by Lehi Duncan l Regional Manager
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
A few weekends ago, Zeal had the opportunity to help out at Innes48,
the contestants with much-needed coffees each morning, and running
point on both social media and photography throughout the weekend.
The Innes48 Business Startup Competition is the largest event of its kind
in New Zealand, where participants compete for up to $15,000 in prize
money over one high energy, high pressure 48 hours. It’s an experiential
environment for people to test their entrepreneurial skills, experience
new things, get exposure and interact with top business mentors,
influencers and like-minded people from a wide range of backgrounds
and skills.
At Zeal, we’re all about creativity, dreaming big, and seeking
opportunities for our young people to engage with their passions. During
the Innes48 weekend, we were immersed in a full-on, intense
environment that exposed us to innovative ideas. Our young people
were inspired, engaged, and left the event with a better understanding of
how to turn their creative passions into something meaningful for others.
Here are 5 things they learned summed up:
1. Understand your ‘why’
it. Write it out. Truly ask yourself what your ‘why’ is. Brainstorm, make a
mind-map, make a list. Then make another one. If we start with our why,
we are more driven and tend to give more of ourselves to our creativity,
which gives us the ability to inspire those around us. Why brings clarity
to our creativity, and brings purpose to passion.
2. Get good advisors
artists have passionate mentors. Come and chat to us at your local Zeal
center – chances are we can connect you to someone who can coach
and mentor you to turn your creative passion into something successful.
3. Figure out what success looks like
define it? Of course, learn from those around you and take their ideas
into consideration, but it’s important that you rely on your own idea of
what success is for you.
4. Bridge the execution gap
Whether it’s due to anxiety, or not knowing how to do it, or struggling to
simply take that first scary leap of faith, it can be hard getting started.
Knowing your why, having supportive people around you, and knowing
your goals for success should help you bridge the idea and ‘doing the
thing’ gap.
5. Persistence is the key
often taking a step into the unknown. You’re forging your own path, and
journeying in unchartered territory. That means it’s going to be difficult at
times, and we’ll get it wrong! This can often make us want to quit, but
mistakes offer great learnings. Go back to your ‘why’. Go back to your
mentor. Go back to your goals. Try again. You’ve got this!
