I decided to put 10% of REVENUES in the projects I’m working on back into the public domain. (See the One-Minute Millionare for more ideas about this.) I decided that the one area where I could be most accountable is to assist those people that want to start something. I have been dashed against the rocks in all my troubled past: struggling through an MBA program while working 80+ hours a week, failing at a few startups, succeeding in some, living the ups and downs in a marriage that doesn’t see external stability.
All this drives me to a place of deeper compassion and desire to reach out.
So my ideal world would provide me the resources to create a business bootcamp: a 6 day process of putting 10+ full-time entrepreneurs under the fire hose to see what they soak up. We’d provide systems, libraries, computers, training, and everything else so that when they jump back into their businesses, they will at least have an idea of where many solutions to their daily problems could come from.
Throughout the bootcamp, the assignments will be compiled into an alpha version of their business plan, without explicitly working on the business plan.
The bootcamp culminates in a fine-dining networking experience with local serial-angel investors. The people may or may not be ready for angel investment at this point, but they’ll be dialed in for that kind of experience if their business model takes them that direction.
The dream is to make this like a grand-prize takeaway from a TV game show. Among the resources planned for the bootcamp are:
- Books: The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki, The One-Page Proposal by Patrick Riley, The Minto Pyramid by Barbara Minto, Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker, Getting to Yes by Fisher and Ury
- Dell Laptop, fully loaded
- Sales on Rails customized for their business (with accounting, campaign management, intranet, CRM, project management, contact management (dialer, mailer, emailer), and other tools configured)
- Pro forma business model customized for the company by the entrepreneur (with coaching, of course)
- Google Ads paid for in advance
- Fully functional content website (other systems will come later, if not available through Sales on Rails) with the driving pattern of Content > Traffic > Pre-Sell > Monetize
- Incorporation by a top-notch lawyer
- Business banking set up
- Quest training (from Impact Trainings) tuition paid for (leadership training)
- $10,000 to $25,000 in seed capital
So, let’s see if my projects ever grow sufficient to afford this kind of give back.
