Entrepreneurial Journal Week 3

This has been my favorite week of study so far. Most of the study made sense to me, the worst being Frank Levinson. His talk kept using abbreviations that I didn’t know! So I was constantly pausing and looking it up in a new tab. How grateful I am for Google. This much casual access to the internet’s accumulated ideas was not available to me the first time I was at school. Just to name a couple examples of my searches: 

Define PO in business (purchase order) and Define VC in business (venture capital).

To speak more highly of Frank Levinson, I want to point out a couple of his must haves for a start up. One ideas was to have cheap furniture. He said spend everything you can on great people and great equipment. Customers will even ben influenced to spend more money on your product if they see you ‘need it’. Another idea he had that stuck with me was no pride. He went on to emphasize the importance of leaving pride behind as you work on a start up company. For example, when a customer trashes you or your product, use that information to fix it. Learn from that opinion and more forward in a positive way. 

I have to mention how impactful Lynn G. Robbins address was for me. He used Charles Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol’ in several examples of good business and good living go hand in hand. He said, “The motives that drive people are the hinges upon which major outcomes swing”. He then used Ebenezer Scrooge as an example of a ruthless businessman, when his motives were money and pride. But throughout the story, he experiences a change of heart. His motives changed and he became a charitable and more honest human being that affected the well being of his employees, his community, and himself. 

Lastly and equally as impactful for me was Sister Dew’s talk on integrity. To summarize a thought she had: Do you care if the professor is fair? Do you care if your banker is honest? Wouldn’t you like to know your surgeon didn’t cheat his way through residency? Do you care your date/spouse tells you truth about their life, past, feelings etc? I do care. And I care how other’s view my integrity. I strive to be honest, and kind, and to do what I said I would do. I recognize my imperfections in this endeavor, but I strive and work towards integrity just the same.