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Book-Worming Your Way to Success - Entrepreneur 2012 2/4

The Entrepreneur 2012 Conference at Excel pushed onto Day 2 and after Day 1 I was starting to go a bit loopy. I hadn't sat and listened to anything so capitalist in years and it was starting to play on my vagrant mind. Burlesque with Bill Clinton was really all I had signed up for so all of this was a random side show I guess. Not to mention a Himalayan injury to my tail bone was starting to give me jip.

Reading Hap Working the World
between speakers
To Kick off Day 2 the Conference MC Raymond Aaron an accomplished author of both the Chicken Soup for the Soul and Dummies Guide To franchises put it very simply by preaching "stop being in a sea of sameness" and that frankly you are no one until you have a book. Just the 2 days before I had received a copy of my University friends first book "Hap Working the World". Just being able to say Hap has written a book elevates peoples opinion of him. As I listened to Raymond talk of the most powerful business card in the world, it made me think that my backpacking friend who has experienced so much in the past years sending him into debt and leaving him in a crisis with the "what next?" question playing like a broken record for him (and for me for that matter! another ah-ha moment) that in fact Hap has secured his ticket to the lift on the J curve of success. He had dumped all his earnings into the past 10 years of adventure and personal growth, are now the tools to succeed far beyond the potential of the people he may have envied for their normality along his path.
Raymond gave me a sense of joy for my friend and helped me recognise we all have a story. And I am delighted you are sharing my journey with me.

Next up was another Australian and despite his books title being the Thrillionare and my initial impressions this guy would be my Entrepreneur of the conference to listen to, I was disappointed.  Nik Halik is another entrepreneur of middle men status and Property fame he has spent his fortunes on testing the boundaries of thrill seeking tourism, moving to Russia to become a civilian Astronaut and base jumping from a plane flying over Mt Everest. He was not a terribly enthralling speaker and raced at a pace that sent me out of the auditorium for a drink of water.

Finally for my day I saw Caprice, a former supermodel, world famous in the UK for some bad relationships as far as I could gather. As a key note speaker she was not part of the Multi Million Dollar billing of paying speakers but an honest business women who is working to make her brand of underwear and swimwear a staple in the M&S loving British retail space. She was honest and likable and completely unabashed about her desire to grow her business by rewarding her team and not being embarrassed for seeking grants for expanding her business or trading on her supermodel name. The later was a real issue with the men in the audience alas they couldn't grasp she has to manage her PR very carefully and that if managed well will be her weapon against her competitors. When asked what her next goal was, in true girly fashion, she replied "to be a mother". That seemed so brave amongst a group of entrepreneurs who seem to feed off the weak and would question how she will find the time for business and family. But that's living the sweet spot right?


This is part of a 4 Part Series on Entrepreneur 2012 

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