Zawada Entrepreneurial Journal

Response To This Weeks Reading In writing my report of “A Field Guide for the Hero’s Journey” I had to edit out an additional principle I wished to cover for the sake of brevity. This specific principle I feel its unwise to neglect. In the book, Rev. Robert Sirico describes the “dragon” in everyone’s life.   While this isn’t a literal dragon, the term is used to represent our great foe or challenge we must face. Like a prince in a fairytale, we have to slay our dragon. Throughout the book, I enjoyed the use of symbolism and narratives to explain sometimes very complex principles. This is no exception. I spent some time trying to determine my great foe in life, the challenger that keeps rearing its ugly head when I try to fun away. It took a while to identify it, but now the words of this chapter have such a stronger meaning to me. I can directly relate my experience to that told in “A Field Guide for the Hero’s Journey”.   I have yet to pursue many business v...

Response To This Weeks Reading A physical work environment, as well as a company culture, can serve as a catalyst for productivity, creativity, and ingenuity. This week I watched the video License to Pursue Dreams . In it, Marissa Mayer details the effort Google has made to induce passion and momentum in their employees. Employees’ are allotted total control over 20% of their work week, the ability to work on anything they see fit. Data provided shows that incentives and liberties such as these have measurable positive outcomes. This topic got me thinking of workspaces and policies that are indicative of such efforts. Google has taken great efforts to increase morale; to get their employees to love their jobs. I mean, look at their office! There should be moderation in all things, however. Making your office into a jungle gym may be cool, but is it too much? According to Jeremy Myerson extreme efforts to boost morale and create a fun work environment can be ...

Response To This Weeks Reading The path towards great success is never as simple to follow, as we would hope. What may seem like a simple course of action is sometimes met with great tribulation. Running into roadblocks also a discouraging yet inevitable part of our existence. Even He who forged a perfect path towards a perfect goal succumbed to extreme misfortune. Our Savior, Jesus Christ’s existence on this earth was to fulfill a perfect purpose. Why is it that even a faultless being working towards a perfect and selfless goal must also suffer because of the very path he treads? President Monson taught that challenges, even on a path towards righteousness are meant for our benefit. During such times, when we are feeling a sense of hopelessness, he preaches that we should call upon our Heavenly Father; In order to be tested, we must sometimes face challenges and difficulties. At times there appears to be no light at the tunnel’s end—no dawn to break the night...

Response To This Weeks Reading THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE might be my most favorite reading from this course so far. It came in a time of my life when I needed it most, and when it was the most applicable. The 7 habits are described so perfectly in the text, I don’t think my summary would do it justice. The 7 Habits provide an incremental, sequential, integrated approach to the development of personal effectiveness moving us progressively from dependence (on others) to independence (taking care of ourselves) to interdependence (looking after others and combining strengths to multiply our individual effectiveness) The following are the two habits I found most useful in my life, either in a professional setting or otherwise. While all of these are great told for everyone, there are a few habits that I haven’t quite mastered. Habit 4 – Think Win/Win The text explains that there are 6 different paradigms of human interaction. All...

Response To This Weeks Reading The goal of any entrepreneur is to develop and lead a business venture to achieve great financial return. Many people have the drive and the “million dollar idea”, however, most will fall short. This weeks reading talks about the steps that need to be taken to take this new idea into a successful investment. Each of the articles, talks, and videos spoke on how to better your mind. How to train your brain by feeding it with knowledge.   The more we learn about the industry and our competitors, the better suited we become. The competition within most industries is great, meaning the margins of error are decreasing each day. So You Want to Be an Entrepreneur? explains the fundamental three areas of knowledge, crucial to starting a successful business. 1 In-depth knowledge of the competitive structure of an industry and a network of contacts within that industry; 2 The skills to run the daily operations of a small, ...