Week 14

 Week 14

• If you had one final lecture to share with a group of students on what you have learned from this course, what would you share?

If I had one final lecture to share and it was from what I learned in this class is to do my best to focus on what matters most in life.  Money is fun and can open a lot of doors, but it's not the main focus.  Having a happy healthy family, creating solid relationships with others and seeking those who need my help is what I will strive to do from now on.

• What would be your last bit of advice to someone wanting to begin the entrepreneur journey?

Just start.  It's not going to be perfect, you're going to make mistakes but just start.  Don't give up the first 2-3 months.  After that you'll start to see things really happenings.  We almost gave up on our business 3 months in.  After we kept going we have done almost $500,000 in sales.

• What words of advice, direction, or caution would you give him or her if you had only one chance to give your own last lecture?

Love everyone around you.  Ask for help and advice from others but mainly listen to what the spirit tells you to listen to.  Spend time with God everyday and your mind will be much more at ease.  Trust people to do their job and praise them when they do.

Week 13

 What a crazy week and how perfect it was that the weeks focus was on gratitude.  I learned a lot this week about being happy and grateful for where I am at.  We moved to Arizona yesterday and left behind our first ever home.  It was very hard to leave and sad to leave everything we built there.  But I am so grateful for the chance we had to be there and the impact we were able to make with those around us.  I know that God has a plan for our little family and that plan right now is being in Surprise Arizona teaching the youth here.

Our business has actually picked up a little bit as well since we've moved so that is fun as well to get some extra income that why as we still haven't sold our house. 

This has been an awesome semester and I am sad for it to be over next week.  Excited to keep this journey going and see what I am able to build with the help from the Lord. 

W11

W11

Can't believe we are already on week 11 of this semester!  Where has the time come?!  It was fun this week to reflect on the costs of where I spend my time.  I have had a lot of time on my hand but at the same time (haha) little time at all.  Last week my wife and I traveled to Arizona for seminary trainings and meeting with people looking for a house (We found one) and this week we are still trying to sell our home (Stressed out of my mind haha). The market is shifting like crazy and even though we bought really cheap 3 years ago, our profit is slowly going down by $10,000 each week it sits on the market as we lower our price.  

It's been fun to reflect on my coaching lifestyle with the mini case studies we did.  I've been coaching for 7 years and have spent 1,000's of hours doing it.  I've won 2 state championships in that time and with us moving, my coaching career is taking a backseat.  I think it'll be wonderful for my marriage and for my kids as I can now devote those 1,000's of hours to my wife and kids and seminary kids.  I am excited to attend my new students events to show them that I care, that they are seen and loved.  It'll be fun to involve my family as well so they can support my students as well. 

I look forward to finishing off this semester strong.  I know had I kinda an off week last week so I am excited to revisit where I am spending my time and make sure I am giving enough time to school so I don't mess up getting my degree in December 2023.  Until next week!  Excited to see what it brings (Hopefully a sold house)

W09

 W09

What a special week I had this week.  What I had going on in my personal life lined up perfectly with this weeks study.  I was at a week long inservice for my career in Seminary and was able to learn so much about leadership, giving your life to Christ and so much more.  As I sit down to ponder now about business and this week of learning everything I think of what kind of leader can I be in the business I currently have and the businesses I will create in the future and start in the future.  I know God has a plan for my family in helping others.  I feel it and I am so excited to see where we end up.

We are moving in the next few weeks and were on the path for buying a house.  As we went down that path to buy the house things went smoothly but just felt off the whole time.  When we walked through the house it just felt yucky and off.  We walked around the neighborhood and it just didn't feel like home.  We kept moving forward because we felt buying was the right thing to do but as we got more and more into it, we realized we'd have to have almost $200,000 in cash to sell our house, fix our roof and a couple other things, and then close on the house and put 25% down, pay points to get the interest rate down and so much more.  Wow.  What a crazy life we have.  So now we are looking into renting and investing our money in a high-yield savings account and see what happens. 

We feel renting is the right way to go now.  We just need to keep moving forward with selling our house and get that done so we can move on into the next chapter of our lives. 

W08

 This was a fun week and a big leap of faith and adventure for me.  A challenge we are currently facing is making cash consistently and building up that money over time.  Our business used to do $10,000-$12,000 in monthly revenue back in 2019 and the first part of 2020 but now it's slowed to about $1,000 in monthly revenue.  I had a seminary student who is very business minded (who I am going to interview for our assignment coming up) who buys really luxury cars for as cheap as he can and then resells them for what they are worth or fixes them a little bit and then resells them.  I asked him if he started with low ticket items and he said totally!  He said you gotta be the first to see the listing and offer low and get it fast so they are willing to move forward with you.  I tired that this week.

I saw 9 guitar hero guitars for sale for $100.  I bought all of them and saw on eBay they were selling for around $30 so I could make $270 in revenue and $170 in profit.  Well, I have already sold 5.  4 were lower model ones that I sold for $60.  The other one was a rare one I ended up selling for $100.  I am now already in profit with $160 in revenue and still have 4 left to sell.  I am excited to grow this new adventure and see where it takes us. 

It'll be fun to reinvest the money each time until we can buy bigger ticket items like my student/friend and make bigger profits all at once.  I will keep you posted on how the progress is going.  Excited to have this interview as well to gain more and more insights on how to make that $10,000 - $12,000 a month again.  That was a pretty fun life :) 

W07

 This week was an amazing one.  We went to Surprise Arizona where we will be living for seminary.  Looked at the house we are buying and talked about the things we'd like to do to make it our "home".  It'll take about $11,000 of investing time and resources for the backyard (which is all dirt) and the paint and trim and carpet.  I love the talk from Guy this week that money isn't all that we think it is.  Yes we need it for life but if we have more of it, the nice car, etc it doesn't mean we've made it.  I think buying this house and putting a little bit of money into it we will be able to have more joy rather than just sitting on the money and saving it.  I've been thinking about money a lot lately with selling our current home.  I grew up having no money and very poor.  Now that we are doing okay and life is cozy it's hard for me to think that you can use your money to make more money but also to make more memories and enjoy life.  I have been thinking about what I enjoy doing and what I can do with my time to make the money we'll need to survive and have a good life.  I am excited for the thoughts that are going through my mind about the future plans we have and what we can do with our lives in Arizona.

This week taught me that family is the most important thing to be.  To spend time with them and have a career that will be supportive of a family life.  Be in a spot that I can be there for my kids and wife when needed.  Let me wife have a life outside of being a mom.  Just have a happy life :) 

W06

 This week was one to remember forever.  It's been a big week with learning more of who I truly am, what our lives will look like in the future, and what God's plan is for us moving forward.  Having our business was the biggest blessing we've seen so far.  It allowed us to buy our home, make a lot of money on it, and today it went up for sale and will hopefully sell fast so we can move to Arizona for our new seminary teaching position.  I have most of the summer off and I plan on using that time to rebuild/rebrand our business to help us pay for the home we are going to be moving into in Arizona.  I have some plans to pivot what we are currently doing and hopefully we work less but make a little more than what we are making now.

This week's focus taught me I love being an entrepreneur.  I thrive for that feeling of creating something and seeing it succeed.  Figuring out how to problem solve issues and problems within our business to help it grow and do better.

The biggest thing I want to do with my life and time is help impact the youth of this world.  Yes I will have a big impact with seminary but outside of that I want to create something that will bless their lives even more.  A product business that will push them to be better and grown and spark the fire in their lives.  

Giving everything to God is hard.  It's scary at times.  Trusting His timing and His will isn't always fun but in the long run and in His timing man life is so beautiful.  Always put God first.  Trust Him.  Turn to Him often and seek His will daily.