Project Goal
As part of my Algonquin College Sabbatical this year, I am interviewing entrepreneurs to gain insight into the practices and skills that lead to success, success as defined by the entrepreneur. I will be interviewing entrepreneurs who represent sectors of media and design, such as game developers, Web developers, graphic designers, interior designers, journalists, music industry arts employers, etc. In the process, I am endeavouring represent student demographics by including content from underrepresented communities such as entrepreneurs in the LGBTQ community, First Nations community, new immigrant communities, and communities of persons with disabilities.
Project Goal
As part of my Algonquin College Sabbatical this year, I am interviewing entrepreneurs to gain insight into the practices and skills that lead to success, success as defined by the entrepreneur. I will be interviewing entrepreneurs who represent sectors of media and design, such as game developers, Web developers, graphic designers, interior designers, journalists, music industry arts employers, etc. In the process, I am endeavouring represent student demographics by including content from underrepresented communities such as entrepreneurs in the LGBTQ community, First Nations community, new immigrant communities, and communities of persons with disabilities.
What to Expect
We will be making an appointment to video interview you, at your place of work or at a studio, whichever best suits your needs and better reflects the nature of your entrepreneurship. The complete process takes about two hours, from setup to takedown.
What to Talk About
Don’t worry too much about what to say. For many, the dialogue will be natural – just tell your story. Others may need a bit more guidance; you will be prompted through a series of questions to lead you in the “right” direction.
All videos will be edited to take out “bloopers”, so don’t worry. For the most-part, we are just looking for you to share your entrepreneurial story so that students will benefit from your experience and wisdom. Students want to hear the “real” story, including the hardships you have encountered..
Some have requested a list of possible talking points:
Not in any particular order
- Introduce yourself
- Talk about your background. Did you come from a place of privileged or a place of hardship?
- How did you know what you wanted to do? Did you have a dream or vision, or did you drift until you found out your purpose and goals? Talk about how you discovered your purpose.
- Did you find that your goals aligned with your values or you change your goals to match your values, or perhaps you changed your values because of your goals?
- Are you the type of person who sees opportunities when confronted with barriers? Talk about the choices that you have made in the face of hardships.
- Talk about how you have found opportunities. Is it true that opportunity only knocks once?
- Talk about how you made a plan of action. Was it difficult to follow through with your plans? Did you develop strategies for success?
- In our classes we talk about how knowledge plus work brings about success. How did you acquire the knowledge that you have needed to succeed? Was there a time of ignorance for you?
- How did you learn from your mistakes?
- Are there entrepreneurs that you admire? How were you inspired by their achievements?
- What are your core values? Talk about how your values have helped you with your entrepreneurial journey.
- Talk about your “community”. Who do you surround yourself with? Do you have a mentor or mentors? Is family an important part of your community?
- Do you give back to your community? How?
- Talk about persistence. Have failures helped you in the long haul?
- Share an entrepreneurial nugget that you believe will be valuable to young entrepreneurs.
This list is not definitive. Feel free to add anything that will be beneficial to our students.