Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour

Upon landing in Beaumont, Texas, excitement for the event at Lamar University was a common factor for the Extreme Team members. We were graciously welcomed by our wonderful hosts Jeff Dyson and Deidra Mayer, whom invited us to experience Texas on a whole different level by eating crocodile in at Floyd’s, a local restaurant, that night!

'Team Awesome' - Thank you for all the support!

The event was successful in every way possible! This is not just as a result of the Extreme Team (or because more than 300 people attended, doubling the expected attendance – WOW!) but due the wonderful volunteers and staff at Lamar University!

Our speakers: Duane Spires, Steven Washington, Bo Kelley and last but not least, Kathy Reeves, did a great job inspiring attendees to reach for their deepest goals and strive for success.

One of the most rewarding things Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour gets out of each event is to realize the change in attitude of individual students after being a part of the Extreme Tour. It is hard to describe how wonderful it is to see that “light” turn on in each of them. That light which will brighten their way to TAKE ACTION, and to work their way into a better future.

When the Extreme Team hit Omaha, NE we did not know what to expect but were overtaken by its charm.

Metropolitan Community College staff graciously treated us to dinner at The Student Bistro a student run restaurant on campus. Never would have expected such delicious dinner and the food was fantastic.

The team had a great time learning about the future plans of the college and business school.  We had the opportunity to learn about the great city we were in and got know part of the team who helped to make the event such a success!

Pre-Event Dinner at the Student Bistro

Main Course

After doing over 400 events in the United States, we’ve finally done it.  Our first Extreme Entrepreneurship WORLD Tour event happened today.  It was a JAM-PACKED auditorium with over 850 young Peruvians who just needed a little motivation coupled with a few top tips to take their goals and passions to the next level.  This is really tough to judge, but I think it may have been our best event to date.  Whoa!  The speakers were incredibly dynamic, engaging, inspiring and fun!  But it wouldn’t have been such an awesome event without the wonderful audience members who were so engaged and couldn’t wait to participate.

Here was the stacked line up for the day:

• Arel Moodie, Partner, Empact
• Max Durovic, Founder & CEO, AArrow Advertising
• Jose Luis Silva, Minister of Foreign Trade and Toursim, Peru
• Jennifer Kushell, Founder & CEO, Your Success Network
• Duane Spires, Founder & CEO, Extreme Youth Sports
• Jeff Hoffman, Founding member of Priceline.com; Co-founder, Color Jar
• Debbie Jaffe, Director of New Business Development, Latin America, Google
• Helmut Caceda, President, CAPECE
• Brian Tippens, Director, Global Procurement Sustainability and Innovation, Hewlett – Packard
• Gonzalo Velasco, Director of Entrepreneurship, IPECE

Arel Moodie, who may now be “South America’s Top Young Speaker”, kicked off the event with what may have been his best presentation to date.  Yep, it was filled with several “eres lo maximo!” and lots of “chevere!!!”  He may have even thrown a “medusa” in there.  Oh yeah, that happened.   Arel busted the 5 exuses/myths we’ve all come up with that become reasons why we shouldn’t do something.  But here was his secret – we have to be willing to do things others won’t in order to have things others don’t.

Next to the stage was the one and only, Max Durovic.  Max puts the Che in Chevere – what does that mean?  No other speaker came to the stage spinning signs, jumping over them and maybe even doing a triple back flip off of the stage (one of those didn’t actually happen but totally could have).  Max brought up three CRUCIAL points when it comes to being a successful young entrepreneur:

• Just Jump – don’t be afraid to try something new
• Aim High – don’t settle for mediocrity
• Never Quit – if you haven’t ever failed, you don’t know what true success really is

Representing the incredible female entrepreneurs out there, Ms. Jennifer Kushell brought to the stage a vibrant message of the young and successful, what that means, and how to join the club.  Her book, Secrets of the Young and Successful, is being translated to Spanish and she announced that the first place she would release it will be Peru… so cool!  Congratulations, Jennifer!

During an invigorating Q&A panel with Duane Spires, Sarah Green, Max Durovic, Joel Chlimper and Martin Orbegoso, the audience asked fantastic questions to delve deeper into what it means to be young, successful, and an entrepreneur.

After a short break for a little food, the fun didn’t stop there!  Duane Spires brought the crowd back in with a fantastic presentation on how to create a life of success and to do so by starting with setting goals.  He really focused on the fact that you don’t have to be better, you just have to be different.  Another really important point he made was that to be an entrepreneur… you have to learn to sell!  Entrepreneurs sell more than products/services… they sell their vision!  If you can’t sell yourself, how will you sell your product/service?  He ended his presentation with a bang… literally… video will be posted soon!

And now one of the highlights of the event – Jeff Hoffman, one of the founding members of Priceline.com and the co-founder of Color Jar, brought his incredible wisdom and knowledge to the young people of Peru.  Jeff is one of the best story tellers I have ever met and I dare anyone to try to name a person that he doesn’t know.  Not just anyone sits next to LL Cool J at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.  Jeff has an incredible heart and a brilliant mind for business.  But he reminded us of an important fact – the world’s most successful people are not smarter than you.  The three main takeaways from his presentation were:

• Get off the couch – start somewhere, do something, and learn by trying and failing
• Validate your idea – spend a day in the life of your actual customer
• Get a mentor – learn to take advice from the right people

Finishing up the afternoon, we had presentations from Debbie Jaffe, talking about the innovation of Google, and Helmut Caceda, who talked about entrepreneurship 2.0 and E-commerce in Peru before bringing in our closing acts of the day.

Brian Tippens focused on a topic that I love and am incredibly passionate about – intrapreneurship and the importance of the entrepreneurial mindset and innovation no matter what career path you choose to persue.  To be an entrepreneur, you do not have to own your own business!  What?!  Yep, that’s right!  The same skills, tools and knowledge that the most successful young people have used to create incredibly successful businesses can be applied no matter what your goals are in life.  Not everyone is cut out to own their own business and that is fine.  But being innovative, creative and taking risks within your own career that you are PASSIONATE about is just as important in your entrepreneurial and life journey.

His three main takeaways  on the core rules of intrapreneurship were:

• Make a measurable, global impact
• Be an “Experience Provider”
• Don’t sleep!

I think we’ve got that last one figured out already

Gonzalo Velasco, our amazing host for the Extreme Entrepreneurship World Tour in Peru finished the event with a bang… more like a gong.  He inspired the entire crowed to “Be unstoppable”  – which is exactly what he is!  He focused a lot on attitude and being positive about what you can accomplish in life.  If you can change your attitude, you can change the world.

This event means big things for Empact.  Our global expansion is about to take the world by force.  Get ready!

~Sarah

Day one in Peru:

I landed safely in Lima late last night and Gonzalo, Jose Luis and I have been working non stop to prepare for the event tomorrow.  The weather here is perfect - approximately 78 degrees, sunny with a light breeze.  We worked outside all morning at the Lima Country Club (yes, I was a little spoiled) and are ready to ROCK THE HOUSE tomorrow!

All of the other speakers start to  arrive tonight at 8:20 pm.  There has been one flight mishap (our worst nightmare) but luckily, it has a solution!  Arel’s first leg of his flight had a mechanical problem and was delayed, causing him to miss his second connection.  This means that he will not land in Peru until 4:30 am.  Yikes!  For those of you who know Arel, you know that he is one of the most positive people in the Universe and he won’t let this hold him back or  disrupt his energy at all… he’s still going to have one of the best events of his life tomorrow.  However, he could use your positive thoughts and comments!

Over the past 24 hours, Gonzalo and Jose have been telling me about the culture of entrepreneurship for young people in Peru.  For many in Lima, they have gotten lazy and accustomed to the life their parents have provided for them and if you asked what their goals are in life, they wouldn’t know how to respond because no one has ever asked them.   They need the inspiration and motivation to see the difference they can make in the world through the entrepreneurial mindset and we are ready to deliver!

Over the past 5 years, Empact has organized over 300 Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour events all across the country, inspiring thousands of young people to follow their passions, accomplish their goals and take a hold of their future through entrepreneurship.

As most of you know, the Tour and our message about entrepreneurship is about so much more than just inspiring and helping young people to start businesses and create their own jobs.  The true power of entrepreneurship lies in the fact that it can give young people the motivation and the opportunity to become socially responsible, global citizens who innovate to do something that will make a difference, fulfill their life goals, make a positive impact in the world, and live lives of passion purpose and prosperity.

Exciting Announcement

And now for the exciting announcement: after over 300 events in the United States, Arel Moodie, Sarah Green, Duane Spires, Max Durovic and Jeff Hoffman will be flying to Lima, Peru where they will be speaking at the inaugural Extreme Entrepreneurship World Tour event this Monday, April 16.  Hosted by C.A.P.E.C.E. at the University of Lima, this first event will attract hundreds of young people from the capital city who hold the power to change the future of their country.

Entrepreneurship in Peru

We are honored to be a part of the wave of entrepreneurship that is quickly taking over the country of Peru. Despite a struggling global economy, the entrepreneurial environment and entrepreneurial talent thrives in Peru.  With significant foreign investment attracted in recent years combined with Peru’s geographical and natural strengths, the time is now to create a real opportunity to spur further economic growth in the country via entrepreneurship.

Stay Tuned….

Stay tuned to hear daily updates from all of the speakers about the incredible opportunity we have to play a role in empowering young Peruvians to see entrepreneurship as their vehicle to change the world and use innovation to transition an idea into something that will create exponential positive impact for their country and throughout the world.

Yours in the spirit of entrepreneurship,

Sarah Green
Partner & COO
Empact 

One of my favorite parts of Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour events is the Q & A panel. This is where the students in the audience can ask questions and get real feedback from successful young entrepreneurs.

The most popular questions revolve around getting capital.

I know, as young people, we create barriers that stop us from ever starting something we are passionate about. For instance we may believe we are:

• Not good enough
• Not smart enough
• Not old enough
• Not creative enough to come up with ideas

But the biggest barrier we place on ourselves is that we assume that since we do not have any money we cannot start a business.

This is not true.  It scares me to know how many students out there never take action simply because of their financial situation.

Some pretty exciting news happened last Thursday in our government that I think you should know about. It will help you realize that not having money is a poor excuse for not taking any action.

On Thursday, President Barack Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups  (JOBS Act), a bill that makes it easier for startup businesses to raise capital partially via crowdfunding. The bill makes it easier for startups to stay private or go public depending on the company’s agenda. The JOBS Act shows that our country is looking for entrepreneurs to start businesses and boost the economy.

What this means for you?

The ‘crowdfunding’ piece of the bill is the part that is receiving the most attention and also the part that is most relevant to you.  Now, if you have not already created another tab on your web browser to search what ‘crowdfunding’ means here is little insight…

Crowdfunding allows you to raise small amounts of capital from large pools of non-accredited investors. This is significant because in the past you could only raise money from accredited investors who would of had to make over $200K a year or have over $1 million in assets. This made it challenging for people to raise large amounts of capital if you don’t have accredited investors in your network. Because of the boom in social networks and online marketplaces, the internet can provide any user with more than just friends. They can provide people with financial backing… literally. Websites like Kickstarter.com and IndieGogo.com allow entrepreneurs to raise up to $1 million annually, as sanctioned by the new legislation.

Coffee Joulies, a company on our Empact100 list, created a product that turns and keeps coffee at the right temperature faster and for longer periods of time. They used Kickstarter.com to raise the funds needed to produce this product.  Their goal was to raise $9,500 but because they received attention from the coffee community, they received over $300,000 to start their business. Below is their Kickstarter video. Watch the video to see a great example of how the Crowdfunding process works and can help you raise money.

How can you take advantage of crowdfunding now?

Crowdfunding provides a funding source for you that can help you get out of your business plan stage. Imagine what a couple hundred or thousands of dollars will do for you and your business. It would allow you to start, move to a bigger location, hire another employee, or produce your product/service. Having a crowdfunding arm to your funding strategy is a great way for you to not have to spend money from your own piggy bank.

Crowdfunding is also a great way to test your product idea. If you get a large amount of supporters on your page then it shows that you have something people want. A business that is crowdfunded shows me that the product is viable and will work because it means that people are willing to give you money before the product is even created.

Here are some blogs and tips that you can reference when starting your first crowdfunding campaign.

How to produce a Crowdfunding Video
Crowdfunding Manifesto
Thing to consider when Crowdfunding
10 Crowdfunding Tips

Once you have posted your idea or product to a web-based crowdfunding platform share the link with us by tweeting your page to @roadtour. We would love to support and help. Good luck!

DJ Lil Vegas speaking as an Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour Panelist

On March 30, 2012 Allen Christian (DJ Lil Vegas) returned to the Extreme Tour! This time instead of sitting in the audience, Allen joined us on the panel where he spoke to almost 300 students who sat in the same place he did just one year ago. Allen shared how he began his carer as a DJ and entrepreneur.

Many were inspired by his story!

Check out the interview below! America’s #1 Top Young Speaker, Arel Moodie had the opportunity to interview DJ Lil Vegas after he DJed for the youth at the 6th Annual NC Youth Summit in Greensboro, NC.