Week Fourteen

I think a big thing about entrepreneurship is not coming up with a new idea. Anybody can come up with a business idea or a product, but just because you can think it up doesn't mean that somebody wants to buy it. Even if people like the idea, that doesn't mean they want to use it. The key is finding a pain point. The key to finding the pain point is talking to customers. Customers can tell you what is wrong with a current solution and help give you inspiration that will help you solve the problem and that the customer will want to use. Sometimes you have to be careful though as Henry Ford said that if he asked his customers what they wanted they would've said a faster horse. Those ideas are rare and we must always be careful of making our idea sound good and make it actually good. Then comes sticking with what we're good at. Knowing what you are good at might take time, but by figuring that out, that will determine how you will complete your products or services that your customers want. Also, having a great team. In another class I have, there was a presenter who told us about how there was a study that concluded that the more founders there are for a business, the more successful it will be, but also you shouldn't have a founder that doesn't bring something necessary to the foundation of the business, and also that they don't have overlapping skills. When you do have the business up and running, you need to keep in mind your priorities. There are two extremes to entrepreneurship. Putting in too much time into the business, or not putting enough and letting employees run everything about the business. You need to be somewhere in the middle, but also don't let personal matters fall to the wayside like family and friends. It is easy to let the business take over.

Week Thirteen

This week was interesting. Things that I learned to prepare in my other class I was able to apply to this one. I have been watching a lot of Shark Tank, and while researching an entrepreneur who tried and failed, I saw Mark Cuban and was very intrigued to read about his past aside from what they already give on the show. I learned a lot from his story and seeing him in action on how he invests his money on the show was enlightening. In the article I read, it mentioned that he doesn't invest in companies that he doesn't feel fit well with his areas of expertise, even if he thinks it is a good idea. While watching the show I started to notice that no matter how much he enjoyed the product or idea, if it wasn't something he was extremely familiar with, he backed out. On the show he wouldn't say it was because he was uncomfortable or not confident, he would give other very thought out reasons and responses. Comments that were more constructive than just I don't want to be in that industry. I also liked reading about working on your business and not just in it. There is more than just working yourself to death or leaving everything to your employees. The best place to be is somewhere in between the two extremes.

Week Twelve

A few things this week mentioned family businesses. There is a great difficulty in family businesses. That familiarity brings trust and helps you count on them more quickly, but oftentimes that closeness can get in the way. It is never easy to tell someone you love that something is being done wrong, or that they need to change something. I also think that when starting a business it is imperative to bring people on that fulfill a business requirement. This keeps you organized and everybody will have a role in the development of the business. This keeps everyone motivated and everyone knows what is expected of them. Business relationships and family relationships may be difficult to separate, and it a business relationship goes sour, the family one might also likely fall apart.

I've been having fun with the $100 challenge. The Facebook page has been fun. I've never done that before and it's been interesting to see all the things that I can do with it. So far it hasn't helped. I'm wondering if maybe I haven't done something with it that actually allows people to see it. Sales are going well. It is a very fun assignment. I am excited for it to be over though, it has been very stressful at times.

Week Eleven

I got to learn a lot about Dental Fix Rx this week. I was able to learn about Philip May and his experience with the franchise. It was a different idea than I had thought about before. Franchises to me always seemed like something where you put money and then don't really work much to make the income. With this franchise there is a lot of work involved. I knew about learning for Jimmy John's. There is a few weeks of training, but there is no apprenticeship before you start selling sandwiches. The business starts with you and depends entirely on how many appointments you can make, and how much equipment you can fix. It is a lot of work and is definitely not a "passive" income.

Ties are selling. I'm glad to be back in Rexburg. I thought the Facebook page would be a lot easier than it has been. I feel like I am using unprofessional pictures. I had a teacher last semester who was selling watches through a Facebook page and he had a friend who was a professional photographer who took pictures for him. I was surprised at how much of a difference that really makes. I wanted a watch, but I am not as impressed with ties in various positions against a wall. I wonder how I can pose them better, or if there is a program I could use to alter them to look more professional.

Week Ten

I learned a lot about franchises that I had not known before. I had no idea that a lot of chain restaurants are franchises. I had always assumed that it was the business acting as a whole to open new locations and not a franchisee opening them. I also didn't know about the requirements to even start a franchise that so many of the franchises have. I knew there were royalties to pay, but I didn't know exactly how all of that works out. Looking up the options made it so much easier to understand. Also, I read a lot about business processes today. It didn't feel like there was much of a relationship between that and the other assignments about franchises. It did feel like it was all information I should know.

Driving and dealing with family things this past week had me a little caught up. I didn't ending up getting any more sales like I had hoped to do from afar. I am back in Rexburg and hopefully I can get back on track. I am working on the facebook page and should have that up in the next few days. I worry that it won't be very effective, but there is really only one way to find out for sure.

Week Nine

I love reading Good to Great. I have read a lot of it for another class. It is an extremely information packed book. It focuses a lot on first who then what. I watched a video from a man a while ago that focused on that specific point. I can't exactly remember if it is the author or someone close to the writing of that book that was in the video, but he repeated himself many many times saying "first who then what". Most of the time we focus on the problem we need to solve and not so much the people that could make a great team to solve whatever problem. More of what we read this week was about the hiring process. I felt as though I was getting a sneak peak into the interview process. Having applied for many internships, it was interesting to be thinking about it from the other side of the table. As the interviewee, you aren't so much thinking about them not asking the right questions, or not making a good impression on you. Also, we watched a video about Matt Stewart. He made some interesting points about not focusing on the money or profits of your idea. Get the focus on what you want to do and it will make money. He said that all of his failures were because he had an idea that he wanted to make money off of. If you love what you do and can find people with similar passions in your related area you can do great things and the money will come, but don't let it be about the money.

I've been pretty busy in Washington this week. I can't directly sell to people because I am not in rexburg, but I have been looking for better places to buy ties after I make more money. I feel like everywhere I look there is always a better deal than the last ties I bought, and the ones before that. I can never find the best deal until after I've already spent money.

Week Eight

I'm finding some decent tie selling success. It has been rough this past week though. We decided to head down to California for a week to help my mother in law because she just had shoulder surgery and can't do much around the house and then before we go back to Rexburg we are planning to visit family in Washington. My family decided to visit my grandparents and cousins in Washington and didn't tell us until very recently. So these plans formed very last minute and on the drive down we got into a huge car accident and our car got totaled. Thankfully my wife and I are both safe and healthy, but it is safe to say that our plans got a little turned upside down. Now that the scary part is behind me, I'm hoping to try and sell some ties out here as well and in Washington.

A lot of what I have been learning this week and not only in this class has been about customers. They often cause you to find a product that needs to be made or introduced, but not always do they know exactly what they want. Risks are often rewarded, but not always is the risky thing to do the correct one. You have to listen to those you are trying to help. They often know what their problems are. Not always do they know the perfect solution, but they know what they don't like. They also need to be paid attention to. We have to focus on them and how we are helping them and that the problem we think we are solving is actually a problem and that our solution is a real solution.

Week Seven

There were a lot of good things this week. We watched a bio of Bud Brigham. He is very into finding your purpose in life as that will guide a lot of decisions you make. He mentioned how he found this for himself was reading and studying philosophy. He also says it is important to surround yourself with similar values and beliefs. We also read some things about the importance of dedicated employees. There are a lot of ways that employees help the company. They can be detrimental to growth if they aren't dedicated and feel good about what they are doing. And a video we watched about Zappos and how they value their employees. They offer their employees money to quit. They pursue a higher quality of environment for their workplace and committed employees is how they accomplish that. those that take the money are those who were working for a paycheck. And then those that don't take the money are then more committed to the company because they had to make a decision to stay.

I've decided to sell my own ties to try and get more money to then buy other ties. I think that is the best decision based on what happened. A poor investment, but I would like to stay under the $20 startup cost. Of course this means I could've just started selling my own ties first and have avoided this whole debacle, but that's what happens with a sunk cost.

Week Six

Progress continues on the $100 challenge. We had to make an elevator pitch this week. It was interesting. I felt as though my idea may be too simple. Everything has been very straightforward and obvious to answer. I have been having a lot of fun with this assignment all the same. I have been finding a better source for ties and setting up a Facebook page to advertise with.

Every week we have to watch a video about an entrepreneur. This week was about Phil Romano. He is an interesting man. I really enjoyed something he had to say. He said that doing what people told him not to do is what got him where he is today. A lot of people tell others things that they shouldn't do because it's too risky or it won't work. These people care about you and know how bad it could possibly go, but that is how it all happens. Failure is something to be expected. We read something about marketing this week too and in one of the clips it said that 80% of products that come out brand new are off the market within the first year. Either they failed or are obsolete, but that is what happens. You need to pursue your dreams and goals and do what you love. When you can do that, then it doesn't matter how it all turns out, you'll be happy with the journey.

Week Five

I really enjoyed what Elder Hales spoke about. How can we provide for others outside our family if we cannot control how we live with our family. We must control the home before we can be expected to take care of things outside of our control. We are responsible for relatively so little. A big thing to think about is are the things we do to show love for our family or to show to others that we are a good provider. I love my wife very much and want to show her I love her but oftentimes I feel as if I am just trying to show off to her that I am the provider for our family.

This week I was working on where to buy ties from instead of the first place I found. I have already lost that initial investment. I will still see if any is salvageable, but I imagine I will just have to spend another $20 on other ties. No ties have been sold as of yet. I need to find new ties and sell the ones I have already if I can.

Week Four

I remember from the video it mentioned the pivot. In another class that I am taking, we learned about this pivot as well. All successful startups have a zig zag course of how they got to where they are. The pivot is starting with one idea, seeing what works with that idea, and then changing to what fits with what works with that idea. Then from there you see what works with that idea and the things you've already learned, and then doing the same thing. Just because an idea sounds like a good idea, does not necessarily mean that it is a good idea. I remember reading an example about a website that connects you with other pet lovers. It sounds like a good idea, you could imagine that there are people that would be willing to use that site, but if everybody thinks that there is somebody that might use it but not them, then you end up with a big list of nobody and a another huge list of people that think it's probably a good idea for someone. The key is finding what works out of what you have and taking what you learned and changing course. We learned about the GEM model also. These relate extremely well. Gather, Enhance, Marketing. You gather your information, you enhance(pivot) and then market your new product. Lather rinse repeat. The more you do it the more perfectly into your market you will fit.

Also, for the $100 challenge, I bought $20 dollars of ties. I wasn’t sure of the condition they would come in. Most all the ties are stained and torn. The ties that aren’t ruined are just ugly ties. I’m not sure if I will be able to sell any of them. I think I might have to buy some more expensive product to actually have some sort of sellable inventory. I’m not sure if that is against the rules because of the starting $20 amount, but I really think I have unsellable inventory. I am thinking I will try to return them because on their website they mentioned that was a possibility.

Week Three

From the Harvard material, I was reminded of something I read in Good to Great. First who, then what. You pick your team of who is on the bus, then you give them the problem they need to solve. You need to find your team of creative thinkers that complement and work well together. The ride will not always be smooth, but it will end in a good result. The team seemed to me as the most important thing in  what we read about the creative process. Obviously it helps to give them a good environment that encourages their creativity and ability to ideate and come up with solutions.
For the $100 challenge I have brought my list of 20 down to 5 and think that I know what I will eventually pick. It is hard to choose based on a list of ideas that I think will work. Potentially one of the 20 I didn't pick could be a better choice, but I will not know because I chose a different route. I feel the list I came up with supports how I would best be able to accomplish the task of generating $100 of profit.

Week Two

This week we watched a video about Corey Bell. We also were supposed to come up with some ideas for this $100 challenge. In short the $100 challenge is where we start a business with $20 and try to make a profit of at least $100. One of our assignments this week was to write out a list of 20 ideas that we think might be possible to do where we are. I wrote out a lot of them. I could've written more, but I felt a lot of them were variations of the same thing, so I left those ones out. I feel that most of my ideas stem from doing something simple and telling people it is for a nonprofit organization just so that I can charge them more. That seems unfair and also not really filling the requirement of the assignment. I am trying to fix a problem. I know there are lots of problems, but it is hard to envision one that I can solve by myself and also with only $20. I may be able to get my wife to help. I don't know how fair that is either. I am excited and scared about this project. I hope I can find a good idea in the right spot to get the best out of this assignment.