When opportunities chase after you
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The main purpose of this presentation is to offer a distilled version of the various instances of enlightenment that I experienced during my Entrepreneurship for the Public Good (EPG) summer program this year. The knowledge that I gained, both intellectual and technical, is vast and I will try to distill it to fit the length of this presentation. I will go ahead and assume that most of you have never thought that it is possible for opportunities to come at you. The biggest lesson that I take from this summer institute is that I can manipulate opportunities to flow in my favor. I will explore that idea in more depth in this presentation.
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When opportunities chase after you
- 1. When Opportunities Chase After You Have you ever imagined opportunities looking for you or flowing your way? Job Limo Rising sophomore, Chemistry major, at Berea College. Member of Entrepreneurship for the Public Good (EPG) 7/6/2014Job Limo When Opportunities Chase After You
- 2. Social Media Reviews Platform Total Contributions Reviews Photos Posted Yet to be Posted TripAdvisor 37 17 20 14 23 Yelp 39 12 27 39 Facebook 8 8 8 Instagram 22 4 18 22 Google 1 1 1 7/6/2014Job Limo When Opportunities Chase After You
- 3. EPG Summer Program Intent Initiating the trail town application process in 8 counties of the Kentucky River Area Development District (KRADD) region. 7/6/2014Job Limo When Opportunities Chase After You
- 4. Did we achieve our intent/goal? 1. Generated community interest 2. Trail mapping 3. Signed letters of intent to pursue trail town status 7/6/2014Job Limo When Opportunities Chase After You
- 5. The most significant new insights on Appalachia and it’s people Appalachian History: - Frontier Settlement - Coal - Mindsets - Civic Leadership. 7/6/2014Job Limo When Opportunities Chase After You
- 6. Ten Key Concepts 1. Intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. 2. Sometimes geography is destiny. 3. Pattern recognition 4. Empathy 5. Design thinking 6. Opportunity recognition 7. Persistence 8. Resourcefulness 9. Team work 10. Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. 7/6/2014Job Limo When Opportunities Chase After You
- 7. Top three of the ten Key concepts 1. Design thinking 2. Opportunity recognition 3. Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. 7/6/2014Job Limo When Opportunities Chase After You
- 8. Learning Styles 1.Pattern Recognition. 2.Learning on the fly. 3.Interview / Intercept Surveys 7/6/2014Job Limo When Opportunities Chase After You
- 9. Team Experience 1.Responsibility 2.Appreciation 3.Stepping up 7/6/2014Job Limo When Opportunities Chase After You
- 10. Key Insights of the EPG Abilities 1.Recognizing opportunities 2.Advocating change 3.Facilitating groups 7/6/2014Job Limo When Opportunities Chase After You
- 11. If I would get another turn I would…." Visit Southfork Elk View in Breathitt County 7/6/2014Job Limo When Opportunities Chase After You
- 12. Most significant event Rock Climbing at Torrent Falls, Campton, KY. It challenged my assumption that, in chasing your dream, you work non-stop until you attain it; then sit back and enjoy. 7/6/2014Job Limo When Opportunities Chase After You
- 13. “ ” I do not chase horses because they are faster than me; I, instead, give horses reason to come to me. - Selim Sandoval Most valuable lesson: Give opportunities reason to come to you. 7/6/2014Job Limo When Opportunities Chase After You
- 14. What’s next for me...? Work on ways to get the ‘horses’ to come to me. 7/6/2014Job Limo When Opportunities Chase After You
- 15. Questions, comments & observations 7/6/2014Job Limo When Opportunities Chase After You
- 16. Work Cited 1. Salstrom, p. Appalachia’s Path to Dependency. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1994. Print. 2. Taulbert, C. Schoeniger, G. Who Owns the Ice House? Ohio: ELI Press, LLC, 2010. Print. 7/6/2014Job Limo When Opportunities Chase After You
Editor's Notes
- Good morning/afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to my presentation this morning/afternoon. The main purpose of this presentation is to offer a distilled version of the various instances of enlightenment that I experienced during my EPG summer program this year. The knowledge that I gained, both intellectual and technical, is vast and I will try to distill it to fit the length of this presentation. I will go ahead and assume that most of you have never thought that it is possible for opportunities to come at you. The biggest lesson that I take from this summer institute is that I can manipulate opportunities to flow in my favor. I will explore that idea in more depth later in this presentation.
- Before going through this summer program, I had no idea of how big social media is in driving the economy in as far as advertisement is concerned. One of our (EPG) focuses this summer was adventure tourism and how tourist destinations and the small businesses therein could benefit from the relatively cheap and powerful social media platforms. Sales and awareness/interest is generated through posts and user reviews. This table shows the number of social media reviews that I wrote in response to my level of satisfaction at the places that we visited throughout the program. You will notice that TripAdvisor has a number (6) of my reviews yet to be posted because they take time to vet the posts. They do that to screen the reviews that are posted so as to maintain their credibility.
- This summer in the EPG program, we intended to work in collaborations with the communities, civic leadership, and the various stakeholders involved in tourism in counties of the KRADD region toward attainment of trail town status. We hoped to interest them in the trail town idea by acknowledging the assets they possessed that would appeal to adventure tourist and sharing the success stories from other trail towns around the country. After arousing the interest, we hoped to work with them in starting the trail town application process The program had a total of 19 Berea College students, broken down into 3 teams of 5 students each and 1 team of 4 students. My team was assigned two counties, Knott and Breathitt.
- We encountered success in our endeavors. First off, we were able to convince the communities in the towns involved of the advantages of trail town status and trail systems in their regions. Based on this generated interest, some counties started mapping out their trails. Leslie county, for example, started mapping out its ATV and water trails complete with GPS coordinates. We got County Executive Judges and City Mayors to sign letters of intent to pursue trail town status; which we forwarded to the Kentucky Office for Adventure Tourism for follow-up.
- After studying the Appalachia’s Path to Dependency, I came to understand the woes of Appalachians, especially those of the Eastern Kentucky region. The fact that they were stuck in the last frontier and the population ended up outnumbering natural resources; which led to depletion of the resource base. Being in a bad situation as they were, the coal industry came and there was a flicker of hope for them, but then the coal revenue funded growth elsewhere while their situation got worse. Numerous programs that the government implemented could not help solve the problems they had. ( Salstrom P.) Now that the coal mines are closing in Eastern Kentucky, the situation is getting worse with lay-offs and no incentive for commercial farming because of the terrain. Since failure of the earlier government programs for economical empowerment, Appalachians are skeptical of current programs initiated in their communities; there is a collective mindset that is against anything government. As explained in Who Owns the Ice House. (Taulbert, C. Schoeniger, G.) These mindsets hinder entrepreneurial progress and we have to understand their pain and problems, then work toward a solution while helping them out of the afore-mentioned mindset. We need to employ the empathetic approach as suggested in the Ice House Discovery Canvas. Civic leadership is a contentious issue in Eastern Kentucky as I came to realize. Families in leadership and allegiances run the show here; with disregard to community progress.
- These are just some of the concepts that I came to understand and utilize during the summer program. While there were many concepts that I learned, these were the ten key. Out of these ten, there are three that I will enhance in the following slide.
- The concept of design thinking really resonated well with the work we were doing in Eastern Kentucky. Going through the process of identifying the problem then working toward solutions rather than the other way round. Making a solution for a problem that you don’t understand or may even not exist is entrepreneurial ‘suicide’. Involve empathy to understand the problem. Opportunity recognition is a vital skill that I had to learn and ingrain in me to be able to identify assets that could be of touristic value in the Counties that we worked in. The pattern recognition concept works hand-in-hand opportunity recognition; piecing the puzzles together. The governments approach of providing benefits and transfers to residents of these poor counties only feeds them. Programs that empower these communities should be encouraged. Then, they will be able to provide for themselves and that will mean better lifestyle and less expense for the government in terms of benefits/transfers
- In the summer institute, I acquired some new learning styles: I learned pattern recognition from the in class puzzle/pattern recognition activities and I came to appreciate the exercise because it has made me attentive to detail and now I recognize problems and opportunities with much ease. Learning on the fly (also known as being in the moment) is a skill that has enabled me to expect the unexpected and pay attention at all times lest I miss an important part of the moment. I attained this skill from the ball games we did in class. I never imagined that one would gather immense valuable information by initiating conversations with total strangers. Intercept surveys opened me up to a new data resource.
- Being part of a team of people you have never worked with before can be overwhelming at first because you will use the first few days trying to know and understand one another. However, once you get comfortable around each other, your work together almost becomes a walk in the park. That does not mean, however, that it becomes all meat and no bones. In the group, I had a high sense of responsibility, there was always something that needed to be taken care of and my team mates counted on me to deliver. I could not disappoint them because they also delivered in whichever area they were taking care of. I felt appreciated in the group; both my person and my contribution.
- Of the six EPG abilities, these three are the ones that I saw to be most utilized and essential. The ability to recognize opportunities was a fundamental skill that I had to have (or learn) before I could set out into the field. The fieldwork was about recognizing potential adventure tourism assets and task force members; the skill is essential. By suggesting seeking trail town status, we were advocating for change and a lack of this skill would make convincing the community an uphill task. In Williamson, WV, we had to facilitate the various entrepreneurs who attended the workshop. This process went well because of our skills at facilitating groups.
- If I would get another turn, I would visit the Southfork Elk view point in Breathitt County, KY. My team was working in Breathitt County and it came up during our discussions with members of the civic leadership that the Elk view point had been designated as the trailhead for the proposed Breathitt County ATV trails system. Since we were working with them in initiating the process of trail town approval, I would have liked to see their designated trailhead so that I could analyze its suitability and determine why they chose it. Since we did not get to make there, given another chance, I would definitely pay a visit.
- Coming into EPG, I assumed that for one to succeed in whatever endeavor they embark on, they should give it their all and work till they attain it. After the rock climbing experience, I realized that taking breaks/vacations are essential for one to asses, regroup, and revitalize. I realized this when I would clip myself to the rail and hang loose. I used the time for rest, taking photos, and appreciating what I had achieved; while also acknowledging how far I still had to go. The strap is essential, in that it holds you to the rail to remind you that you’re still a climber and will have to continue on your journey; it also prevents you from falling away from your endeavor. In your journeys, for example career, take breaks to savor your success, asses your progress, rejuvenate yourself, and map out the way forward. Remember, though, to still keep a connection with your journey so that you don’t fall off your path and you are aware that you will eventually need to get back on the path and tread it.
- At the beginning of this presentation, I mentioned that the biggest lesson that I take from this summer institute is that I can manipulate opportunities to flow in my favor. I promised to explore the idea in more depth later in this presentation. Well, here we are: While visiting Williamson, WV, I struck up a conversation with a gentleman, Selim Sandoval. He runs a non-profit that is involved in the health sector. When I asked him the reason for his success, he offered the quote on the screen. He then explained that you have to create value yourself for opportunities to flow your way; else, you will be chasing horses all your life. That explains the title to my presentation.
- I will work on collecting as much ‘carrots’ and ‘apples’, building more stables, growing a ‘good pasture’, collecting enough ‘hay’, and beckoning at the ‘horses’ in my life. Basically, I will work on creating value for myself through classwork, volunteering activities, and internships so as to attract opportunities my way.
- As I come to the close of my presentation, I acknowledge that you may have comments, questions or observations. You may go ahead and share.
- Work cited.