A Freelancer's Trek

Last year I took a little getaway trip. I took the scenic route on a Thursday from Colorado Springs to Cañon City via Cripple Creek. The aspens were in full transitional mode from vibrant green to brilliant yellow. The scenery was breathtaking. Two days later, I had to go back to Colorado Springs and was trying to decide if I would take a different route. I chose to go back the way I came. It was amazing! By taking the same road in the opposite direction there were mountain peaks and vistas that I missed the first time around. The fall colors were glorious, and the perspective was different. It got me thinking… sometimes I don’t like backtracking. Either it’s a waste of my time, or maybe I've failed to keep moving forward. This trip taught me that backtracking can be a good thing. Backtracking allowed me to see something from a different angle. It allowed me to see things I missed the first time around. The next time I feel frustrated about having to back up, retreat, or return to ...

    I’ve been asked to write a 300-word essay or “last lecture” to a student who is considering taking the entrepreneurial path. I believe Heavenly Father has put within each one of us a desire to create something whether that is a family, a marriage, a business, art, food – you name it. We all have that desire to create something. For those of us taking this class, most of us have a desire to create a business in this season of our lives. The beautiful thing is, that even though we may not possess all the skills that are needed to be a business owner at this moment, we can change, we can learn and we can grow. The beauty of the Gospel is that an old dog CAN learn new tricks. The scriptures tell us that we can do ALL things through Christ. That weaknesses can become strengths. By small means are great things come to pass, and that we can learn line upon line, precept upon precept. We just have to believe in ourselves and that the Lord has put this desire in our hearts for ...

  Our studies in class this week revolved around the topic of gratitude. What has this got to do with entrepreneurship? I know from personal experience that gratitude is one way I can lift myself out of “the dumps”. And being an entrepreneur, I know there will be dumpy days. There is always something we can find, no matter how bad things are, that we can be grateful for. Do we have shoes and socks without any holes? Are our feet warm? We can be grateful we are not outside in the cold without proper footwear. Did we go to bed hungry last night? Probably not. We can be thankful we are not experiencing food insecurity. Has someone said “thank you” to us in the last 24 hours? Have we told someone “thank you” in the last 24 hours? We can be grateful someone appreciated us, and we can be grateful someone did something for us that was worthy of our thanks. There is always something to be grateful for. Thomas S. Monson said this: “ We can lift ourselves, and others as well, w...

  My assignment this week is to report on an article we read in class called: What’s a Business For? By Charles Handy for the Harvard Business Review , dated December 2002. The questions I am to answer are: 1.      Based on what you read in the first two pages (pages 3 and 4), why are virtue and integrity so vital to an economy? 2.      According to Charles Handy, what is the “real justification” for the existence of businesses? 3.      What are two solutions proposed by Handy that you agree with? Why? Without virtue and integrity, the majority of the general population has lost trust in big business. There is a sense in that CEOs are more concerned with lining their pockets than they are in behaving with integrity. The rise of the stock option as a hiring benefit rose from 2% in 1980 to approximately 60% at the writing of this article (2002). CEOs may be more interested in bumping up their stock value in the sh...