Failure...

This week hit on a subject very dear to me.  We have all failed in our lives.  I believe the failures we have in our lives constitute the trust the Lord has in us.  He gave us a promise for those days we fail. This is from the 1 Corinthians 10;13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. I truly believe the Lord will help us to overcome anything in our lives.  We fail, but does not mean we are failures.  If we let the trial overcome us then we are failures.  I know that my Savior would never let me become a failure.  This application applies to all aspects of life; marriage, business, sports, education, hobbies.   If we fail then fail forward.  Take the opportunity to learn.  People like Edison, Walt Disney, Albert Einstein are accustomed to failure, but if they let the naysayers tell them are of no worth.  We would not have the light bulb as we know it, Mickey Mouse or Theory of Relativity.  Each of us have potential that sometimes only our Heavenly Father truly knows.  If He, the greatest in the universe, can see it why can't we?  True failure is fear to learn and be better.  I have tried in my life to never regret and I have made some mistakes that have affected me and my family, but I have the courage to admit I made a mistake and move on.  

I finished this weeks business challenge.  I have read some really good ideas from the class.  I wish each of the them success and hope they will keep the spirit of entrepreneurship up.  The country needs more brave souls to live their dreams.  

Family Business

Do you go on your own or do you join ranks in the family and participate in the family business?  These are questions that are not the easiest to answer.  We feel that we need to have that pioneering spirit and do it on own.  However, we feel a sense of loyalty to take over the family business.  Both scenarios can bring wealth and freedom we all want from owning a business.

Coming from my own personal experience in the family business.  It is hard to run a business and have a cordial conversation with the family if something ugly happens at work.  Last year there were 4 siblings running the day to day task, now there is only 2.  The interesting part is the two that are here are the ones who came in last.  My advice to all who go into a family business is to document any agreement.  Make sure the responsibility are written up and agreed on.  Make sure the compensation is discussed.  Also make sure you discuss what is going to happen to the next generation and what is to be done with this generation when you want out of the business.  I currently get along with my sibling/partner, because we have had mutual respect for each other and we have documented the agreements.  We have become very successful.  I feel if you put God into your family business He will harmonize the business.

As for my charity business.  I am happy to say I have reach over $100 profit.  The weather has been so bad here, but I found someone who needed about $175 worth of plants.  By the time I pay back the cost of the containers I come out with $150 of profit.  If the weather was more favorable, I know I could have sold 5 times that.  In the month of March we have only 3 days of no traceable rain.  We have had some nice morning or nice afternoon, but weather is being my biggest foe right now.

Happy at Work

I read a good article this week in Entrepreneur.com.  It was talking how to make a successful workforce.  It has 5 steps: Have a good employees who fit the mold, have fun at work, gratitude to employees, leading with purpose, and lifelong studying.

I really enjoyed about what they stated on making work fun.  There was comment about an employee who came up to the boss, if they were able to meet a certain quota by a certain time, they could spend the rest of the day flying paper airplanes.  The boss was reluctant but consented, but by 3:30 the team had exceeded the agreed quota.  The point of the matter is that employees will rise to the occasion when given an option to enjoy themselves.  I also believe the last lesson about encouraging the employees to learn on the company dime that is relevant to the company expansion. I believe that knowledge is power.

This week the weather has broken into the 60s but still raining.  I am taking a chance this weekend to get people out to buy Arborvitae.  This winter was bad and caused a lot of the Arborvitae to snap or branches hang too low.  This causes people to want to replace.  I have put my ad out on Craiglist.  This method has been successful in the past.  I hope it works.

To Franchise or Not

This week I was able to learn more about business improvement process.  Owning my business in production it is key to know this process.  I feel having a team always on watch to figure out how to improve the system is key to success in the business.  We live a world when people want things yesterday.  I own a nursery and this is hard, because the fastest I can turn around is 1 year in production change.  However, over the years we have improved the quality of producing the plants through innovation.  My brother has been key to seeing the success on this.  We are able to pot up 20,000 #1 container plants with only 3 people, while the rest of the industry will do that with 9 people.  This process has allowed us to be the greatest value nursery in Oregon because our labor count is low.  I do have a great team to realize, even though we have achieved a great triumph we cannot sit too long to gloat of our success.  We believe here that we are continuously improving the process so we are always ahead of the game.

This week was awesome to explore more about existing franchises.  I feel there is some great money to be made in owning franchises.  I know that you can't buy a franchise and expect it to run on its own without you.  However, if you have good employees and share the vision of what you are trying to accomplish you able to have minimum manual labor.  My goal in about 4 years is to buy a franchise.  By then my purchasing agreement with my existing business will be paid off. They say the best way to make money is to buy a business and have someone else manage it for you.  A franchise has standard procedures already in place so it should be easy to have someone else manage for you.

The weather continues to be bad here in Oregon.  We should see a break in the weather this upcoming weekend.  My business all it takes is one big order and it makes money.  The weather is warming up, I just need the rain to stop.

Hire the Best

This week we were able to read about Jet Blue Airline.  They are a good company that has a lot of similarity of SWA.  However, they are not unionized.  They treat their employees well, they did not make a cookie cutter HR program. They understood the market for employees and knew the employees had different needs and wants.  By spending a great deal on HR of the company you can become a better machine to find people.

Hiring people is not a simple thing.  We want the best, but are we willing to do what it takes to get the best. We have to take the time to find people.  Dave Ramsey taught, "you should give yourself 60 days to find and hire someone for your position."  But before you do that you need to have a good idea what you are looking for.  The requirements to do so are: have a good job description written out, a compensation package figure out, and good questions to ask for the interview.

In my personal experience I have had some good hires, but I have had some really bad ones.  It wasn't the people fault that I hired people and later fired them, it was mine.  I did not take the real time to find out what I wanted.  Once I found out what I wanted, then I can know what to ask and how much I wanted to pay the person.

My $100 challenge is not going as well as I was hoping.  This weekend is another downer.  The rain is here and people are keeping themselves away from working outside.  I don't blame them, but my business is very seasonal.  I do know that once the weather does break it will be a great sale.