W11 Reflection: Entrepreneurial Journal

Measuring the Cost

What is your attitude toward money?

My attitude towards money is that it is important but not everything. I have lived in my marriage for 23 years now and most of those 23 years we have struggled with money. I have learned valuable lessons that I am grateful for. I have learned to be self-reliant. Making ends meet is how we live. Paying tithing and offerings have allowed blessings to pour down upon us. I have learned how to live on less and not want more. I have tried to teach my kids that save for the things that you want and buy what you need to survive.

How can your view of money affect the way you live?

Money has affected the way we live. We don't travel but we have found ways to go places to make memories with our kids. I feel my kids understand that if they want something it will cost them and they have learned how to live on less and not want everything they see. My oldest has money but he has learned that saving his money will benefit him more in the future than wanting it now. There are goods and bads on not having extra money but we learn the ways to use it that will benefit us. 

What rules are recommended for prospering?

I would love to have enough money to not worry about buying food, clothes, or other expenses. I would love to have enough money to be able to pay all of our bills and be able to treat our kids to a movie or a weekend away. I would love to make enough money to not stress about money. I thing this is prospering. Knowing how to make money and being able to save it so that you are not constantly stressing over it and being the disappointed one that always says no to the fun shopping trips or the extra treats at the grocery store or to family trips that you can't go on because it cost too much money. This would be my way of prospering, it to not have to worry. 

Formula for Success 

The way we can use the formula of success that Christ so eloquently taught us is "First, fill your mind with truth; second, fill your life with service; and third, fill your heart with love." (Formula for Success, Thomas S Monson, March 1996) I love how we can learn valuable lessons from the Savior as we try to apply them into our lives. It is a simple reminder that He is in the details of our lives.  In this article Thomas S Monson tells a story of Hank Aaron, baseball's great homerun player of all time. He tell how love filles your heart and how Hank as a young boy wanted to drop out of school to pursue his baseball dream. He would always spend valuable time talking with his father in an old, abandoned car. "One day Hank said to his dad, “I’m going to quit school, Dad. I’m going to go to work so I can play baseball.” And Herbert Aaron said to his son, “My boy, I quit school because I had to, but you’re not going to quit school. Every morning of your young life I’ve put fifty cents on the table, that you might buy your lunch that day. And I take twenty-five cents with me, that I might buy my lunch. Your education means more to me than my lunch. I want you to have what I never had.” Hank Aaron said that every time he thought about that fifty-cent piece that his father put on the table every day, he thought how much that fifty cents meant to his father. It conveyed to him how much his schooling meant to his father. Hank Aaron said, “I never had too much difficulty staying in school when I reflected upon the love my father had for me. As a result of reflecting upon the love of my father, I obtained my schooling and played a lot of baseball.” That was putting it mildly from the greatest home run threat that ever stepped up to a baseball diamond—Henry Aaron." I just love how simple the lesson his father showed him by his example of love for his son. It was worth much more than his father's lunch for him to finish school. 

Is Work/Life Balance Possible?

Yes, finding balance in work/life is possible if you want it. The struggle is to find joy as you are wanting something bad enough. making the choice to sacrifice time, energy, and family to do what you know to be right to help your family in ways that you will find beneficial in the most loving way will not be wasted. 

Balancing Your Life and Career Successfully

When you are hungry about what you are doing you will find a sense of fulfillment. You will find what you want in life. A balanced life is to pay attention to what is important to you in your life and what you values are. You will find that there will be different things and goals that come in your life but you will always find and make balance if you keep making it a priority. 

Everything is possible if you want it. 

We need to have dreams and want to give back what we are given. It is a blessing to keep trying and trying what you really love and want to do in this life. Make an impact to others in your life and it will drive you to continue to do better. 

My dad - the greatest entrepreneur I know.

I have heard from so many different entrepreneurs that one wish they would have done differently was that they wished they would have made their family more of a priority instead of the work. Allowing to include your family in all that you do. Taking advertence of time with those who you love because they will always be there. In my life my dad ways self employed, there were a lot of times that he missed out on family trips or we would go pasted the time that was set to leave because he had to get all the work done before he could go away. We as his children saw the wear and tear he took in order that we could have a good life. He was always there for us when we needed him to be. He didn't like music concerts but he and mom were there. He didn't like sitting through plays but he was there because it interest us. He was there to show us how to work and what he was doing everyday but he also took the time to spend it with us. I remember when I was 10 years old, we took a trip to Disneyland, our first. He came with us for half the day and then he had to be back home for work the next day. I don't remember all the details but I do know that he tried to do his best to provide for us 6 kids, teach us the value of hard work, involve us in his work, and spend time that he really didn't have to do what we wanted and liked to do. He didn't always say in words how much we meant to him but in actions and a little nudge from mom, he would show us just how much we were to him. My dad is a great example of what owning your own business looks like, the struggles and triumphs, and the joy of doing what you know is right and teaching us those lessons that only he could teach us. I know he tried his hardest to balance work/life/family/church and everything else because he knew what was important to him.