Week 9 -- Continuous Improvement w/ Systems Thinking

Skills:

Every business or nonprofit movement requires continuous assessment by its team to grow in the right direction.  At the heart of this assessment is a "systems" view, understanding that no one part of anything can be viewed in isolation from its broader system.  

We discussed principles from the following video presentations:

Eric Berlow:  Simplifying Complexity
(3.5 min video on systems analysis from ecologist’s perspective)

A Systems Story
(4 min.  really great video.)

Tom Wujek:  Got a Wicked Problem?  First Tell Me How You Draw Toast
(excellent activity in systems thinking and collaborative visualization)

We then explored systems analysis using Tom Wujek's Draw Toast Activities, starting with drawing the process for making toast.  Here is the classes favorite picture, Jin's alternative #2, in which a mother gives birth to a baby and simply names her/him "Toast."  

Each Student approached the step-by-step analysis differently.  We could see how each person's unique approach to this process contributed different elements that could be used in creating a comprehensive, better collaborative process.  We tried this with another process dear to the hearts of our Students:  "how should parents assign chores to their children?"

The Students started by mapping this process individually, and then breaking out into teams of four to collaborate on a group design.  One unique team proposal included a "level-up" approach from video gaming in which the children choose to take on a more challenging set of chores for a reward.  (Parents, take note.)

Thomas took on the tool of collaborative visualization in exploring possible flavors for his cactus juice.  He and a group of students wrote out their best ideas on colored cards and then used clustering and laddering to arrange the best ideas and come up with news ones. 

Guest:

Rob Brunt of Blueline Services.  

Like our Students, Rob jumped into entrepreneurship in high school. He joined DECA and took his marketing presentation to wins at the state and regional championships.  

Rob's training included joint degrees in marketing and Russian at the U of U, an MBA from Thunderbird, time in DC developing foreign-sourcing proposals for the Senate Energy Committee, and work overseas.  
  
After interviewing with global finance firms in New York, Rob realized that his heart was in striking his own path as an entrepreneur.  Instead of taking the traditional track with an established firm, he moved his family to Minnesota to work closely with an investor who helped him launch Blueline.  Rob has since started other businesses and plans to continue doing more.  

Rob continually asks himself, "how can I leverage technology to make something easier?"  He sees answers to this question everywhere, and laments, "there are so many cool ways to make money with new ideas, but so little time."

He challenged our Students to continually ask the key question in considering their businesses and nonprofits:  "is your idea sustainable."  He also encouraged them never to fear making mistakes.  Making mistakes is simply part of the necessary process required to get an idea to market.  

Soapbox:  

Parents, please watch the Systems Story video.  It is short, only 4 minutes long.  You'll love it.  It applies systems thinking to relationships and family life.  

Challenge:  

The challenge this week is to apply methods of systems thinking and collaborative visualization to any aspect of your business.  These tools have powerful application.  

Call Outs:  

Thomas brought in his latest cactus juice recipe to class for taste testing and public feedback.  Everyone loved it, and nobody died.  Great application of basic marketing research principles, Thomas!

Next Week:  

We will study leadership next week and prepare to launch our business / nonprofit offerings.  Next Saturday, Nov. 14, is the Utah Junior Entrepreneurs Fair.  Be there early to set up.  The fair is open to the public from 9:00 - 11:30 a.m.  Please come and support our Students.  

Representatives from the University of Utah's Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute will be at the fair to review our Student's work.   

Week 8 -- Sell

Pillars:

(Coming soon.  David.)

Skills:

We pulled key sales principles (discussion led by the Students) from the following video presentations:  

Jeffery Gitomer's

The Two Most Important Words In Sales

Sales Training - Closing the sale -- the definitive answers you won't like.

Dr. Robert Cialdini and Steve Martin: Science of persuasion

(this is an excellent video on ethical ways to persuade and build commitment)

Then we studied application of these principles while watching Grant Cardone handle two actual live sales calls.  

Key points from the discussion: 

• The first sell is always "you" because either you have established credibility or you haven't.
• Build trust by carrying a positive presence, knowing the customer, knowing the product, and preparing for the sale. 
• Sales are "earned," not "closed."
• Listen well. 
• Asking questions engages people.
• Only promise what you are willing to deliver. 
• Resolve concerns head on -- don't cover them up.
• Lead with small commitments before going big. 
• Make a personal connection and follow up with a personal touch, like a gift.
• Show the reasons why the offering will help the customer.  
• Cement the commitment by asking, "is there any reason you'd change your mind?"
• Ask for other contacts and referrals.  

Guest:

Jeff Kirkham, serial inventor and entrepreneur. 

Jeff has logged 28 years of military service.  He spent his career primarily in the Army Special Forces, serving in various location in the middle east, including Iraq.  

After retiring from military service, Jeff began inventing and building businesses around his inventions.  He currently holds nine patents.  

His inventions that interested our Students the most were his Ready man cards, credit-card size tools for emergency situations.  (He gave us samples of these.)  And his RATS tourniquet.

To generate new ideas, Jeff advised our young entrepreneurs, "walk around Toys R Us."  "That place is full of ideas," he explained.  

Jeff advised us to watch for opportunity amidst change.  He explained that the Internet is quickly transforming the old factory/dealership/distributor/retailer model of business.  He showed us a small package he had recently received directly from the factory in China (after ordering on the Wish app) and asked us to consider how this new exchange model would impact business and create new opportunity.  

Jeff encouraged us to be willing to "fail faster," experimenting with the market.  "Get rid of your ego, and be willing to learn from your mistakes."  He told the story of his experimenting with social-media marketing by trying to sell coffee to a certain market segment.  The experiment was astonishingly successful, and his coffee company is struggling to keep up with orders.  From the experiment, Jeff's team learned that Facebook can be an unprecedented marketing tool with its data analytics, and that its easy to sell humor, a point several Students took to heart.   

Challenge:  

Get out and sell!  Take pre-orders if your product or service offering is not ready.  

Week 7 -- Online Marketing & Social Media

Pillars:

(Coming soon.  David.)

Skills:

Alexis Ohanian of Reddit, “How to make a splash in social media”
Seth Godin, “How to get your ideas to spread”

After watching the following video presentations, our Students led a great discussion around these points: 

• The Internet provides a level playing field for anyone with great idea. 
• The greatest advantage of Internet marketing is that it costs virtually nothing. 
• The disadvantage is that the marketer may have to give up some control over the direction and outcome of the business or movement.  
• The key to getting noticed in the Information Age is to create something remarkable (the purple cow example).  That's what ultimately gets noticed, build, sold, and moved. 
• Taking the traditional "safe" road in marketing can be the most dangerous path of all. 
• Find the people with Otaku, the early adopters who really car about the product or idea you are selling, and they will do the marketing for you.

Guest:

Kelly Cassady, owner of Letter 23, a ad/marketing agency.  (Check out Kelly's print ads in his sample portfolio -- very funny.)

Kelly shared 5 rules to pursuing our marketing plans:

1. Know your goals.
2. Know your audience (customer and competitors).  
3. Be creative (purple-cow principle). 
4. Be consistent.  
5. Repeat often.  

He also helped our crew generate ideas for cheap web development.  

Challenge:  

Get your business online.  Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (even if it is just to show your future customers what you’re up to on a blog).  Explore simple website building tools.  

Week 6 -- Marketing Imagery Set

(We had a shortened week due to the UEA convention.)

Pillars:

What is the difference between money and currency? This week in Pillars we started with this question.  Currency is built upon consumer confidence. It is a medium of exchange, it is portable, fungible, durable and divisible.  Money is all these things as well but stores its value over long period of time.

We then looked at historically every fiat currency has led to overspending by its government, and how for the first time every nation on earth is practicing the use of fiat currency.  History shows that this will open up a great transfer of wealth, and for the young entrepreneur to constantly look for ways to navigate this transfer.

We also examined other economic principles: inflation, deflation, Keynesian economics, and quantitative easing, considering their operation in ancient world economies, and then to discover a deeper thread to help these definitions applicable to the students on their journey of entrepreneurs.  

Skills:

Keeping Promises.  We watched and discussed Alex Sheen’s presentation, “What All Great Superheroes have in Common.”  Alex makes some powerful observations:

• The “superhero ability” is the ability to make and keep a promise.
• In every superhero story (Spiderman, Superman, Batman, etc.) the will to make a superhero promise comes from some extraordinary challenge or difficulty.
• It's not our ability that makes or breaks us (villains have ability too), rather, it is the commitment to do good.

The Students had a great discussion around these points. For example, Will made the point, “if you keep a promise will gain a reputation that you’re trustworthy.”

Soapbox:

"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage."

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Week 5 -- Marketing Plan

Pillars:  

We studied the economics of medieval feudalism and how monarchs were in complete control of the economy, owning all the land leasing to whomever they pleased.  Feudalism was introduced into England in 1066 and lasted for hundreds of years changing little over time. 

We then studied how economics was turned upside down with the emergence of Adam Smith, who introduced a free market system in his book the Wealth of Nations, which opened a door for entrepreneurs.  The book, first published in 1776, and was adopted by the new nation in America, changing economics forever. 

Lastly we looked at how the free-enterprise system has created wealth for the betterment of society and how the standard of living has risen significantly, because of the entrepreneur.  We looked at the example of the life of Manoj Bhargava the founder and CEO of 5-Hour Energy drink, who has invested billions of dollars to find free energy, to find the answer to water shortages and to find better health for people.  Entrepreneurs can bless the lives of society because they have been trained to see differently and have a mentality that anything is possible. 

Skills: 

This week our Entrepreneurs are formulating their marketing plans.  To launch this segment, we watched some videos on the how-to theme, including Reg Gupton's on the "3 Ms of Marketing."  Our Entrepreneurs appreciated the simplicity of his approach, and we used it to create a model to work from, which is in summary:

• Market:  identify your ideal customer, considering specific demographic, psychographic, and geographic characteristics.  Also analyze your competition and key differentiating elements.
• Media:  identify at least four different marketing channels you will implement.  Remember that everyone has some type of face-to-face marketing opportunity, which is the most effective alternative.  Consider phone calls, events, email, websites, social media, etc.  Create a strategy with specific actions and goal dates.
• Message:  What is the overall message you are using to connect with your ideal customer?  How can you harness the power of a slogan, imagery, and emotion to connect with your ideal customer and his/her "tribe"?

Our Entrepreneurs also discussed ideas presented by Seth Godin, in his classic presentation, "The Tribes We Lead."  We learned several important principles: 

• Take a piece of the status quo and break through it. 
• Leadership is finding "disconnected people who have a yearning."
• In marketing a product or a movement, "you don't need everyone, you just need a few."  Some of our Entrepreneurs' own ideas on Tribes included these:
• "People really want to be a part of something."  Thomas
• "Don't waste your time trying to force your product or service, just find a group that connects with it."  Charles
• "You don't need to start a tribe -- just find one to tap into."  Jackson

We explored how well-funded marketers combine the elements of an effective message, when emotion, visual elements, and slogans are combined in a powerful and memorable way.  Our examples included a McDonald's "Love" ad aired during the Superbowl, (for contrast) Burger King's funny "Eat Like Snake" ad, and Nike's 25th anniversary "Just Do It" ad.  

Guest:  Nick White, Founder and CEO of Epic Marketing

Marketing genius Nick White, founder and CEO of Epic Marketing paid a visit.  Nick's entrepreneurial journey started early in life.  In third grade, he began selling paper throwing stars to his friends for $.25 each.  Using low-cost materials (paper) and his own labor, he realized that he could make his own money.  While still in elementary school, he then moved on to selling candy.  He had his parents load up on blowpops and other popular items at Costco, and then he sold them to students out of his backpack.  He earned enough money doing this to take his family to Knotts Berry Farm.  

As a young father, Nick expanded on the sales and marketing talents he had been developing as a boy.  He reached top-performing positions on sales teams at RC Willey and later at KUTV Channel 2.  But at both places, Nick felt a burning sense that he had something greater to offer.  He left KUTV determined to succeed on his own.  Ten years ago he started Epic, which now employs around 20 people and carries a distinguished client list.  

Nick walked our Entrepreneurs through two real case studies in a before-vs-after format to help them understand effective messaging, connecting visuals, emotion, and slogans in effective print media.  

In addition to some great lessons on grit, hard work, passion, and planning, Nick left our Entrepreneurs with paper throwing stars, which he made by hand!

Soapbox:  (Note to Parents)  Do you believe it is good to make mistakes?  We sure do.  We want our Entrepreneurs to make mistakes early and often.  In QLP, we are working to create a "flight simulator" where our learners' mistakes come at a relatively low cost and where we have lots of opportunity to reflect upon and learn from them.  Please encourage your children to have courage, to experiment, and help them learn from events that don't go the way they want. 

Week 4 -- Resources

Pillars:  (coming soon)

Skills:  Identifying Needs and Resources.  Mentors.  Business Naming.

To lay the groundwork for identifying needs and resources, we opened our week watching and discussing two videos:  

Resourcefulness.  The first was a segment of Tony Robbins' TED Talk on resourcefulness.  Our key to success, Tony argues, is not having the right resources, the right boss, the right investors, the right weather, or even right Supreme Court decision, rather it is in being resourceful, having that quality of human spirit and character to get past any challenge:  "you find a way, if you want it enough," and "decisions shape destiny."

Mentors.  The second video was Tai Lopez's TEDx talk on finding mentors to teach skills and help work through specific challenges.  Tai had a few special mentors that were key to his journey.  "Don't be afraid to go to the top," Tai advised, encouraging his listeners to get help from people at least "ten times ahead of you."  He also suggests culling the wisdom of the greatest minds by reading books voraciously and applying the lessons learned.  

Our Entrepreneurs synthesized their discussion on these principles with the idea that a knowledgeable mentor may be the most important resource of all.  

Resource List:  We explored conducting an effective need/resource analysis in running teams, the key elements of which might include these:  

1. Consider you plan from A to Z.
2. Point A is wherever you are right now in developing your business. 
3. Point Z is where you want to be, having a market-ready product or service offering by Nov. 14. 
4. Now ask: what do I need to get or do to move from A to Z?  Write everything down. 
5. Consider specific task needs to be done next to move this item along?  And ask:
6. Is there someone you know who could help with this item?  A mentor.
7. When will you do it?  A goal date.  
8. What is the priority of this task relative to getting the overall business rolling?
9. If there are many items (and there are), a spreadsheet can be helpful to sort dates, categories, priorities, etc. 

We worked together to create an example spreadsheet.

After finishing this analysis, identify your grenade pin (or linchpin), that one relatively small thing you can do next that will net huge effects and momentum.  For several of our Entrepreneurs, this vital pin was reaching out to someone they know, a potential mentor, for a little coaching.  

Business Naming.  Our Entrepreneurs also explored naming their businesses.  One important key in choosing a name is making sure no one else is using the same or similar name for your product or service offering.  Our entrepreneurs searched the names they would like have related to the following uses: 

• National scale trademark registrations at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
• State level business entity registrations at the Utah Division of Corporations
• General use worldwide using a basic Google search
• Domain name availability using GoDaddy.com

Guest:  Jana Francis, Founder of Steals.com

Jana started her entrepreneur's journey in late 90's while working in Silicon Valley. In her spare time she collected undervalued treasures at garage sales and listed them for sale on eBay.  

She returned to Utah after four years in CA, taking a position at KSL working with marketing clients.  She leveraged her experience in Silicon Valley as the "girl geek," pushing KSL to embrace the Information Age by moving more content onto ksl.com, using text-message promos, and providing a consistent stream of online revenue.  

In 2006, with the birth of her third child, Jana began researching baby products online.  She noticed that online sellers in the baby space lacked easy-to-read, helpful content on their pages.  She saw an opportunity to create an online store that provided in-depth product information, high-quality images, and daily deals (before Groupon).  She formed babysteals.com.  

Jana worked tirelessly for a year and a half to get the business going.  She started marketing the company by emailing all her friends and family.  She went to an expo, taking her household TV off the wall just to show mock-up pages of her website.  To stay focused, she set the goal to take one significant step every day toward launching the business.  

Her determination paid off.  Babysteals.com and her family of "steals" businesses have now handled over 2.5 million orders.  They now employ around 50 people, running fulfillment from a 30,000 sq. foot center.  

Jana advised our Entrepreneurs, advocating the need for having passion about their offerings, "It is hard to start a business, but a million times harder to maintain a business."  She takes great reward in seeing her employees grow; some, she explained, started in entry-level positions but now serve as directors.  She encouraged us to surround ourselves with "people smarter than you, and don't be intimidated by that."  

Challenge:  The challenge for this week is to develop a complete, written need/resource analysis and submit this to a running partner for review.  

Congrats!!  To Thomas, who launched his T-shirt designs and started selling online.  7 sales so far!

Week 3 -- Business Planning

Pillars:  Patterns of history.  In Pillars, David and our QLP Entrepreneurs explored the broad patterns and cycles of history across U.S. history.  We set a foundation of four general phases of empires: the Age of Faith, Age of Myth, Age of Reason, and Age of Machines.  We also built a conceptual framework of four generational archetypes:  the Prophet, Nomad, Hero, and Artist.  Our Entrepreneurs recognize that understanding the patterns of history will help them prepare for the future, set a course for their own Hero's Journey and life missions, and develop business plans that anticipate future trends and social movements.  

Skills:  Business plans.  

“Plans are worthless.  Planning is essential.”  Dwight D. Eisenhower.  

“Everyone has a plan . . . until they get punched in the face!”  Mike Tyson.  

Mere ideas do NOT = $$

We studied the primary elements of a business plan and helped each other with the planning process.  Two videos helped us understand basic planning, one from Startupdaddy.com and the other from the SBA.

We dove deep into the key elements of a basic plan:  

• Executive Summary
• Company Overview
• Product or Service Offering
• Market Research
• Sales & Marketing Plan
• Financials

As a group we practiced creating a simple cash-flow spreadsheet to get our Entrepreneurs started on their own pro forma cash-flow statements.  (100 points to Chandra for pointing out that we must always include our own time and labor as a line item! Many entrepreneurs forget this vital calculation.)

Running Partners.  Our Entrepreneurs created an covenant around what they expect from each other as running partners: 

• Bring your strengths and talents to the partnership.
• Don't be a jerk.
• Push and encourage your partners by asking, "Is that your best work?" (100 points to Dan for discovering the key peer-accountability question!)
• Give honest feedback, and receive that feedback without taking offense.
• Care about your partner(s), and be interested in their business.
• Keep your commitments (this is galactically huge in any relationship).

Our Entrepreneurs then formed these running partnerships: 

• Charles / Dan / Bekah
• Will / Joe Bob
• Jackson / Kiki
• Jin / Austin / Chandra
• Thomas / Ted

Guest:  Kirk Feller, BGZ Brands / BodyGuardz

BGZ Brands has created a family of brand offerings of mobile-device protection cases and related products.  The most widely known BGZ brand is BodyGuardz, a line famous for its "stealthy," thin-but-tough, device protection.  BodyGuardz has been very successful in recent years, ranking an industry second in vendor sales at AT&T stores, hitting Inc.'s Fastest 500 list, and growing at an astonishing 1,076% over the last two years.  

Kirk and his wife, April Feller, started BodyGuardz in 2002 by stamping out vinyl screen protectors in their basement.  Kirk described how he and his family struggled to make ends meet during the first three years of their venture.  He told our Entrpreneuers, "you have to be willing to fails many times and sacrifice everything to pursue your dream."  This, he explained, "requires, first and foremost, real passion about what you do."  Kirk told how he and April dedicated their 401K fund, a second mortgage, and then had their home up for sale during ramp-up. 

Kirk's mission is to provide an excellent work culture and great pay to the people he cares about.  In Kirk's paradigm, family comes first, above all else.  He encouraged our Entrepreneurs to develop their own moral compass to check their choices against.  

Kirk relies on "reverse mentoring."  He is likes to surround himself with (in his own words) "people smarter than me."  He also takes opportunities to learn marketing techniques from the younger generation, "having kids teach me because the know Instagram and other social media."  

Kirk taught our Entrepreneurs to create powerful sales stories for their businesses.  He pulled out a CIA-style metal briefcase holding a sample of BodyGuardz latest high-tech product, created with Unequal Technologies' military-grade composite padding, which is used to prevent impact damage.  The case also contained a billy club and a glove holding Unequal padding.  Kirk put the glove on his hand and then proceeded to beat his gloved hand with the club.  We were stunned.  "No pain," Kirk claimed.  This effective sales demo, tied with the compelling story about Unequal and its fascinating applications, sold us all on BodyGuardz's newest phone case.  

Challenge:  Our Entrepreneurs accepted this week's challenge to develop a business plan (edited by running partners) that includes a cash-flow spreadsheet. Goal date: this coming Monday.

Next Week:  Next week we will focus on gathering resources needed to launch our businesses.

News / Call-outs:  

Published!!  Congratulations to Rebekah (our first QLP Entrepreneur, aka "guinea pig," from the 2014-15 school year).  Her project on journalism and study of worker misclassification in Utah culminated in submitting an article, "On the Payroll," for publication.  Utah Business Magazine picked it up (and paid her for it too!).  Find it here.  --Who needs a grade from a teacher when the world is judging your work? 

First Town Hall Meeting:  Jackson led our Entrepreneurs in a discussion about what is working well in QLP and what we can improve.  Positive feedback:  our Entrepreneurs enjoy the class environment and culture; they love the highly involved learning-by-doing structure; they get a lot out of guest-speaker visits.  Improve:  they asked us for more one-on-one consulting time, mid-class breaks, field-trips, booth time (chairs are uncomfortable), and instruction on entity formation.  

Soapbox:  To the parents of our wonderful Entrepreneurs:  We encourage you to watch Cameron Herold's TEDx talk, "Let's Raise Kids to Be Entrepreneurs," and consider what you are doing with your kids to exemplify and encourage creativity, independent thinking, and entrepreneurship in the home.  

Week 2 -- Market Research

Pillars- Finding genius.  In pillars we defined the word "genius" from a broad perspective, discovering that a true genius lives within all of us.  We looked at the difference between left-brain and right-brain functioning, and discussed why the entrepreneur needs to use the whole brain.  The right brain to dream, create, build, and to see the whole picture.  The left brain to use logic, reason, research to add the details to our ideas.  

We also looked at why we need empathy (a key to design thinking), the ability to imagine yourself in someone else’s position and to feel what that person is feeling.  The argument was made that emotional abilities are just as important as conventional and intellectual abilities.  As we move into a computer and conceptual age we looked at a greater need for human connection.  “Leadership is about empathy.  It is having the ability to relate and to connect with people for the purpose of inspiring and empowering their lives.”  We want our Entrepreneurs to inspire as well as create.  

Skills- Market Research.  We kicked off our study of market research by watching Brian McCarthy’s video on Marketing Research.  Market Research is defining a marketing problem or opportunity, collecting and analyzing information, and recommending actions to improve the marketing or development activities.  

We can gather information in two ways: quantitative, and qualitative research.   Quantitative is a logical approach by collecting data and statistics.  Qualitative focuses more on the emotional side of research by asking how a person feels or thinks, and why they make certain choices.  

Challenge-  The students completed their challenge from week 1 and collectively as a class had over 2000 unique ideas.  Those with the most ideas were Dan, Jackson, and Thomas.  By having the most ideas they all won Arvo watches.  Congrats!!!!

Pitches- Our Entrepreneurs did initial elevator pitches to the group.  They had a small period of time to sell their ideas to the class.  The winner of the elevator pitch won an Arvo watch.   Congratulations to Chandra!!! 

Guest Speaker- Jason Neeley of Warp 9 (black shirt)

Jason helped us to see how good market research can help a business be successful, by knowing the right price to sell your product.  Jason, from a young age, was always entrepreneurial minded.  He told us how he started a mistletoe business in California as a child.  He wanted to expand his business to Utah and reached out to grocery stores to sell them fresh mistletoe from California.  He thought he would be rich.  He had the idea to send the mistletoe by airplane.  The next day he was expecting a call from the stores about how happy they were about all the mistletoe.  Instead, he received calls from the stores saying the mistletoe had all dried up and died.  It was too cold on the plane.  Jason was devastated.  Instead of making the $7,000 he envisioned he lost $800.00.  Even amidst the failure, however, Jason would continued to see and take take on opportunities.  

He taught our Entrepreneurs basic SWOT analysis, encouraging them to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.  He also discussed sustainability, encouraging our Entrepreneurs to find opportunities that are sustainable into the future.  For example, after Jason started selling motorcycle wheels, he quickly expanded Warp9 to sell other parts, increasing its ability to sustain growth.  

Next Week:  we will focus on business plans, creating one that includes a basic cash-flow spreadsheet.  

Week 1 -- Eye of the Entrepreneur / Design Thinking

Pillars:  In our quest to understand the cycles and patterns of history relevant to the path of our QLP Entrepreneurs, we discussed the receding tide of entrepreneurism in America.  According to recent news, the U.S. now ranks an abysmal 12th among developed nations.  We explored possible root causes for this trend.  

Skills:  Our Entrepreneurs took advantage of opportunities to practice their new conflict resolution and communication skills (from the Collaborant training last week) in their group work, especially in deciding how to fairly distribute the Arvo watches (see below).  

We discussed the importance of making our visitors and guests feel welcome in our studio.  We started the practice of hand writing personalized thank-you notes to our guests.  

On this week's theme of seeing opportunities and generating ideas, we watched and discussed Steven Johnson's RSA Animate presentation, "Where Good Ideas Come From."  We also started Stanford's D School Crash Course in design thinking, focusing particularly on the empathy phase.  

Guests:  Jake Nackos and Aaron Neuenschwander of Arvo Watches visited the QLP studio on Wednesday.  

Arvo has enjoyed skyrocket growth from its simple conception in a pawn shop two years ago to selling its popular watches in more than 70 countries today.  

Jake was browsing a pawn shop, and having grown up around his father's watch collection, he was drawn to a $50 gold watch.  It was well worn, and so the band fit comfortably.  Jake liked the minimalist style and perfect fit of this classic timepiece.  The experience set him on a path exploring manufacturing of a watch line following this simple, comfortable design.  

Arvo's biggest challenge was dealing with quality-control issues in its early days of manufacturing.  Jake paid close attention to Arvo's customers concerns, replacing over 200 watches before they were able to get the bugs out.  Jake told the class, "I was surprised how forgiving the customers can be when you treat them right."  

Arvo has leveraged social media in its highly successful marketing strategy.  Jake explained his view that, in contrast to traditional media outlets, social and digital media "cut through the fog."  "People don't care so much anymore about what LeBron James is wearing," he said, "as they do about what their friend is wearing."  For the younger generation, Arvo's target audience, "influencer marketing" is key.  

Arvo's motto is "be good, do good."  The Arvo team tries to exemplify this idea by donating 10% of its profits to local charity organizations and community causes, like Underground Railroad and the Granite School District.  Arvo also regularly creates service opportunities for its loyal fan base to participate in. 

Aaron explained the concept of minimum viable product (MVP) offerings to the QLP entrepreneurs, dovetailing nicely with our study of the design-thinking principle of empathy.  Arvo is eager to get its new products out of production and into the hands of its customers because it relies so heavily on their input in the ongoing design process.  

Jake and Aaron encouraged our Entrepreneurs to begin networking by setting up LinkedIn accounts and taking advantage of the international connections at AISU.  

They left us with with Arvo socks and five Arvo watches!  Our Entrepreneurs came up with a contest related to this week's challenge for awarding the watches.  

Challenge:  The challenge for this week -- as defined and accepted by our Entrepreneurs -- is to identify x# of business ideas or opportunities to solve problems by the start of next week.  The idea here is simply to get our Entrepreneurs in the habit of seeing opportunities to improve and create that exist all around.  We had different levels of commitment to the x#, leaving that to each individual.  Figures ranged from 70 original ideas to over 100.  (Award of some of the Arvo watches is tied to this.) 

Next Week:  Next week we will study basic market research.  We will challenge our Entrepreneurs to come up with a research plan to test their initial hypothesis of their business plan.  We will also present first-run elevator pitches, complete D School, and form our running partnerships for the trimester.  

Week 0 -- Leadership Intensive

A big thanks to Joe Staker and the owners of Collaborant, who donated their valuable time and expertise in training our QLP Entrepreneurs.  Joe, an entrepreneur in his own right, provided three days of in-person, high-impact instruction in the areas of personal accountability, conflict resolution, and communication.  We learned and practiced key principles and skills to get to the heart of working together:

• Get our motives right by expanding our circle of concern and focusing on everyone’s needs and interests. 
• Hold our reactions in tough situations and actively choosing who we’ll be.
• Conflict presents an opportunity to improve a process or a relationship if we can get down to the underlying reasons driving why we all want what we want.
• Communication works best when we dig patiently to the “root” issues and discuss specific instances and careful observations.