B. Eng. (Civil), M. Eng.-Sci., PhD.
Entrepreneurialist Culture,
Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa and Exploriem.org
Dr. Bruce M. Firestone
B. Eng. (Civil), M. Eng.-Sci., PhD.
Introduction
Do you want to learn how to create significant value for yourself and your family in a business that you own and control-value that can provide you the freedom and security to realize your lifetime goals? Then join Dr. Bruce M. Firestone, Founder of the Ottawa Senators, Executive Director of Not-For-Profit, Exploriem.org, Broker, Partners Advantage GMAC Real Estate and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Ottawa's Telfer School of Management, to learn how to 'Bootstrap Yourself to Success in the 21st Century'.
What is the number one reason people decide to become entrepreneurs? A) To make more money? B) To be their own boss? C) Because they can't get any other type of work? D) To work fewer hours or have greater flexibility in their schedule? E) Because they believe they can create more interesting work for themselves than others can create for them? Most often, the answer turns out to be E).
Entrepreneurs believe in themselves; they have confidence that they can create great new products and services and, in the process, create new enterprises that will outlast them. They are driven to put their creative energies to optimal use.
Being a successful entrepreneur allows them to exercise greater control over their own destiny: both professional and financial. Many people think that having a JOB is more secure but entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs think that real security comes from the skills, knowledge, training, creativity and experience you possess and they know that you can be laid off from any JOB at any time.
Entrepreneurialist Culture is not just relevant to business and engineering students and graduates contemplating starting their own businesses. It is just as relevant to people who intend to seek employment within large companies or, indeed, are going to enter public service or, work with NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations), charities, museums, hospitals, universities, public school administration and the like. These people are called intrapreneurs. Great organizations in any field need creative, determined "heroes": self-starters and independent-minded intrapreneurs who think outside the box, who have the courage to pioneer new ways of doing things and start new things. These intrapreneurs are the people who get their new projects green-lighted and they get promoted too. Artists, architects, writers, musicians and other creative persons are also entrepreneurs and they can benefit from studying entrepreneurship so that 'death isn't a career move' for them; that is, they can learn how to 'get rich while they're still alive'.
Learn How To
-Select the right idea for your next startup;
-Create business models for the 21st Century that produce great results: so that the harder you work, the more money you make;
-Add differentiated value and 'pixie dust' to your business model;
-Create a compelling value proposition and learn how to clearly demonstrate it to customers and clients.
-Self-capitalize (bootstrap) the new enterprise so that you end up owning it and not a VC firm or other investors or partners;
-Use smart marketing (guerrilla marketing) so you can acquire customers and clients cost effectively;
-Mass customize products and services using the Internet so that, for the first time in history, you can get custom outputs from standard inputs;
-Reverse out some of the work to your clients, customers and suppliers using the Internet so that you create a scalable enterprise that can produce more value than if you had a JOB;
-Find pre-launch and launch customers and sell, sell, sell;
-Execute expertly;
-Innovate and improve constantly;
-Make your own rules;
-Learn how to use negative cost marketing and co-branding to deliver your message and capture customers by 'intricating' them in the process.
-Exercise leadership;
-Use social marketing-a new form of reaching world markets effectively and inexpensively, using the blogoshere, social networking, news agglomeration sites and other new Internet tools.
-Compete effectively with hard charging entrepreneurs from China, India and other Tigers by having a business model that can not be easily duplicated or dislodged and gives you a lasting, sustainable competitive advantage and concession or franchise.
Study new enterprise formation and analyze case studies to learn what others did right and what they did wrong. Participate in and win cash prizes in our Business Model Competition, the Wes Nicol Business Plan Competition and the Faculty of Engineering's Entrepreneurship and Innovation Endowment Fund Business Plan Competition to win additional cash prizes of $10,000, $7,500 or $5,000. Learn entrepreneurial skills like how to create video case studies, make effective presentations including two-minute elevator pitches, market by media release and how to make new enterprises or new initiatives successful. Be in touch with unconventional mentors who really know how to create and run businesses and know how to get and keep clients and boost cashflow.
Remember: "An Entrepreneur is someone who would rather ask for forgiveness than beg for permission," Anon.
Find Out More
Study Entrepreneurialist Culture (ADM 3396) at the Telfer School of Business: http://www.dramatispersonae.org/EntrepreneurialistCultureFrontPage.htm
Find out what your Entrepreneurialist Culture Quotient score is using our online ECQ Test. Take five or six minutes to go on a voyage of self discovery: http://www.dramatispersonae.org/ECQTest/ECQ(ns)TestAuto.htm.
Check out our EQ Journal Blog: http://www.eqjournalblog.com/.
Find out more about Dr. Bruce M. Firestone: http://www.dramatispersonae.org/ShortFormResumeParsed.htm.
Coming soon, join our new Kanata-based incubator/mini office complex and our networking and mentoring organization, Exploriem.org.
For more information, please contact: Dr. Bruce M. Firestone, B. Eng. (Civil), M. Eng.-Sci., PhD. Tel.: 613.836.3378 Fax: 613.836.3364 Email: bfirestone@partnersadvantage.ca
http://www.dramatispersonae.org/EntrepreneurialistCultureFrontPage.htm