My Entrepreneurial Journey

 It was really helpful to talk to someone in the field I'm interested in. My friend's husband owns a small accounting firm. He has had experience working for a large accounting firm, in a bank, as an auditor, and for a couple different businesses. He said his experience in different aspects of accounting definitely helped him decide what type of accounting enjoys most. He also favors owning his own business over working for a large firm or bank. He finds joy and satisfaction in his work and feels he is doing a lot of good for people who need help--as opposed to bringing in more money for a large corporation. While the demands of being a small business owner blur the lines of work-life balance, he appreciates that he has the flexibility to work when he wants and spend time with his family when he wants. He has also found that diversifying and providing different services increases the variety of revenue streams he has. It also helps distribute his work load, since tax preparatio...

Efficiency has always been one of my strong suits. My husband will never let me forget how I bored him on our first date with a never-ending story about how I was the quickest dishwasher-unloader in the Rick's College cafeteria. I was literally the only person who could unload the conveyer-belt dishwasher and stow all the dishes without a single plate getting to the end of the conveyer belt and triggering it to shut off. But what if I could be more efficient? What really stood out to me in Steven R. Covey's classic, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was the quadrant principle. He wrote of four quadrants for the tasks in our daily lives: 1) Important & Urgent 2) Important Non-Urgent 3) Urgent, Not important 4) Not Urgent or Important He said the goal is to focus on Quadrant 2, as this is where we tend to be most focused and efficient. The non-urgent tasks in Quadrant 2 are less stressful and allow us to be more efficient with our energy. If we can accomplish important, no...

 To take on a new venture--and be oh-so-committed to it requires the loss of previous endeavors. The beauty of entrepreneurship is that your'e taking something you're passionate about--something you love so much you could get lost for hours doing it--and making it the center of your life. But wait, it CAN'T be your central focus, because there are more important priorities. And here we find ourselves facing the dilemma of how to juggle life as an entrepreneur. Step 1 Identify Your Largest Stones If you remember the analogy of big stones and little stones, you'll realize that the first step is to identify the most important roles in your life. God, family...  Step 2 Place the Large Stones in Your Jar First As an entrepreneur, you must be intentional about choosing when and how you will dedicate time to your top priorities--before filling the rest with you business. One father gave the example of committing to be at dinner with his family at 7:00 every single night. If ...

 How do you find your passion? I really enjoyed listening Randy Komisar, CEO of Virtual. He talked about how people get stumped trying to figure out what their "true passion" is. He said you should never ask yourself: "What is THE passion?"  What is THE passion? We can't narrow our lives to just one thing we're passionate about. We need to have many! Komisar even recommended and entire "portfolio of passions"! It inspired me to write a list of all the things I'm passionate about. Here are some. music, saving money, gardening, painting and improving my house, volleyball, building shelves, organizing, music, exercise, vegetables, yoga, dancing, Jesus Christ, my kids, decorating cakes, nature, hiking, spreadsheets, math--especially algebra, learning... The cool thing is that I keep getting new passions! In ten years, my list will look different. A year ago, I dreaded making cakes for my kids' birthdays. They were so much work and the day itsel...