Journal of the Wantrapreneur : Ask and be told

Just ask. Seems like a simple suggestion, but going back a few months, I'd have no clue just how much power there was in asking. Early January i set out on a quest to open up a BioHacker space in Melbourne, now in May, 4 months later, I am President of an organization, I have $30,000 worth of equipment from a University I still owe $10,000 to for a partial education, and am about to open the lab up in my garage. All of this was obtained for under $50, the rest was given to me because I asked. It's amazing the stories we spin ourselves to justify us not doing something we're not comfortable with doing. We could spend countless hours holding off on doing something that may in itself take only a minute.

Step 1

I asked the Internet, who around Melbourne would be interested in starting up a BioHack space. The response was pretty good, and so we created a Facebook page to keep everyone up to date and act as a medium for communications during this project. Soon after this the task at hand of what needed to get done was beyond me so I decided to look for help. I asked who wanted to form an organization, next thing we knew, we had an organization.

Step 2

I asked existing contacts in my science network as well as seeking out other new contacts for old lab equipment. Sure enough, labs in Australia are constantly upgrading, resulting in many thousands of dollars worth of unused equipment just sitting around. Much of this goes straight in the bin! So when these laboratories heard there was a worthwhile cause they could off load this gear to, they were happy to help. The acquisition of this gear was a huge milestone and, a big shout out to Deakin University and my old Demonstrator/friend Wesy for helping out.

Step 3

As things were progressing, we needed to start focusing the power of our board towards the tasks that would allow for progress. What we found out was that in order for us to go to the next level we would need to change from an incorporated association to a company limited by guarantee. Not knowing how to go forward we decided to ask for some legal advice. What we got was free pro-bono help. Some people really identified with the idea, so much they were willing to wave their normal fees until we could pay. When it comes to the legal side of things, it's very important to get everything down pat to reduce liability and risk to the members. Unfortunately the fees for going from an incorporated association to a company limited by guarantee are quite expensive. It would have cost me $2,000 roughly to pay for an accountant to find a lawyer to have this done. Then I asked if anyone would be willing to do it pro-bono and the answer was yes, this halved the cost to $1,000! 

The point I'm trying to make is just ask! you never know what you're going to get until you ask, and until then you can only speculate! Ask everyone, tell everyone, speak to everyone! If you come across a stone, turn it over and see whats underneath, you'll never guess, so don't.

Journal of the Wantrapreneur : The Vision

We all have them; ideas, dreams, visions. After we have our grand vision like the ark for Noah, where do we go from there? We'll lets take Noah for example. He put pen to paper (Quill, charcoal, I don't know I wasn't there), and started to draw it out. Then he enlisted the help of those around them in the construction of his vision and presto, life on earth was saved!

Unfortunately, in modern times, going from vision, to planning, to execution is not as simple as badabing badaboom.

Noah didn't have to worry about validating his vision to his peers and the public.

Noah didn't have to worry about the pain of bureaucracy from his team, and other key partners

Noah didn't have to worry about raising venture capital.

Noah didn't have to....

Unfortunately we rarely hear about the trials and tribulation of the successful entrepreneur today. This can lead to people becoming disheartened after hitting the first obstacle.

I'm a serial "failer" in that I have tried and failed numerous times with a variety of projects and in life in general, but perhaps that is for another blog post.

Initially I would have a vision or a drive to complete a certain project, but unfortunately it wouldn't go much further than that. These ideas would just sit in my head, pop up in conversation and rinse and repeat until they were lost. It wasn't until I was trying to draw up dimensions for a desk I was designing did I realize the power of putting pen to paper. Even easier is using a note taking application like Evernote to quickly capture your ideas. The other great thing about writing down your ideas is that you can re-visit them and alter them. When you only use your brain, we spend so much energy recalling the idea, that we aren't able to add to them. We also run the risk of forgetting parts of the idea and this associates a negative feeling to the idea because it's now an incomplete representation of what it once was. So write them DOWN.

The other great thing about having a notebook full of your ideas, is that it empties your head of the random ideas that fill it. The first idea I had was to start selling custom electronic cigarette juices, the next idea was collapsible high heels. While there wasn't much similarity between these two projects, over time, emptying my mind of these random ideas started leaving room for new ideas that were more focused around what I am passionate about. Sharing the understanding and appreciation for life I have gained through Science to the rest of the world.

The final thing I want to talk about involving your "visions", is food for thought. Having a notebook that you can look back on, filled with your ideas is a great resource to turn to in a time of need or during a block. Often the obstacle that we face in a current project only requires a change in perception to overcome, observing the problem in a different way. Having a notebook with your ideas in it will link you back to the need that inspired those ideas as well as any headway you made on them. It is doubtful that we would think of all of our projects that we have under the same emotional and mental state. Linking back to these states through past ideas can help get you out of the current emotional and mental state. It may remind you of someone who could have insight into how to solve your problem. Or it could give rise to a completely different idea altogether. To each their own.