Entrepreneurs Heroes - Randy Pausch

Entrepreneurs Heroes - Randy Pausch

April 29, 2017 by Maria Tucker

This past week we studied about a hero who is not a traditional entrepreneur but a visionary.

Randy Pausch, who at 47 years of age passed away. But what is inspiring about Randy is it just before he passed away, he gave what he knew would be his last lecture entitled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." In this lecture, Randy talks about his life and achieving many of his childhood dreams.

Quoting Randy:

"… what were my childhood dreams? You may not agree with this list, but I was there. Being in zero gravity, playing in the National Football League, authoring an article in the World Book Encyclopedia – I guess you can tell the nerds early. Being Captain Kirk, anybody here have that childhood dream? Not at CMU, nooooo. I wanted to become one of the guys who won the big stuffed animals in the amusement park, and I wanted to be an Imagineer with Disney."

You can watch Randy's lecture on YouTube at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

I was asked to consider three things preparing this blog they are:

1. Why was Randy able to achieve many of his childhood dreams?
2. Was dreaming important to Randy's success?
3. Discuss at least one of my childhood dreams, explaining how I can achieve it.

Fail Fast to Learn Fast

Randy was able to accomplish so many of his childhood dreams because he was willing to go after them with Edison's learning thirst. Randy knew many of his dreams were big and as such he would need to accept that failure would be part of the required learning on his road to success. As an entrepreneur, I to have many opportunities to learn through failures on my journey. 

To be successful, you must learn to reduce the time to failure so that we can get to success sooner. 

Two entrepreneurs that had learned this lesson are:

• Thomas Edison, who said he had to learn over 5000 ways of how not to create his dream lightbulb before he came up with the right design.
• James Dyson, who left his job in the late 1970s to invent a bagless vacuum cleaner, while his wife a teacher supported of the family and his failures. It took James 5126 attempts before he could create his bagless vacuum. That's more than one failure a day over ten years. 

Randy's understanding that success often required learning through failures was one of the keys to his ability to achieve so many of his childhood dreams.

Dream Big - Attack Small

Another key was the fact that Randy embraced his dreams. He dreamed big and then attacked his dreams in small achievable pieces. For Randy's dream to become a Disney Imagineer, he knew that he had to get a great education.  But he also knew that that was just the beginning, having a Ph.D. from one of the most prestigious universities in the world was not enough. When Randy first applied, he was turned down by Disney. Randy did not see this turndown or rejection as a failure, but rather a learning experience. Eventually, he became a Disney Imagineer.

As an entrepreneur, I must embrace my dreams and then identify the next few small steps or learnings that I must achieve on my journey to achieving my dreams.

Getting an Education

I grew up in a time and a place where girls were not expected to get an education or to become entrepreneurs, but some nuns had inspired me to dream of a university education and running my own business someday.

I started school young, even though most people in my life saw it as a waste of time. Women were not business owners and had no need for an education.

When I was eight, a terrible storm hit our village and destroyed our well. I had to drop out of school so I could walk three hours to the nearest safe water, fill my buckets and then walk back home. I did this two and sometimes three times a day. As I walked at first I felt that my dreams were hopeless, that there was no God, or at least he didn't care much about me. But as I continued my journeys I came to know my Heavenly Father and soon realize that he loved me more than I could imagine and that he would help me achieve my dreams. It was two years before I could return to school and in my country, the schools only went to grade 6.

I continued my dreams, my Father in Heaven continue to bless me. As a young adult, He brought into my life my future husband, a missionary, and minister for the Nazarene church. As a missionary for the Nazarene church, my husband traveled for months teaching the gospel and helping people in faraway countries.  As the wife of a missionary I was expected to help fund his mission and to provide service to the many that he found. In my husband's name, I began several businesses to fund his efforts and support the many children, elderly, and sick that he sent me.

Eventually, we moved to America, where it would be possible for me to go back to school except I only had a great six education and could not speak English. I continued with my entrepreneurial efforts and opened a janitorial business that eventually provided services to a couple of factories and several movie theaters. I saved our money and purchased a small apartment.  I was busy and decided to compromise on my dream of obtaining a university education by settling for what I thought was the only option open to me. I went to Rhode Island Community College and got a diploma as a Certified Nursing Assistant. Life seemed good in my dreams of obtaining a university education no longer seemed valid or important.

However, my Heavenly Father, remembered my cries as I traveled in the dark to get water. He called home His son my husband, and at the same time my two biggest clients, Dunkin' Donuts and Kraft Foods decided to go with a national janitorial service and I lost 90% of my business. I had to let go almost all my employees and do the work myself, while continuing to work during the day as a certified nursing assistant.

At the same time, I met and fell in love with a highly successful university executive, lecturer, and author from Canada even though I was barely able to speak English and he was only able to speak English. He flew in every Thursday and left every Saturday, until one day he never showed up.  His phone was disconnected, when I called his university, they would only tell me that he was no longer with them. At the same time, I discovered I was pregnant with his children. I cried to my Heavenly Father. I couldn't believe how mean life could be. 

For four years, I struggled with two little girls. When I asked one of my daughters what she wanted for her birthday, she said she wanted a daddy. I too wanted her to have a daddy and a companion for myself. I turned to a dating site, and within a few days, I was contacted by my once Canadian friend. It turned out that he had had a stroke.

We talked, and he explained that he spent two years in the hospital and rehabilitation, he explained that he had lost everything his job, his savings, his home, and was scared to contact me. I forgave him for abandoning me and over the next several months we dated and were eventually married. My husband came to the States and started his career all over again.

Our hardships have changed us for the better. Like my walks to get water, we have come to know our Heavenly Father and to trust him. We became far more understanding and patient.

Shortly after we were married, some squatters with two little children moved into one of my apartments and chased my other tenants away so that they could grow drugs. In Rhode Island, squatters are considered tenants and if they have little children, you cannot easily evict them. As their marijuana crop ripened, a rivaled drug organization since some thuds over with guns to steal their marijuana. This resulted in a gun battle, and in the police arriving. The police smashed the doors and windows and tossed in tear gas. The police then tore up the walls and floors searching for bullets and other stuff.

When we were finally able to return to my apartment building, we found it had been destroyed. The squatters had ripped out the walls and the police had destroyed what walls were left and the floors. When I contacted the insurance company, they refused to honor my insurance, stating that the damage was a result of illegal activities and not covered by insurance. The next day, we found the grandmother of one of the squatters there. She was living on Social Security, and with her limited income she had bought her son and his girlfriend a stove and refrigerator for their new apartment and now wanted to take them out. As I talked to them, I realize that I had only lost a building, she had lost her grandchildren forever as they been taken away and would be put up for adoption. That her son would surely go to jail for several years. My husband and I helped her move the stove and refrigerator into a rented truck.

It was at this point that I decided to return to my dreams of a university education and own my own business. I found my life calling, I want to help others.  So now in my mid 50's I'm at BYU-I working on getting my bachelor's degree while at the same time working with my husband to start our own little business.

I know that my dreams will come true, because I have two incredible partners, my husband, and my Heavenly Father - how can I fail.