Published in the Independence Daily Reporter, July 27, 2016

Today’s vast bodies of knowledge, available at our fingertips, along with stunning new technologies give us greater-than-ever potential to solve our problems; personal, commercial and societal. Humans aren’t perfect and as long as humans are in the mix, things won’t work right, things will break, products and services will be lack-luster.  No matter what happens with new technology and greater knowledge, there will always be problems.  We need people that are better at recognizing problems as opportunities and finding creative solutions for them.

Whether we know it or not, we’re all in the business of solving problems.  In our work lives, whether we’re working for others of working for our customers, we’re supposed to be solving problems.  In our personal and student lives, there are problems too.  Better problem-solving skills make us better in our professional lives and happier in our personal lives.  As we become better problem solvers, we become better decision makers, realizing that the successful outcome of our lives depends on our choices, not our circumstances.  The psychologists call this special kind of self-confidence “self-efficacy” and increased self-efficacy is the primary objective of Fab Lab ICC and the Successful Entrepreneur Program at ICC.

Successful entrepreneurs—the ones that have identified problems, found creative solutions and offer those solutions to customers—have this special kind of problem-solving ability and outlook on life.  We could all benefit from looking at the world and the problems of the world the way entrepreneurs do.  Studying entrepreneurs has been a challenge.  Ask them to explain how they think, they can’t, let alone write it down.  Most know they think differently, but even realize they have a better way of looking at things.  Indeed, many have felt isolated as their differences in thinking have not fit in with society’s thinking.

We found a method a few years ago that makes studying successful entrepreneurs not only possible, but interesting, inspiring and fun.  Best of all, it doesn’t require reading any long, dull text books or writing research papers.  “Entrepreneurial Mindset”, a class different than any you’ve ever taken or contemplated, will begin at Fab Lab ICC on August 17, from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm and continue on Wednesday evenings through Thanksgiving.  This class is facilitated, not “taught” and will be co-facilitated by me and Shelley Paasch, an independent affiliate of Network Kansas.  Contact me at jcorrell@indycc.edu for more information.

A small group, 12 – 15 people will embark on a study of successful entrepreneurs by listening to them talk about how they approach life.  The class will be made up of both non-traditional community members and traditional college students.  The method will be by interviewing our own local and area successful entrepreneurs in class and watching video interviews of successful entrepreneurs from all over the United States.  In the end, participants will come away, inspired to become a better problem-solver with tools to identify, test and refine their solutions to the problems they need to solve.  Most past participants say it changed the way they think; several have said it’s changed their lives.

Published in the Independence Daily Reporter, July 13, 2016

I was once in a coaching meeting with a new business owner, a business incubation candidate and his mentor.  The candidate commented that current business was about 75% of what he needed it to be.  The mentor then asked him “Why would anyone buy from you?”  This caught the candidate off guard and he didn’t really have an answer.  The mentor then gave a short elevator pitch about two of his businesses with the reasons why customers buy from them.  Everyone in business needs to be able to briefly summarize the reason(s) customers buy from them.  The sophisticated business consultants call this the “value proposition”.

People buy products and services where they get the best perceived value for their needs in solving their problems.  While there are a few that actually consider the lowest price to be the most important factor in their decision, for the majority of us, other factors are just as or more important than price.  People want convenience and they want to buy from people that treat them nicely and with respect.  They also want to do business with people that will do what they say they will do.  If fast is good, they want it faster.  If slow is good, they want it slower; big, bigger; small, smaller; safe, safer, etc.  Sometimes, you can combine two or more existing products or services in a new way to provide the value the customer wants.  They want a better value for the money spent and will shop where they get that better value.  The combination of things you do to provide this value is what will make you unique in the marketplace and position you in a favorable way.

If you’re in business, trying to figure out how to get more business, ask yourself the question; “Why would anyone want to buy anything from me?”  The answer shouldn’t be “because I offer the lowest prices”.  Most small businesses can’t offer the extra touch of service needed to attract customers and still be cheaper than all the competition.  Also, the answer should not be “because I’m local”.  Most people will not buy locally just for the sake of buying locally.  They buy locally if the local business can give them the perceived value they want.  If they can’t get the value they want locally, they will try to find it out of town.  If they can’t find it out of town either, they may even resort to making their purchase at the dreaded “box store” on online.

How can you develop a reason someone would buy something from you?  People want solutions for their problems and a positive experience in finding those solutions.   Your reason should have to do with providing top quality products and/or services in solving your customers’ problems along with reliability, respect, a fair price and consistency.  Figure out how to combine those aspects with your solutions and you’ll have your reason why people buy from you and plenty of customers as proof.

Published in the Independence Daily Reporter, July 6, 2016

It’s a common question at community and economic development meetings.  It’s usually prefaced with discussion about the general decline in population in rural areas of Kansas.  And then someone says “Why are our young people leaving?”  The answer is that the youth are doing just what we’ve told them to do.  For at least the last 60 years, we’ve told them to leave.  The message, from our families, our schools, our peers, indeed, all of society has been that the opportunities are all “out there somewhere” and to be successful in life, you’ll have to go somewhere else.  That part of the message has been very direct.  A more subtle part of the message is the implication that if you come back to your home town, it means you couldn’t “cut it” in the city.  So, off they’ve gone for generations, many never to return and we wonder why they have gone.

How do we change this?  Here are three things we should be doing.  1.) Change the message; 2.) As they leave to find fame, fortune or education, tell them they are always welcome to return and 3.) Invite those already “out there” to return.

• Change the message to one that says opportunities lie within finding solutions to the problems of others and that you can solve problems for others as an employee of a company or as an entrepreneur and small business owner. There are problems, hence, opportunities everywhere.
• At 18 – 20 years old, most youth want to see their home towns in the rear view mirror; that’s natural. We need to encourage them to “go out into the world” and find their way to a happy and fulfilling life by solving problems for others.  However, we need to also say that their home town is part of the “world” and there are plenty of problems here that need to be solved, and, that they are always welcome to come home.  Humboldt, Kansas gives each graduating senior a personalized mail box as a symbolic invitation to return at any time.
• Finally, every small town should have a process for inviting the home-town youth to return. This effort would include a database of youth identities and locations discovered through inquiries with local family members and class reunion organizers.  Then, systematically, young people are invited to return.  Of course everyone won’t be interested in coming home, but even a success rate of 10% would be impressive.

I’ve noticed that the best and brightest young people returning to the area as entrepreneurs and professionals are coming back to be close to family.  We should do everything we can to encourage them that there are opportunities everywhere, especially here in their home town.

Published in the Independence Daily Reporter, June 29, 2016

We believe the economy of the future—which is now– will be about customization and individualized products made possible by increased use of automation and robotics in the manufacturing environment.  In order to survive, companies must learn to be agile and successful in this quick-change environment.  “Workforce” members will consist of entrepreneurs, contractors and employees all working to solve the problems of the marketplace, whether working for themselves or working for others.  The distinction between entrepreneurs, contractors and employees will continue to blur and all must possess a wide variety of skills in addition to a single area of knowledge or specialty as in the past.

We believe the Fab Lab environment provides not only the physical attributes required for this kind of learning, but most importantly, the entrepreneurial mindset that fosters the kind of problem solving and critical thinking needed.  We’re working with our colleagues at Independence Community College to develop a “Fab Force” Certificate that combines elements of Entrepreneurial Mindset, Creative Design, Character, Communication and Conflict Resolution along with introductions to several “hard” skill areas.  Some markets recognized the beginnings of this need several years ago.  “Mechatronics” has become a term to represent a multidisciplinary approach providing a varied knowledge and skill-set.   What we’re talking about here is similar, but includes a greater emphasis on Entrepreneurial Mindset.  At the equivalent of 15 credit hours it provides benefits as a stand-alone endeavor or as an enhancement to any field of study.  We know that specific applications of these topics in business requires much on-the-job learning, however, we believe the introduction of these topics  will provide not only a solid foundational knowledge, but also the attitudes of curiosity and desire for life-long learning required for future success as technology evolves more rapidly.

We believe this experiential training will increase the self-efficacy of participants which will greatly increase the elusive “soft skills” for which we’ve all been looking for the last 20 to 30 years.

This training will be helpful both for those wishing to become independent contractors or small business owners and those wanting to go to work for progressive, innovative companies in our region.

These are the topical areas we’ll be covering in this certificate approach.

Electronics

Robotics

Welding

Coating

Additive (3D printing) and subtractive (machining) manufacturing

Other “Fab Lab” elements like imaging and graphics printing

Creative Design (ala Stanford D-School)

Entrepreneurial Mindset

Character

Communication and conflict resolution

We believe this is the workforce development training of the future and we strive to be among the leaders in Kansas and our region.  We welcome comments and feedback from manufacturers and small business owners as well as potential trainees.  Contact us at jcorrell@indycc.edu or 620-332-5470.