A Journey of Gratitude

 Now at week 13!  I think I am going to party next week!  I am not only happy to finish the course but grateful of all the things I have learned.  It makes me feel that I am at the right track.  I never thought that Entrepreneurship is a journey of Gratitude.

"Because I have been given much, I too must give!"

I remember many years back when I felt alone and forsaken.  I cried to God to rescue me and help me rebuild myself.  I was wounded and I do not know how to live my life anymore.  And He did help me.  I suddenly received an opportunity to work in a big government hospital in Qatar.  There I learned to be more confident.  I was given a chance to train and manage people.  After almost seven years, I came back to the Philippines with my family.  God put us in Qatar to learn the things we need for our entrepreneurial journey.  

There were a lot of business ideas.   Unlike other businesses, I feel that we were led to our business.  There were some people who wanted to be our business partners who are not willing to invest their money and who do not even have the skills and wit.  I advised my husband to reject these people.  Eventually, we made it on our own.  Like what was mentioned in the article, Identifying and Exploiting the Right Entrepreneurial Journey:"

 After some business failures, luckily we were able to seize the right opportunity after another. Our CCTV Solar Company which is still up and running today led us to our furniture business. Furthermore, our furniture business gave us the opportunity to establish better relationships with other entrepreneurs. It also opened the idea of exporting. We received an email today informing us that our company is now a registered exporter.

President Thomas Monson quoted the hymn "Count your Blessings" in his talk, "A Journey of Gratitude."

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings; name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done. …

So amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged; God is over all.
Count your many blessings; angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

Learning to be full of gratitude despite the trials, and persecutions will heal an aching heart. And as I have healed from my personal tribulations, I pleaded with God to be a companion of others so that they may also escape their current melancholic state. At first, I thought it would be just by being a friend to some or being a leader in the church. God gave me a better opportunity to lift others through doing business and inspiring others to establish their own. I happily do that as I journey life with gratitude.

The article, Identifying and Exploiting the Right Entrepreneurial Journey states that opportunity recognition has three distinct activities:

1. Perceiving an unmet market need (new technology or capability)
2. Discovering the fit between the market need and the capabilities and resources of the entrepreneur
3. Creating a product or service solution...

As an entrepreneur, we must identify what the market needs and do our best to make a solution. As we do that, we create a product that is useful to society. There are some products that are not only developed to earn money but also to save lives, such as vaccines. Some are made out of love and passion.

I look forward to learning more next week about how to apply them to my life as an entrepreneur.