[MUSIC] My name's Ken Szymusiak. I'm the Managing Director for the Institute of Entrepreneurship. >> And I'm Forrest Carter. I'm the Faculty Director of that institute and also an Associate Professor of Marketing at Eli Broad College of Business. We want to welcome you to our course that we feel will have a transformative effect, on not only your family, but also your community. Our vision for this course is to move our learners from the perch of procrastination to a state of action so that you do something that's wonderful for your life and also for the world. >> So I bet you're saying, what can I gain from this specialization? First, and perhaps most importantly, the realization that in fact you can do this. At the end of this specialization you will be able to effectively argue against all of the reasons given for not starting your business by your number one adversary, you. Soledad O'Brien, news anchor and author, once stated, That to be in business is a mindset. You have to constantly be able to see opportunities in everything. At the end of this specialization, you will be able to function better with a business-oriented mindset. You will be able to insightfully recognize, passionately pursue and effectively exploit opportunities. If you're going to exploit opportunities, you're going to have to be able to innovate and manage risk. You will be much more capable of creating a value that a customer will be willing to pay for without regard to your currently available resources. We all know the old adage that experience is the best teacher. At the end of this specialization you will have the confidence that you can effectively go through all the steps involved in starting a business, because you would have already done it. You would have had the experience from the exercises and assignments of this course that you will be able to replicate and step your way through the process of starting a business. >> So what will a learner gain from this course? One, we're going to provide you with motivation to get moving on your idea. Two, we're going to prepare your mind and your mindset so that you're ready to take risk in a calculated way so it's not scary and you're moving forward on your business concept. Three, we're going to give you the analytical and management tools to help you move forward so you feel equipped to actually build your business in a manner that best suits your lifestyle. We're here to coach you and guide you along the way. And we're going to provide you with lots of resources and other ideas in how you can find proper coaching and mentoring wherever you are in the world. One of the most important things in this course is customer feedback. The days of the antiquated business plan, that's 40 pages long that you take to your banker, are pretty much over. What we encourage our learners to do is actually validate the ideas and concepts they're working on. We want you to get out there, explore the marketplace, and have the opportunity for live customer feedback. >> So, before we go much further, let's establish exactly what this course is not. It is not technologically oriented. It's not your ticket to Silicon Valley. It could be, but we are not making that assumption. Your dog rooming business is going to be just as important to us as your business that might be the next great Facebook. It's also not resource dependent. We aren't assuming that you're going to be raising millions of dollars from investors, are having to mortgage the family home or borrow from the kid's education fund. We're looking at your ability to simply start your business with those resources that you currently have available. Research has shown that successful business owners are not necessarily born, they can be bred. Like any endeavour in the human experience, being born with certain gifts makes success in that area easier, but doesn't make it inevitable. We're going to look at the fundamental aspects of successful business owners. Research has shown that that's passion, mindset, and management skills. Passion, you have to bring it to the table, that's the gift, but mindset and management skills, they can be learned. >> Let me tell you what this course is. It's a logical guide to demystify the process of starting a business. It seems like there's a lot of questions that people have that frequently come out about, what to do first, where did they go for help, how they do this? To us, it's a, it's a process and were going to teach you how to do that and we'll demystify it for you. Secondly, we're going to give you a set directive experiences.These experiences will take you step-by-step through this process and get you well on your way to success. The way that we've organize this specialization Is in to six very action-oriented courses. The first course is mindset, where we'll be talking about how to do self-evaluation, and how to put yourself in the right frame of mind to move forward on your concept. The second course we're offering is an ideation. We're going to talk about what makes an idea stick, why it's important to pursue it, and how do you get valid feedback on whether an idea is ready to move forward on. Our third phase is planning. Although the business itself may be a passe endeavour, we're looking at this from the standpoint of providing your own road map to move forward. Our fourth step is structure. Businesses require some very important structural elements, legal, accounting, and otherwise. We're going to step you through that process, put it in a way that make sense for all of you to understand. In strategy, we'll be talking about now that you have an idea, you put the structure in place, what's the first thing you're going to do with this to actually see if there's market traction? We're going to walk you through, go-to-market strategies and the best way to get your product or idea on the market place. And then lastly, we're going to take action on your ideas. It's time for you to move forward from just sitting on your couch, thinking about I wish this idea came to life, to actually taking the first steps in solid concrete action and we'll put you through the wringers on that one. >> We can't wait to get started. What about you? Are you ready to start moving towards your goal of starting a business? We certainly that you choose to opt in and take the entire specialization. We think it will be valuable, especially if you in fact want to start your own business, but even if you're going to be working in a business for someone else. The things that we're going to expose you to in this specialization, we think, will bring great value. >> We'd like to welcome you to come join us at our first course, The Entrepreneurial Mindset. We'll be unlocking the secrets of what makes a great mind tick in the business world and how the power is in you to move forward on your concept. [MUSIC]
