Online Edge: Young Entrepreneurs Upload Their Secrets

Come along to this awesome event for some inspiration & info … it’s a FREE event for anyone living in NSW! We look forward to seeing you there :)

Online Edge: Young Entrepreneurs Upload Their Secrets

Got a great idea for an online business and want to know how to take your idea to the world and make millions?

Be inspired by young entrepreneurs who have done just that… and upload their secrets.

Come along to the Sound Lounge at the Seymour Centre Sydney on 9 April from 5.30pm to hear from four inspirational young entrepreneurs who have built successful online empires - either selling online or providing web services – hear their stories, gather their tips and meet other aspiring entrepreneurs.

To register email sue.hooworth@business.nsw.gov.au

For more info go to http://www.frankteam.com.au/downloads/DSRD-Online-Edge-postcard-2703.gif

What's in it for me?

This is a question probably asked too often by some of us... but if being an enterprising young person doesn’t leave you much time to be generous with, then it’s a question you feel is worth asking. Consider this though - Work experience (giving your time + skills + knowledge) = plenty for you in return. Like that equation? Read on to see how factoring some work experience into your week can help you get places faster!

At FRANK Team HQ over the years we’ve had a few work experience students and volunteers dropping in to get some experience and lend a hand. It’s awesome - we get to meet some great young people who are willing to help out, and they are developing their skills and getting some valuable experience to add to their resumes! It’s a win win situation!

So what’s so good about volunteering VS hanging out for the job you want, I hear you say? There is actually a lot in it for you. It’s not just working for nothing.

- Experience is sometimes valued over a qualification. So you might have a diploma or degree, but employers like to hire people who have some experience up their sleeves as well.
- Put your degree or diploma to work. If you are studying, why not put your learning to use straight away, who says you have to wait until you graduate and get a job?
- You could get a job out of it. If you make a good impression, you'you've got your foot in the door!
- Try before you buy. If you're considering an industry, but not sure and you don't want to commit to study yet, do some work experience first - this will help you decide if you are interested in pursuing that career, or if you need to do some more thinking.
- It's a great way to meet people who are in the industry you want to be in. This can help you get the job you want faster through networking - they will all find out what a hard worker you are. Plus you will be learning from professionals.
- You could find a mentor. You might meet someone in the workplace who inspires you, and embodies who you want to be in your career - support from them will help you succeed.
- It’s an opportunity to develop your skills, and find out what you're good at. Or use the skills you have to help others - we know we've learnt a thing or two from our work experience girls

So... you’re convinced now aren’t you?? Here’s how you can get yourself a work experience opportunity...
- Do some research. Find some local organisations, businesses etc who are in the industry you want to work in. Give them a call to see if they have any work experience positions. If they do, ask if you can go in to meet with them and see if you would like to do some volunteering there. If you don’t have any luck, keep searching... or check out the volunteer opportunities @ seek.com
- If you go in to meet with people and suss out an opportunity, put together a resume so you can show you are serious about having a go and you can display some of your assets!

So what are you waiting for?

Need some creative fuel?

Imagine that...

Albert Einstein said 'Imagination is more important than Knowledge' - but what about in business? When we use our imagination we free our mind from its 'factory pre-settings' to think more creatively and develop different and potentially better ways of doing business.

After years of education where we're often rewarded for following the rules and memorising information rather than exploring it, we look back at young children and wonder where all that fun and creativity went. How can kids spend hours with fuzzy pipe cleaners, textas and coloured paper with sheer fascination?

Imagination is a natural ability in each of us, to which our emories, experience, interests, thoughts, knowledge and freedom contribute. So consider that imagination is always in you, sometimes it just needs encouragement.

Imagination is left and right brain

In business, imagination is used to create a company but we often divide the workplace into creative and practical thinkers. Practical thinkers concern themselves with concrete details and planning, while creative people are known as divergent thinkers, arty and emotive. Rather than dividing us up, what if every one of us possessed both these qualities but just chose a different way of looking at the world?

Take the classic pessimist/optimist battle - two outlooks on life we regularly all switch between depending on our mood and the moment. Hearing your alarm clock go off at 5am hardly compares to winning a million dollars, right? The pessimist looks at life and thinks 'why oh, why?' just as the practical thinker tries to figure everything out. Meanwhile, dreamers and optimists envision imaginative scenarios that haven't happened or might happen, and open-mindedly ask 'Why couldn't that be possible?'.

George Bernard Shaw said, "You see things as they are and ask, 'Why?' I dream things as they never were and ask, 'Why not?'". So imagination is typically a right-brain function that needs to be supplemented with left-brain logic. And you've got both.

You can improve your creative thinking just by exercising it...

Ask Questions - What would you like to do that you've never done before? Where would be the best place in the world to live? What would be the best job? Ask questions that get you thinking outside the square you live in.

Just Do It - Don't sit on the sidelines, firsthand experiences provide new material for your brain to play with, out of which come new ideas. A Chinese proverb states, I hear: I forget - I see: I remember - I do: I understand.

Jet Set - There's no better way to broaden and refresh your outlook than travel. Travel takes you out of a rut and exposes you to new people, customs, ideas and ways of living. Every culture provides a unique way of looking at common situations and solving problems. If the budget bites, arm-chair travel with television programs and books on the world around us, or spend the day in an unexplored part of your city.

The Power of One - The more you apply your ability to think and use the talent around you, the better you'll become at creating new ideas. If you rely on 'experts' and consultants to solve your problems, your creative abilities can dry out.

Hang out with Creatives - Think more creatively by mixing with creative people. Talk to people who possess a different energy who will stimulate your thought processes.

Even more suggestions that provide creative fuel:

- Rent the movie 'Big' or actually go play in a toy store! Play charades or the board game Pictionary to stimulate visual communication.

- Get some fresh air into your lungs & play some sport.

- Play a strategy game like chess or checkers with an opponent.

- Try a word puzzle like a crossword, Boggle or Scrabble to sharpen your mind.

- Hobbies like painting or sculpture are workouts for your imagination.

- Try a technical hobby like amateur radio, electronics or remote control 'toys'.

- Get into a good book like a documentary, biography or mystery and give your imagination something to feed on.

- Read about new trends in a magazine you wouldn't normally buy.

- Doodle or draw with your less used hand.

- Go to the theatre and get immersed in someone else's life.

- Or why not just stare up at the clouds…and daydream.