Simply, Ask the Question

If you haven't attended one of Calgary's premier networking events, The Measurable Difference, then you definitely should. Every other month, 3 speakers share their knowledge from the stage and give small business owners the chance to learn things. And the things that they learn are easily implemented directly back into their business.

One of our speakers was Craig Elias. Craig is the Entrepreneur in Residence at Bow Valley College, an international speaker, author of an award winning sales book Shift, and a growth advisor for the Goldman Sacks 10,000 Small Businesses program.

Craig has been an entrepreneur for over 11 years, and his first company won a million dollar prize in a global billion-dollar idea competition held by Tier 1 Venture Capitalist in Silicon Valley.

“When I moved to Silicon Valley I realized that my business was based on little know knowledge of Trigger Events so I started doing educational events to create interest in leveraging the company I started – InnerSell – that was an Internet based sales exchange for high performing sales people.”

Entrepreneurs know that it can be lonely at the top, and sometimes it’s hard to find someone who understands what you are going through and that’s why finding someone like a mentor to talk to on a regular basis is so important.

“If it’s not mentorship I think it’s critical to find ways to talk things out with other people. Whether it’s brainstorming, getting feedback, bouncing different ideas off someone or getting a different perspective, I think conferences are a great way to meet those you can share these things with.”

Craig has taken his love for selling and for helping others and has helped create with 2 unique programs for students at Bow Valley College where he is the Entrepreneur-in-Residence.

“One of my favorite things at Bow Valley College is the Student Business Idea Competition called VentureQuest that I helped create. We’re into our third year and this year’s final gala will have 150 people in attendance.”

“The other really cool thing is called Wannab Wednesdays. We do 2 a month. The first one is the classic approach with a focus on Social Entrepreneurship. Where we have a social entrepreneur come in and share the secrets of their success with a bunch of students on campus. And then 2 weeks later, our second event is a start up or struggling entrepreneur that talks about things that they like to do but haven’t been able to figure out yet.”

“For me Social Entrepreneurship is all about how do you make a difference while you make a living. And what I love about WannaB Wednesdays is that we take that concept and apply it to education – Make a difference while you get an education. Teaching aspiring entrepreneurs this at school means they are more likely to continue it when they start their first business.”

In wrapping up with Craig, we asked if he could give our audience just one piece of selling advise.

“Figure out who is most likely to buy from you and spend more time with them. And ignore everybody else. The secret is to know who are the people who are most likely to buy.”

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Donita Fowler is a Certified Business & Sales Coach, LinkedIn Profile Ninja, Secret Weapon, and Former News Junkie. She resides in Calgary, AB, with her husband and two children. Donita works with Small Business owners, other Coaches and aspiring Entrepreneurs, helping them to design, build and scale their business so that they can live life on their terms.

Fowler branded companies - Vested Interest Group | The Measurable Difference

Facebook: Donita Fowler Twitter: @DonitaFowler