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Ideas and Opportunities are NOT the Problem

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Business opportunities are like buses, there is always another one coming along – Richard Branson

At least that is the case if you are already ‘enterprising’.  Then the main problem is to stop the flow of opportunities and ideas long enough to make disciplined progress on any one of them.

However if you have been born and brought up in a struggling community there is a fair chance that the way you see the world makes it almost impossible o recognise ‘opportunities’ other than those that everyone else in your peer group recognises – the military, shelf stacking, alcohol, benefits, crime etc.

Your own self image may mean that ‘business opportunities’ are either not identified – or are quickly dismissed (‘I wouldn’t have what it takes’, ‘I would only mess it up’.)

Engaging those who are not yet thinking of themselves as enterprising or capable of learning the skills of enterprise is a major challenge in using enterprise in community transformation.

“Oh, my God. With this reality, what can I dream?”

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“I once was with somebody I liked very much — an older person, when I was considerably younger than I am now.

That person said,

“Spend at least fifteen minutes a day weaving dreams. And if you weave a hundred, at least two of them will have a life.”

So continue with a dream and don’t worry whether it can happen or not; weave it first.

Many people have killed their dreams by figuring out whether they could do them or not before they dream them.

So, if you’re a first-rate dreamer, dream it out — several of them–and then see what realities can come to make them happen, instead of saying,

“Oh, my God. With this reality, what can I dream?”

Virginia Satir (1916 – 1988)

Cycle of Change Re-worked

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The Cycle of Change Redrawn
The Cycle of Change Redrawn

I have been thinking some more about the cycle of change and how it works when thinking about enterprise and transforming communities.

I think this re-work helps to show that there may be a lot of people who are not interested in changing to a ‘more enterprising’ set of behaviours.

If we are serious about transformation then we need to find ways to engage people in this group and understand what the barriers are to them even thinking about the possibility of change. Most efforts seem to be targeted at those who are already in the cycle at some point. You know the kind of stuff – ‘Have You Got a Great Business Idea’ or ‘Thinking of Starting a Business?’. Both of these will get a resounding ‘No’ from those not interested in change.

What kind of marketing messages might work for this group? Well how about:

‘Fed up with the same old, same old?’

‘Are you brassed off and angry?’

‘Ever felt like you are wasting your life away?’

‘Something that you want to make happen – but not sure how?’

It also shows the almost inevitable role of lapse and re-lapse in the change process. It is very unusual for someone to go from one set of behaviours to another without either lapses or relapses. Yet often lapse or relapse in the field of enterprise represents failure rather than progress.

What is your repsonse when one of your clients take a step backwards, misses an appointment or otherwise does not make the progress that you had hoped for?

“People are always blaming circumstances for what they are. I do not believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they cannot find them, they make them.”

George Bernard Shaw

Be Careful What You Wish For

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As the legendary Bruce Springsteen said back in the 1970s when he just started to win recording contracts – ‘When they pay you $400 a day you get to have $400 dollar a day problems’.

I found a great blog yesterday that quoted some research on the relationship between wealth and stress.

The following five types of deal were offered:

  1. The Bum Deal: Being stressed out, overworked, and making less than $100,000 per year.
  2. The Really Bum Deal: Being stressed, overworked, and making less than $25,000 per year.
  3. The Submission Deal: Making around $20,000 per year, but accepting your dirt-poor status. Your dire situation, in turn, leads to a sense of resignation that allows you to relax and enjoy your free time.
  4. The You’re-An-Idiot Deal: Being ultra-rich (making more than, say, $3 million per year off interest income), having nothing to do, and stressing out over golf games, financial managers, and all the poor people trying to bilk you out of your fortune.
  5. The Sweet Deal: Making more than $3 million per year off interest income and relishing your liesure time with hedonistic pleasure. At the same time, you’re conscious enough to avoid misogyny and gambling addictions.

Now I think that sometimes the deals people settle for are a reflection of their self worth, as much as of their potential or achievement.

You can read the original post here.

An Enterprise Marketing Fiasco?

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I have been doing some work for a while now with LEGI practitioners in Leeds looking at the quality of marketing that we use to promote enterprise services and the people that might respond to it. Below is a piece of (non LEGI) marketing collateral that is currently doing the rounds. I think it originates from Business Link – and is featured on their website.

All, the following FREE events are happening on:

14th July 5pm to 9pm at Met Hotel, Leeds
15th July 9.30 to 1.30 at Agbrigg/Belle Vue Community Centre, Wakefield
22nd July 5pm to 9pm at Leeds Media Centre
8th September 9.30 to 1.30 at St Roberts Parish Centre, Harrogate
18th September 9.30 to 1.30 at The Tower House Hotel, Halifax
29th September 9.30 to 1.30 at the Town Hall, Bridlington

Title:
Explore! – Motivational events for the BAME (Black and Ethnic Minority) and Diverse communities

Motivational events are aimed to enthuse, inspire and excite BAME and Women groups into exploring the world of business. These events will also offer further information on what to do next and how to move your idea forward.

Who should attend?
Individuals from BAME and Diverse communities who are looking to start-up in business and who will be inspired to make their business ideas a reality.

What will it cover:

  • Why you want to start your own business?
  • How to generate more ideas
  • Where to find customers
  • Building Confidence
  • Gaining inspiration from success
  • Learn from inspirational key note speakers
  • Showcase of successful entrepreneurs
  • Information sources and networks
  • Friendly people to talk through your idea

To find out more about these FREE events or to book a place immediately you can call on 0845 xxxxx or email xxxx

For more information about these and other events visit www.businesslinkyorkshire.co.uk and click on ‘Events’

Well it’s another piece of lovely piece of ‘enterprise’ marketing.

When you go the Business Link website (as instructed in the e-mail) to try to find more information about these events it takes a while to find exactly the information that is given above – no extra information at all!

When I rang the telephone number I got a loud piece of ‘Dire Straits/Mark Knopfleresque’ guitar music – almost painful on the ear – and I like Dire Straits!

At the third attempt I was successfully transferred to someone who worked on the events team who promised to e-mail me some further information. I am still waiting…watch this space…

The piece is written in a very passive and remote style.

It talks about BAME and Women Groups in one line and then BAME and Diverse communities in the next.

It talks about these communities rather than to individuals from these communities. (Is it just me or is this (close to being) insulting?)

I am not a marketing copywriter – but I can recognise this as BAD! It is unlikely to motivate anyone to want to attend the events.

What qualifies as a ‘diverse community’?

Are we really happy to group BAME/Women and Diverse communities into a workshop? Seems to me that only Caucasian men from ‘non-diverse’ communities need not apply!

Has it become ‘OK’ to use this sort of language in tokenistic efforts to be socially inclusive?

I don’t think so!

Or am I the one who is losing the plot?

ADDENDUM

I am delighted to say that I did get my e-mail from Business link – with exactly the same information that was on the website. They also gave me the name of the organisation that is running the programme and told me that one of the dates have been cancellled.