Category: Kevin Cox

    W3 Reflection

    When it comes to honesty and business ethics, these should be the guiding principles that guide our business through the rough waters we will face.  the world will provide plenty of opportunities to be dishonest in some way or another and we have to be sure that not only will we as individuals not stand for it but also ensure that the businesses that we operate won’t stand for it either.

    I liked how Frank Levinson put that a business that treats people right no matter who they are will attract good people.  You may not get where you want to be as quickly as others who lie and cheat their way to the front but by doing what’s right people will take notice and gravitate to you.  This makes me think of the idea that by just helping people with their problems they will eventually be willing to pay you for your time if it proves valuable enough.  By taking care of not just the customers but also the employees you can better retain the people that you have but also attract even more talented people.

    I also liked how Levinson described how having too little money when starting a business forces innovation.  I have witnessed this firsthand in our startup.  Could it have gone far more smoothly if we had $100,000 to throw at it to get going? Maybe.  Would it be half as creative and as hand-put-together as it will be at launch?  Probably not.  I would much rather make more money now and reinvest back into the business as we see fit than throw a bunch of money at the idea and not know if it will work.  Having so little to get started has allowed us to find good deals that we might not have otherwise been looking for and make choices that probably could have been more easily solved with money.

    Week 2 Entrepreneurial Journal

    I think Randy Pausch was able to achieve so many of his childhood dreams because early on he decided to go for them.  By this I mean when the opportunity to fulfill them happened to come along he put everything he had into making it happen for himself.  This allowed him to achieve many of his dreams when others tried to tell him it was impossible.  It is inspiring that he could accomplish so many of these childhood dreams when so many of us would have walked away from them when roadblocks were put in front of him.

    I do feel that dreaming is important because dreamers can make some of the best entrepreneurs.  Dreamers have a different way of looking at something and when everyone tells them that something can’t be done they can still believe that it could be done differently.  I say this with a dose of skepticism because if we do nothing but sit around and dream about how things can be different then the dreams will never have a chance to be acted upon.  If we never take any action to implement our dreams then they can never come to fruition.  I abhor the idea of just sitting around and “manifesting” things to be better or different.

    One of my childhood dreams would be to go to space.  I think at some point we all dream of being an astronaut but the path to get there back then was far more complicated.  When I was a kid I could have never imagined that someone could pay to go to outer space.  This was never even a thought on the radar of anybody.  I do believe that this could be a possibility for me during my lifetime.  However, this will very likely be dependent on me being able to afford the trip.

    Week 1 Entrepreneurial Journal Entry

    One of the biggest takeaways from the material this week is that all humans are entrepreneurs whether they see themselves in that way or not.  The idea that we all have to be entrepreneurs of some kind to continue to move forward in the careers we choose was eye-opening for me.  As we are currently going through the processes of starting up our own business again it will be far easier to see myself in this light than I previously could have.

    The concept of being adaptable rang very true to me.  Throughout my career working in retail, this was the name of the game.  Something would always go wrong if you weren’t planning for it.  It is easy to think that something might not ever happen but it just as easily could.  I’ve found over the years that the more people are involved with a project the more likely it is that something can go wrong.  It also means there is more help to guide things back on course as long as everyone is equally prepared.

    The idea of taking intelligent risks is something that will be hard to overcome.  Much like the material mentions we are hardwired to overestimate risk as a safety mechanism.  by seeing that the sky is always falling we would never have to worry about getting wet when it rains because we would never be out in the first place.  There is not telling what opportunities we might have missed out on when it wasn’t raining though.  I like the way the material tells us that if we aren’t going to become homeless, die, or be permanently unemployed then it might not be that bad of a risk.  I think that putting risky things into perspective can help us take risks that could have potentially larger rewards.