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Ryan Taylor Blog

Ryan Scott Taylor - Blog

In 2003 I officially entered the work place in IT. However I changed jobs a farebit while studying at Damelin and in 2005 I landed a wonderful job at LanAccess. This business opened the door for a career some would only dream of. I helped cable up data centers for a few businesses and install Raritan KVM over IP for all LanAccess clients. In 2008 I left LanAccess and landed a job at Gijima AST who were managing desktops for ABSA. While working for them I was given an offer to work for CMS and Mannys in Benoni. Here I helped setup a huge wireless network to carry CCTV and VOIP from enclosed areas back to a central monotoring system. I then decided to venture out on my own and setup a national Wireless network on the 350Mhz band, were it not for the licence costs we would probably still be in business. In 2011 I closed the business and joined MTN as a Hosting Technician.

It was at MTN that I was exposed to a new way of thinking. I was fortunate enough to plug the WACS cable into the network and provide extremely high speed links to London Cape Town and Amsterdam. I also managed the National Links to Johannesburg and Durban. It was such a wondeful experience for me. Today I can say that I helped connect some very large organizations with Internet and Hosting space. One of the facilities I helped manage, had no downtime for over 2700 days. That is quite an accomplishment. In 2018 I decided I needed to further my career and get a degree. After applying in South Africa and being rejected. I decided to retire or resign from MTN at the age of 36 and attend University at BYU-Idaho. I started my degree on campus in January 2019 after working for 17+ years within the IT industry. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Lattersday Saints I had a strong convertion to the Gospel of Jesus Chirst and attending BYU was a wonderful blessing as this was a church based institute. In 2001 to 2003 I served in beautiful Cape Town and met my wife there. I married her 3 years after we met, and we now have two beautiful children.

I know that as I attend school and participate in the courses I will learn more about the areas I am not so sure about. For the Summer of 2020 I am attending an course on business and entrepreneurship. Already I can see that there are areas I need to improve in. As such I hoping that as I continue to learn that it will help me achieve my goals and ambitions. I am self-driven and love technology and people. I wish to help others reach their full potential as I feel that I am living the dream in some way. I feel that I have accomplished allot in my life so far. And I know there is more I can do. I recently wrote down all the towns in the world that I have visited or stayed at for longer than 4 hours and was quite surprised.

I have worked with some of the top fortune 500 companies around the world and hope to be able to do more once I complete my degree. I have a year left if all goes according to plan. I truly believe that the world is what we make of it. James Allen "As a man thinketh" is a book that helped me reach my dreams. At the age of 28 I had made $100000 and was able to buy a small construction business. I helped Specialist Construction Services go places. Rustican was setup as a business to help SCS aswell as your businesses. The services Rustican can offer on an IT base are global in the real sense. I believe that through my experience and the support of wonderful partners we can offer services that will help your business grow.

Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams - Given at Carnegie Mellon University is such an inspiring story. Randy in my books is a man after my own heart. He understood what it means to achieve ones goals. I thought about how he did not allow the negative things in his life to hold him back. I truly believe that people like him along with Joseph Smith, and even Jesus Christ were able to find and achieve their purpose in this life. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he showed us how important it is that we love our neighbors as ourselves. Randy understood that he had the abilty to change lives for the better through open dialogue. As we focus on serving others we are able to see past our own challenges and uplift others along with achieving more meaningful dreams in our lives.

As a child my Dad taught me that the world was my oyster and we could do anything we set our minds to. My Dad introduced me to the book James Allen and I have never doubted myself. I have questioned my values and perspectives from time to time. However I never stopped trying to reach my goals. I applied the principle of Nephi from the Book of Mormon and go and do. For I know that the Lord will provide a way. Moses was asked by the Lord to talk to Pharaoh and he doubted himself and the Lord chastened him for not going and doing. So the Lord instructed Moses to get his bother Aaron and this in its own way was part of the grand plan. We are children of our Heavenly Father who is all knowing and as we follow the Lord we will have the blessing of Heaven poured out upon us. We have minds to think, hearts to feel, ears to listen and hands to work. I know from my own personal experience that when we acknowledge the Hand of God in our lives. The Lord is able to bless us through our obedience to the principles given to us. I know that Love is the greatest commandment and service is a way for us to be the hand of God to those in need.

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Weekly Review and insight week date August 8 2020

Frank Levinson from Finisar Corporation in October 31, 2001 shared some great lessons - The world is not as clean as you think it is - At Finasar, we don’t really care if you’re gay or straight, black or white, male or female. We just care for good. If you are, welcome. And if you’re really good, go ahead and lead. I will strive to always apply this principle to the management strategies I apply. Having had similar experiences in my own personal businesses. I can say that finding good honest people is not an easy task. However its not impossible. Every business will have its ups and downs its how we face the downs that can impact the next up. Ideas are always great, however, good ideas are better and great ideas are the best. However a great idea is only great if the outcome proves it. A good business sets good ethics and everyone that joins the business is willing to apply those ethics throughout their duration of employment.

Finstar Video

Jan Newman shared what it means to be an entrepreneur. He said we need to put some skin into our business. We need to put our money where our mouth is. All business need money to keep it profitable. His new business reached a point where it needed money for salaries and he had to get a loan to pay the wages and his wife would have never forgiven him if he did not make that money back. His motivation to make the money back quickly was his wife. Motivation to achieve comes in different shapes and sizes.

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Ryan Taylor - 8/8/2020 ----------- Personal Core Values :

First - Make time for my direct family members to show them that they are always first on my priority list.

Secondly - Give an hour or more each week to extended family.

Third - Influence family and friends to reach for the stars. Encouraging them to find good values, set goals and help others around them. Making the world a better place one person at a time.

Fourth - Be ready to enter the Lords House through obedient living.

Fifth – Be patient and listen to those around you as they may need your heart and ears.

Sixth – Pay it forward by always serving others.

Living these six values and principles in my life has and will be a guide to follow. Always remember to be Christlike in all you do. It can be rather difficult at times when life gets difficult and frustrating. Applying these six core values will help you draw nearer to God. And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.(Matthew 25:40) Loving our neighbors as ourselves is the second and great commandment. Appling these 6 values are in line with Gods principles. The value of a job and the satisfaction of leaving or having an impact on others should always be the motivator. When someone asks “What is it like to always be needed?” The answer is simple. What is it like to always help others? A job is not a job, it is service to others with some compensation or monetary benefits.

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Ryan Taylor - 8/15/2020 ----------- So you want to be an entrepreneur?

During this week I have been writing a summerized autobiography and history report of some interesting lessons I have had throughout my life. While watching the video and reading the lessons for this week, I could related to video Three Lessons About What It Means to Be an Entrepreneur and how he would ask people questions about how much they made while talking to the fisherman on a trip to india. I loved how this was so similar to my life. As a young man in primary school I would sell watches to my friends at a profit to make some extra money for the nice things we wanted. My family were not wealthy and yet I learnt some valueable lessons about reaching my own potential. Balance of time within any entrepreneurs life can be difficult at times. Setting a routine can help improve ones time spent at work or growing the business. There are many scriptural referenced to creating a balance. Relaying on the Lord can help and I have seen this with my own business and life.

Understanding our weaknesses can help us become better entrepreneurs. For example a person who struggles with time management would probabaly spend too much time on an area that should be limited preventing wasted time and limiting time for important issues. Learning about time management will help drastically improve ones own business. Learning about priorities can also help reduce un-nessasary time spent on matters that want generate an income. I need to learn to harness the energy and enthusiasm to be successful and then call on the Lord to help me succeed.

Some excerpts from the article I enjoyed was "The second thing I learned, or that the trip helped me realize, is that first, I was very proud of being an entrepreneur. I was very proud of being a young entrepreneur. So it became my DNA, my job description. And when I turned thirty I don't know how you are . . . not so young entrepreneur. And then when I had some money I truly had a big conflict between being an entrepreneur, which I believe is maximizing your passion, your work, the energy you put into something, versus having some capital that you have to take care of. All of a sudden you are also on the other side. You are the ugly guys I hated, which are the investors. I don't like being an investor. They are the bad guys. But all of a sudden I am one. ... (No you are the one nice investor Bill, I was so lucky to have you. He never asked to be on the board of any of those mean things). And so, but somehow on the trip I realized that the one thing that, the one most valuable thing, doesn't matter how much money I have, doesn't matter how much money you have, I think by far the most valuable thing we have is our time. If you are a young entrepreneur, the one thing we have to look at very carefully how we want to invest is the next 20 to 30 years of our professional lives. Not very many people have the luxury in the world to think, what do you want to do with the next 20, 30 years of your life? There is also, I think this is true philosophically but if you want, if you are like Sante, this is true mathematically too, I mean it is the power of compounding. It's unstoppable. If instead of doing something in chunks of years, instead of thinking 2, 3, 5 years, you really do something for thirty years that's a lot more valuable than whatever capital, or even whatever idea, whatever else, or any other asset you might have."

As an entrepreneur we all want to be the one who truly succeeds yet the most succeesful people in this industry are those who get dirty and climb into the job be it cleaning plates or washing floors. It is not always how one would imagine when one starts yet it is what is required. Clean the floor take a shower and put on the suit to meet your customer. An entrepreneur is not scared to get involved. I remember the story of Elon Musk who slept on the floor in his office with his blankes and then get up early as he did not have a house or flat in order to reduce his costs. He was willing to sacrifice something good for something better.

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Ryan Taylor - 8/20/2020 ---------- Reflection

Week 4 of the Entrepreneur class has been extremely wonderful. Steven R Covey 7 habits for highly effective preople shares some wonderful insights and principles to apply. I really likes his statement shared "True principles surface again and again in the cycles of social history. In fact, people are either moving towards survival when they live in harmony or destruction when they move away.

Fairness Values : Integrity -- Honesty -- Human dignity -- Service -- Quality or Excellence -- Human Potential

Principles are not practices (specific activities that work in certain circumstances). Nor are they values (which are simply maps of principles). Seen in this light, the glitter of the personality ethic is that there is some shortcut, a get-rich-quick scheme to achieve quality of life without paying the price. It is illusory and deceptive. The way we see any problem is the problem."

I want to apply the habit "first things first" Adopting some of these great principles in my life and work place.

Another great book I completed was the book "Master by George Leonard". The insight I gained while reading this book has helped me refocus my mind and energy within. After a few hours of deep thought. I have come to realize that I already knew what I needed to focus on going forward. Here are some of my thoughts from the week. While reading the book Mastery. I my mind was taken to some events that happened during my first few businesses as my mind tends to sometimes wonder off while reading others expereinces. I want to start at the back of the book as this was the last place I read and the wonderful lessons you can learn from the Master and the fool chapter. The master was the one getting up at 6:00 going for a run and then getting to the office with energy to take on a whole new world. My mind then took me to my early days of starting RSTONLINE a small home business. I was burning the candle at both ends. Waking up early and going to bed late. Getting through a day at the office and then going to see RST customers on my way home. Helping them get thier systems sorted out for the next work day. I was ok in the beginning and then it’s kind of took hold of me and I went into a not coping mode. However during this survival mode. I drew on was pushed by an inner energy in making a difference in my own world which helped me get through this tough time. I remember falling asleep at my desk while waiting for a computer to load so that I could deliver it the next day before work began.

A fine balance between work and play is taught in this book and I know I need to make some changed going forward. The next idea I loved was the concept of being a student or a baby in the swimming pool. Its simple, mountain man said “You are a learner” George shared his thoughts and a statement that came to his mind is “Its simple. To be a learner, you’ve got to be willing to be a fool” much like a learner George explains how a child and learns from those around as he applies the concept of Dad and infant. Starting a business or mastering one’s self is like learning to ride to a bike, swim or anything new or foreign. No one can walk the walk for us. We have to take the first step.

These ideas and many more wonderful insights about his journey in becoming the master rather than the fool is evident in his book. A great principle I learnt is how George starts the book with the end in mind. He does a great job in describing the challenge of being a master. The war with self, the war within, a war with society and the political challenges of life and people. His concepts of overcoming the fight within and without is a battle we will have to work through.

A master is: One who is able to work through all the negative aspects and find motivation to drive us within. Harnessing that energy, directing it to help us overcome and learn as we take on the challenge of slef. The courage and determination along with the motivation will help us succeed. The next question is. What will we do once we succeed? Where to next? The book covers aspects that I feel are similar to other successful books such as "Rich Dad Poor Dad", "As a man Thinketh", 7 Habits for highly effective people and more. All have similar aspects of overcoming a mindset that is mediocre and average. However I did like the way he structured his book. Those who are the best, become the best because their motivations to excel are self-driven and within. If you have to get up in the morning out of frustration and angst it does not motivate for success. I think that if one had to apply some of the principles in this book, you would be successful. This leads me to my own thoughts regarding this self mastery. I do think that a master of self is someone who changes themselves because there is a desire to succeed and that desire is within their own minds.

The self-awareness aspect in this book is paramount. Gaining a different perspective helps with enabling a different way of thinking. George shares this idea that if one loves the plateaus of life it can help motivate. However, the constant need to succeed is like the desire to ride a bike. Win a tournament or attend the Olympics. Many great and successful people are referred to as self-starters, self-driven and self-motivated to succeed. As I read the book. I am encouraged to keep my spirits high, continue my current adventure of pursuing my dreams and goals. I don’t need to rely on others to get me up in life. I can drive myself to succeed. I have proven to myself that I can do it and can still achieve more.

So for this plan to happen I need to apply step one. I visited my dad and we discussed plans to take Rustican business to the next phase of growth. I will be spending time getting some structure and basic pricing for our expansion plan. The road ahead may be bumpy but lessons learned from the past will help us create a better structure and service going forward.

Ryan Taylor - 8/29/2020 ----------10 Bus110 – Recap

As I recap the interview I had this week, and the lessons learned through the video’s and readings. I have come to understand that there are some important aspects of business one needs to learn or apply to succeed. One is the idea of the End Goal in Mind and a few other aspects are determination with a dependency on the Lord. Starting a business can take time money energy and ideas. Many big businesses have failed due to the lack of vision or new ideas brought within the business to it succeed. I often think about Nokia and how they nearly went bankrupt after losing the ability to adapt to the new demand of smart phones. They did not want to conform to what they called a phase of smart phones. They thought they knew better however we always need to learn to adapt to our environment

My friend President Jacques Van Reenen a mission president in Cape Town. Taught me the principle of determination and dedication. When we dedicate all our time and energy to the Lord and our families carrying a determination to succeed the Lord is able to open the way and make it possible. Many great leaders are great because of how they influence others and bring a unification of purpose and engagement as per the disciple leadership video. When we focus our energy on helping others, we in return are blessed with many wonderful opportunities. Do not underestimate yourself. Achieve your dreams and many ordinary people have achieved greatness through perseverance and determination as per Think Big. Google as a company has found that when you fuel creativity and provide staff the opportunity to invest in self for 20% of the time, they are able to come up with some wonderful ideas.

When what we do becomes fun it helps to drive the desire to keep working on something good. Perseverance is mentioned in two of the videos along with my interview of President van Reenen. I do find it interesting how most successful people are those who have the end in mind and take an idea and turn it into a successful business model. As an entrepreneur I must always remember the principle of giving back. Google became famous for its ability to provide a service to the public for free. Today it is one of the most successful businesses around. Yet it has continued to provide new ideas and creative solutions due to its ability to pay back to its employees. Allowing them to feel needed, responsible and part of the forward thinking it helps to encourage a success driven environment. Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb after 1000 attempts or more and today we have lights everywhere. Allowing ourselves to fail and get back up is part of the challenge of life. As a child learns to ride a bike or walk so, we can learn to be better at producing something, providing a service or selling an idea to others around us.

I have a business in South Africa that is small and extremely good at providing great solutions to a problem. So, it is with Rustican I plan to provide great solutions for customers who need some help and direction for the IT related challenges.

As per the story of the Wolf and Cherokee. The wolf we feed is the wolf who wins. If we look for good, we find it. If we look for evil, we will find it. Within each of us we have a drive or motivation to keep us alive. We can change our world for good or bad through our choices and actions. by providing a sense of hope and empowerment we can bring about a change of good. This was something I tried to do consistently throughout my life. With all the negativity in the world today it can sometimes be hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, as a society we have been able to survive many wars and contentions. We are because we choose to be. I will work on creating a more encouraging world around me. I will make a difference for good and help those who need assistance with their own environment.

Ryan Taylor - 9/05/2020 ----------10 Bus110 – Week 6 review

This week I read an interesting book regarding Joseph Campbell and his own journey to success. His book has some wonderful quotes especially from chapter 3. The reference to an Aha Moment or the thought process of finding your life’s passion and following it with determination. or the concept of following the no path idea is how we create our own path which becomes our path of life. The other great concept he shared is the similarities within many religious groups such as Hindi Christianity and Buddhism. He has shares a notion that deep within the human soul is a mirror of divine reality. As above so bellow. Again, this principle is similar to the Latter-day saint belief “As man is God once was and as God is man may be” Truth is there and many great philosophers’ scholars and psychologist have tried to understand the human mind and psychological challenge of overcoming ourselves. Yet we still don’t fully understand our inner potential. This is a fascinating book and worth the read. The idea of us growing up as goats where as we actually are tigers is an interesting concept. I would liken this principle to many are called but few are chosen.

In some small way the story of Joseph Campbell portrays this notion that life is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be lived. I then watched the video and by Elder Robert Gay and in his message to the BYU students. He said regarding a business meeting “We’ll let go those who only want to do what others tell them needs to be done, and keep those who are willing to solve the problem.” So often as employees we are taught to only do what we are told and this can lead to complex scenarios. As I listened and read his transcript, I was again reminded of the quote from Malachi 3rd Chapter - Bring your tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in mine house.’ You ask me in insolence, wonder, and disbelief, ‘How can a scripture solve poverty?’ I quote further, ‘And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open up the windows of Heaven and pour out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.’ Ah, that is what we need across the tracks of India, Pakistan, and other big cities, and disadvantaged countries. To have the Heavens opened. Apparently, earth has not provided the answer.

I truly loved this aspect shared and will and have always strived to embrace the idea of upliftment rather than negativity, bewilderment and or untrusting towards He who made us.

Ryan Taylor - 9/09/2020 ----------10 Bus110 – Final Gratitude lesson.

The best advice I believe I can take from this week’s lesson of gratitude is knowing that others will try and take away that which we have. As per Larry North. “We will face employees that will try and take what we have. Knowing that others will take and take things from you we need to learn to build bigger trenches to protect that which we do have. Acknowledging that we have family and friends and loved ones who are there to support us can help us when things get tough. I truly have found this course inspiring, informative and mentally thought provoking in the ideas portrayed for those wanting to start their own businesses. Knowing that the road ahead will be hard makes it somewhat easier to walk if we choose. Life is about choices and we are responsible for our own actions in all we do be it work, play or family. I know that I have to put in the extra time and effort if I want to grow my own business.

I have been taking a math class and in their we talk about quantitative reasoning and I feel that I need to spend some time over the next two weeks going through the logical scenario of the quantitative process to determine what direction I need to go. I do believe I have what it takes I think creating a reasoning structure will help with setting an argument going forward. I know that not everything can be quantified however certain products and services can be quantified and set out.

As a Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we are encouraged to help and lift one another. I know that I have been blessed with a trusting heart. Some out their have abused this trust in others. Yet this has not deterred me from reaching my goals. I know that when we put our minds and hearts into something that is good and praise worthy the Lord will open the blessings from heaven as we obediently follow his council and apply the principles of tithing, service and sacrifice for the Lord.

Over the next few weeks I will take some time to reflect on the lessons learned and the processors I need to follow in order to achieve the goals of being an entrepreneur. I loved the one section we read this week regarding the case study and found that we don’t always have to start something straight away on our own. I know that I have not created a name for myself within the IT industry in the US just yet and so I potentially should look at working for others for a about 3 to 5 years and build a good reputation first along with all the associations that come with that.

I know I have grown internally through the last 7 weeks and I believe that I will be able to go forward better skilled and prepared to enter into the industry. I have learnt, loved and listened to many who have shared their experiences with me. And I hope to do the same one day.

My goal for the next year is to complete my Bachelors Degree with higher than a 3.2 GPA and then look at starting my masters degree, helping me achive the goals and dreams I have set back in 2017

Ryan Taylor - 9/18/2020 ----------Week 1 ENG150 – Annoting and Bookmarking.

After reading the article “How to Mark a Book by Mortimer J. Adler” I had to give the article some much thought due to my own personal views on books. I am very aware that each of us will pickup a book and view and read it differently. My dad loves to mark his scripture and for some it may look like they are crossed out. Yet for him they make perfect sense. He can see the connections and his own thoughts on each scripture and the cross reference to other scriptures. Yet for me I find it too distracting and ineffective in many regards. I prefer to make my own notes in a journal or on a new blog page that I setup recently.

I will often make notes if I find something rather interesting. I do have a few journal files with all my notes on many of the books I have read. While reading Adler’s article I was taken to my own experience in reading one of my favorite books. As a man thinketh by James Allen and Rich Dad Poor dad by Robert Kiyosaki. I read both books in one weekend. In fact, Rich Dad poor dad, I read nonstop till 3am on Saturday morning. I do wish I had as much enthusiasm to read the book of Mormon as enthusiastically as this book. However, I do enjoy reading certain parts of the book of Mormon and have read the whole book in an hour due to the intensity and inspiration I got. 3rd Nephi is one of those chapters.

In Adler’s comments he shared “You know you have to read “between the lines” to get the most out of anything. I want to persuade you to do something equally important during your reading. I want to persuade you to “write between the lines.” Unless you do, you are not likely to do the most efficient kind of reading” This idea sounds great however I don’t know if it applies to everyone. However, he does save himself in my books with his alternative recommendation. “If you are a die-hard anti-book marker, you may object that the margins, the space between the lines, and the end-papers don’t give you room enough. All right. How about using a scratch pad slightly smaller than the page-size of the book—so that the edges of the sheets will not protrude? Make your index, outlines, and even your notes on the pad, and then insert these sheets permanently inside the front and back covers of the book” This aspect of making notes and inserting the pages to me is a more appealing part of making notes. As I make my own notes on weekly assignments and thoughts on articles and books read on this blog. I will try hard to create a more colorful depiction within my notes.

As an exmaple of a blog in my journal such as this, would in my world be a great way to capture ones own thoughts and connections to the books being read "A book I am currently reading to my 8 and 4-year-old is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming. What a wonderful insight this book has been with all the beautifully written descriptions of the car and sounds. The imagination is so powerful and inspires me to be more creative in my own world. Out of all the books I have read this one has some wonderful memories as a child, and I wish to impart my own experiences to my own children."

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