Last Lecture

So you want to be an entrepreneur? As an up-and-coming entrepreneur myself, I want to share a few thoughts with you.

You’ve got to really, really love what it is you’re trying to do for business. Maintaining good ties with clients, keeping a steady income, making enough to actually support your lifestyle and needs…you’ve got to be responsible for these all at the same time.

As a freelance video producer, I don’t have designated places I call “work” and “home.” Work is all the time…and yet work is never. If I have a project I need to do, it’s always there in the back of my head, whereas when I had a traditional job, I left all thoughts and cares about what I did to make money back at the building I walked in and out of.

If I didn’t love what I do for a living, I would get absolutely sick. I couldn’t function through the riddling anxiety I feel about work I have to do but am not passionate about. But creating videos is my passion, my hobby, my career…even part of my identity.

That being said! Look at why you want to be an entrepreneur. Is it because you want to be able to afford some of the “finer things in life?” In my opinion, that’s a poor reason to want to run your own business. Now, if that is one of the reasons but you still have a genuine passion for your business, then great, go for it. But no matter what your reason, you must learn one of the most important skills of success: getting off your butt.

When I was 12, I got off my butt and made a short little video. I just wanted to try it out. Eight years later, I could make enough money to support a small family. I didn’t try it once and then decide I didn’t have enough time or that I wasn’t very good. I kept going and going like an Energizer bunny.

Getting off my butt is the biggest thing that separates me from anyone else wishing they could do what I do. And you know what the wonderful thing is? We all have that power.

The final thought I want to share is this: Keep your moral code. If you said you won’t work on Sundays, don’t! If you don’t want to create or be involved in anything profane, don’t! Make a list on paper or on the computer (or in your mind at the very least), and decide today that you will follow those rules. Things like putting your family first, never lying, hiring within the family. Whatever. Anything that you feel is important to you and your moral standing.

Entrepreneurship is so hard. But if you love what you do, it will be one of the most rewarding aspects of your life.

Entrepreneur Journal Entry 11: Fire or Family?

I missed last week’s journal entry since I didn’t attend class. I was working at the time. That’s why the journal jumps straight from week 9 to week 11. Anyway!

This week, we discussed a case study of a businessman who was put in a tough position. His client called, saying there was a fire currently happening at his plant and he needed the businessman to come immediately or else the client would end their business relationship. The problem was that the businessman’s daughter had a recital that was about to happen, and the man would miss the recital if he went to help his client. He had promised his daughter he would go, and he wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Brother Wasden then asked us what we would do in this situation. I felt pretty torn. I initially sided with the “going to the fire” team, but as different points were raised, a few of the people on that side moved to the “go to the recital” team. I thought about doing that as well.

Something awesome about my line of work is the lack of gravity in the whole thing. I make YouTube videos; there’s rarely any physical danger or heated, intense situations involved.

After processing everything, I would probably choose the recital.