Bus 210 Wk 14: The Last Lecture

Dream Big
Entrepreneur Resources

Choose a Business

Create a Business

Funding Your Business

Building Your Brand

Love Your Customer

Management and Leadership

Finding Great People

Production, Operation, and Logistics

Franchising

Buyouts and Family Businesses

Failing Forward

The Last Lecture

14 weeks of the semester. There has been a lot of information shared and I feel that I am better prepared to take my entrepreneurial journey. Many lessons have made me question my insanity but many more have helped me see that it is something that I must do.

Week 1: Dream Big

    Not much else needs to be said. Fear and doubt have prevented me from taking the first step in the past. I now know that when it comes to dreaming, the bigger the better!

Week 5: Building your Brand

    My business plan is constantly being edited in my mind. The more I try to convince myself that I don't want it, the more I realize that I have what it takes to go for it. I believe in the merits of my plan. I don't need to make millions, but I need to present my brand with confidence and passion.

Week 12: Family Businesses

    Part of my dream is still to work with my children. I hope that some of them may want to join me in growing my event venue businesses in time. There were excellent points taught that I had not considered before and will have to address if this comes to fruition.

Week 13: Failing Forward

    This was a great one. Failure as a learning step is a difficult concept to swallow. Just reporting my weak spots and failures of my $100 Challenge, though, has taught me that I can see them for what they are: learning experiences. This will be something that has to be stitched on a pillow.

My Last Lecture

    I haven't begun my own entrepreneurial journey. But if I had to share something like Randy Pausch, I would have to mention my schooling. I was always a top student growing up. I loved school and everything about it. College was always part of my life plan. But I did not succeed the first time. I was so hard on myself for many years because of this. I constantly compared my failure with the successes of friends and family. I tried again many years later through BYU online. Another fail on the list. Now I can see that these experiences taught me things that only failures can. I knew what didn't work for me. I knew that the Lord had a different plan for me than I had for myself. My heart had to soften, my mind had to be prepared. 

    Then I started Pathways. All the stars were aligned. I am committed to my education in a way that I never was before. I hope others can find that point in their lives where what they want is bigger than all the voices that say "no" or "it's not worth it" or, heaven forbid, "you're not worth it." For me, so far, my family is my biggest success. And now, I can count schooling as the second. It is hard but it is worth it. I am building the me that I was meant to become. 

    My hope is that I will be able to carry those skills and characteristics gained over the past 30 years with me when I step into the business world. I can see myself in a year, 5 years, 10 years down the road. My family will always come first. There is enough of me to leave my mark elsewhere also.