Building a Small Business


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The Church has created a series of self-reliance "courses" or "groups".  https://www.lds.org/topics/pef-self-reliance/manuals-and-videos?lang=eng&old=true

I signed up for our stake's small business study group.  (Manual #6)

There really isn't an "instructor".  There is someone who is in charge of organizing when we meet and keeping track of group's tasks.

The amazing pattern I've seen is how there are so many gospel principles involved in running a business.  There are also spiritual principles and promises of running a business that are different than the "corporate culture" idea that modern corporations are so proud of these days.

EXAMPLE:

Business coaches say: Write down a list of goals for your company.  Figure out the appropriate rules of business that apply to that goal.  Then apply those principles.

The Church program says:

  1. Every blessing is based on an eternal principle.
  2. Write down a list of blessings you seek for yourself and your company. 
  3. What gospel principle is that blessing predicated upon?
  4. Apply that gospel principle.

I've done some reading and had some training on business.  And on the surface, this just seems like a substitution of religious words for similar secular words.  But it really is much more than that.  I'm really excited to have done this.

STORY:

When I first heard about this, I didn't really know what to expect.  There really wasn't much of a description.  I believe that was partially because no one knew what to expect.  On the day they introduced this new program they had us separate into the groups of our interest.  I went with the "Starting a small business" group.  We simply could not get all our schedules to line up.  There was no way for us to meet.  They finally decided to meet on Thursdays.  I was ok until I went to put it on my calendar.  I was already booked for a different class for the next 6 weeks. I was sorely disappointed.

Sorely.

By the time I got home, I had calmed down enough to realize I had to pray about this.  I realized that this class I signed up for before was one I'd already cancelled three times because something else kept coming up.  I was really looking forward to this.  But as I prayed about it I realized I could give it up yet again.  And the Spirit said I was supposed to go to this group.

Truthfully, I wondered why I wasn't told that I'd be blessed for my efforts.  I was simply told to go.  I obeyed.  I AM SO GLAD I DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can definitely see how some people would read through the manual and think it was a waste of time.  But it wasn't.

I can see how people would attend the meetings and go through the exercises and not gain the benefit out of it.  But when the Spirit pricks your heart by putting your heart into these exercises, I know people will be blessed by this program.  It has opened my mind.  The secular training I've had in business said a lot of the same stuff.  But it never moved me.  This program moved me.  And I can testify it was inspired.

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3 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

@Carborendum I am hoping that such courses will be a sort of senior missions for retired colleague faculty! 

No, there is no faculty.  There are no teachers.  It is all about following the manual and the instructions therein.  The groups are only about encouraging one another and having discussions about what is being taught. 

While I have the capability of self-study, I always find great motivation when I'm doing something WITH someone else.  That is really what these groups are for.

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17 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

No, there is no faculty.  There are no teachers.  It is all about following the manual and the instructions therein.  The groups are only about encouraging one another and having discussions about what is being taught. 

While I have the capability of self-study, I always find great motivation when I'm doing something WITH someone else.  That is really what these groups are for.

Well maybe these courses will morph into a university run by senior volunteers? 

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2 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

Well maybe these courses will morph into a university run by senior volunteers? 

To be honest, I'd be afraid of that happening.  Volunteers would tend to be people who feel like they have expertise in such areas.  And most likely the expertise would be based on secular principles which can be had anywhere -- so what's the point in a Church based class on the topic.

The beauty of this system, the inspired part of this system, is that it is entirely based on gospel principles.  What gospel principles are behind success in business?  And I don't know of many people who have done that.  Not one in every stake.

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4 minutes ago, estradling75 said:

Already done....  Behold  https://byupathway.lds.org/

It seems quite similar.  The only difference is the lack of a tutor or advisor in the self-reliance group. Then there's the extraneous stuff like cost and certification, etc.

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  • 2 months later...

You have to maintain a sense of humor, coming in as a convert in your 60's and never learning that, then hearing we teach self reliance. Uhh ok i never learned it

there are a lot of things that I wish if obly and so on. Here is one where sometimes it is to late.

People don't understand they think its easy to just go find something. Its hard to find something anything at 40 much less 60's. Its almost impossible without help.  Hard to believe

that in a ward where everyone is so "self reliant"  to not have any clue what its like to have lived a life totally self reliant. That was the problem. Now trying to do things

according to church principles i have never been so depressed in my life. Stuck and here is where some of the forgiveness enters. I should have been rewarded for all

i went through, instead evil won.

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