Final Post

 

If you had one final lecture to share with a group of students on what you have learned from this course, what would you share?

I was so impressed with Tom Monaghan’s story that I read this week.  His story is what I would share.  I loved how he just decided to buy a pizzeria that was for sale called “Dominicks”.  After turning it into the most successful delivery pizza store, Dominick withdrew his permission to continue using his name.  A delivery driver helped him come up with the Dominos name.  How crazy is it that such a household name was born by a pizza delivery driver?  Isn’t that how so many successes begin, just by happenstance?    I was also very impressed with Tom Monaghan who read CS Lewis’s book called “Mere Christianity” he said, “he basically was telling me that the reason you work so hard and try to accomplish all you had was to have more. Not just more but more than other people and that hit me right between the eyes that I couldn't sleep that night.” (Monaghan)  I love CS lewis.  My father quoted him all the time, but I never knew anyone who took what he said to the extreme that Tom Monaghan did.  He used his money to start a university.  He even lives in a dorm.  I am so impressed with his story; I can’t stop thinking about it.  What is this quest to become rich?  Is it only to have more than others?  I am pretty set with my way of life.  I am very comfortable.  My desire is to have a cabin where we can enjoy a place to retreat on weekends with the family.  I also want to have not credit card debt.  I am not trying to have more than anyone else, just a few more things.  But maybe I just need to be satisfied with what I have and give away more.

What would be your last bit of advice to someone wanting to begin the entrepreneur journey?  I would tell them to find their passion and pursue it.  Nothing more wasted in life than someone to afraid to pursue their dreams.

What words of advice, direction, or caution would you give him or her if you had only one chance to give your own last lecture?  I would advise them to keep their day job until they have enough to support themselves.  Work hard and be prepared to work even harder.  Get educated.  I loved the example of Randy Haykin and how he began his entrepreneurial career by first getting the formal education, then going out in the business world and working for some of the biggest companies and learning all he could from them, discovering what is lacking, and then branching out on his own.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My life's pursuit

This week, I was very intrigued by Jim Ritchie who talked about this book called “Emotional fingerprint”.   He said “Your Emotional Fingerprint is a program that helps you develop a blueprint for your feelings and emotions. It helps explain why you respond the way you do to situations in your life. It teaches that becoming aware of your emotional fingerprint or emotional DNA helps a person to make effective decisions, overcome the challenges, and achieve personal and financial goals with more effectiveness.” He also said, “when a person learns what the key driving forces are in their life, they can begin to take control of their future”. So profound!   I wanted to include these in my journal because I don’t want to forget them. I also appreciated his story about the old Indian chief who tells his grandson about the human experience and that inside each of us is a battle going on between two wolves, one is bad and one good. “The evil one— represented anger, envy, jealousy, ...
Read more

Dreams

  I believe Randy Pausch was able to achieve so many of his childhood dreams because he is a very motivated, intelligent, creative, passionate, and productive.   He didn’t need anyone making him get out of bed, he didn’t spend his days playing video games when he had things to do, like so many youngsters today.   And I believe he had supportive parents who encouraged him to follow his dreams and were there to help him along his path.   I loved his story about his bedroom where his parents allowed him to draw on his walls and be creative.   He must have had wonderful parents.   Yes, I believe dreaming is important.   One of my favorite hero’s is Walt Disney.   He was a dreamer.   He had such great ambition and talent, but his greatest asset was his sheer unwillingness to give up.   There were so many times that he was penniless and was subjected to great loss and disappointment, but with perseverance and dreams he forged ahead and now w...
Read more

A Hero's Journey

  What does choose to live a hero’s journey mean to me? It means making every moment count.   It means putting others first.   It means loving and living life to its fullest.   It means contributing to society, being a good person, and helping others on life’s journey. My husband and I started a rental property management company with my father-in-law and brother-in-law.   My husband and I put up the start up money and my father-in-law and Brother-in-law ran the company.   After 5 years and no return on our investment, we decided to become more involved in the company.   We found that my father-in-law spent every last dime, no matter how much came in.   the company actually made tons of money, but my FIL just couldn’t control his spending.   He not only kept spending all the money, but he kept dipping into the owners trust account, which was illegal.   After talking to him again and again, and after a few more years and hiring an accou...
Read more