Our Local Economy & Entrepreneurial Events

Virtual Internship Design

"Tug on anything at all and you'll find it connected to everything else in the universe."

~ John Muir

Community events play a major role reflecting community values and generating efforts that benefit local residents as well as others.  Their success depends on the buy-in of a significant number of residents and dedication to the purposes of those  worthwhile events.

Examples of these include Taylor's 4th of July Rodeo, the Corn Festival and Snowflake's Pioneer Days Celebration & 12 Days of Christmas.  In addition, a number of other events sponsored by local/regional organizations impact our community for good.    

These events provide residents "experiences" that unite the community, cultivate its unique character and attract visitors to come and experience those benefits often.  Carefully chosen, they produce greater prosperity in all dimensions of living for our community and region.

Consider the following Entrepreneurial-Driven Events and how they can help create experiences that make entrepreneurship part of our culture and a skill-set that is valued in our community. There are many more, but these lend themselves to our present circumstances.  

1) Virtual Internship Design Workshops/Projects

2) Entrepreneurial Skills Workshops/Projects

3) Startup Saturday Workshops/Projects

In this post I will focus on Virtual Internship Design; specifically, how it lends itself to knowledge work and ROWE (Results Only Work Environments); two key factors shaping the landscape of the world of work, now and in the future.

Virtual Internships

Definition:  An internship performed anywhere and anytime via the Internet.  Virtual Internships make it possible to do work for any organization anywhere in the world from your location and work with a team geographically dispersed statewide, nationwide, or worldwide.

Virtual Internships provide an excellent platform to jump-start the launch of an entrepreneurial community.  For you, they create an abundance of work opportunities via the Internet and its complementary technologies.  In addition, they provide a venue to learn, consistently apply, and master valuable, high demand skills (skills relevant in the present and future of work); gain valued industry experience; and earn substantial income while doing so.  Furthermore, they provide a practical way to build a rewarding, responsive, and resilient online career.

This ability to work from anywhere, anytime is fast becoming the norm for knowledge workers through a ROWE.  The world of work is rapidly changing; and the work of the future, the work that is in high demand, highly valued, and highly paid will be done in and through virtual/online environments.  It will be done by individuals willing take responsibility and produce desired results.  It will be done by individuals with purpose and initiative.

Thus the importance of virtual internships; of learning, applying and mastering the skills required to prosper in an online environment.  They are key factors in building a resilient local economy; a thriving economy based on the proven principles of entrepreneurship in an ever changing world of work.

KNOWLEDGE WORK & ROWE

Results Only Work Environments are becoming and will continue to be the preferred method of performing knowledge work in the years to come.  By gaining experience in a ROWE, virtual interns acquire competencies vital to career prosperity now and in the future:

They fine tune their ability to identify vital tasks and how to best accomplish those tasks.

 

They learn how to manage themselves in a real world setting and produce desired results in their work and satisfy their personal life needs and wants.

They learn what their strengths are and how they can use them to perform at their best.

 

They learn how to accomplish what's important to them (what they value) while fulfilling the purposes, achieving the goals and accomplishing the objectives of the organizations they work for.

 

They learn how to use their freedom wisely and become responsibly accountable,  

They learn how to build effective working relationships with others from around the world and from diverse cultures.

 

They learn how to communicate effectively and perform at their best in a virtual environment.

The above are just a of the few the many advantages working in a ROWE offer virtual interns.

Concluding Observations

So how does all this contribute to building a local entrepreneurial community?  Virtual internships connect our rural community with the world of work, whether it be in Phoenix, AZ; Boston MA; or anyplace in the world.  Through ROWE's, virtual internships provide residents of our community access to a variety work that is high paying, rewarding, and vital to building resilient careers that meet their individual circumstances.  In addition, those who choose to start and grow businesses in our community have access to the talent and abilities of knowledge workers worldwide.

The opportunity for economic progress in our community has never been better and virtual internships provide local residents a practical way to succeed in such an advantageous climate.

For more information about virtual internships, the state of knowledge work and ROWE's check out these links:

Virtual Internships

http://blog.tdsbusiness.com/tips-advice/whats-so-great-about-virtual-internships/

Knowledge Work

http://www.elcomcms.com/Resources/Elcom-Blog/Posts/Examining-The-Future-of-Knowledge-Work/blog.aspx

ROWE

http://solutions21.com/benefits-of-the-results-only-work-environment/

Announcement:

Partnering Technologies will be posting a Virtual Internship Design Overview within the next two weeks. It will present how virtual internships, knowledge work, and ROWE's can create high-paying careers for local residents and strengthen our local economy.

What Do You Think?

As always, your constructive comments are welcomed.

Next Post

Acquiring Entrepreneurial Skills:  Local Workshops & Projects

******

The Silver Creek Economy 2014 blog is sponsored by Partnering Technologies, an Arizona-based Learning & Development Company.  Their focus is helping individuals and organizations learn, consistently apply, and master a skill-set that is always in high demand, always highly valued, and always highly paid.  Its founder is Jim Sanderson.

Visit their website at www.partneringtechnologies.blogspot.com and find out what they are doing to build a more prosperous economy for our community in 2014.

An Entrepreneurial Community Launch for Our Local Economy

A Closer Look:  Goals, Objectives & Action-Steps

"Our dreams inspire us, our goals & objectives chart our course,

and our appropriate actions accomplish our objectives, achieve our goals,

and fulfill our dreams."

-J.S.

Launching and maintaining an Entrepreneurial Community (EC) is a balanced blend of vital goals, targeted objectives, and timely action-steps.  In addition, ongoing evaluation of progress toward those objectives and goals give us valuable feedback as to how well we are doing.  Each objective provides direction towards our goals and each goal direction towards fulfilling and maintaining our purpose.

With that in mind, I suggest the following; not as a final answer, but as a beginning point for our purpose of Launching & Maintaining An Entrepreneurial Community.

Goals, Objectives & Action-Steps

Assessment of each of the six activities essential to growing an EC.  This will give us a good idea of where we are in journey to that end.

1) Entrepreneurial Density

2) University

3) Transportation

4) Local Early-Stage Risk Capital

5) Local Entrepreneurial Community Entrepreneurial-Driven Events

6) Business Community Support

(http://steveblank.com/2014/01/24/engineering-a-regional-tech-cluster-part-3-of-3-of-bigger-in-bend/)

I am addressing each of the above activities in six consecutive posts, first giving a brief assessment, then identifying three goals, three objectives and three action-steps for each that can move The Silver Creek Economy toward becoming a strong and resilient EC.

This effort to strengthen our local and regional economy is in no way intended to replace the dedicated efforts (past, present & future) of local businesses, chambers of commerce, city & county governments or regional organizations, but complement them.

At Partnering Technologies, we will commit significant manpower to this project as local individuals enroll in our SPP (Strategic Partnering Program) as OPI's (Online Partnering Interns).

Closing Thought

This closing remark from the above cited post (http://steveblank.com/2014/01/24/engineering-a-regional-tech-cluster-part-3-of-3-of-bigger-in-bend/) 
highlights the opportunity we have to launch a new era of economic prosperity for the White Mountain Region as well as our Silver Creek Community:

The democratization of entrepreneurship has created a huge opportunity for any region [community] with the right characteristics to create its own sustainable tech cluster. But, as with any true democracy, it won’t happen without the combined participation of the community and desire of entrepreneurs to lead the movement. This is happening in Bend, and I look forward to hearing from others about your own experiments.

A Question for Your Consideration

How do these suggestions agree or disagree with your approach to launching an“entrepreneurial community” for our local economy?

What Do You Think?

As always, your constructive comments are welcomed.

Next Post

Goals, Objectives & Action-Steps for Local Entrepreneurial Community Entrepreneurial-Driven Events

******

The Silver Creek Economy 2014 blog is sponsored by Partnering Technologies, an Arizona-based Learning & Development Company.  Their focus is helping individuals and organizations learn, consistently apply, and master a skill-set that is always in high demand, always highly valued, and always highly paid.  Its founder is Jim Sanderson.

Visit their website at www.partneringtechnologies.blogspot.com and find out what they are doing to build a more prosperous economy for our community in 2014.

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET: Engineering An Entrepreneurial Community for Our Local Economy

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity

an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

-Winston Churchill

With the rapid advancement of hyper-communications, our community has the opportunity, as never before, to engineer & build an entrepreneurial community.

In my post today, I will share six elements necessary to engineer and grow, what I call an entrepreneurial community.  They are taken from a series of posts from Steve Blank, serial entrepreneur turned educator and mentor in the lean startup movement; teaching at Stanford University, Cal Berkeley, and Columbia University. He cites what is being done in the Bend, Oregon Region (http://steveblank.com/2014/01/24/engineering-a-regional-tech-cluster-part-3-of-3-of-bigger-in-bend/).  For obvious reasons these six elements require adaptation to our Silver Creek Community and White Mountain Region.

These following are the six elements of engineering an entrepreneurial community (he refers to it as a "tech cluster") and adaptations as appropriate.

Entrepreneurial Density

In layman's language, that is a high concentration of entrepreneurs in a geographic region; for our purposes the Silver Creek Community and the White Mountain Region.  In his post he defines density as follows:

...the connection of like-minded firms and their support services...

Adaptation:  As mentioned above, hyper-communications are making it easier and easier to tap into resources worldwide (high tech expertise, mentoring, etc.).  The resources are available.  The difficulty/opportunity is how to best access them.

University

He suggests a local tech university is an element that "provides a source of technical talent, research, etc."

Adaptation:  Our Northland Pioneer Community College recently added a Associate's Degree in Mechatronics (http://www.npc.edu/course/mechatronics) to their offerings.  In addition, NAU offers a number of programs offering technical education and research opportunities at the graduate level.  This may sound like a broken record, but again, hyper-communications are making these types of resources increasingly available to rural communities such as ours.

Transportation

The Show Low Regional Airport and Taylor Airport provide us with some promising opportunities to reach major airports throughout the West, especially Sky Harbor in Phoenix.  Additionally, our local railroad adds to our commercial logistic capabilities.  We are also located on one of the major north/south highways in the state (Highway 77) and regionally connected to a highly traveled east/west interstate route (I-40).

Local Early-Stage Risk Capital

This is a major opportunity to be exploited in our region.  Again, hyper-communication offers greater access nationally and internationally to such resources.  Furthermore, as our entrepreneurial community develops the pool of local investors grows to help in meet these demands and attracts interest from out of region investors.

Local Entrepreneurial Community Entrepreneurial-driven Events

These are solely determined by local initiative.  Local chambers of commerce can play a substantial role in this respect.  Partnering Technologies, an Arizona-based learning and development organization is in process of developing such events and currently offers a program including paid internships, training in key skills/competencies, and peer coaching/mentoring (http://partneringtechnologies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_22.html).

Business Community Support

This is a direct quote from his post:

One of the most difficult things to do is technically the easiest – a dispassionate self-assessment to understand what assets your community has and what you lack.

First, what is your value proposition to a family or business to locate in your region? Recognize that a big part of your job is to remove friction, drive awareness, and amplify the efforts of your local entrepreneurs. Successful entrepreneurs attract other entrepreneurs, so it’s vital to kick start the cycle.

Next, identify your goal. Is it creating a job works program? Stopping brain drain in the region? Attracting and building some key core competency in the region? Ideally your existing talent base and ecosystem naturally support the “core competency magnet” you want to develop.

  

Adaptation:  Again, remember resources are available, the opportunity is in accessing them.

Summary

The key to engineering and growing an entrepreneurial community is cultivating the practice of entrepreneurship.  Quoting again from his post:

In the past most regional growth strategies have focused on attracting established companies looking to expand or open a new plant. While it may be strategic for the region to recruit some of these established businesses, those deals usually involve huge tax subsidies and typically create a small finite number of jobs. What isn’t part of most regional growth plans is the organic growth of an entrepreneurial tech cluster in the region. If successful, sewing the seeds of entrepreneurship can lead to a more rapid and sustainable job growth for the region.

A Question for Your Consideration

In what ways could you promote and cultivate the Silver Creek Community as an “entrepreneurial community”?

What Do You Think?

As always, your constructive comments are welcomed.

Next Post

Local Entrepreneurial-Driven Events

******

The Silver Creek Economy 2014 blog is sponsored by Partnering Technologies, an Arizona-based Learning & Development Company.  Their focus is helping individuals and organizations learn, consistently apply, and master a skill-set that is always in high demand, always highly valued, and always highly paid.  Its founder is Jim Sanderson.

Visit their website at www.partneringtechnologies.blogspot.com and find out what they are doing to build a more prosperous economy for our community in 2014.

CREATING HIGH-PAYING JOBS FOR OUR COMMUNITY...

Online Internships:  A Key To Creating High-paying Jobs in Our Community, Now and in the Future...

Definition of an Online/Virtual Internship:  An internship that can be performed anywhere and anytime Internet access is available.  This makes it possible to do work for an organization anywhere in the world from your location and work with a team that is geographically dispersed statewide, nationwide, or worldwide.

The following are just three of the many advantages Online Internships can provide You:

High-paying Online Internships Are Available Now

Online internships do not require you to wait for companies to relocate or expand into our local area.  They provide opportunity now.  In addition, as local talent is developed, businesses outside our geographic area will recognize the compelling value of local human resources and relocate/expand here.  In the world of business, our community will be identified as  Entrepreneurial Community (EC).  A community that is dedicated to becoming and maintaining itself as a desired place to live, learn and work.

Valuable Training & Experience

By working as an Online Intern, you gain training, experience, and build a career network that is always in high demand, always highly valued, and always highly paid.  In addition, a number of Online Internships offer you a extremely flexible schedule that complements your desired work/life balance (part-time, full-time, work when and where you want to, etc.).

They provide you a gateway to build a rewarding, high-paying online career (OC); a career that is mobile and responsive to your changing needs and circumstances.

Online Internships Available in More & More Industries

These internships are available in a growing number of industries (i.e. healthcare, education, retail, utilities, sports and entertainment, life sciences, travel and transportation, media, banking, etc.) and different lines of business (i.e. value creation, marketing, sales, value delivery, sourcing and procurement, logistics, supply chain, finance. etc.).  Wherever your interest lies, you can, in most situations, find an Online internship to pursue what's important to you.

Because of the Internet, you can access the talent and expertise of key partners for projects that create compelling value for individuals and organizations worldwide.

Conclusion

Online internships are not for everyone, however they provide our local economy a platform to create abundant opportunity and prosperity now and in the future by creating a rewarding, high-paying career for you and other like-minded local residents.  In turn this produces financial resources to meet the recreational, cultural, shopping, and other needs of our community and the White Mountain Region.

A Question for Your Consideration

In what ways could you, or someone you know benefit from an online internship?

******

Partnering Technologies offers you the platform to become a highly-paid online intern and build and maintain a rewarding, career online.  Check us out at http://partneringtechnologies.blogspot.com/

You can get on a fast track to a high-paying internship and career with our Strategic Partnering Program.

The Silver Creek Economy 2014 blog is sponsored by Partnering Technologies, an Arizona-based Learning & Development Company.  Their focus is helping individuals and organizations learn, consistently apply, and master a skill-set that is always in high demand, always highly valued, and always highly paid.  Its founder is Jim Sanderson.

Visit their website at www.partneringtechnologies.blogspot.com and find out what they are doing to build a more prosperous economy for our community in 2014.

Finding The Resources You Need (Step Three of Three)

The following post is part three of three. Taken in order these three steps will help you get the resources you need to accomplish what's important to you... even making our local economy more resilient and prosperous.

Step Three:  Get The Action Habit!

"The future depends on what you do today."

-Mahatma Gandhi

Dreamers and Doers...

Earlier this month, I read a captivating new book, Creativity, Inc., by Ed Catmull, current President of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios.

Since my early childhood (mid-1950's) Walt Disney has been one of my heroes.  If anyone doubts the validity of the American Dream, a trip to Disneyland is a good way to experience it and become a believer.  Walt Disney was a "dreamer" and "doer".  He assembled and led one of the most gifted teams of artists to create a number of outstanding animated films that are classics in the industry.  His vision of wholesome family entertainment provided the energy and commitment to create and build Disneyland; an amazing work that is still in process.

So, at the suggestion of my daughter,  I bought the book and didn't put it down until I read it cover to cover (actually I got the ibook version).  To say the least, the work of Disney profoundly affected the life of Ed Catmull.  Disney was and continues to be one of his most influential mentors; as evidenced by what Catmull has accomplished, or more to the point, what he has "done and is doing", as the leader of the highly gifted artists and creators at Pixar and Disney.  Like Disney, he is committed to a definite purpose and by continuously acting on that purpose secures the resources to fulfill and keep it vibrantly alive.  He, too, is not only "dreamer", but a "doer".

I recommend the book to all who are ready to not only dream but do; to break-out of a limiting comfort zone and realize their untapped potential.

The ASK Process...

The big take-away from the book for me and hopefully for others is "get the action habit".  Make it our default behavior.  We may not know where the resources are going to come from to accomplish our purpose or see how to fulfill it, but by taking action, taking the first step of a worthwhile journey and continuing, step by step, we are able to acquire the resources we need, produce the results we want and reduce the risks of undesirable outcomes.  The resources we once thought impossible to access, become available because taking action clarifies what they are and where and how to get them.

We act instead of being acted upon.  We learn and understand the priceless value of the "ASK PROCESS":  Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:  For everyone that asketh, receiveth; and him [her] that seeketh findeth; and to him [her] that knocketh it shall be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8)  It is a process of "action"!

We understand that regardless of circumstances we always have a choice.  When we  act in harmony with principles that produce our desired outcomes we move closer and closer to them instead of passively being tossed about by circumstance.  As we exercise our freedom to choose and act, we demonstrate to others, and more importantly to ourselves, that in an ever changing world, instead of being a victim we are responsible and take effective action to accomplish our objectives, achieve our goals, and fulfill our purpose.

Action is a potent antidote for successfully eliminating the roadblocks that can stop our progress toward our desired outcomes, even that of building a more resilient and prosperous local economy!

Getting and applying "the action habit" is the capstone-step for acquiring the resources we need and finding the way to fulfill our purpose.

The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

-Goethe

Next Post

Why Entrepreneurship?

What Do You Think?

As always, your constructive comments are welcomed.

******

The Silver Creek Economy 2014 blog is sponsored by Partnering Technologies, an Arizona-based Learning & Development Company.  Their focus is helping individuals and organizations learn, consistently apply, and master a skill-set that is always in high demand, always highly valued, and always highly paid.  Its founder is Jim Sanderson.

Visit their website at www.partneringtechnologies.blogspot.com and find out what they are doing to build a more prosperous economy for our community in 2014.