What Type of Leader are You?

This week I learned many things about myself and many things about different types of leaders and leadership styles. One of the articles I read throughout this week talked about disciple leadership and how it pertains to me here at BYU- Idaho as well as how it can effect the rest of my life. I mentioned how disciple leaders lead as the Savior led while he was here. They lead by example, they lead with the spirit as their companion and they involve the Lord in their decisions. The Disciple leader also has a firm understanding of who he/she is and what he stands for. He knows his values and does not say from them based on a popular vote or a situation that arises. I also learned a little bit about other business aspects from a video of Florina as she spoke about some different things. What stood out to me most was how to tell if a business was doing well or struggling. According to her, the sure fire way to tell is customer satisfaction. Although she admitted that customers do not always know what they want, but they do know if they are satisfied with what is being provided wither it be service or product. She gave an example that compared IBM to HP and how HPs satisfaction was increasing and IBMs the opposite. From this alone she made the prediction that HP would pass IBM at the time and it did indeed happen. That shed an interesting light on understanding customer satisfaction for me in business.
My $100 challenge business is coming along and changing rapidly. I have not sold my set of tires yet but I did add an additional part to my business. I was able to acquire so other unwanted jeep parts that the company was going to get rid of and I am adding them to the list of things I will sell in the online market expanding from craigslist into EBay and such. In this segment ill have a little different competition but I thing that it could help me begin to get the cash flow that I need to buy more tires and other parts to resell.

The Customer is Always Right

There are a few things that I want to remember from the things I learned this week. First off I read the story about how eggnog and how there was a customer that came and complained about the eggnog being sour. Instead of the store manger being apathetic and doing all he can to please the customer, he argued with her and just gave her money back. The customer then said "I'm lever coming back" as they left the store. Its an important principle to remember that happy customers come back and they bring their friends, unhappy customers don't come back. Another take away from this week was the story about Jet Blue and how structured they company. They originally served food but realized that's not what customer really wanted so instead they focused on a few other things. First was putting their money where it was most valuable. They purchased TVs for each seat instead and that gave each customer a little bit of control where they previously had none and just encouraged passengers to bring their own food on board. Secondly they increased efficiency and service satisfaction by actively assisting customers with their bags as they boarded the plane. They quickly become known for these things and they found that their customer satisfaction increased. In summary, spend money were it will do the most good, and serve the needs of the customer.
 My $100 challenge is coming along but a little slower than I originally hoped for. I have not yet obtained by first set of tires but that should happen early this week. I am currently designing a logo to put on all of my online adds, one that people can recognize and easily refer their friends to. I was thinking and I realized that return customers will likely be long term or only once or twice if I market this correctly. They bulk of my advertising is online and word of mouth though so satisfaction with my tires and complete honesty about their condition will be absolutely essential for me to be successful. Hopefully I will be able to get my first sale this week! My supplier has some set backs that I was not planning on having but I am working through it!

Being Different

This week I was able to read some things about marketing that are key to success in any business and of course that apply to me directly. The first thing that is import to remember is that all business are different. They have a target market, a product or service, or whatever it may be that they must learn to market for. The principle of the purple cow is what really stuck with me this week. The purple cow is basically the idea that your marketing has to stand out in a crowd of "cows." Basically that you need to separate yourself for the pack. The example was given of driving through a herd of cows. At first its interesting but it quickly becomes boring and you stop paying attention. But if you saw a purple cow, then that would catch your attention. I need to remember to figure out a way to not follow the "rules" of marketing and to make my marketing a purple cow. Another principle that I learned was the most products or services are "very Good." In today's world "very good" is very common and not good enough. Well even though so many of those very good products understand the principle of the purple cow, they do not implement it often due to fear and criticism. I made the decision today that I will never fall victim to that attitude. I will strive in all of my ventures to market like a purple cow. To replace fears with faith and to do my best to be as unique as possible in a marketing way. In my $100 Challenge business I already hit road block number one. The original idea I had fell apart completely because I could not figure out a way to develop the product. So I went back to square one and brainstormed. I came up with another business idea that came about from some networking that I did. I am now selling used tires on the online market to locals that are in search of a cheap set of tires. These are often 40 percent worn or even more but I can obtain them cheap and sell them cheap in relative to new tires. This gives people a cheaper option to get them by for a few seasons. I'm excited to see how I can apply my purple cow marketing lessons to my new business.

Moving Forward- Principles and Struggles

This week has been full of money advice and interesting experiences. I learned so many things about money and its importance from the weekly readings and videos we had. A few key principles included learning to save and to budget. Every reading I think talked about how learning to save can be one of the greatest and most important things we can do as a provider for a family and as an entrepreneur. The management of money can be difficult but is essential for a successful family and a successful business. We read about how tithing and honoring financial obligations is important for success and many other little tips. One thing I found interesting from a video I watched this week was one man’s outlook on venture capitalist funding. He said that it is rare and you are lucky to get it if you can but he also said that it can warp you into spending more money on things than you should. He said to take the funds but if at all possible keep the boot strap mentality of only spending where it is needed to make the business grow and succeed. This is similar to good budgeting and saving principles that were discussed through the week. Some key take-aways to remember; learning to save money is essential, spend where you must, build accurate budgets and forecasts, hard work and optimism can get you through any low that you might be experiencing. Successful people do not quit when hard times come, they work harder and get through it. Every business will hit a hard spot but those that push through it are the ones that make a difference.

My $100 Challenge is already off to an interesting start. I tried to develop the product I wanted to sell and I have not been able to even get a working prototype. As a result I have solicited some outside help as well as formulated a backup business plan in a different area of business. As research continues and I try to make a sellable product, it will be import for me to keep my costs low as not to exceed me startup cost limit. If all else fails, I will switch to my second idea in which I will be obtaining used tires and selling them on the used retail market. Both are great ideas and I think both have great potential for success but I’m excited to see what I can make happen this next week.