Archive for 2016

Turning a Good Idea into a Great Idea

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An “Idea” . . .
What a magnificent phenomenon!
It makes us realize how incredible the human mind truly is. 
Think about it . . .
You see events, trends, activities that affect your life every day: sometimes in a good way; sometimes in a not so good way. And then one day you have an idea of something you can do or make that could make your life better, and maybe the lives of many, many people.  Your mind integrated all that input and through its magic consolidated all that information, established a problem or opportunity out of that info, and then conceived something new, something that did not exist before you thought of it to solve that problem or take advantage of that opportunity your mind just saw. 
It – you - created . . .
                                        Yes, you got it . . .
                                                                            A novel “idea”. 
This process happens all the time to almost everyone.  What separate the entrepreneur from everyone else are three really important differences: the recognition of the novelty of that idea; the intent to do something amazing with that new idea; and, the ability to make that amazing something actually happen!
Welcome to the world of transforming a good idea into a great idea!
But what makes that good idea a great idea?

Generally, we could all agree an idea that results something that improves the lives of people would be a very good idea IF it can actually become the product or service that will improve lives.  Or, maybe it’s just a better way of doing the same things with the products or services that already exist.  Regardless, the notion of very good is itself an interesting concept: very good to whom?  

- Doug Lane

The Big Idea

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It seems that everyone has heard about entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs.  It’s become a buzz word with many meanings to many people, generally in reference to Venture Capitalists and an IPO.  But in fact, every one of us has experienced the same first beginning every entrepreneur has experienced: The Big Idea.
How many times have you in your daily life seen something you thought could be done better?  Or thought of something that could solve an everyday, nagging problem?  Or maybe you saw a change taking place that you thought might create a new opportunity for a new product or service?  It’s happened to all of us.  But when it happened to you, your truly “good idea”, what did you do with that idea? 
The fact is most of us just don’t know what to do, how to turn a good idea into a commercially successful, income producing idea, even though that idea could be a huge success!
We hear you, and we decided to do something about that! 
This fall starting September 24th we are offering a new opportunity for people to get a solid introduction to entrepreneurship from California State University Channel Island’s Extended University and the university’s Martin V. Smith School of Business and Economics.   One of our MBA program instructors and businessman, Doug Lane, will share his US and international experience in business and entrepreneurship as he teaches you the fundamentals of how to transform a good idea into a great opportunity. 
He knows entrepreneurship.  He’s managed six early-stage companies as President and CEO, transformed a new business to produce the highest biotech Initial Public Offering valuation the year that company went public, helped put a company on the London Stock Exchange, and while at the world’s 8th largest pharmaceutical company led business development in the project that launched the gene-based drug and diagnostics industry we enjoy today.   
What makes this program unique is that it is designed for anyone with a high school diploma or greater who wants a solid introduction to learn the ins and outs of entrepreneurship.  We’ve developed a program to help you learn the same principles we teach our MBA students but without the need to have a college degree.  Over four consecutive Saturday mornings starting September 24th you will learn what entrepreneurship is and what makes a good idea a great idea with fun examples from the multibillion dollar Facebook story to the million+ dollar “But wait . . . there’s more!” TV infomercial and popular “Shark Tank” examples. 
And, over the next couple of weeks we’ll be putting out new blogs to preview what you will learn in this fun and informational course, like what makes a good idea a great idea; who will buy your idea and why; can you make and sell your idea at a price that will make money; how to protect your idea; how to finance your idea; and, how to “make it happen” – how to implement your idea.
This is not a get-rich-quick course but one designed to give you the understanding and skills to take more control over your financial life.  You see, we watch the trends. And when we see headlines like, “Experts predict robots will take over 30% of our jobs by 2025”, we get concerned and want to do something to help. 

So join us!  We’d love to share this exciting and dynamic world of entrepreneurship with you, starting in just four weeks!