My Last Lecture

            I write this as if addressing a group of my classmates for the last time this semester. In this manner will the pronouns I use and the remarks I make be structured and generalized respectively; so as not to offend. Let me being with a few admonitions. We have all sat through these many weeks listening to captains of industry, reading the words of prophets and learning from the best books, most comprehensive advice, and gaining from these mentors the wisdom they’ve gleaned from their years of trailblazing. I have spent years listening to and following the advice of those who passed before me. As a forty-two-year-old participant in this class who has owned and lost two companies and is currently opening a third, allow me to pass on some of the wisdom I’ve been able to use.

           

            First, at the turn of the 18^th century and earlier, the system for learning a trade and opening businesses, for the unwashed masses, was through the process of apprenticeships. Young men would align themselves with a craftsman or tradesman and learn in exchange for his labor. He would receive room and board and skills training. After enough years, he would either take over the business or venture off on his own. There is great wisdom in this process. I recommend anyone wanting to start a business to follow a similar path. Find a business you want to copy. Get a job there, learn all you can about its processes and models. Learn its shortcomings and advantages. Then, model together the best of its strengths and find solutions to its woes. Then, start your business and implement all you’ve learned. This should be a great shortcut to success.

            Next, always be the first one in and the last one out. Too many young entrepreneurs think they can just hire and grow and then once they get close to turning a profit, hit the links or start backing into semi-retirement. This is folly. The only real way to success is to work yourself out of a job. You are the jack-of-all-trades. Do everything yourself until you’re too busy for that. Then hire those who can most cost-effectively replace one of the hats you wear. Their hiring should only be to alleviate an opportunity cost. Don’t waste time fixing your twenty-five fleet vehicles when you are the GM. Hire a mechanic and use your talents elsewhere to grow the business.

            Lastly, once you have worked yourself out of a job, you become the biggest janitor in history. You have one job, Polish! Take secondary, unbiased looks at everything you’ve done, every process you have, every person you’ve hired. What can you improve? What skills will improve your ROI on each investment of every dime you’ve poured in. Once you’ve polished those gears and staff; once everything is a precision instrument, then you can look to either replicate this success or find an altruistic hobby. Either way, these pieces of advice will serve you well.

            Best wishes on all your righteous endeavors. Jared Hurst

First World Problems Aren't Problems

This week, I read a talk given by President Thomas S. Monson of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints titled An Attitude of Gratitude. In this address, President Monson shares a story about his old Sunday School teacher, Sister Lucy Gertsch. He shares with how during the year the class saved money to pay for a party, with deserts for refreshments and many others niceties. Right before the party, a classmate’s mother passed away leaving the impoverished, depression era family without a mother to tend the children while the father worked. It was Sister Gertsch’s suggestion and the class’s desire to follow the counsel of the Lord and donate their savings to the Widower Donovan for his family’s support.

President Monson’s predecessor, President Gordon B. Hinckley shared a story about he and his brother. They were returning from errands when they passed a field with a man working in it. He had left his worn boots on the road while tending his fields barefoot. The boys decided to scrap the suggestion of hiding his shoes to prank him, and rather place a silver dollar in each shoe. They watched as the man broke down, wept and cried thanks to God for this wonderful blessing bestowed by angels. He was in desperate need, and these funds would go far.

I have been around the world. I’ve seen Western Europe, much of the Caribbean and Central America, and even parts of the United States like Appalachia and the former rust belt seat of Western Pennsylvania. I’ve seen real, third-world poverty. We have so much to be thankful for in this country, and for the opportunities we have. So many would not even recognize our problems: leaving a needed cell phone charger downstairs, minty gum making ice water too cold, forgetting to add a caption to our selfie, cold sheets on my bed. We have so much we can share, not just monetarily, but hope, faith and love. We all should express more gratitude. It will be the biggest sin of omission among men. We can do better.

Small c Capitalism

I tried to find a cartoon that demonstrated the capacity of Capitalism to bring people out of poverty. Apparently, all cartoonists are Communists. Instead, I made a quick list of people who have worked for my dad since I’ve known them. My dad passed away in 2012. He died of his third cancer. He was a generous boss. He paid for tuition (not reimbursed) as long as you carried a 2.0 GPA. He gave vehicles to his employees, carried notes on homes and forgave balances owed as parting gifts upon retirement. He was the kind of boss of whom you would never leave the employ. His employees now serve the family and operate the business in his absence for we children and trustees.

Mr. Handy talks about a different kind of Capitalism than I grew up with. I never saw cronyism, stock price manipulation, or anything like that. My father’s business was small and privately held. I think the answer to the issue is more small private business and less mega-corporations. I work for a Fortune 1000 Company. We do not have organic growth. We buy out competitors and quickly exhaust any benefit they brought with them in short order. Mergers and acquisitions look great to a shareholder, but to we employees, we know it will be another failed purchase robing us of our needed pay increases.

Mr. Handy suggests better corporate democracy or behavior and more altruism and philanthropy can save Capitalism. I’m not so sure it will. Reducing the scale of corporate entities from the global to the community level will do more. While prices may temporarily trickle up, salaries and labor prices will adjust, just as a lagging factor. The new opportunities in support providers will fill any remaining gaps before too long.

I agree more with allowing market forces to work. Even U2’s Bono has had to recognize the ability of capitalism to reduce poverty and improve living conditions. China’s “state” capitalism is a good example. We need entrepreneurs who are willing to stick it out, not cash out to get there.

Balance

This week, much of the reading and video material we covered in class was on achieving a work-life balance. I wondered at first if that were not a misnomer. The concept of separating work from life seems futile since so much of our lives are spent working.

I then came to understand that it is the focus that matters most. Are you focused on winning money, power, prestige, esteem of your fellow man? Are you trying to provide for your family in good stead? Are you striving to achieve financial independence for the benefit of serving the Church, God, and building Zion?

Many people get lost in the why while perfecting the how. If they could just keep sight ofboth I think they'd find what they are truly looking for. 

I would like to earn a complete grade by addressing the following questions:

1. What is your attitude toward money?
     A: Money is the physical representation of the value of my labor, compared to the labor of everyone else in my immediate labor market. I use it as a medium of exchange. I'd like to have more of it, but not too much at any one time.

2. How can your view of money affect the way you live?
     A: I think when someone begins to prioritize the quantity of money or the triumph of earning money over it's utility to honor God and provide for our families, they have entered a dangerous place. Money isn't evil, it's the love of money. Money is just an exchange medium for our labors. Where are we dedicating our labors?

3. What rules are recommended for prospering?
     The Richest Man in Babylon is a book by George Samuel Clason; it is a consummate classic in the recommended methods for sound financial decision making. There are no shortcuts, do-overs, or "mullligans" in life. You earn what you get, or you lose what you had. Nearly every lottery winner can attest to that. The principles taught in this book, saving, investing wisely, refraining from greed or miserly behavior. All are wonderful counsel.

Negative, Ghost Rider. The Pattern is Full!

What I learned from an amateur MiG 15 fighter pilot. 

I’ve known my friend for over a decade now. The first time I ever talked to him I thought he was funny and abrasive. He wasn’t anything special, just the “idiot that installs the fixtures”. Over the next decade, I discovered he is a highly educated aeronautical engineer, a self made multi-millionaire, owner of exotic cars, planes, properties, and loads of life experiences.

My friend came to me after about six years of working together and asked me what I was listening to on my laptop.  The answer, John Butler Trio, an Australian pop/rock band intrigued him. Where had I learned of them? Where did I get my musical tastes (very eclectic). Where did I go to school? What do you mean you never went to school?

His incredulity was flattering. He couldn’t fathom that a fellow like me: articulate, funny, smart, and well spoken, had not been formally educated. He then offered to back any business venture I brought to him which met his narrow profile of viability. He respected me. Me. 

Me?

I was taken a bit aback. I had always assumed I wasn’t that special. My wife told me other wise but, let’s be honest, she also thinks I’m charming and attractive. Obviously her taste and judgment are highly suspect.

Now that I’m at BYU-Idaho, I am doing relatively well. I still work full time (around 60 or more hours weekly) travelling the United States building data centers and pharmacies. I still work homeschooling my four children, sometimes coaching baseball and softball, sometimes working “side hustles”, and now taking three classes at a time. I see her point.

Being willing to work hard, every day, even when you don’t need to is what keeps you young, connected and successful. Someday, I hope I’ll just be the “idiot who installs the computers.”

Happy Customer, Happy Business

               I was reading quite a bit about finance this week as I pondered my end goal for my degree. I thought I might like to get my Emphasis in Entrepreneurship and perhaps add a Minor in Finance. I’ve always been fascinated with Finance. I was reading some opinion from financial giants and wizards and watching some videos on YouTube particularly focused on the bond market and business health indicators. It was interesting stuff which had me primarily looking at lagging indicators.

          Then I happened to start my schoolwork and watched a video by former Presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina. In her message she spoke of leading indicators, two specifically. They were customer satisfaction and innovation. I found her comments insightful and truly verifiable.

          I went on the internet and pulled a list from Forbes of the “Top 10 Best Businesses for Customer Satisfaction.” The top 5 were Amazon, Chick-fil-a, Apple, Marriott, and Kroger. I looked at all of their stocks (except Chick-fil-a which is privately owned and issues none). All were doing very well.

          This is an interesting tidbit of information for any long range investor. If you want to know a company’s future, look to their reputation. I looked at the 10 worst companies in this regard as well, they included Comcast, BP, American Airlines, Halliburton, and 6 big investment banks. That makes perfect sense. The worst cable company on earth, the spilling-est oil company to wreck a Disney vacation, A cruddy airline, A government crony of a contractor and the guys who wrecked the housing market by trading in mortgage backed securities and collateralized debt obligations and then made the taxpayers bail them out.

          I guess it’s not who you know, but who knows you; and what they think of you, that matters.

Long Live the Struggle!

Listening to Elder Holland’s Mormon Message about things getting better reminded me of the circumstances of my life since my marriage. I married my wife on August 23, 1997. We lived in Florida making slightly better than minimum wage, at no less than four jobs, for five years. I attempted to go to school at the local community college. I was in my first semester back since my pre-mission semester when I found out that my wife was pregnant and had our first daughter. I started a computer company which shortly failed for lack of payment by my customers. After this latest thwart, we moved to Utah to downsize our lives and work without overtime or travel (as I always seemed to have to travel or work overtime). I would attend at SLCC, finally. When I got out there I learned that their residency requirements changed and I had to wait. I had two jobs and another daughter in 2003. Eventually, I started a mortgage company which did very well, until 2006.

          We then moved back to Florida where I started a job as a traveling IT Engineer. It involved an immense amount of travel. I forsook attempts at an education but prayed for the opportunity if the Lord would have me do so. We had our first son. I took on extra travel for the hours. We had another son. I was now locked in knowing my window of opportunity for an official education had closed. Two years ago, I heard about Pathway. I completed the program and enrolled at BYU-Idaho. I am now in my second semester and I’m going to complete a Bachelor’s Degree. We have lived in eight homes in 19 years of marriage, two of them we owned. I’ve had many jobs, been unemployed four times, and suffered lots of sleepless nights.

          I am now starting my third business, working more than full time, travelling, and attending school at night, online, from Idaho. I couldn’t be happier. I’ve learned that the struggle is the point. It would be boring to always be arriving. I learn the most when I struggle and overcome. If you quit, you’ll miss that. Long live the struggle.

Principle over Passion

     I was thinking about this week’s Journal Entry whilst listening to a TED talk from 2008. It was given by Jonathan Haidt and it was about the moral roots of differing political schools of thought. During the presentation wherein he explains that people typically can’t find common ground because both sides enter into a "group-think" where they ignore truth and give in to sanctimonious posturing against the foe. He explains the process by which we can avoid such folly. 

     Haidt says, when confronted with the opportunity to vilify and disparage your adversaries on philosophical issues, 
"... just try to see it as a struggle playing out, in which everybody does think they're right, and everybody, at least, has some reasons — even if you disagree with them — everybody has some reasons for what they're doing. Step out. And if you do that, that's the essential move to cultivate moral humility, to get yourself out of this self-righteousness, which is the normal human condition."

     This goes hand in hand with what Stephen R. Covey was attempting to explain with his rule, “First seek to understand, then seek to be understood.” Many of us entrench ourselves with an “us vs. them” or “good vs. evil” mindset when debating or struggling over issues. Often we ignore what is right and concern ourselves far too much with who is right. We need to find the morality, the common purpose, filter that through the will of our Father in Heaven, and then together we can choose the most effective course. This converts an emotional discussion into a mathematical decision. It only happens when both sides can agree on the principle, not the passion.

Haidt's TED talk

Mind Over Matter...

Over the past few weeks, my workload has been significant. I’ve had long hours at the office. My startup has been fed only by my ability to double dip tasks for which I have little time. My schoolwork reading and video watching is largely done on the can. I find myself mining precious minutes out of every day. Now, what I’m doing with those minutes is that which I really am most proud. I’m spending them with my children.

          This past week, I was able to make it to my eldest son’s drum lesson on Tuesday. I took my youngest daughter to get a full Irish breakfast last Saturday (she wouldn’t even taste the blood pudding). I even found a few minutes to take a nap with my youngest son today and took a ride with my college age daughter to get dog food in the next town so we could discuss her future plans and I could dispense unwanted advice.

          I even got in a date with the wife on Friday night. She was impressed. At times, the weight of the burdens we carry can be daunting. I have found out something rather interesting, in this regard. You don’t have to necessarily hoist the whole world, you just need to keep it of the ground.

          Sometimes, you do enough in one aspect of your life so that you can do your best in another. I have never and likely will never have the energy to give 100% in every aspect of my life, so I prioritize. Proverbs 16:32 teaches: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” If I can devote my best to the important things, the rest of my concerns can and will take care of themselves. It’s sort of mind over matter. I won’t mind, because to me, it won’t matter.

Shifting Gears

Knowing how to change course is one of the most vital skills any student of entrepreneurship can have. One should never make changes for the sake of making changes. After careful consideration, evaluation, and contemplation, pulling the trigger is the next most important thing. I remember my first start up. I had flaws in my business model making custom computer systems. I called my humble little shop Valkyrie Computing Systems.

With a budget of a $10,000 credit card line and my IT skills, I went about building machines to order. If you wanted to do gaming, video editing, media storage, or just check your email and send pictures to the grand kids, I could get you everything you needed and nothing you didn’t for the best price, guaranteed. If only I could have gotten my customers to pay for the machines.

I learned very quickly that people shop with their lion hearts but pay with alligator arms. I changed my method of collections, but to no avail. I eventually had to close down for lack of funds. It was a $10,000 hard knocks business school course/workshop. I regret nothing. It taught me about sales, customer service, and most of all, when to cut bait.

I learned to never develop emotional attachments to things which only exist to fulfill a mathematical need. If the math says it goes, it goes. And that ability to change gears has made my life an easier cruise around the block.

Back in the Saddle, Again!

One of the things I learned this week is that you can’t just give up when things get tough. I remember reading once that it doesn’t take a whole lot of grit to survive adversity. An armadillo can ball up, allow his armor to absorb the worst of it, and roll out later none the worse for wear. Sure, he can do this.

However, what will be his response to such adversity forever after? Ball up, let it have it’s way, limp off after. When will he ever learn to overcome? To fight back? To swinging his way through the adversity, soldiering on, to conquer and become victorious? When if ever, will he learn anything and reach his potential?

This class has been extra tough for me due to my work schedule. I work, on average, a 65+ hour week with constant travel. Last week alone I left my home in Tampa, FL to work two days in Omaha, NE and then straight to Tucson, AZ for a week. I worked over 77 hours in that 7-day span and still had schoolwork and the opening of my own business to contend with, remotely, all in the same week.

I wanted to drop a class. I wanted to say, “I’m doing all I can, it’s too much.” But, I know this isn’t true. I can do more. I can sacrifice more sleep. I can take my laptop into the toilet if need be. I can conquer. So to the sad armadillo, I say, “Hey, if you’re not gonna use that tray table, can I put my textbook on it? I need to write a book report on this flight for my Business class? I will not give up. I will not drop a class to make things easier. I will soldier on, dig deep, and find a way. If I can’t hack it now when things are just inconvenient, what will I do when the chips are down and quitting isn’t an option?

I’ll win. Because I’m back in the saddle, again!

The First Step of My Long Journey

     And so it begins...

     I'm not sure I'm really going to do well at this particular assignment. I'm really chatty verbally but when writing I'm far more frugal with my words. It's not because I can't communicate, it's just that the written word is not my preferred medium. Writing robs me of the physical side of my communication. Alas, this is for a grade so "up" I shall suck it. 

     I'm supposed to begin by choosing an indexing methodology for these entries. I'll file this one under "Philosophy". As far as the other categorical entry points, they'll have to be what they are. Here goes:

Lessons Learned

1. Blogging, by and large, is an act of hubris and self aggrandizement. Therefore this will be merely journaling. Journaling is a word I must add to the blog dictionary as it has not made it to the mainstream dictionary services as yet.

2. I'm going to enjoy this class. It seems it's largely going to be exposing us to the feedback and wisdom of titans of entrepreneurship and allowing us to glean from their experiences all the wisdom we can. Wonderful idea.

Lessons Unlearned 

1. I need to understand better the accounting side of running a business. I'm glad there will be classes on that material as I progress through my degree. Lord willing they won't come too late to be a benefit in my current endeavors.

2. I'm still not sure I'm doing this right. The introductory paper was rather vague and could have done well with a sample entry to serve as a template. Likewise, I do not understand what tagging is and how to apply it here. I have a loose understanding. I'm sure it's "googleable".

Reference and Categorization 

I'll file this entry under philosophy as soon as Google and YouTube explain how that is done. You can learn nearly anything and everything from Google and YouTube.