Is Allison Really An Entrepreneur?

This week the material in our class was exactly what I have been thinking about ever since I first started school and declared my interest in entrepreneurship.  I appreciated reading the talks and listening to the videos this week.  It was a great combination of "here is how to do it", and "this is reality".  However, the balance of work and family is I think it is at the heart of my fears as far as starting a business goes.  I am not scared of failure, I am not nervous that I don't know everything and have no business experience of my own yet.  I think these things could come in a reasonable amount of time, normally enough- what I don't want to happen is to have my family suffer in any way.  My family is my highest priority, so for me success in this arena will largely be determined on keeping work and life in balance.  Maybe it's because of my interview with Kim Bensen.  When I had my interview last week with Kim, I could clearly see as we talke...

As I was reflecting on the great things I learned this week, I am just so grateful.  And I guess since next week is Thanksgiving it is appropriately timed, but I want to share some of the grateful thoughts I had this week.  This week as I conducted my entrepreneurial interview, I reflected on what a valuable experience this interview is to me and how grateful I am for the assignment and opportunity to bring my education into my life.  As I spoke with Kim Bensen this week about her experiences as an entrepreneur I realized that sometimes life just takes us where we need to go.  In Kim's case her business just kind of came to her as she made her life better and had a desire to make other's lives better.  She told me the most rewarding part of her job is getting to celebrate the victories of her customers.  She said her customers are like an extension of her family and as I talked to a cook and watched her interact with a customer I could see this was true....

This week I am so impressed by something I read from the Acton Foundation called,"A letter to Garcia".  As I read the first few pages about the ability to execute, I realize I am reading about my oldest daughter.  She is absolutely worth her weight in gold.  She worked for the summer and her boss recognized immediately her value and offered to send her to college 2000+ miles away with a work computer and a part-time job done remotely from her apartment states away (this is not an offer he has ever made to anyone).  She has the ability to execute.  She can stay the course and get things done.  I loved Hubbard's lament on the "imbecility of the average man - the inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it."  I feel like this is me sometimes.  Especially when I sit down to study.  I feel like my adult ADHD sets in and I can barely stay at the computer for more than 5 minutes. I also loved the quote, "Some would say that this...

I watched a short You-Tube video, Acton Hero David Carrington who spoke about his experience being an entrepreneur.   One of his first comments was about “low-hanging fruit”, how most people go looking for the easy ideas in entrepreneurship, when the best ideas are usually the third one or so.   I also read a talk by Jeffrey R. & Patricia T. Holland entitled, “However Long and Hard the Road”.   I really enjoyed the quotes by Winston Churchill from WW2 and his commitment to fight to the end.   What I think touched me the most was the account of building the Salt Lake Temple.   I have heard all of my life that it took 40 years to construct, I knew they had to cover over the foundation at one point and actually ended up replacing it and making it bigger.   What I didn’t know is that Brigham Young and the original architect didn’t live to see it completed.   I wondered how many workers who worked so hard on that building, didn’t li...