security" of one of them. So far I discovered that my entrepreneurial efforts had given me my "own job" I need to make than into a small business. Then I will call myself an entrepreneur. I will keep working on that.

Mastery: Skill, character or luck

This week I felt the pressure of my decision, I was trying to as much as possible to handle my homework on time. fortunately the blood needed for my wife surgery is already delivered. She was going to stay since today at the hospital but the doctor decided to take her in on Monday. Hopefully she will have a surgery on Tuesday. In this time of challenge the words of James E . Faust came at good time encourage our efforts. When this semester started I had no internet at home, my wife is sick and I had to put all my faith in my self employment projects. It has been good to know that my time skill organization have improved little by little. I worked, I registered two new students and I managed to have money for my wife errands to the hospital. BYU became a blessing with no comparison because of the things I am learning are helping me to organize my ideas and endeavors. I am reading the scripture more and reading more to general authorities than before. After reading and listening to Elder Faust it was so encouraging to recognize some of the attributes he mentioned in me a returned missionary 1. How to organize and use time wisely 2. The importance of hard work—that you reap what you sow 3. Leadership skills 4. People skills 5. The value of gospel study 6. Respect for authority 7. The importance of prayer 8. Humility and dependence on the Lord Even though I know I still have to keep working on many of them, it is comforting to know I am in the right track. It was very edifying and challenging to learn about the attribute of a real entrepreneur are and think and analyze myself enough to know if I had some of them. It is good to know what for other meant crazy attitudes are actually entrepreneurial attitudes. That itself help me and motivate me to keep on going to take the best advantage of this opportunity of being an on line BYU - Idaho freshman which is a great blessing in my life already. I really enjoyed and tried to put myself in the situation of the lady in the "spreading happiness" case study. One thing is to read about something and other is to try to be in her shoes and to make the decisions she was faced.

The start up of you

The startup of you gave me the chance to put myself into perspective. The things I am doing in order to be more professional in all my endeavors. Keep my self en Beta version. That is a truly new concept. I am not a finished product yet. In the process of finding the product or service to my customer I may find something that they really need that I am probably offering that I am not totally aware of. Then about the things I like to do. It made me think if I am doing any of that and I have to admit. I am not. I mean, when I talk about business. I really need to rethink all and learn to plan, to set up goals and measure anything that is measurable. I have to admit, I did not know it was possible but it seems it is. To measure one’s the fact of working for a purpose, for my family. All the material that I worked with helped me to focus in the most important in the business. I do really need to apply all the principles I learned this week. I have to learn and find out. There is always a beginning and we have already began. It is time to keep on going.

Honesty and Ethic in business

What a great week this was. I am definitely continued making more adjustment. Somehow I think I can take better advantage of the things I am being taught. I liked the things I read from the prophets about working with integrity. I am actually thinking on how to prepare myself to be able to recognize those situations where my values may be compromised. I liked the phrase of being "honest through and through. It is not a good idea to go through work and businesses giving up important values. Something I liked about was how I can put God on the first place. How can I decide and live up to be trust. I am still thinking about it. It is really hard when it is on my own, but when I am thinking that it is possible to find strength in the Lord then it gives me hope, when I was younger I used to think that everything is possible on my own strength but after the years have gone, I learned that for whatever it is we are trying to do, especially on the fact of being honest. It is better to trust in the Lord and a commitment to decide to be honest in advance and with faith that he will give us the strength to persevere to the end

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going

One thing that I learned while in Pathway is to avoid feeling sorry for yourself. I did have the chance to hear Randy Pausch's Last Lecture, the Oprah version, it was touching the first time. But this time, made me cry. I have to say, I am living one of my younger dreams. I did not set up a foot in USA soil but I am attending BYU-Idaho management school. I enjoyed remembering the things I learned the very first time I watched the lecture. I remembered the purpose of those things that prevent you from getting where you want to go. This week was hard, but the readings I did, helped me to focus on what I am working now. When I read “What is your calling in life?” again allowed me to put all my efforts into perspective and rediscover the gifts the Lord gave me and how the use of those gifts are actually helping me to be the husband, father and student I need to be. I also enjoy reading “Stars and Stepping Stones” I enjoyed the whole reading but I liked when it mentioned about the importance of values on the process of achieving your goals and living your dreams. Never cross the lines of those: “I will never do that”. Keep my life under the values I decided to live upon. I like this personal reflection from Haykin: “To me, a leader is someone who sets the creative direction for a concept and can then harness the human resources to turn that concept into a reality: a product.” From “the making of an entrepreneur” all of the material I checked, helped me to understand that in spite of all the adversity my family and I are facing. Thanks to this program, we are making our way through.

The beginning of a great adventure

I can not believe what I am going through while beginning this journey as a freshman at BYU- Idaho and this course: B 183 "Introduction to Entrepreneurship. In spite of all dificulties, I have to be thankful for the things I am learning. My expectations went higher from when it was when I began reading all the assignments given. The syllabus of the course motivated me a lot more after I read the things I had to do and the things I am doing right now. To begin with I would like to mention my opinion about the "Cases approach" to learn managament and the fact that "managament is not something to learn but acquired through practice. I failed so many times on business. I am 42 now and I know what is to lose money on business. But I want to move on and that is why I am here. While I was reading "An Introduction to Cases" and "Learning by the Case Method" I was basically thinking on the things I did to make those mistakes. I am looking forward to reading those cases to see if some of them may probably my case. On the other hand, I would really like to mention the shocking impact this statement had in me when I read it from "Your whole souls as an Offering Unto Him" The words from Elder Bruce R. Mc Conkie "... In the eternal perspective there is no sacrifice in giving up all things". Many years ago while I was I young man and a new member, I had a conversation with my father and we talked about this. Now I am not a child anymore. Things now are harder and stronger, life got wilder and that conversation became a powerful source of personal experience an a personal confirmation of the veracity of this statement. It makes more sense now.