Australian Experiential Learning Centre

#career #students Last week, I was in Melbourne at a conference (CI2010) on creativity and innovation and was lucky enough to hear from some of the most famous innovators of our time. I was particularly interested in finding out what makes a successful entrepreneur and when this question was asked the answer was “ you need to be a bit mad and totally driven”.

And I completely agree.

One of the biggest messages that came out of that conference  – a message that was pushed by all these smart, successful entrepreneurs and innovators – was that if you want to be happy in your career – you need to find your passion.

I think as students we often get caught up with what we are studying. If you are studying engineering or law – it is usually a pretty straight forward career path. However if you are studying business you are lucky enough to have many choices. As business students, we need to remember that we are learning skills and tools to make us successful at business – but it is up to us to be creative with those tools and apply them to something we love to do.

And yes – I know that’s not quite as easy as it sounds.

But when you start to think about it..

If everyone did what they were passionate about and loved to do, what a different world we would live in. Especially because we all see the world differently, we see different problems and holes and I like to think that if you see a hole in the world, it is your responsibility to fix it.

If you are doing something you are passionate about, you are almost always going to be successful. You are going to fight for it. You are going to be a little bit mad and totally driven..

“Chase down your passion like it’s the last bus of the night” (Terry Guillemets).

I woke up on Monday morning last week and could barely roll myself out of bed to get a panadol. Like many – I fell victim to the nasty virus that is making its way round the people of Perth!

“cough cough”

Now, yes I have had a few of the common colds over the past year, but have not been this sick in a long-time and as I was floating in and out of consciousness in bed there was one very new feeling I experienced as a sick business owner – GUILT.

“cough cough”

Unlike over the past few years of the usual work and uni routine – when I was this sick I would jump on the phone and make a few calls – A friend to cover casual work shifts, a fill in for netball games and my lecturer for an extension on uni assignments. I would then enjoy my few days of much needed rest by sleeping, taking vitamins and watching some riveting day-time tv.

“ahhhh choooooooo” “cough cough”

This time however, there was no one I could call to cover shifts. Everyday I ‘rested’ was a day I lost on business development and a day when the work just piled up. I resorted to laptop in bed in which I hit off my most urgent emails, rescheduled appointments and tried to complete as much as I could before my energy levels were zapped.

“sniff, sniff”

I did as much as I could manage – but still felt guilty at all the things I should be doing and would be doing if I was healthy. And to top it off, I have rushed back into work without being fully recovered which will increase the probability of a relapse in a week or two.

“cough cough”

Having the responsibility of a business on your shoulders makes it hard to rest. But like anything, if you are not fit, healthy and able to put your all into something – it is never going to work as well as it can. The smart business owner looks after their health and wellbeing so that they are able to successfully look after the health and wellbeing of their business and employees. However, this is much easier said than done.

“ahhhhhhh chooooooooo!”

I think this is the plight of business owners and contractors and from now on, I will be eating an apple a day.

#ausvotes
As I got my name ticked off, was given that ridiculously humongous bit of paper and made my way to the polling booth – I still had not made my mind up as to who I was going to vote for. In my eyes, neither party deserved my support.

I find it so frustrating that our supposedly ‘best leaders in the country’, instead of inspiring us with great policies that are going to mean a bright future for our country, resort to short term manipulations of people and events to please the masses and ugly slander campaigns.

It made me think of the Australian Business Icon competition which I competed in last year. The environment of the Business Icon competition is very similar to an election campaign in which you compete in teams to win a challenge but are also monitored on an individual level.

I could not imagine any of these young, motivated, passionate contestants getting up in front of the judges, tearing into the other groups and wasting time telling the judges why the other groups and contestants should not go through. We were way too passionate and excited at our fresh, innovative ideas to be worried about anything like that.

What we need is our political leaders to take a leaf out of the Business Icon book – If you have great ideas/policies that you are passionate and excited about – and that you think are going to change our country for the better – then you should have no need to tear the other groups/parties down through negative debating and personal attacks.

In fact – I wonder if it has ever occurred to our leaders that maybe it would be better for the overall goal to take a more collaborative approach to politics and build on each other’s ideas…

This power struggle has to end.

Once upon a time there was a happy couple who had been together for many, many years.

The happy couple fell in love when they were very young, grew up together, and started their careers.

The woman went to university and won a business competition which inspired her to start a fitness business for kids. The man became a personal trainer who was qualified in kids fitness and offered to help his partner start up her business.

One day, the woman went to see a business prophet who was helping her on this treacherous journey to become a successful young entrepreneur. The prophet warned her to be careful about her relationship with the personal trainer and gave the business woman a magic bit of paper that would protect her and her business in case the personal trainer turned out to be a frog.

One year later, the business woman and the personal trainer decided that their fates were no longer intertwined and decided to pursue separate adventures. Although the personal trainer did not turn into a frog, it was very comforting for the business woman to have her magic bit of paper to ensure the personal trainer stayed true to his word.

And they both lived happily ever after.. separately.

What is the moral of this story? Make sure you go through the appropriate legal process for all your business relations (even if they are friends or family!). You never know what your future holds so it is best to cover your ass.

THE END

There is no question that networking is a very valuable tool that like a skeleton key (or crow bar depending on your tact) can open up an array of opportunities for both business and personal development.

The problem with networking events is, like dating, you are forced to spend time and money finding and building relationships that you are not even sure are going to be valuable or successful in the long run. Cue: the concept of speed networking.

After debating the types of communication skills and business knowledge needed to be a good networker, a smart friend of mine filled me in on this eastern state phenomena called speed-networking. The idea is – like speed dating – you get a few minutes to engage in ‘mini-meetings’ with a number of different people. Business cards are exchanged and both parties lay out their business needs on the table. It is a cut-the-crap kind of networking that is a great concept in our time-poor society.

The only draw-back – I hope you make a good first impression.