Veteran's Business Boot Camp - A G.O.O.D. Learning Experience

OP CS-47 UNPROFOR OP Harmony Former Republic of Yugoslavia 1994 (Photo by V.A. McMillan)

The Student on Day Five 

I recently had an opportunity to be a part of the launching of the Veteran's Business Boot Camp (VBBC) hosted by the Canadian Legacy Project (canadianlegacy.org) and delivered at Mount Royal University (www.mtroyal.ca) under the expert instruction by Judy McMillan-Evans (www.mcmillan-evans.ca) and Erin Melnychuk. Before I get into more details about this outstanding program and opportunity; I want to give a very big shout out to Mr. Dave Howard and the Canadian Legacy Project!!! THANK YOU!! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to learn more about effectively operating a business. I will do my best to take this knowledge and create a success.

The Veteran's Business Boot Camp (VBBC) is an intense, 5-day/40 hour entrepreneur program that helps the student take a potential business idea and work through the planning process, via a business model canvas (business-model-canvas). You are given the tools necessary to expand your business model canvas into your business plan, without crushing you under the weight of developing a 20 to 40 page business plan right-out-of-the-chute. Whether the student has been working on their business for 10 minutes or 10 years; there is a wealth of knowledge that will be shared with you and you will come away in a better position, with a better understanding of what it will take to turn your idea into a successful business. After breaking the ice and meeting you classmates; you dive right into the course material and go through exercises to identify your core values and those of your business before developing concise statements that will drive your business: Business Description, Business Vision & Mission Statements, and Business Goals. This foundation wraps up with developing your Elevator Pitch, you have 30 seconds - sell your company before the doors open! And that is how this intense week starts.

Veteran's Business Boot Camp - 24 to 28 June 2019 

The G.O.O.D. Plan - Get Out Of Dodge

VBBC Day-Two to Day-Four expose the students to need-to-know information, as well as, pitfalls to avoid. The business stuff that means the most but many try to avoid: accounting, finance, legal and marketing. 

The information delivered in VBBC is a pleasant mix of classroom delivery, working in pairs and small groups. This is not a dry, boring course that seems to drag-on forever. Learning was very dynamic and included guest speakers and lessons learned by our instructors. The MRU campus in general and specifically, the Roderick Mah Centre for Continuous Learning was very well designed to allow small groups to conduct their small group activities near the assigned classroom and still provide reasonable privacy to get ideas brainstormed within the required time limits. The week's last formal instruction was presented by guest speakers from the financial industry, giving solid advice on what lenders are looking for when they are reviewing a business proposal requesting funding. Information that is invaluable to new entrepreneurs and difficult to assign a monetary value to. Priceless comes to mind.

The week ends with all the students presenting their business to the rest of the class. This is an opportunity to receive feedback on how to make the presentation more impactful or what other areas to explore to reach more customers or whom to network with to be even more successful.

I used this week to evaluate which direction The G.O.O.D. Plan - Get Out Of Dodge, should go in. I am once again motivated to complete the e-Book conversion, which is about 30% complete at this time. I am also exploring the creation of a course, to help teach others how to plan their personal or family evacuation. By extension, an instruct the instructor course to expand training delivery in more areas in Canada or around the world. 

I will continue to utilize The GOOD Plan Blog to keep each of you informed of changes and opportunities that will be developing in the near future. I will attach a signup window to the blog, so you can be notified each time a new post is posted.

To my fellow Veterans, if you have the opportunity to attend the VBBC, I highly recommend it. It will be time well invested in your own future.

Success comes from within,

VAM.

Update: New Course 29 Oct - 01 Nov 2019 in Ottawa, ON: VBBC #2