Entry #6

This week for the $100.00 challenge, I was able to begin advertising my nail painting business. In order to do this, I created a flyer that described my business and how to contact me to set up an appointment to have your nails painted. I printed out fifty copies of this flyer and I then proceeded to hand them at each apartment door in the women’s half of the La Jolla apartment complex. Something from this week’s readings that really taught me a lot about how I would like to run my own successful business one day was the Harvard Manage Mentor on Customer Focus. Focusing on the customers is something that I have always noticed to set the successful companies apart from the unsuccessful ones. When I decide whether or not to continue doing business with a particular company, the first thing I consider is how well I am treated as a customer. I know now after learning the things that I have learned this past week that valuing the customers and ensuring that they are pleased with both the service and the product that your company provides them is the key to success in any given business.

Entry #5

This week for the $100.00 challenge, I was able to put together my elevator pitch for my business. This was a very interesting thing to do because it allowed me to really analyze my business idea and how it could benefit potential customers. As I put my pitch together, I really focused on what would draw customers into my business. This allowed me to also prepare my marketing flyers because I realized what things I should include on those as well. I really enjoyed reading more about the Purple Cow this week, especially since it was something that I read about in great detail for my first book report. As it turns out, I had already read all of the reading on the Purple Cow that was assigned to us this week because I had already read Seth Godin’s book on the subject. However, as I reviewed what he had wrote, I felt that I learned even more about the meaning and the importance of the Purple Cow. I would definitely say that all businesses should be introduced to the idea of the Purple Cow (if they haven’t been already) and they should strive to implement it into their businesses. It most definitely seems to be a very successful way to grow a business.

Entry #4

This week for the $100.00 challenge, I was able to consider where I would be getting my funding to start my business. I decided to obtain funding strictly from my personal finances in order to avoid any potential debt problems with investors or banks. I really liked the talk that was assigned to us to read this week by James E. Faust. I learned a lot from that talk about how important it is to avoid all forms of debt however possible in order to remain a successful steward over money. Money can so easily control our lives if we allow it to, and I think that’s a main reason why the prophets and apostles talk so much about being responsible with our money and making sure we stay out of debt. I think that when it comes to starting a business, it can definitely be a challenge to avoid getting into debt because you need money in order to get things off the ground in the beginning. I really appreciated the opportunity to learn this week about all of the different ways that a business can be started without having to go into debt to do so. I feel much more prepared now to set appropriate goals to avoid as much debt as possible when starting my own business.

Entry #3

This week for the $100.00 challenge, I was able to solidify my decision for what business I would be doing. I was also able to complete a business plan for my business. Learning how to create a business plan and actually doing it has taught me a great deal about everything that actually goes into creating a successful business. Something that particularly stood out to me as I read the chapters from the “E-Myth” book this week was  the importance of learning to delegate successfully. In the book, the author was telling Sarah that she needed to hire people to do much of the work for her so that she could focus more of her attention on fewer things at a time. He then made a point to explain to her that most likely she would find that she was not entirely pleased with the work of her new employees because it would not be exactly how she would have done it. Ultimately, though, she had to learn to properly teach her employees and correct them as needed, but to eventually let go of the reins. This would be a somewhat difficult thing to do for people who have given everything they have to their business because it would mean handing the control over to someone else or to many other people. However, I can definitely see how important it would be to do that in order to keep the business thriving.