Dr Colin Jones (12 March 2014)

We had a chance not only to listen to Dr Colin Jones talking about his views on entrepreneurship, but to speak to him individually about our business ideas and our experiences so far. Being an entrepreneur educator at the University of Tasmania, he gave us some insightful advice on what to avoid when starting a business. He started the talk by playing a video and also showing us an indistinct image and went around the room asking each individual what they could see in the image. He eventually told us that it was a picture of a cow which only a few people noticed; he explained to us that entrepreneurship is about seeing the invisible. He then spoke about the concept of ‘emergy’ which means tapping into some else’s energy. Colin expanded on this by saying that to be an entrepreneur, you don’t have to have a new idea but you can look into existing ideas and also existing resources to reduce cost.

Colin advised us to do things we are passionate about and not to set unrealistic expectations because what we want to do will not end up being what we achieve. He developed this point by saying that an idea is split up into different ideas. He also mentioned that the number one driver of an entrepreneur is confidence; this will allow an entrepreneur to sell with conviction and to convince people to see the ‘invisible’. Aside from confidence, an entrepreneur must also possess resilience, curiosity and must be communicative.

(based on a report by Abisoye Owolabi)