Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour

The Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour team kicked off the Spring 2010 tour and rocked the house in warm and sunny Florida. We arrived at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Florida on Monday, February 22.  In order to get a flavor for the community we would see the next day, we went to the Original Tiki Hut to experience some fresh seafood before bringing all of our energy to the event the next day.  I don’t know what they’re feeding the fish down here, but it definitely worked!

The event was sponsored locally by EDI (Entrepreneur Development Institute at IRSC), the CCTI (Corporate & Community Training Institute at IRSC), the SBDC (Small Business Development Center at IRSC), and the City of Ft. Pierce Redevelopment Agency (FPRA).

As usual, the event started off with a lot of high fives and even though it was 8 am, everyone was participating enthusiastically.  The participants came in tired and skeptical of what they just signed up for, but by the end of the day they were literally jumping in their chairs and busting with ideas and goals to apply what they learned that morning.

Keynote speakers Adam Witty and Jason Duff definitely brought on the heat.  Their success stories impressed us all and they addressed topics from social entrepreneurship and using your talents and passions to make money and save the world, to the importance of who your employees are and making sure that they are so focused they are able to “pee through a straw”.  Marinate on that one for a minute!

Here are some worthwhile quotes from some of the event participants:

“It wasn’t just another conference with the mumbo-jumbo of trying to just get everyone motivated and inspired.  The tour achieved that of course, but actually gave us tangible and practical steps for how to be able to apply that energy and take the next step”.

“Can you come back next week?”

“I learned something new today.  I’ve always known that to be a successful entrepreneur you have to connect a new and innovative idea with the solution to a problem, so I’ve been trying to create something completely new and separate from what is out there.  I learned today how to apply this enthusiasm and passion to creating a service to improve the current, rather than create something brand new.”

If this first event sets the precedent for what the rest of the session will bring, you are all in for a treat!  The team heads out to cold and snowy South Dakota bright and early tomorrow morning.  Let’s hope the energy from participants at the South Dakota LAUNCH 2010 will be able to keep us just as warm and fired up as we are down here in Florida!