Welcome To Entrepreneurial Mindset
“It’s a cultural instinct to wait to get picked.
To seek out the permission and authority that comes from a publisher or talk show host or even a blogger saying,
‘I pick you.’
Once you reject that impulse and realize that no one is going to select you–that Prince Charming has chosen another house–then you can actually get to work.
If you’re hoping that the HR people you sent your resume to are about to pick you, it’s going to be a long wait.
Once you understand that there are problems just waiting to be solved, once you realize that you have all the tools and all the permission you need, then opportunities to contribute abound.
No one is going to pick you.
Pick yourself.”
– Seth Godin
Welcome to Entrepreneurial Mindset, one of the most popular units in the university’s employability sequence, and a wonderful chance to make something you’re proud of.
I know you might not have chosen to study a business degree, but there’s so much that an entrepreneurial skillset and mindset can offer you, especially in the Arts.
It’s one thing to spot an opportunity, and another thing to decide that YOU are someone who should pursue that opportunity.
It takes guts, it takes resilience, it takes work.
Then it’s one thing to create an initial idea, and another thing to keep pushing and adaption the idea even when the first version sucks.
Of course it’s going to suck, it’s the first version.
The important part is that you consciously decide to keep making progress, even when nobody has asked you to.
This requires a series of tricky balances:
The confidence to start something, without letting your ego block out valuable feedback
The patience to commit to a process, not getting swept up in the first failure or the first success
Knowing when to trust data, when to trust the audience, when to trust the decision maker, and when to trust your instincts
Being comfortable with making money, but not making everything about the money
I don’t believe you can study these from a distance, I think you have to make something and experience the creative process for yourself.
This program is all about how you can create, develop, test and pitch ideas, so that you can do meaningful work in your chosen field.
You’ll learn how to spot good ideas, find customers who want solutions to their problems, design things that they’ll genuinely appreciate, make sure the dollars make sense, and wrap it up in a professional-looking brand.
You’ll learn about what entrepreneurs do, but more importantly how entrepreneurs think, how they see their world and see themselves.
To do this, you’re going to have three tasks:
Go looking for interesting ventures and write a 1,000 word case study about how they operate. You can pick the venture so there’s no reason to be bored.
Interview an entrepreneur, to learn about their work, their approach, and their advice for new founders. Again, you’re picking them so you may as well pick someone you’d actually like to learn from.
Develop and pitch an idea of your own, in a team. You get to follow the steps and feel the feelings of entrepreneurship, for better and for worse, in a very safe and supported environment.
The point of these tasks is so that you:
Nudge yourself out of your comfort zone
Spot opportunities for creative ventures in your field
Learn how to have good ideas and test them quickly and cheaply
See if you enjoy the flexibility, pride and pressure that comes with making your own work
The work is genuinely interesting, and requires emotional labour and taking a few small creative risks.
Our classes together are interactive, full of real-world examples instead of old textbooks, and you’ll have the chance to choose who you work with.
The final pitch might sound high-stakes, but if you follow the process each week, you’ll have refined and proven your ideas well in advance, so the pitch will feel more like “show-and-tell” for the progress you’ve already made.
What we are asking from you are three things:
Show up each week, ready to engage. The classes will fly by if you’re ready to ask questions, try new things and talk to your peers.
Be a great teammate. We want you to work with other great teammates who will share your level of commitment, attendance and creative energy.
Make an attempt at each task, even if it’s an ugly attempt, and we will help you stay on track.
Each week we will have a 1hr 50min class, and post relevant resources on the unit site.
You’ll probably want to have a recurring meeting time with your team (once formed), and can send us your questions or ask for feedback during the week.
If you want to make a head start, here’s our best advice: don’t start dreaming up solutions or inventions.
Start being a good observer, of people, of problems, of gaps in the market, and of yourself.
What annoys you or inspires you?
What do you hear people around you complaining about?
Who are some potential customers who have genuine needs and wants, and who are willing to pay for some sort of solution?
Again, don’t design solutions before you’ve met your customers, but look for patterns and intriguing opportunities for someone to build a startup there.
These can be connected to your area of study, your hobbies, your daily life or the lives of people nearby.
As they say, “a problem well-stated is a problem half-solved”.
Thanks for choosing Entrepreneurial Mindset, we hope it’s one of the most engaging and memorable parts of your degree.
Cheers,
Isaac