Overcoming Goliaths

 

    The first step is always hard.  The pain can still be felt in the second step, third step... until you feel numb as if everything is normal.  That is the road to mastery... The road to success.  It is not smooth.  It might be stony and rough... and it is uphill!  The question is do I really want to climb it!  Do I have what it takes to reach my vision?  The message in Rollins Lesson Series "You Can Do Anything," really inspired me.

    I need not doubt myself because God is with me.  Who can be against me, if God is with me?  When I think of this statement, I am strengthened.  I feel that I can do a lot of things.  If I have a righteous vision, I know God will be my companion to achieve all those things.  My business is also my mission.  

    There are so many hardships rooted in poverty.  We have a lot of wonderful people whom we can help endure joyfully and comfortably.  I pray for strength as I stay and pull the harness, that I may also find these people worthy of help to stay and pull the harness with me.  As Elder Holland mentioned in his talk that good things will come but we need to keep on trying.  I need to keep trying for myself, my family, and those who are pleading for mercy from God.  May I be an instrument of God to answer their prayers. And may I also empower them so they can be an answer to someone else's prayer too.

    That is what I have in my heart... I hope God will allow me to be an instrument for blessings to flow from His hands, to my hands, and to others.  

    Action Hero - David Harrington gave some tips on how my vision can happen:

    This is literally true.  I am still adjusting to making quotations for huge orders.  I need to get used to it because not all who receive quotations will lead to sales.  I need to increase my customers to increase purchases so I can increase my average order per month, and per year.  I need to focus on what my brand is so I know my target market.  I still need to learn a lot.  I am glad that God is making resources available for me to learn things I do not know yet.

    I am now looking forward to reading the next book, "The Field Guide to Hero's journey."  I am sure that I will learn a lot that will equip me in being an entrepreneurial hero!

Keeping the passion

 

    I would like to focus on three lessons I've learned for Week 7 modules.  One from Gandhi, "They cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them."  Many times, we get discouraged and stop pursuing what we truly love to do.  In addition to causing more pain, focusing on the remarks of others clouds the mind and clouds judgement.  In the future, we believe these fallacies and think about ourselves in light of what others say about us.  We can stop this by believing that we are children of God.  We are endowed with divine qualities.  Therefore, we are eligible to make miracles in our lives.  Even if others do not respect us or speak unkind words to us, we can still be confident of ourselves... high morale... with self-respect...  It can never be taken away from us unless we allow it as stated by Gandhi.

    We are of course, not perfect.  There will be times that we forget and make mistakes.  Like what President Gordon B. Hinkley said, we should discipline ourselves when we find ourselves slipping under the pressure of circumstances.  Doing this will help us to be true to ourselves, true to our God.

    Lastly, I would like to follow the counsels of Pres Hinckley to be that friend someone can rely on.  Someone who will be there through thick and thin.  As husband and wife with four kids and businesses, it is so easy to always be irritated and get into arguments.  However, we can also strive to be the very best friends.  Of all people, we are the ones who should understand each other the most.  I felt that as we both strive to be nice, understanding, and sweet towards one another, more blessings flow into our family, both spiritually and temporally.  I felt that God trusts us more.  My efforts to be a good friend to others, particularly to other new entrepreneurs, have led me to find more opportunities.  

    Although I am feeling pressure right now, I consider these pressures a good thing because they allow me to grow as an entrepreneur.  Having God as my guide, I know I can accomplish these things even when I have limited time to study.  I am sure God will speak to me as I study the lessons in the future.  I can be the kind of entrepreneur He wants me to be.

I am an Entrepreneur

 

I almost saw Monalisa's painting when I had a short trip to Paris after the trade fair in Germany.  There was a long queue to view her painting which was painted by the infamous Leonardo da Vinci.  One of his quotations mentioned in the talk of Elder Tanner was that "the height of a man's success is gauged by his self-mastery..."  Self-mastery is not achieved with comfort but with trials.  Attending a trade fair was definitely not a bed of roses.   It is full of pressure.  The onsite coordinators I am expecting to perform their duties did not meet my expectations.  The ethical style distinction banner which I worked hard for our company to receive was not hung.  Most of my efforts were wasted.  However, rather than dwell on negativity, I trusted in the Lord.  

Last week's message of Jeff Sanderer says that:

I went to the Temple and Church.  So despite all the trials, I know God will help me.  Because our booth is small for ten companies, the coordinator asked me to bring only three products.  According to him, the space needs to be divided equally, but looking at all the companies, I felt bad that I only had two products displayed and my big mirror was tucked behind other companies' products.  Despite speaking to the assigned person about all my complaints, I had no success.  As a new company like mine, I had no voice, but God heard me. Who could possibly receive client inquiries when I'm surrounded by so many other companies with so many products?  The only thing I displayed was my nesting tables and ottoman, but because I was standing next to them, companies seeking suppliers approached me.  God made me visible when I know I am not.  Now, it is time for me to allow miracles to flow as I continuously communicate with these clients and seal the deal.  I managed to control my emotions and turn the disappointment I felt into an inspiration to trust God and work harder.  I indeed got lucky!  I am though, still in the process of self-mastery.

Here's my picture at the trade fair:

These teachings from the Acton foundation are a good reminder:  

Knowledge is power.  Out of the three areas of knowledge mentioned, Industry knowledge is of utmost importance.  Once you get this knowledge, you can easily identify and take the extraordinary opportunity.  I am glad that networking helped me get more knowledge of how to deal with the foreign market.  God sent me the mentors I need.  A few weeks ago, I was asking for miracles.  I asked God to send me mentors I need to guide me in exporting procedures.  I realized, he surrounded me with experienced exporters who are not selfish to share what they know.  They became good friends of mine. 

I am amazed at how the modules are arranged.  The lessons are just at the right timing with what's happening in my life right now.  I am looking forward to learning a lot more.  All of these will help as I master myself as an entrepreneur.  

May God bless my mind with more new designs.  May God soften the hearts of my clients to trust our company so that in so doing, we can help more people in the community by providing jobs for them.

Mastery

This week has been a circus!  But the week's readings have been a blessing to me.  Currently, I am attending a trade fair at Messe Frankfurt, Germany.  And I choose to be what Lord Acton describes as wise, someone who does at once what the fool does at last!  Despite what people think, I must persevere and do what appears to be impossible. 

I learned many things from Jeff Sandefer's video, and even want to take part in some of the activities he discussed.  In his lecture, he described the experiment he had his students perform.  During this experiment, they will interview ten role models and ask them about their triumphs, regrets, and lessons that they wish they had known sooner.  

Finding out what you're good at is sometimes hard.  Jeff Sandefer has another suggestion on how to do this.  He said, to experiment by asking five people what they think you do better than anyone else.  By doing this you will learn that answers are consistent.  There are things you do better than anyone else. That is something you're good at which you can nurture.

My favorite piece of advice from him is to write a labeled letter to self.  That is kept in a bottle to be read when faced with great temptations. I had written 2 letters before. When I was 14, I wrote a letter that I've read when I was 18.  I was amazed at how mature I was at that age.  I also needed that advice from myself.  Another letter I wrote when I was 18, which I've read after my mission.  I really needed wise counsel from someone who knew me.  And hearing “me” helped a lot.  I truly needed my words of wisdom.  I will continue doing this activity.  This time, like Jeff Sanderer said, I will label the letter.  This will help me know which specific letter will help me in my current situation.

President James E. Faust said this in one of his talks...

It is important to persevere.  There is no room for dwelling on failures if a person wants to succeed.  I choose to always get up whenever I fall down.  I am thankful for the healing hand of God. Whenever I feel like breaking, He is there.

I look forward to learning from next week's lessons and from the book "Mastery."