There is no better affirmation of success than seeing your “Students” succeeding and excited about life. Teaching at Clemson is the one thing that has changed my business approach and has helped me grow professionally everyday. As I sit here in Starbucks in downtown Clemson, I have already seen two students who have gone through my Business Writing and Entrepreneurship classes…each of them excited to say hi!

Their vibrant smiles remind me everyday why we as professionals should try to teach, give something of ourselves to those who will change the face of tomorrow. On this Clemson Homecoming weekend, it is so much fun to come home to Clemson weekly and see those students who have taught me something special about life.

Here is the third post in my series of answering questions from Clemson’s Leadership Summit 2011, questions surrounding Creativity and Passion. Enjoy!

If we were to take a ‘behind the scenes’ look at your personal leadership journey, what was one of your toughest Challenges in leading with Creativity? Passion? Greatest rewards?

The toughest challenge that I have faced is learning how to articulate my passion and creative thoughts. Sometimes I have a hard time harnessing the words…the right phrases…the right thing to say. Do I consider myself a great leader…heck if i know. But where I have become humbled in my creative leadership is not in my everyday business relationships…but it is when I teach. “Teaching” will teach you how to lead and teach you how to articulate your vision over a period of time. The greatest challenge bestowed upon me was by one of my academic mentors Dr. Summer Taylor, who passed away this year at a young age, asked me to teach on the collegiate level.

Sharing my passion and vision with business leaders is nothing to compared to sharing the same energy with 20 year old college students. It has nothing to do with passion or vision…it has to do with language. Many of the businesses I work with or partner share similar passions and engage in mutual trust. But, walking into the classroom with a new set of students…you are having to change a culture, expose them to a new language, and build trust in hopes that the semester will go as planned. Then you have to learn how to move yourself into the same discourse level as the student, help them see the vision through your eyes…but you must view life through their eyes first.

And here is my greatest reward…the thank you letters. I tear up over them and treasure each one. I had a student who had no path, no idea of tomorrow, but she loved dolphins. I am not sure what her major was at the time…but she was not sure what to do after graduation. But, she loved dolphins. This is the note from Kara…

Aloha Bobby!

This is Kara Harper. I hope you remember me. I was in your Business Writing Class in 2009. I was the girl that wanted to be a dolphin trainer in Hawaii. Well, I just wanted to write you and thank you for everything you did for me in our class. My networking actually got me a job at Dolphin Quest Hawaii, and I am working with the dolphins every day, doing what I always dreamt of doing. I have you to thank for my success in achieving my dreams. I just wanted you to know how much of a difference you are making in every students’ life. Thank you for all you do.

Take care!
Kara Harper

I shed tears every time I read this…

How are we inspiring our tomorrow to be better leaders today? What is our lasting legacy?

***Photo courtesy from Aliens on Earth Blog.

Last week, I posted the first part of my Skype interview with Greg Hartle and his Ten Dollars and a Laptop Project. So I thought I would post the whole interview in a playlist for you to enjoy. It is broken into six parts. I had originally said that it would be seven parts, but I decided to combine two sections. The playlist will allow you to watch the video in sections, since the whole interview is close to 45 minutes long.

Part One – Who is Greg Hartle and what is TenDollarsAndALaptop.com.
Part Two – Tthe pivotal point behind his decision to do this project.
Part Three – Greg Hartle discussing the Entrepreneurial Spirit
Part Four – Greg’s journey across America and the life of the project.
Part Five – Greg’s drive behind this mission and project.
Part Six – Greg talking about “Living in the Present”.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable interview, one that I am glad I took the time to learn more about Greg and his passion to share the entrepreneurial spirit.

So I met Greg Hartle in Chicago at SOBCON2011 and his story is one of inspiration and somewhat crazy. Who would be willing to give up a great career, great house, great financial resources to travel the country with only $10 and a laptop. Some people think he is crazy. Some find it inspiring. Some think, he will fail. Some think, there is no way I would not be able not to use my previous resources to travel the country. I know I would struggle with this since I am married with a kid on the way.

So I decided to conduct a series of interviews with Greg to learn more about his story, his passion, and his mission to travel the country. His goal is to stop in all 50 states, interview an entrepreneur in each state, and create a new business to sustain the “new life.” He started with only $10 and a laptop, hence his website (http://tendollarsandalaptop.com), and to generate income along the way to sustain life including fulfilling his mission.

Why do you ask? Well…I hope to learn more during these short little interviews! This is part one in a seven part series of interviews to learn more about Greg Hartle!

I ask this of my students at the very beginning of the semester…what is your passion? If the world was going to end tomorrow, what is the one thing in the world that would make you happy. What one thing are you passionate about, that you could spend the rest of your life doing?

Is that a hard question? Think about it for a second. What is the one thing that gets you up in the morning and makes you want to enjoy life? Is it photography? Is it helping others? Do you love working with children? Do you love to teach? What is your passion?

It is so hard to express our passion. It is such a deep part of our soul. It is the one thing that makes our heart beat everyday, giving us hope that life is more than just that machine of the business world? Articulating this passion allows others to see inside our shells, providing insight to what makes us tick.

Finding our passion is the essential path to find that magical ingredient to make our life purposeful. Do we find passion in our family? Do we find passion in our work? Do we find passion in learning. To find one’s passion is to define our purpose.

As an entrepreneur, it is essential to find our passion…leveraging that internal mechanism that makes us jump out of bed and keep on swinging the baseball bat of life. If we can find our passion, listen to our heart, we can leverage that passion into a way to generate income.

My father-in-law loves his business. He spent over 25 years working for a major tire company making rubber. Making rubber was not his passion. Making rubber was a means to an end, to provide for his family. Working 3rd Shift made his family life a struggle. He is now retired and chasing his passion. He loves to clean ceilings. Yes, clean ceilings of big businesses like Walmart, Target, Ruby Tuesdays, and numerous others. He has a passion for his ceiling cleaning business and enjoys. It gets him up early in the morning and fuels his passion when cleaning a ceiling at 2am when the business is closed for the day.

So what is your passion. What do you really believe you were put on this earth to do? Why not chase your passion. You might be amazed what you could achieve!

I have been thinking a lot lately about the word entrepreneurship and what defines one as an entrepreneur. Recently I attended an event where a panel discussion was set-up for two “entrepreneurs” to have a discussion about their path. As I sat there and listened, the gut feeling for me was that one was an entrepreneur and the other was a small business owner. But what distinguished the two in my mind. I remember a quote from a friend during a discussion that has stuck in my mind:

“An ‘entrepreneur’ in America might be a simple fish monger in Greece. Likewise, a tyrant or tribal leader in Kazakhstan might be considered an “entrepreneur” if he was born and raised in America. My hunch is that there are a blend of factors that can lead to someone who possesses the traits that other people point toward and say, “that person has ‘it’.” ~Evan Tishuk.

Well, let me step back for a second. Over five years ago, I worked with a team to follow a group of “illegal immigrants” crossing the border from Mexico to America. The picture above is a picture of these individuals…crossing the border.

They were leaving their homes, families, and all belongings behind to risk everything to cross the border. Why? Opportunity. Now, let us remove any political discourse from this discussion right now. This is not a platform to discuss whether you agree or disagree with their path of citizenship. I want to look beyond this and understand the motives behind why people who come to this land.

During an interview with one of the gentlemen as we were traveling…I asked him why? (WATCH SOME OF IT BELOW) Why risk everything for an opportunity? He explains, he is willing to do the jobs that no other “Americans” choose to do. He is willing to leverage this opportunity, take on the risk, to generate revenue, to share the revenue with his stakeholders (family back across the border), and grow his claim in numbers for greater return.

You see…I witnessed something in his eyes that I have seen many times since then…the passion most entrepreneurs possess…to go after a vision. You see, this group of individuals crossed the border the night of these pictures. They came from the lower part of Mexico to Altar, Mexico…a small town that was the staging point to cross. This bustling little town was where these eager entrepreneurs would meet a Coyote for the first time, either making passage payment in cash or becoming slaves to their debt for passage. These Coyotes would arrange bus trips and passage.

They would ride in small vans (above) with close to 20 at a time across the desert…unsure what was to come. I rode with them for close to 2 hours along this dirt road, being stopped by the Mexicali asking for money by gunpoint. Mexicali just wanted lunch money and remind those who try to pass, there is “danger” ahead. We rode and were dropped off to be re-herded into big trucks to be taken out into the middle of the desert to cross by night. There are not big tall borders outside the city limits…there are barbed wire fences separating our two countries. After the night crossing, they would be off to find a ride to many destination points across the US: Los Angelos, Tuscon, Phoenix, North Carolina, South Carolina, etc.

This is a story of passion. A story of innovation. They are not creating the next technological break through. They were seeking work, jobs we Americans choose not to do. They generate revenue, and find ways to get the cash back to their families abroad. They might create high impact business that are in many ways the blue-collar backbone of this American Fabric. When the housing markets crashed, they opened restaurants. They leveraged their resources and they are passionate. Passionate to generate revenue.

I have been thinking about this trip for a while. Now, I do have mixed opinions when it comes to citizenship, border crossings, and tax liabilities. But my thoughts processes are focused on the willingness and passion of the individuals I met over 5 years ago, and the innovation in their entrepreneurial spirit.  These individuals assumed tremendous risk for a tremendous opportunity. That risk is shown by the crosses that hang on the border walls, representing those who lost their lives trying to cross. They found a niche in the market place and they became innovative in their passage and how they generated income. They put their lives on the line for a dream, risked it all for financial opportunity. Then they began to create innovative businesses. Regardless of their right to be in this land…they used the entrepreneurial spirit to leverage anopportunity.

Here is an interview from our trip on a path starting at Altar, Mexico to the crossing point in Sasabe, Mexico. One of the many people I met on our trip, one that I remember…it impacts my comprehension and interpretation of the word “entrepreneurship.”

Recently I wrote a blog post about teaching entrepreneurship in the college ranks, entitled: “Bringing Good Ideas to Life – Inside the Academy.” There were many great comments that followed this post, from great thinkers. It wrapped around defining entrepreneurship. I thought I would share these definitions below:

“The problem is in the definition of “entrepreneurship.” It’s too subjective and constrained by cultural and societal factors. Ask a hundred people (in North America) to write a concise definition of an entrepreneur and I think you’ll get about 100 different answers–creating a fuzzy picture at best. Is an entrepreneur someone who takes a risk? Does that risk have to be in a business context? Does that risk have to lead to success? If so, how much success is required? And how are we measuring that? Wealth? Happiness? Utility? Could a doctor who saves 1,000 lives in a war zone be an entrepreneur too?” ~Evan Tishuk

“the word is defined as coming from the French, but if you go way back to old French and deconstruct it, it is not just about managing or orchestrating an endeavor but from 2 words — entre = between and prendre =to seize or grasp — so it was about seeing things that were “between the cracks” or hidden to others, and seizing the opportunity that those hidden clues offered. Not part of the modern lexicon but an interesting foray into how words/meanings come into play.” ~ Virginia Simpson

Two smart people that have me really thinking through the meaning of entrepreneurship.

***I shot all the photos and video during my travels in 2005.

How do we measure success in the classroom? Well, here is a little moment for me that made it all worth it! Wednesday of last week, it all came together. I teach Hybrid Entrepreneurship at Clemson…I also teach a business writing class, both classes are wrapped around entrepreneurship. Wednesday was the day of success.

I teach both of these classes back to back. The Business Writing class at 2:30pm and the Hybrid Entrepreneurship class at 4pm.  When I walked into the Business Writing class, one of my students had a huge smile on her face. It was a smile of passion. This semester, they are writing about their passion, their business idea, and putting it in a business plan. Each class, a new piece of the puzzle is due then inserted into their business plan notebook. She had an idea.

As I made my way to the front of the class, she began pitching her idea. She explained the vision, the customers, the market, and how much it would cost. She had the entrepreneurial spirit and looked at me and asked, “Do you think I can do it?” I said…”What is stopping you?” She sat and thought…she said…”The money and the time.” The more we talked, the more I realized the idea was great and expensive. I told her to take what we learned in this class and write the plan. You could see she could not wait to get out the door and put her thoughts on paper. The spirit was alive.

As class ended, I made my way to Sirrine Hall for Hybrid Entrepreneurship. This class has to create a business idea that would solve a social problem yet generate profit. We are almost done with the project and I have been encouraging each group to not stop at the end of the semester. Each of the five groups have viable business ideas solving real social problems. Each could start a business immediately.

Two members of a group came to class early to find me. They had a question, “How do we actually make this a business?”  They wanted to know about creating a LLC and they also wanted to know about how to manage the finances. They wanted to know about partner agreements. They were serious. They have a great business idea and they were ready to make the leap of faith into the world of entrepreneurship.

My goal with these classes, to teach the culture of entrepreneurship. I wanted to find and unlock the hidden passion and potential. These bright students are the leaders and innovators of tomorrow, they are the creative class. This day was a day of success, they are beginning to think beyond the A’s and B’s…and how to convert ideas into viable business ideas. Regardless if they succeed, they wanted to get up to the plate and take a swing at that fast ball.

When I walked into class today…I could not have been so excited! SO PUMPED!

I sat and watched five different groups give five different presentations about the business models behind their Hybrid Entrepreneur project. But, this is not just a project…these were five legitimate business ideas. Each one, tremendous…innovative…socially driven…potential to generate a profit…created to make change.

But…here is the BUT. Are these students looking at these business ideas as a project for a grade or will they turn them into a viable business idea? What is the barrier that keeps students in the academy from taking a business idea generated in a class, translate into a passion, and produce a viable business?

This takes me back to my fundamental question: can you teach entrepreneurship in a traditional education model. What do I mean? Well, we teach students that we measure success in terms of A’s, B’s, C’s, D’s, and F’s within a timeframe of the semester. It is my humble opinion that entrepreneurs build businesses beyond the timeframe of a semester and do not measure success within a frame work of grades.

Think for a second, if a student generates a great idea inside a class…how can we change the culture so that they see the value of generating this big idea into a concrete business beyond the end of the semester. Each of these five groups have tremendous business ideas, but the common resistance to capitalize on this idea is the grade they are working to achieve. Also, when the semester ends…out of sight, out of mind.

I was riding around on Saturday with one of my mentors. We were chatting up ideas, business ideas….ideas that can scale into profitable businesses. As we were chatting, we were not focusing on just the future revenue streams but the creative outlet to translate a great business idea into a scalable success. If we had a white board in the SUV, we would have been writing all over the place, connecting the dots. There is a passion behind entrepreneurship that is not measured inside the constraints of semesters and  grades.

Now, back to the classroom.

At the end of the class…I challenged each student. I asked them, what would it take to take their business idea and bring it to fruition. They sat perplexed, thinking about all the other classwork they had to complete. They murmured about time and the lack of resources. So, how do we teach passion and how do we provide the access to resources to convert ideas into reality?

I say we have to take the education of entrepreneurship outside the walls of semesters and grades. We have to provide a shift in culture. Academic institutions have to invest not only in the instruction of entrepreneurship, but also the financial resources that takes good ideas and brings them to life. We see this in the business world. Look at SCLaunch investing dollars in high impact start-ups with the hope they will create jobs in South Carolina. We see new groups like the Upstate Carolina Angel Network connecting good ideas with capital to bring these ideas to life.

So here is my question, how about bring capital into the walls of the academy, investing dollars in students’ ideas for a stake in the business. Many times, I think the barrier here is the ownership of the idea. What do I mean, well institutions are interested in revenue and intellectual property. They might argue these ideas were created inside the walls of the classroom, giving them an immediate ownership of the intellectual property.

So here is my thought, my question: how can we create a culture of entrepreneurship inside the walls of academic institution to truly generate great ideas and bring them to life.  We must change the culture of the academy and create a culture of real entrepreneurship…bringing good ideas to life.

I will leave you with this story. A few months ago, I had the privilege of meeting Doris Buffett. She told her story about her eagerness to give away all her money. She created the Sunshine Lady Foundation to do just that…give it all away.  But, she does not invest in SOB’s (as she so eloquently stated). SOB stands for Symphonies, Orchestras, and Ballets. She invests in human capital. One of her initiatives is the Learning By Giving initiative.

“The goal of the Learning by Giving program is to support and promote the study of philanthropy at the undergraduate level nationwide in order to prepare, empower and inspire young adults to become effective, knowledgeable and skilled philanthropists and leaders in their communities.  The Learning by Giving Program achieves this goal by supporting undergraduate courses in philanthropy with grants of $10,000 for students to distribute  in local nonprofits as an investment in solutions to community problems. The Learning by Giving grants enable undergraduates to experience firsthand the art and science of philanthropy through courses offered in a variety of academic disciplines; and encourage the growth of undergraduates’ philanthropic values and leadership activities over their lifetime.”

WOW! Here is a lady teaching the idea of philanthropy by providing grants to support students in their desire to help local nonprofits as investments in solutions for community problems. She is providing the resources, teaching philanthropy with seed money. Imagine taking this idea and supporting entrepreneurship at the undergraduate level. Seed money supporting the ideas of tomorrow.

As I sit here this Sunday afternoon and work on the company’s finances, what was the major expense this month…gas. Yes, my business takes me on the road all over the Southeast. With rising gas prices brings higher overhead. Yes…many businesses pass off the cost of traveling to their clients. But bottomline…someone is paying.

As I ride from place to place, watch television…companies are touting their hybrid technology. But here is the bottom-line on hybrid technology…it is still oil dependent. Yes, they require some natural resource like gasoline to power the propulsion of the vehicles.

Ever since the creation of the modern vehicle, we have used some sort of gasoline or oil dependent resource to combust and create propulsion. If we want to rid ourselves of oil dependency and truly create vehicles that use a sustainable resource for propulsion, we must get rid of the internal combustion engine. Yes…

As long as we are creating “hybrid” cars, we are still using yesterday’s technology to provide propulsion. That means those that are trying to innovate with the idea of using water (H2O) in an internal combustion engine, we are still using yesterday’s technology to provide propulsion and a natural resource that many argue will one day be just as scarce as crude oil.

Many automotive engineers are creating engines that use electric compulsion. Where do we get our electricity? How much of the electric grid is producing electricity that is not compromising a natural resource. Is the earthquake and tsunami in Japan teaching us anything when it comes to creating electricity from nuclear energy?

We must start from scratch. We must be able to throw away what we know and think beyond the conventions we have been using for the last two hundred years. Where are those who are willing to innovate…those entrepreneurs that have nothing to loose, and create the next wave of technology. Who are the Francois Isaac de Rivaz’s of tomorrow?

Our story of the last two centuries has been written, who will write the story for tomorrow? We need you, oil dependency is driving business of today into the dark ages…un-sustainable. Small businesses of America need you.

So yes…the big announcement. The anticipation to speak freely about this announcement comes with the anxiousness of talking too freely. Yes…we are pregnant, as you can see in the little video above. We are 12 weeks and 4 days pregnant and we are so scared to get excited, fearful that something might happen to take this little bundle of joy away. But this anxious is soon to move to relief…it is finally our turn.

After 3 years and 3 miscarriages, Z4 has overcome all the odds. This is the furthest along we have ever made it. The 4 in Z4 stands for number four. Well…the Z comes from starting out as what clinical terms would call the little bundle of joy a Zygote. We are past the Zygote stage…but Z4 kind of has a ring to it. Ole Z4 is just keeps on growing, giving us more reasons each day to have faith…faith to see this little bundle of happiness bless us with his/her presence on September 13th. Yes…we have a due date.

Where did it all begin, well on our way home from our Christmas Vacation…January 1st to be exact, Sarah peed on the stick. For some crazy reason, Sarah has been peeing on sticks for three months previous like a mad woman. We could now invest in this technology. Do you know how expensive those little jokers are? She just happened to have one, and when we stopped on the way through Atlanta…the McDonalds bathroom provided the perfect venue to let us know that 2011 is going to be a good one.

For the next two months, we have been visiting a Reproductive Endocrinologist every two weeks, watching ultrasound after ultrasound. The little booger was growing and I recorded each one on my iPhone, sharing the video with close family. I missed the first one because the doc was so efficient, he did not give me time to get the phone out and capture the moment. He had us mesmerized with ultrasound technology and the thumping of a little heart. Sarah made me swear to never miss a video capture opportunity again. My close friend Patti wrote me after watching one of the videos stating that this little one will be the most video’d child she has ever seen.

So here we are…and we finally want to share. We are still a bit anxious, praying nothing happens. The little one has us attached, excited…it is our hope that you will share in our excitement. Z4′s heart rate is 154 b/m…my brother-in-law is making fun of me…saying it will be a girl. “Ole Wives Tales”…who believes in them. Especially since a fast heart rate by 12 weeks indicating a girl cannot be an “Old Wives Tale.” Why? Well, ultrasound technology has only been around scanning pregnancies since 1987. That is not old!

Anyways…not that I am opposed to a girl, but Sarah is one of three girls and her sister has two girls herself. Five women in this family, other than me and my brother-in-law…we need some testosterone in this family. But, if Z4 proves to be a stubborn little lady…well, I am just fine with her being daddy’s little girl.

So life is changing. Here I am…37 years old. My first child on the way. Self employed, entrepreneur, getting ready to be a sole supporter. Life is crazy, fun, exciting, and I love it. To my clients, get ready…might have a business meeting with my little one. Z4 is proving to be a college football child…gonna be born in the heart of Clemson Football season. Happy Birthday to myself…today is my birthday, and this day marks the beginning of the 2nd trimester. Apparently for couples like Sarah and I, that is a big step.