Journal Entry Lesson 6

This week I got to learn a Little bit about marketing. One of the key things that I will take with me is Seth Godin’s metaphor of the purple cow. He explains how during a trip in Europe he was really amazed at the beautiful cows he saw near the highway, but after a while they became boring; so much that the only way to get his attention would be to see something completely out of the ordinary (a purple cow for instance). In the world of social media and smartphones even a purple cow can become dull and boring after a while. I was thinking a lot about how companies advertise their products and about the very few examples that have been remarkable enough to be remembered. I need to find a way to be like them and give personality to my product in a unique an attractive way.

I made some progress with the $100 challenge: I created an elevator pitch and identified my target market, competition, and competitive advantage. I also started creating a plan for more specific things like the marketing strategies I will use, the materials I will use to create food stand, the table I will use, the materials for the signs, the table cloth, etc.

Journal Entry Lesson 5

I am becoming a little bit negative about the future. I see how difficult it is to start a business. Even getting out of debt and making ends meet with a stable job is difficult for me right now. I have a good job and make more money than most college students in my country, but I can’t pay my credit cards off since more unexpected expenses (like fines, emergencies, and taxes) keep coming. I start to feel terrified about losing or quitting my job.

The only thing that makes me feel a little bit optimistic about my situation is reading about successful entrepreneurs who started from zero, like Desh Deshpande who arrived in the U.S with $8 USD in his pocket and became a billionaire. I also get courage from the stories of entrepreneurs who arrived to Mexico without an education and without speaking Spanish and became very successful (like Julian Slim, father of Carlos Slim).

I’m trying to obtain more experience and knowledge outside from school and work by taking courses, investing, and become more involved with entrepreneurs in the community in order to learn from them.

I haven’t had a lot of progress with the $100 project, other than deciding the source of funding.

Journal Entry Lesson 4

This week I really enjoyed Reading about the different stages of a small business and the common mistakes that business owners make in the book ‘’The E-Myth Revisited’’ by Michael E. Gerber. In chapter 4 he talks about the ‘’Adolescence’’ stage of a business in which a business owner asks for help and hires someone to help; eventually, lack of clear communication and ambiguous situations take their toll and the relationship between the owner and the employee ends abruptly.

 This happened to me recently when I had to fire my employee as he was breaking my rules, not being profitable, and taking advantage of my trust. I realize now that I made a mistake in not being clear with my rules and expectations, and giving in whenever he needed something ‘’for his family’’ to the point of not benefiting at all from the business myself. That situation couldn’t last forever.

I continued working on my $100 project. I started thinking about more specific details for it. The most important part of it is that I remembered the first time I tried to complete the challenge, how it ate up too much time and how I can use the time more effectively this time. 

I realized that my mistake was that I focused too much on obtaining low prices by buying from wholesalers in downtown Mexico City; that meant that I had to spend around 4 hours every weekend trying to get all the materials, end I got very frustrated when some of them became harder to find than I thought at first. This time I will focus more on working and selling than in buying.

Journal Entry Lesson 3

This week I realized that I can still be creative. It feels like if my mind had been numb for a while and now it is stretching and working hard again.

My wife has an idea for a company she would like to create in the future. As we were talking about it, I gave her some advise based on what I have learned by reading ‘’The Lean Startup’’ (by Eric Ries) and how I think she could test her idea, turn it into a business and make it scalable. I was very surprised that I was able to come up with those ideas after struggling so much last week trying to come up with business ideas for my $100 project.

As I went over this week’s material, I was especially moved by President’s Hinckley testimony in the dedication of the building that bears his name.  It was an invitation to me to be more faithful and trust that the Lord can help me with the challenges I face.

I have a few ideas chosen for the $100 project but, most importantly, I feel a new determination to make a real effort to make it work and learn from it.

I am also paying more attention the problems I find every day and I’m writing them down. I think that if I do this consistently for the rest of my life, I will become more creative and maybe I will find a business opportunity that I can take advantage of.

Acton Hero: Tom Monaghan

Tom Monaghan was raised in an orphanage. From humble beginnings, he turned DomiNick’s Pizza into the world famous Domino’s Pizza building a revolutionary business around pizza delivery. As he became richer and successful, he became obsessed with ‘’toys’’ and impressing others with his success and the things his money could buy.

One day, when he was reading a book written by C.S Lewis, he realized that he wasn’t living his principles and that something had to change in his life. His priorities changed and he sold the company. From then on he has dedicated his life to help others through education. He uses his money to as much good as he can.

I can see how sometimes I focus too much on my desire to be successful, even to the point of wanting to compare myself to others. That is not correct, and doesn’t lead to true happiness. Tom Monaghan is an example of a person who was brave enough to realize that he was doing wrong and change his course in order to be truly happy.