Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour

The last Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour (EET) Event for the semester was held at Northwood University in Midland, Michigan. Northwood University was no ordinary college; they are an exclusive undergraduate business school that is filled with eager and aspiring future entrepreneurs. EET was no stranger to this collegiate campus where they returned for a second event to further motivate students and get their creative juices overflowing.

The event had a great, strong start with the introduction from wonderful host Jim Hop, Assistant Professor and Chair of Entrepreneurship. Keynote speaker Arel Moodie came in with a burst of excitement and energy where it filled the auditorium. Arel gave compelling stories of his own struggles as an entrepreneur and it really resonated with the attendees that dreams can be transformed into realities. To get the creative engines started and running, Arel conducted two workshops: Idea Creation and Dream Action. These EET workshops really put a fire in the passion pit for free enterprise within these students. They created several, innovative ideas and new business concepts where they were able to go through the pros and cons of an idea, how to start a business, and run it successfully. One workshop showed students how to truly focus on an idea and see all the parameters of it through deep meditation and concentration. In addition, students realized that the opportunities for business were endless and that some ideas simply come from the demand of an existing problem or issue in everyday life. Besides the amazing workshops, students were able to network with successful and well-known entrepreneurs like keynote speakers Robert Nicholson and “Intern Queen” Lauren Berger. Also speaker Rob taught students and community members how to build an effective network and cohesive team in their community through a step-by-step, hands-on scenario including gracious hostess Georgia Abbott, Director of the Alden B. Dow Center for Creativity & Enterprise. In addition to the motivating speakers, students were able to interact with 6 extraordinary panelists through a Question & Answer session to further learn about their complete journey of being an entrepreneur: the mistakes they made, the crucial decisions, and what they learned.

At the end of the day, students were filled with innovative and creative concepts where they were ready to pursue their passion! Although this was the last event for the semester, do not be concern because the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour will be back soon to continually inspire, inspire, and INSPIRE!

The Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour (EET) went to McPherson College in Kansas this weekend to inspire and educate students about the power of social entrepreneurship. The college is taking massive action to bring entrepreneurship to their entire campus by creating entrepreneurship-based events for its students.

The college is also working on an entrepreneurship curriculum that will be available in Spring 2011. In the meantime, the college has created The Global Enterprise Challenge (GEC), which is a program that includes 40-50 of McPherson’s top students competing to create a social enterprise in Haiti. The students are broken up into 8-10 groups and have been working with one another all semester. The group with the best idea will go to Haiti in the summer to help their Haitian partners plan and implement their specific project, which will contribute to the country’s social and economic development. Many of the students in the competition do not have business backgrounds, so the college asked the Extreme Tour to help the students turn their ideas in to sustainable businesses.

The EET worksop was focused on idea creation and customer development. As well as motivating the Global Enterprise Challenge participants, the tour helped each group work through their ideas so they would be prepared to present to the judges.

The tour keynote speaker was Rebecca Kousky, founder and Executive Director of Nest, a nonprofit organization dedicated to changing the lives of women in developing countries. She shared her experiences and helped the GEC participants realize the importance of understanding international cultures. The students were able to ask her questions and receive personal feedback to help them with their own social enterprise. The GEC students will be presenting their ideas today (November 18).

Lansing Michigan is awesome! Over 500 greater Lansing area high school and college students attended this weeks festivities and enjoyed a full day of idea creation, moving keynote speeches and an amazing panel discussion from local business owners. M-S-U!, M-S-U!, M-S-U!!!

Wednesday Morning… Arel Moodie presented his epic story to hundreds of eager, hand selected high school students. Eyes were opened to the idea of being your own boss and acting on your dreams. “The only thing in the way of fulfilling your dreams is your fear,” one student noted. Students and teachers alike were super excited to gather and experience Arel’s Dream Action workshop and takeaway the four keys to success. (Arel could have crowd-surfed with how many students approached him after the session to give him a high five!)Lansing’s beautiful Eagle Eye club was transformed into an entrepreneurial hot spot for aspiring high school students. This was just the beginning.

Wednesday afternoon…The East Lansing Hannah Community Center was filled with visions of success and success stories alike! Duane Spires, owner of Extreme Youth Sports, delivered a message of finding what drives you and overcoming obstacles on the path to success. His high energy was contagious as he engaged the crowd with his great story. Ryan Everson, owner of Computer Doctors and REV Business solutions, spoke to his experiences from owning and growing his business while he was a teenager.

LEAP, the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, blew our socks off with their level of community involvement and passion for developing and fostering local entrepreneurship. Denise, Pam and Sara, you rock for hosting such an awesome event! The phenomenal turnout of eager students and community members was well deserved.

On Thursday, November 4, the Extreme Entrepreneurship Team descended upon the DC area to partner with an AWESOME organization: iMADdu to put on an AWESOME event at George Mason University.

Rick Corcoran, senior adviser of the U.S. Chamber’s Campaign for Free Enterprise, opened up the conference by encouraging students to appreciate the incredible opportunity in the United States to create new products, new businesses and new jobs.

Mona Olsen, the founder of iMADdu and the assistant director of the George Mason SBDC, then talked about how she turned the difficulty of moving around the globe as a child into an opportunity to make a difference.

Then keynote speakers Morgan First of The Second Glass and Jason Duff of COMSTOR/OUTDOOR shared their stories of how they had taken advantage of opportunities to build and business and make a difference.

Keynote Speakers Jason Duff and Morgan First

To wrap up the event, a panel discussion including Mona Olsen, the key note speakers and other young entrepreneurs, Tora J. Matsuoka, Tom Moore and Tracy Foster gave students the opportunity to find out how to apply what they learned to their own businesses.

The spirit of Free Enterprise left the audience with a huge sense of optimism and excitement that they could Make a Difference!

Panelists-Tora and Tom