Posts tagged characteristics entrepreneur
Are you an Entrepreneur? Here’s a Challenge for you
Dec 7th
I recently came across an interesting video from Stamford University’s Entrepreneurship program. A professor there came up with an interesting challenge for her entrepreneurship students. First she formed them into groups then gave them each “seed funding” of $5. The groups had 4-5 days to plan and then had 2 hours to make as much money as possible after their envelope was opened. Afterward the groups presented their findings and outcome in front of the class.
There were some really creative ideas. The team that generated the most money actually ended up selling their 3 minute presentation slot to a company interested in recruiting the students.
Some ideas that I think would do quite well include:
1) Buying tickets and cans then raffling off “dates” for group members. (This depends on the attractiveness of the group members. This could also be an auction where the highest bidder wins the date)
2) Massages for $X or doing them free for donations.
3) Hold a focus group for businesses in the area so they can better understand and reach college/grad students. Call restaurants and solicit food donations. This focus group concept could be held for almost any vertical. You could simply give the participants a free lunch and charge the companies $10-$20.
4) Hold a educational session on how to use twitter or new media to grow your business. Again lunch would be provided through solicitations and you would charge people to attend.
5) Call a magician or other skilled person (artist, musician, etc) and invite local parents and kids (or the talent’s target market). Convince the talent to perform for free to get his name out there and request $10 for admission for attendees giving half to charity. People give their money away a lot easier when they know a portion goes to charity. You could also get food donated for this event as well.
Well it’s late and that’s all I got for now. I may add some more later.
What do you think about this challenge? Which was your favorite of my ideas? What would you do with $5 and 2 hours to generate the most money possible?
Ideas Versus Implementation
Feb 24th
So many people have ideas for ventures they feel would succeed. They keep these ideas in the back of their mind and think that one day they may find the time or money to actually launch it. This will rarely ever happen….Great things may come to those who wait, but are left over from those who hustle. 
It’s all based on risk and return. If you are involved in a venture that needs full attention to succeed it’s ok to put other ideas on the back burner. However, I feel that just as a successful student may take 5 classes at a time and be able to get good grades in all of them, if you delegate your time and resources properly you can do, and succeed, in multiple ventures at a time. Again if you are involved in a venture that needs your full attention to succeed and feel the return will be worth it, by all means that venture should have nearly all of your energy. However if it doesn’t and you can put people or resources in place to make something happen….why not?
Diversification is key to obtaining wealth (Any investor worth their commission, or degree would tell you the same). If you have your hands in a bunch of different endeavors and have proper people in place to help them grow, your likely hood for success & wealth rises immensely.
I can’t tell you how many times that I had an idea that I thought would do great and then someone else launches it. I take it as a compliment, however compliments won’t put dollars in your bank account. Ideas are really nothing until they’re implimented.
If you have an idea that you feel could be a success and don’t already have your hands in too much, what are you waiting for? You don’t want to be that guy (or girl) that says “Hey….I had that idea” after a million dollar company is born.
There are ways to fund or grow a company with slim to no budget.
Make it happen!
