EntrepreneurshipLab.net Kickoff Event

transcript

EntrepreneurshipLab.net

KICKOFF EVENT

Quick housekeeping notes- Webcast & chat are at http://entrepreneurshiplab.net/live

- I’ll check in at the breaks

- 9 a.m. to Noon-ish Central Time

- Slides, recordings will be posted to member’s area after

- Would love for you to Tweet & Facebook all this

- I’m @corymiller303 and you can use hashtag #entrelab

Today’s Sessions- Is Entrepreneurship For You: 8 Questions to Ask

- Your Startup’s First Critical Partners

- Finding the Right Business Idea For You

What is the Lab about?

Helping each other start, run & grow successful businesses

Entrepreneurship is a tough, frustrating & often lonely job

Lab is a private community to learn & grow; get support, feedback & encouragement

Hear from entrepreneurs who have succeeded

Monthly training topics- Based on input and

demand

- Marketing

- Work-LIfe Alignment

- Customer Service, Support and Care

- Leadership and Management

- Products and Services

- Personal, Professional and Career Development

- Accounting and Financial Management

Startups are experimentsThe Lab is your place to launch & learn

Who Am I?- Had 13 jobs since I was 16

- Being an entrepreneur is the BEST job I’ve ever had

- Started out in newspaper journalism

- 3 daily newspapers; 1 sports magazine; 3 nonprofits

- Always wanted to be an entrepreneur like my grandfathers

My Tipping Point- Started professional blog in 2006

- Went from unknown to known

- Started learning web design at night

- Stumbled into a great freelance business

- Then my back started hurting from 16 hours days

- Wanted to build something bigger than myself

The dream made real- Went full-time in 2008 with iThemes

- We build software & training for web designers

- 20+ employees, hundreds of products, thousands of customers and on track for record year in 2012

- Named 7th Fastest Growing Co. in OKC in 2011

Is Entrepreneurship For You?8 Questions Before the Journey Begins

Why Start a Business in the First Place?

Some Reasons to Start a Biz- Create your ideal job doing rockin’ work

- Align work with life

- Work with people you like & enjoy

- Turn ideas into reality

- Make money building something you own

- And ...

Change the World!Make Meaning While Making Money

The First 8 Questions To Get You Started

1. What does your calendar look like for the next 5 years?

1. Block out 2012-2017

What consumes you enough to devote 1,825 days to?

2. What do you want to offer that makes people’s lives awesome?

2. Make people’s lives awesome

How are you making someone’s life easier, better?

3. What does your perfect playground look like?

How do you want or need to work?

4. How are you going to make money?

Passion without profit is called a hobby

5. Who is your pirate crew?

You need people, dummy

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

—African proverb

6. What would you give up to get it?

Sacrifice

How BAD do you want it?

My secret motivating kick in the pants?

I’m scared to death of ...REGRET

I want my life to COUNT

And so do you!

7. What are you doing NOW to achieve your dream?

What is ONE thing you can do TODAY that can make the biggest impact & move you closer?

“Vision without executionis hallucination.”

—Albert Einstein

8. Now ... what are you waiting for?

Q&A + Discussion

Next session starts shortly!

KICKOFF EVENT

Your First Critical PartnersThe Key People You Need For Success

1. Significant Other

First, most valuable, most influential partner in biz

S.O. can make or break your startup

Startup is a baby you’re raising together

Biz should be a shared compelling vision you have for your lives

Before you start, get away together

2. Accountant

Help with managing cashflow and paying taxes

Cash is oxygen for biz

Too many fall or fail here

A financial partner helps manage this essential aspect

Questions to Ask- What will I need to do or plan for this year? (Taxes, etc)

- What financial software do you use or recommend?

- Where do you bank and why?

- What services do you typically provide businesses?

- Do you understand my business?

- Do you have clients doing similar things to what I’m doing?

- What advice & tips do you have for me to ensure maximum success?

3. Attorney

First, to setup your legal business entity

Second, to have someone to call when an issue comes up

4. Team

Whoever you need to build & ship

The Team Could Be ...- Volunteer Team Members

- Paid Team Members

- Financial Partners

- Equity Partners

- Vendors / Suppliers

- Collaborators / Joint Venture Partners

- Consultants / Contractors

5. Mentors

Outside counselExperienced truth tellerNot compensatedNot a team member or partner

6. Customers

Everything in a startup is an experiment to test

The ultimate test is if someone will give you $$$ for it

Customers are key partners in your entrepreneurial dream

Never ever forget:

Q&A + Discussion

Next session starts shortly!

KICKOFF EVENT

Finding the Right Biz Opportunity for YouAligning Who You Are With What You Do

Put aside your big ideaFor now ...

Let’s talk aboutWork-Life Alignment

Misalignment happens when biz doesn’t MATCH you

Save yourself some grief

This is an exercise to go through with your S.O.

By the way ...

Know yourself and what you want

The goal is to ...

1. What are your life’s hopes, dreams & goals?

Questions to ask yourself- What does success look like

at the end of the day? At the end of your life?

- Answer the old question: What do you want written on your tombstone?

- Who do you love and cherish most in life?

- What do your family goals look like?

- What are you financial goals?

- What are your lifestyle and living goals? What does living a good life look like for you?

- Where do you want to be in 6 months, 1 year, 5 years … or when you're 30, 40, 50, 60?

- What are those future facts for what your life will look life then?

- What does success for you look like and feel?

What do you really want your life to be about?

Let me ask it another way

Take some time with these

2. Let’s talk personality ...

Two Helpful Discovery Tools:

Myers-Briggs Test Indicatormbticomplete.com

StrengthsFinderstrengthsfinder.com

Why do these?- Based on extensive survey and research

- Helps you understand yourself better

- See yourself from the outside-in

- Find what you’re naturally good at

- Avoid what you’re ridiculously bad at

- Recruit people to compliment you

- Find areas of interest that you might not have explored

3. What expertise and experiences do you have?

The step that sometimes gets skipped

List out your resume in detail

All the jobs you’ve had?Career fields, industries?Favorite jobs & why?Biggest impact you made?

4. What are your passions, hobbies and interests?

The best businesses ...- Champion a CAUSE (a better tomorrow)

- Come out of a CRISIS (an experience)

- Promote a CORE VALUE (a belief, philosophy)

- Offer a CURE (a solution)

So what stirs you up?

Two tips for exploring ...

1. Be careful with stress relief hobbies, a business could ruin it for you

2. You don’t know what you really like until you explore it. Try it out.

Now a big question ...

5. What would people PAY you to do that you would ENJOY the most?

Make two columns:1. What you want to do most2. What you think people would pay for

Find the top rated intersections.

Now, let’s bring back your big awesome business ideas ...

It’s time to get really realThe sobering up questions

1. Is it the best way to achieve your goals?

2. Will you enjoy chasing it?

3. Can you invest the next 5 years pursuing it?

Count the cost

4. How interested in it are you now?

Rate it on a scale from 1 to 10

5. Is your S.O. fully on board?

Take a next step or reassess & start over

You should know now whether it’s time to ...

Business-Life Alignment- Align with who you are & what you want

- Play to your strengths, not weaknesses

- Pursue what helps you best achieve your goals & dreams

- And will capture your interest & secure your long-term commitment to see it succeed

Q&A + Discussion

Next webinars- The Great Entrepreneurial Experiment

- Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. Central

- Essential Steps for Bootstrapping Your Biz

- Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. Central

In the meantime ...- Complete the member survey

- http://entrepreneurshiplab.net/dashboard/

- Post an introduction or question in the forum

- http://entrepreneurshiplab.net/forum/

- Invite someone else to join you ...