B283 Update

This week I was able to learn a lot about family businesses!  This was very interesting and informative for me since I have often thought about the possibility of opening a family business.  I learned about the important of developing equity plans and succession plans right from the beginning to avoid any confusion, tension, or other problems in the future.

I really enjoyed my $100 business challenge and I’ve been thinking about my final presentation for it.  It worked out perfectly for Juliet’s family as well as for my class with the timing and everything!  I probably would have continued watching Juliet even after the challenge if they needed me, but having her dad be at home with her now is also a good thing for them.  I’ll miss having her over as often, but she’ll still come over on occasion when they need a babysitter!

I also learned about an entrepreneur named Erick Slabaugh.   He seems like a great person!  Even at a young age, he was willing to give up a fun social life to help his family’s business.  He even invested in the business, buying out a partner’s equity for himself.  He worked long hours every day and even weekends without the nice paychecks that his friends were receiving.  But his hard work paid off – he was able to see great success with the company and he became the CEO.  He also learns from his mistakes and asks lots of questions.  He emphasized the importance of having a mentor and he wished he asked more questions when he was younger.  His insight encourages me to ask lots of questions and not try to know everything.

Entrepreneur Journal

My $100 business challenge is wrapping up now.  Juliet’s dad is doing better and is out of the hospital, but he is withdrawing from school for the semester and will be taking care of her while his wife is at work.  It’s been so much fun taking care of Juliet and watching her grow!  And the experience I gained in caring for two kids is invaluable and will undoubtedly help me for when I have another baby.

This week I was able to learn about franchising and learn about some of the benefits as well as disadvantages of opening one.  I studied a case study about some friends who wanted to start a business and their business deal with an ice cream franchise.  It helped me to see the potential problems as well as strengths that come with working with franchises. 

I also learned about an entrepreneur named Nicole Donnelly who sells baby leg warmers.  I love how Nicole Donnelly relates her snowboarding experience to her business.  She was able to make a great transition from being a snowboarding bum to a successful business leader.  I love her sense of giving back in a bigger way and her willingness to donate and help as many as she can through her business and products.  Her giving attitude is an inspiration to me and helps me to want to give back as much as possible.  I know from person experience that there is a great sense of satisfaction and fulfillment that comes from giving and serving others.  Sometimes I get tired of doing everyone’s dishes every day for them, but if I maintain the right perspective and see my contribution as a way to give back to the world, I can be happier to do them all the time.  While a lot of my giving and service is done just at home, I also want to look for ways to give back to the community and the world.  I’ve had a recent experience of donating services and items for a charity auction for my friend’s mom in the hospital.  Doing so made me feel noble and that I was contributing to a good cause.

B283 Update

My $100 business challenge is still going well.  Juliet’s dad had to go to the hospital due to some health issues, so she only came twice this week.  I feel like I don’t want to charge them this week either since they’ll be facing some medical expenses along with overall stress!  I have already made $100, so I feel fine about not charging!

This week I wrote up a report on my interview with an entrepreneur, learned about Roxanne Quimby (the founder of Burt’s Bees), as well as other entrepreneurs, Catherine Rohr and Corey Bell. 

Catherine Rohr was able to transform her view of those incarcerated in prison.  From seeing them as wild animals to individuals with great potential, she was able to establish a program to help these people to learn and discover their own “business plans.”  One of her main objectives is to help them transition back into society and to become leaders.  She was able to learn the importance of second chances and giving others the opportunity to create new lives for themselves.  The program gives these people new hope and encouragement as others express belief and confidence in them.

Corey Bell was able to move forward through challenges, keeping in mind his vision and goals for his life.  He didn’t want to give up, get a job and work for someone else, and wonder “what if.”  That is a great way to keep things in perspective, especially when things get tough.  He doesn’t let anything stop or slow him down – he doesn’t believe in the word “can’t”.  He believes that anything is possible if we really set our mind to it and want it enough.  I also appreciated his viewpoint on giving back to the world – it is a great motivation to do everything you can to the best of your ability so you can contribute and give back to the community and world.

B283 Update

Taking care of Juliet is still going well!  We’ve got things down to a routine now and I really enjoy watching her.  I’ve made $60 so far – I’ve almost reached my $100 goal!  (Although, I’ll probably make at least $120 since Megan pays me $30/week).  Oh, I checked up on the person I selected on Kiva and he already got his loan!  I’ll have to select someone else to help now.

This week I was able to write a book report on the E-Myth.  It was a fun book that discussed several potential pitfalls, obstacles, challenges, as well as opportunities that entrepreneurs face during the different phases of their businesses.

I also learned about a couple of entrepreneurs, Matt Stewart and Henry Stein.  Matt Stewart didn’t let challenges or obstacles slow him down.  When faced with challenges, he kept moving forward and took them as opportunities to learn and grow.  He made changes and improvements to his company as a result of difficult circumstances, such as a death of an employee.  He maintains a strong value system in his life as well as his company.

Henry Stein also was able to learn lessons from his life and use them in his businesses.  He was able to learn the importance of being a part of something bigger than himself while in the Marines and he carries that attitude with him in his companies.  Furthermore, he wanted to have great people to work with him as well – people who wanted to make a difference and be a part of something bigger than themselves too.  Having these type of people are more likely to challenge themselves and make improvements than those who are just content to have a job to provide for their families.

Progress Update

My $100 business challenge is going well!  Juliet is a joy to take care of.  Originally I was going to charge my friend $25 a week to take care of Juliet, but she pays me $30!  I really like being able to help my friend by offering low-cost child care – Juliet is so easy to take care of and I know that my friend doesn’t have much money.  She is a part-time teacher while her husband finishes school, so their income is somewhat limited.  I feel like I am making a positive influence in their lives by helping them to save more money and work while knowing their child is in loving care while they are away.  Sometimes I wonder if I should even charge them at all, but I need to make at least $100 for the assignment!

Also during this week, I was able to learn about different leadership styles and what style I tend to use.  I am a delegating, democratic type of leader.  This doesn’t surprise me at all!  I always want the input of others when making decisions – I never want to feel like I’m imposing my own decisions on everyone else.  Dictating others has never been my style, but I could probably use some more decisiveness and persuasiveness in my leadership style.

I also learned a little about an entrepreneur named Russ Rosenzweig.  In a video, he shared some important insights about targeting a specific market.  He and his new company struggled at first because they were trying to market to the world rather than a target market.  Once they narrowed in on a focused market, they were able to achieve success.  This is an important thing to note, because I can see how tempting it could be to market to everyone and anyone possible!  But without a lack of focus, we lack the ability to market effectively.  I also loved his thoughts on material wealth and acquiring possessions.  As he experienced wealth, he realized he accumulated more and continually wanted more and more.  But his experience in India opened his perspective and he realized that there is so much more than accumulating material wealth and possessions – life should have meaning and purpose.  Rather than focusing on external sources of happiness or success, such as acquiring material wealth and possessions, we should focus on our internal source of happiness and success.  As we do so, we can help improve the world and make it a better place.

Rising Stars Update

Taking care of Juliet is still going well!  She only needs part-time care, which is great for me since I still have homework and housework to do.  I think that if I went further with my daycare idea, I’d probably want to try to have older kids.  While I love babies and I love taking care of Juliet, little babies require a lot of attention and care.  Older kids (2 and older) are better able to play and entertain themselves and don’t require as much hands-on care.  Plus, it’s easier to play with group activities and interact with everyone when they’re a little older.  But babies do take lots of naps, so that is a baby bonus.  If I wanted to expand, I could hire someone to help me (like my husband) and that way someone could focus on baby care and the other person could take care of the older kids.

I made a 5-year financial forecast for a different class using my daycare idea.  I think that it could be extremely successful with minimal expenses!  My husband could easily quit his job to help me and we’d be doubling our income if we had 16 kids enrolled!  I looked into licensing requirements and 16 is the most we could take care of together.  But we could always hire a helper if we wanted to take care of even more!  There are different types of home daycare licenses – a home care provider, such as myself, or a family child care provider, which would be my husband and I.  There are pros and cons to each type as they do have their differences.  But I think it would be most advantageous to register a family daycare!