We dove right in during weeks 2 and 3, shifting our focus from life as an entrepreneur and getting down to the nitty gritty of our businesses: market research, branding, financial goal setting and more!
GUEST STARRING…
Day 4 | We kicked off the week with a presentation about Life Design by Braden Hill, former Fanshawe College employee and current consultant at Deloitte. He shared the story of his evolving career path, and gave us great insights about short term VS long term rewards as well as fast and slow thinking: how opportunities can be missed if you aren’t looking for them.
That was the final workshop regarding personal development and introspective reflection for our crew. Which lead to Dave’s disclaimer of the week: This program is about to become
But before we can “do”, we need to know what we’re working towards! Kelsey lead the group through a workshop on the importance of goal setting and let us in on the “5D” process: Dream, Define, Design, Deliver, Deliberate.
Day 5 | Nothing motivates a group like a challenge! We had the cohort participate in a networking challenge, collecting as many contacts from the group as they could in the allotted time. With our accelerator being hosted virtually, we wanted to be sure our entrepreneurs are able to connect with each other outside of our time together each day.
Research Librarian, Paula Parlette, also joined us to talk about market research and all of the resources available through the Fanshawe College Library Services.
Day 6 | We’ve been working on our 1-minute marketing pitches, and today we shared them with the group in exchange for a “feedback sandwich.”
One thing you liked
Something that could be improved
Another thing you liked
We welcomed Kim Medynsky, member of the marketing faculty at the Lawrence Kinlin School of Business, where “experienced” is an understatement when talking about her expertise in the Voice of Customer. She is currently allowing our cohort exclusive access to a new software she has been working on.
We closed out the week with past Leaper Alex Leonard, owner of AL Media and The Creative Kind Podcast. Alex lead us through Brag and Drag, and left us with his best entrepreneurial advice in 10 words or less:
“Charge more. Don’t do things yourself. Keep crushing it!”
Week 3 content was delivered mostly by David Ouellette, LEAP Junction's Business Coach, but we had a few friendly faces pop in to offer their insights!
Day 7 | Erica Oakes (owner of Os & Oakes and former LEAP Junction employee!) talked financials with the group, discussing how she started her business with her personal savings of $10,000. She also spoke on a “real” level of the challenges of being a small business owner during the pandemic and how understanding the business’ finances was able to allow her to plan accordingly.
Day 8 | Dave lead us through Product and Service Planning, where we talked about different business models and worked on descriptions that focus on benefits to the customer.
“Customers buy benefits, not outcomes”
Day 9 | Lina Manuel, Marketing Professor at Fanshawe College and former Events &
Marketing entrepreneur, came prepared with a beautiful presentation around Brand Positioning and shared some advice based on her experiences:
Be different and unique
Understand your audience
Believe in your mission
Our week ended with another Brag and Drag session, this time lead by the Pierogi Queen herself, Sylvia Zietek! We celebrated her brag of opening up their first industrial kitchen space located in Komoka that will be shared with other small food-based businesses.
BLOOPERS…
“If you don’t like running, don’t do it” - Ashley
“Every time you put us in a breakout room it feels like we’re being sat at the kids table” – Josh
“I’m pretty sure they use this program in elementary school… like with children….” Dave, laughing at our inability to figure out how to use a Miro board!
