A few years ago, I was chatting with John Warner and he was describing the InnoVenture experience to a group of people. As he described this conversation, this conference, this experience…he explained that “Sparks will fly!” I was wondering what the heck he was talking about…and it was not until today that I fully grasped this statement.
InnoVenture Southeast 2011 Day One…and it all started with watching my friend and client Lonnie Emard of IT-oLogy present in front of close to 200 people. As I sat and listened, more and more folks became recognizable. More and more of my close friends, colleagues, and clients began to walk through the door.
As I was walking around the follow-up conversation in the center of the room, I walked into a conversation of my own. Yes…a colleague from Clemson. This led to a conversation that led to an idea. As we were brainstorming this idea, another friend walked up and joined the conversation. This idea was growing…three minds are better than one. For some reason, something caused us to stop chatting and walk away.
A few minutes later, as I was standing in-front of IT-oLogy’s booth chatting, those two people who were brainstorming with me a few minutes ago walked over and said, “hey, remember what we were talking about…how can we make it happen?” Then it started right back up again. The brainstorming continued and before you know it…we set up a meeting for next steps and action items.
THEN…and only THEN…another friend walked up. I made introductions and after the exchange of business cards, my friend said, “I have an idea.” This sparked a whole new conversation, a whole new set of ideas, a whole new brainstorming session. This session could only happen if the right people are present and the right innovative thinking was in progress. Sparks were flying.
What you do not know, each of these people were decision makers in their organization. They had the ability to use their entrepreneurial spirit and engage in a conversation around a common theme…innovation. These were two conversations that I was a part of during day one of InnoVenture Southeast 2011. Imagine the numerous other conversations happening that led to exchange of ideas, ideas of innovation, contact information, and follow-up emails that night.
I was so excited, so struck by these ideas…I could not wait to get back to the office to send follow-up emails. We were already emailing ideas back and forth…Sparks were flying! Innovation is a funny thing…all it takes, get like minded people together and a open forum of conversation and innovative exchange. I walked away inspired!
It is hard to be passionate. It is hard to express passion. It is hard to let loose in front of tons of unfamiliar people and express our deepest passion. Failure is a scary thing. We are afraid to share our passion to unleash the inner being that makes us breath freely.
Think about the biggest idea you have ever thought of, written about, meditated over. The one thing that you believe could define your very being. What makes us keep from sharing that idea? Failure? Why is failure so bad?
I have a mentor that has hit it out of the park a few times. He does not look at as failure just bumps along the way, stories to laugh over one day. We are taught that an “F” is a failure. That loosing money or not living up to the status-quo is failure. This idea of failure keeps us from expression of our inner most passions…the things that make us tick.
We have to move past looking at failure as a bad thing. I met an unbelievable person at SOBCON2011. His hame is Mark Horvath. He was once a successful television man who ended up a homeless person. He took his situation and turned into gold. He began telling stories of the homelessness in America, interview people on the streets. He found his passion. People listened. Was he a failure? Or did something special happen that helped him find his passion.
What is your passion. How can we help lead those to find their passion?
I ask this of my students at the very beginning of the semester…what is your passion? If the world was going to end tomorrow, what is the one thing in the world that would make you happy. What one thing are you passionate about, that you could spend the rest of your life doing?
Is that a hard question? Think about it for a second. What is the one thing that gets you up in the morning and makes you want to enjoy life? Is it photography? Is it helping others? Do you love working with children? Do you love to teach? What is your passion?
It is so hard to express our passion. It is such a deep part of our soul. It is the one thing that makes our heart beat everyday, giving us hope that life is more than just that machine of the business world? Articulating this passion allows others to see inside our shells, providing insight to what makes us tick.
Finding our passion is the essential path to find that magical ingredient to make our life purposeful. Do we find passion in our family? Do we find passion in our work? Do we find passion in learning. To find one’s passion is to define our purpose.
As an entrepreneur, it is essential to find our passion…leveraging that internal mechanism that makes us jump out of bed and keep on swinging the baseball bat of life. If we can find our passion, listen to our heart, we can leverage that passion into a way to generate income.
My father-in-law loves his business. He spent over 25 years working for a major tire company making rubber. Making rubber was not his passion. Making rubber was a means to an end, to provide for his family. Working 3rd Shift made his family life a struggle. He is now retired and chasing his passion. He loves to clean ceilings. Yes, clean ceilings of big businesses like Walmart, Target, Ruby Tuesdays, and numerous others. He has a passion for his ceiling cleaning business and enjoys. It gets him up early in the morning and fuels his passion when cleaning a ceiling at 2am when the business is closed for the day.
So what is your passion. What do you really believe you were put on this earth to do? Why not chase your passion. You might be amazed what you could achieve!
I have been thinking a lot lately about the word entrepreneurship and what defines one as an entrepreneur. Recently I attended an event where a panel discussion was set-up for two “entrepreneurs” to have a discussion about their path. As I sat there and listened, the gut feeling for me was that one was an entrepreneur and the other was a small business owner. But what distinguished the two in my mind. I remember a quote from a friend during a discussion that has stuck in my mind:
“An ‘entrepreneur’ in America might be a simple fish monger in Greece. Likewise, a tyrant or tribal leader in Kazakhstan might be considered an “entrepreneur” if he was born and raised in America. My hunch is that there are a blend of factors that can lead to someone who possesses the traits that other people point toward and say, “that person has ‘it’.” ~Evan Tishuk.
Well, let me step back for a second. Over five years ago, I worked with a team to follow a group of “illegal immigrants” crossing the border from Mexico to America. The picture above is a picture of these individuals…crossing the border.
They were leaving their homes, families, and all belongings behind to risk everything to cross the border. Why? Opportunity. Now, let us remove any political discourse from this discussion right now. This is not a platform to discuss whether you agree or disagree with their path of citizenship. I want to look beyond this and understand the motives behind why people who come to this land.
During an interview with one of the gentlemen as we were traveling…I asked him why? (WATCH SOME OF IT BELOW) Why risk everything for an opportunity? He explains, he is willing to do the jobs that no other “Americans” choose to do. He is willing to leverage this opportunity, take on the risk, to generate revenue, to share the revenue with his stakeholders (family back across the border), and grow his claim in numbers for greater return.
You see…I witnessed something in his eyes that I have seen many times since then…the passion most entrepreneurs possess…to go after a vision. You see, this group of individuals crossed the border the night of these pictures. They came from the lower part of Mexico to Altar, Mexico…a small town that was the staging point to cross. This bustling little town was where these eager entrepreneurs would meet a Coyote for the first time, either making passage payment in cash or becoming slaves to their debt for passage. These Coyotes would arrange bus trips and passage.
They would ride in small vans (above) with close to 20 at a time across the desert…unsure what was to come. I rode with them for close to 2 hours along this dirt road, being stopped by the Mexicali asking for money by gunpoint. Mexicali just wanted lunch money and remind those who try to pass, there is “danger” ahead. We rode and were dropped off to be re-herded into big trucks to be taken out into the middle of the desert to cross by night. There are not big tall borders outside the city limits…there are barbed wire fences separating our two countries. After the night crossing, they would be off to find a ride to many destination points across the US: Los Angelos, Tuscon, Phoenix, North Carolina, South Carolina, etc.
This is a story of passion. A story of innovation. They are not creating the next technological break through. They were seeking work, jobs we Americans choose not to do. They generate revenue, and find ways to get the cash back to their families abroad. They might create high impact business that are in many ways the blue-collar backbone of this American Fabric. When the housing markets crashed, they opened restaurants. They leveraged their resources and they are passionate. Passionate to generate revenue.
I have been thinking about this trip for a while. Now, I do have mixed opinions when it comes to citizenship, border crossings, and tax liabilities. But my thoughts processes are focused on the willingness and passion of the individuals I met over 5 years ago, and the innovation in their entrepreneurial spirit. These individuals assumed tremendous risk for a tremendous opportunity. That risk is shown by the crosses that hang on the border walls, representing those who lost their lives trying to cross. They found a niche in the market place and they became innovative in their passage and how they generated income. They put their lives on the line for a dream, risked it all for financial opportunity. Then they began to create innovative businesses. Regardless of their right to be in this land…they used the entrepreneurial spirit to leverage anopportunity.
Here is an interview from our trip on a path starting at Altar, Mexico to the crossing point in Sasabe, Mexico. One of the many people I met on our trip, one that I remember…it impacts my comprehension and interpretation of the word “entrepreneurship.”
Recently I wrote a blog post about teaching entrepreneurship in the college ranks, entitled: “Bringing Good Ideas to Life – Inside the Academy.” There were many great comments that followed this post, from great thinkers. It wrapped around defining entrepreneurship. I thought I would share these definitions below:
“The problem is in the definition of “entrepreneurship.” It’s too subjective and constrained by cultural and societal factors. Ask a hundred people (in North America) to write a concise definition of an entrepreneur and I think you’ll get about 100 different answers–creating a fuzzy picture at best. Is an entrepreneur someone who takes a risk? Does that risk have to be in a business context? Does that risk have to lead to success? If so, how much success is required? And how are we measuring that? Wealth? Happiness? Utility? Could a doctor who saves 1,000 lives in a war zone be an entrepreneur too?” ~Evan Tishuk
“the word is defined as coming from the French, but if you go way back to old French and deconstruct it, it is not just about managing or orchestrating an endeavor but from 2 words — entre = between and prendre =to seize or grasp — so it was about seeing things that were “between the cracks” or hidden to others, and seizing the opportunity that those hidden clues offered. Not part of the modern lexicon but an interesting foray into how words/meanings come into play.” ~ Virginia Simpson
Two smart people that have me really thinking through the meaning of entrepreneurship.
***I shot all the photos and video during my travels in 2005.
How do we measure success in the classroom? Well, here is a little moment for me that made it all worth it! Wednesday of last week, it all came together. I teach Hybrid Entrepreneurship at Clemson…I also teach a business writing class, both classes are wrapped around entrepreneurship. Wednesday was the day of success.
I teach both of these classes back to back. The Business Writing class at 2:30pm and the Hybrid Entrepreneurship class at 4pm. When I walked into the Business Writing class, one of my students had a huge smile on her face. It was a smile of passion. This semester, they are writing about their passion, their business idea, and putting it in a business plan. Each class, a new piece of the puzzle is due then inserted into their business plan notebook. She had an idea.
As I made my way to the front of the class, she began pitching her idea. She explained the vision, the customers, the market, and how much it would cost. She had the entrepreneurial spirit and looked at me and asked, “Do you think I can do it?” I said…”What is stopping you?” She sat and thought…she said…”The money and the time.” The more we talked, the more I realized the idea was great and expensive. I told her to take what we learned in this class and write the plan. You could see she could not wait to get out the door and put her thoughts on paper. The spirit was alive.
As class ended, I made my way to Sirrine Hall for Hybrid Entrepreneurship. This class has to create a business idea that would solve a social problem yet generate profit. We are almost done with the project and I have been encouraging each group to not stop at the end of the semester. Each of the five groups have viable business ideas solving real social problems. Each could start a business immediately.
Two members of a group came to class early to find me. They had a question, “How do we actually make this a business?” They wanted to know about creating a LLC and they also wanted to know about how to manage the finances. They wanted to know about partner agreements. They were serious. They have a great business idea and they were ready to make the leap of faith into the world of entrepreneurship.
My goal with these classes, to teach the culture of entrepreneurship. I wanted to find and unlock the hidden passion and potential. These bright students are the leaders and innovators of tomorrow, they are the creative class. This day was a day of success, they are beginning to think beyond the A’s and B’s…and how to convert ideas into viable business ideas. Regardless if they succeed, they wanted to get up to the plate and take a swing at that fast ball.
When I walked into class today…I could not have been so excited! SO PUMPED!
I sat and watched five different groups give five different presentations about the business models behind their Hybrid Entrepreneur project. But, this is not just a project…these were five legitimate business ideas. Each one, tremendous…innovative…socially driven…potential to generate a profit…created to make change.
But…here is the BUT. Are these students looking at these business ideas as a project for a grade or will they turn them into a viable business idea? What is the barrier that keeps students in the academy from taking a business idea generated in a class, translate into a passion, and produce a viable business?
This takes me back to my fundamental question: can you teach entrepreneurship in a traditional education model. What do I mean? Well, we teach students that we measure success in terms of A’s, B’s, C’s, D’s, and F’s within a timeframe of the semester. It is my humble opinion that entrepreneurs build businesses beyond the timeframe of a semester and do not measure success within a frame work of grades.
Think for a second, if a student generates a great idea inside a class…how can we change the culture so that they see the value of generating this big idea into a concrete business beyond the end of the semester. Each of these five groups have tremendous business ideas, but the common resistance to capitalize on this idea is the grade they are working to achieve. Also, when the semester ends…out of sight, out of mind.
I was riding around on Saturday with one of my mentors. We were chatting up ideas, business ideas….ideas that can scale into profitable businesses. As we were chatting, we were not focusing on just the future revenue streams but the creative outlet to translate a great business idea into a scalable success. If we had a white board in the SUV, we would have been writing all over the place, connecting the dots. There is a passion behind entrepreneurship that is not measured inside the constraints of semesters and grades.
Now, back to the classroom.
At the end of the class…I challenged each student. I asked them, what would it take to take their business idea and bring it to fruition. They sat perplexed, thinking about all the other classwork they had to complete. They murmured about time and the lack of resources. So, how do we teach passion and how do we provide the access to resources to convert ideas into reality?
I say we have to take the education of entrepreneurship outside the walls of semesters and grades. We have to provide a shift in culture. Academic institutions have to invest not only in the instruction of entrepreneurship, but also the financial resources that takes good ideas and brings them to life. We see this in the business world. Look at SCLaunch investing dollars in high impact start-ups with the hope they will create jobs in South Carolina. We see new groups like the Upstate Carolina Angel Network connecting good ideas with capital to bring these ideas to life.
So here is my question, how about bring capital into the walls of the academy, investing dollars in students’ ideas for a stake in the business. Many times, I think the barrier here is the ownership of the idea. What do I mean, well institutions are interested in revenue and intellectual property. They might argue these ideas were created inside the walls of the classroom, giving them an immediate ownership of the intellectual property.
So here is my thought, my question: how can we create a culture of entrepreneurship inside the walls of academic institution to truly generate great ideas and bring them to life. We must change the culture of the academy and create a culture of real entrepreneurship…bringing good ideas to life.
I will leave you with this story. A few months ago, I had the privilege of meeting Doris Buffett. She told her story about her eagerness to give away all her money. She created the Sunshine Lady Foundation to do just that…give it all away. But, she does not invest in SOB’s (as she so eloquently stated). SOB stands for Symphonies, Orchestras, and Ballets. She invests in human capital. One of her initiatives is the Learning By Giving initiative.
“The goal of the Learning by Giving program is to support and promote the study of philanthropy at the undergraduate level nationwide in order to prepare, empower and inspire young adults to become effective, knowledgeable and skilled philanthropists and leaders in their communities. The Learning by Giving Program achieves this goal by supporting undergraduate courses in philanthropy with grants of $10,000 for students to distribute in local nonprofits as an investment in solutions to community problems. The Learning by Giving grants enable undergraduates to experience firsthand the art and science of philanthropy through courses offered in a variety of academic disciplines; and encourage the growth of undergraduates’ philanthropic values and leadership activities over their lifetime.”
WOW! Here is a lady teaching the idea of philanthropy by providing grants to support students in their desire to help local nonprofits as investments in solutions for community problems. She is providing the resources, teaching philanthropy with seed money. Imagine taking this idea and supporting entrepreneurship at the undergraduate level. Seed money supporting the ideas of tomorrow.
I was asked to speak to about 250 students for the 2011 Graphic Communications Bill Treadaway Print Leadership Forum. Speakers from around the country flew in to take part in this one day event. Leaders from big companies like HP, Praxair, Sonoco Trident, and InterlinkOne.
“Get the Big Picture: The Integration of Graphics, Packaging and Marketing.”
“The forum will feature key leaders in brand management, package printing, package design and marketing from across the industry. Their focus will be on how these disciplines use carefully aligned strategies to capture the interest of the consumer.”
So here I am, little entrepreneur chasing my passion in a line-up of big box organizations. So…I did what I know how to do best, challenge the students to find their passion and embrace the entrepreneurial spirit.
So here is my presentation. Some of the pictures in the presentation need an explanation, but for those who attended…it might help them as a reminder for for the points I made. Also…I ended the talk with a video, it is below the presentation.
If you cannot see the presentation in this screen, CLICK HERE to download the PDF. Also, if you want to download the poster listing all the speakers and event information, CLICK HERE to download the PDF.
So yes…the big announcement. The anticipation to speak freely about this announcement comes with the anxiousness of talking too freely. Yes…we are pregnant, as you can see in the little video above. We are 12 weeks and 4 days pregnant and we are so scared to get excited, fearful that something might happen to take this little bundle of joy away. But this anxious is soon to move to relief…it is finally our turn.
After 3 years and 3 miscarriages, Z4 has overcome all the odds. This is the furthest along we have ever made it. The 4 in Z4 stands for number four. Well…the Z comes from starting out as what clinical terms would call the little bundle of joy a Zygote. We are past the Zygote stage…but Z4 kind of has a ring to it. Ole Z4 is just keeps on growing, giving us more reasons each day to have faith…faith to see this little bundle of happiness bless us with his/her presence on September 13th. Yes…we have a due date.
Where did it all begin, well on our way home from our Christmas Vacation…January 1st to be exact, Sarah peed on the stick. For some crazy reason, Sarah has been peeing on sticks for three months previous like a mad woman. We could now invest in this technology. Do you know how expensive those little jokers are? She just happened to have one, and when we stopped on the way through Atlanta…the McDonalds bathroom provided the perfect venue to let us know that 2011 is going to be a good one.
For the next two months, we have been visiting a Reproductive Endocrinologist every two weeks, watching ultrasound after ultrasound. The little booger was growing and I recorded each one on my iPhone, sharing the video with close family. I missed the first one because the doc was so efficient, he did not give me time to get the phone out and capture the moment. He had us mesmerized with ultrasound technology and the thumping of a little heart. Sarah made me swear to never miss a video capture opportunity again. My close friend Patti wrote me after watching one of the videos stating that this little one will be the most video’d child she has ever seen.
So here we are…and we finally want to share. We are still a bit anxious, praying nothing happens. The little one has us attached, excited…it is our hope that you will share in our excitement. Z4’s heart rate is 154 b/m…my brother-in-law is making fun of me…saying it will be a girl. “Ole Wives Tales”…who believes in them. Especially since a fast heart rate by 12 weeks indicating a girl cannot be an “Old Wives Tale.” Why? Well, ultrasound technology has only been around scanning pregnancies since 1987. That is not old!
Anyways…not that I am opposed to a girl, but Sarah is one of three girls and her sister has two girls herself. Five women in this family, other than me and my brother-in-law…we need some testosterone in this family. But, if Z4 proves to be a stubborn little lady…well, I am just fine with her being daddy’s little girl.
So life is changing. Here I am…37 years old. My first child on the way. Self employed, entrepreneur, getting ready to be a sole supporter. Life is crazy, fun, exciting, and I love it. To my clients, get ready…might have a business meeting with my little one. Z4 is proving to be a college football child…gonna be born in the heart of Clemson Football season. Happy Birthday to myself…today is my birthday, and this day marks the beginning of the 2nd trimester. Apparently for couples like Sarah and I, that is a big step.
I was talking with one of mentors on the phone yesterday, I always get a week full of go-go juice after one of our chats. I was sharing with him something my class at Clemson had done that was very interesting. Their task was to find local examples of Hybrid Entrepreneurs in the area, and write a case study. To my surprise, they choose Serrus Capital Partners. They wrote a short case study and presented it to the rest of the class. It was fun seeing my students talk about one of my mentors.
As I was explaining this to Leighton, you could tell that not only was he humbled…but was having a hard time being put in the spot light. You see, a good leader likes to focus on their team and remove the focus from themselves. Leighton has built many companies, had many successes and many challenges…but at the end of the day, he gets up and keeps on swinging the bat. Why…because he is not afraid of “failure” or “challenges.” He looks at it as just another part of the process to achieve what he has set out to do. That is why he has continued to be successful to this day.
I am still trying to think through whether entrepreneurship is a learned skill, an ethic built into us, a language, or a passion. But Leighton said something yesterday that made me think just a bit…we as entrepreneurs succeed because we are surrounded by people who love us. At first, I thought that was just a simple feel good statement…but I sat back and thought about it for a bit. It makes perfect sense.
Entrepreneurs’ success is dependent upon the people around us and their support. Now, we will have plenty of people around us that find it in their best interest for us to “fail.” But the one’s who really love us…support us; they listen to our successes, they listen to our failures, and they encourage us to just swing that bat again.
On Wednesday, I was visiting my Grandfather who is 80. He is in the hospital again and is getting weaker by the day. My pop is another one of my mentors. He is an entrepreneur himself. He did not want to sit and talk about him, but wanted to hear about me? He wanted to know about business, who I had met, had I signed any new contracts, was I happy, and what scared me. This frail man who spent his whole life enjoying the successes of the “American Dream” of an “Entrepreneurial Experience,” was more interested in hearing from me. I still had so much to learn from him. In some way I think he wanted to feel like he was out an about chasing another deal and hanging out with his customers.
My grandfather believed in the customer. He was not a serial entrepreneur, he was a real estate man. He did not spend all of his time focusing on the properties, he spent his time getting to know his customers. He listened and he responded. He put the customer first. In his time away from the customer, he spent walking through tons on properties, memorizing each one. He was jealous of my iPad.
Leadership and Entrepreneurship is an undefined space. What I mean, each person has their own opinions. But that is what makes it so great, how we come to learn to become leaders and entrepreneurs…it is all about the people that love us!
By the way, both Leighton and my grandfather are real-estate men…interesting.
Here is a quote from my daily motivational that I thought I would share from Nancy Eichstadt of LMI. It is funny how this little motivational found it’s way into my In-Box this morning. Enjoy…
THE FUTURE IS A BIG ADVENTURE
Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can.
The cards you’re dealt in life are less important
than the way you play them.
Every day you face a new deck and new cards.
Carve out a niche for yourself in your imagined future.
Begin immediately to think and feel yourself as successful.
To achieve your goal in life, you need to project your end result.
Focus on your future, not your past.
Prepare for your future, don’t live in the past.
Relish your good memories and use any bad ones as lessons in life.
Think of the elation, the satisfaction,
the joy you’ll feel when you’ve achieved your objective.
Carry these ecstatic feelings with you every day
and they will bring your desired goals into view.
For many young bloggers and writers, the discovery phase of writing online is so new and confusing. There is a huge perception that what we write is going to be viewed as the gospel, and those comments can negatively impact our message. It is my humble opinion in that discovery phase of writing and blogging, that content is king.
It is important to create a focus for the content; learning how to communicate the message clearly. As bloggers/writers begin to find their niche, writing with a community takes it’s focus. It is this discovery phase that allows our internal engines to see what responses we receive and allow community driven content to naturally take shape. Obviously the joy is that we are using analytics to see where we engage certain audiences.
Here is what concerns me, so many times we read there is a heuristic or model to become a successful blogger/writer. Evverywhere we look, there is the “five steps” for this or that. To me, blogging is like an entrepreneurial experience.
I have two friends that have very good definitions of entrepreneurship:
“Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. The act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth.” – John Warner quoting Peter F. Drucker
“Entrepreneurship is an activity that involves the discovery, evaluation, and exploitation of opportunities to introduce new goods and services, ways of organizing markets, processes, and raw materials through organizing efforts that previously had not existed.” Sean Williams, Ph.D
If you read these two viewpoints, this to me parallels the blogging world. Bloggers specifically can become innovators with a capacity to create wealth. Bloggers find a need in the market place and focus their writing. This discovery engages that market place.
But…with writing and entrepreneurship, there is not always a clear path to the end and so we have to leverage our communities, and focus on our content. We also have to be passionate about our “product” and write about that passion. Even if the community is going in one direction, we have to be willing to explore new avenues to write about passionately…which engages thought leadership.
I think that there is more than a one stop model for each person in the writing process. Yes, if we a blogging for business…we need focus. But I do think we have look beyond reach, action items, and engagement; and allow ourselves to write in way that allows more of that discovery phase to shine. Writing and blogging can be a place to explore new ideas, new strategies, and empower people to find the voice they never knew they had.
A few minutes later, as I was standing in-front of IT-oLogy’s booth chatting, those two people who were brainstorming with me a few minutes ago walked over and said, “hey, remember what we were talking about…how can we make it happen?” Then it started right back up again. The brainstorming continued and before you know it…we set up a meeting for next steps and action items.
