In addition to going about the work of building and operating a business, how else do our teen staff learn entrepreneurship? To enhance learning at moments when lessons can be immediately applied, blazio delivers 90-minute entrepreneurship training sessions every 2-3 weeks throughout the program. At every session there will be instructors and guest speakers who are experienced entrepreneurs and business professionals. They will share their stories about the wins and losses of operating in the real world of entrepreneurship and innovation. Under the bond of confidentiality, our teens are brought into the inner workings of real companies (including, of course, blazio sports) seldom seen by outsiders and teenagers. We believe radical transparency enables practical and memorable learning, as does game play which also keeps the competitive juices flowing.
Instead of bombarding teens with endless slides and didactic one-way lectures, we use proven methods to elicit interactive, high-value discussions and experience-sharing. We take cues from successful peer mentoring programs, such as YPO and EO, combined with competitive games and multimedia to engage and encourage teens. We strive for every teen in every session to contribute ideas, questions, opinions, or answers and earn the appreciation so deserved.
We role play in case studies, have open and inclusive debates, and enlist guest speakers who have solved the very problems we are facing within our own company. Every session is unique because our teens play active roles in determining where each conversation goes and what solutions emerge. Think Socrates or Plato conversing with their students, the anti-“Real Genius Classroom”.
The curriculum helps our teens get the most out of the experience of working at blazio sports. Their engagement also enables our mentors to better understand each teen’s learning opportunities and how they respond to challenges. (Useful insight for informing college application recommendation letters!) A scholarship fund supported by entrepreneurs and other benefactors is available to support teens who need financial assistance for the curriculum tuition.
Next is a video preview tour of each session in the curriculum. We are excited to launch this programming in the near future for our teens and will post updates on learnings, outcomes and progress.
Sessions
Session 1: Mission, Vision & Values
How Do Mission, Vision & Values Guide Our Daily Work?
It’s often the why, not so much the how and the what, that distinguishes a company. We discuss specific examples of how company mission, vision and values motivate and guide our daily tasks.
Session 2 – How To Get Customers To Buy
Why Will Customers Buy From Us?
It’s one thing to create a cool product or service, but another to build something that people will actually buy. We will brainstorm and discuss our company’s offerings, who the buyers are, the problems we are solving for them, and why they would choose us over competitors.
Session 3 – The Big Commitment
Why Do Contracts Exist?
In this session we will be explaining our teens’ own consulting contracts with the company to understand how contracts work—and why all the legalese has practical bearing on the company and themselves. We learn why contracts are important and what to understand before making any big commitment. We play a game with prizes!
Session 4 – Financial Planning
What’s Our Company’s Financial Plan?
Under confidentiality, we use the company’s financial statements and general ledger to teach how the numbers tell us where we’re at and what to do next. Every staff member will understand how their daily work impacts key company metrics.
Session 5 – Show Us the Money
How Do We Make Money Today and Tomorrow?
In this world of lots of free stuff, how do you charge a price for your offering and still make money building and delivering it? What does “making money” actually mean? We apply cost of goods sold (COGS), capital expenses, unit economics, etc to understand and improve profitability.
Session 6 – Crucial Conversations
How Do We Have Crucial Conversations?
Every company is all about people and relationships. To make tough and important decisions, or raise awareness of issues which may be hard to discuss, it’s helpful to learn and practice ways to start and have effective crucial conversations.
Session 7 – Learning From Our Customers
What Can Customers Teach Us?
We spend a lot of effort designing what we think is the perfect offering for customers, but what happens when they don’t react like we expect or want them to? How do we quickly learn and adjust to achieve success? And, how do we find out what customers want in the future when they rarely tell us directly or even know themselves?
Session 8 – How to Innovate
What Are the Bets We Should Make?
We are not innovating enough to stay ahead if everything we try succeeds. How do we place and design the right “bets” on new offerings, pricing, target customers, suppliers, etc and plan for the fact that not all bets will work out? How do you know if a bet is working or not? Where can ideas for bets come from?
Session 9 – How To Attract the Right People
Why Will People Want to Join Our Team?
Every great company finds its own ways to attract and keep the right people when many other companies want those same people. How do we build a culture, habits and processes which make our company a great place to work, learn and thrive?
Session 10 – How We Get Known
How Do We Grow Market Awareness and Demand?
We could have the best team and the best product at the right price, but if not enough buyers know about us and why they should pick us, it’s all for naught. In 90 minutes, we go from Marketing 101 to discussing our immediate market awareness opportunities and challenges.
Session 11 – Legacy Is Key
What Will Be Your Legacy at Our Company?
All good things come to an end, but what will you leave behind for the next wave of teens to take the company to the next level? How will you build upon and extend the relationships you’ve created at the company and with our partners? It’s about your legacy and what you do next.
Session 12 – Strategic Planning
Where Do We Go From Here?
We discuss the strategic plan for our company as we head into spring, summer and beyond. For our teens continuing on with the company, what do each of us want and need to do, both individually and as a team, to take the learnings from this academic year and move forward? What do we want our company to be, do and look like 1-2 years from now?
