Happy New Year! I was thinking about what I wanted to say in the very first day of the year, what is my new year’s resolution. I will begin by declaring 2010, as the beginning of a decade of creativity, innovation , and entrepreneurship. Think about it, there are now more outlets for expressing creativity, engaging innovation and starting entrepreneurship, especially among the youth. It’s a fantastic time to be young, to have all these opportunities that are just within grasp, even for us, the not so young anymore.

I want to share an email I received on a story written by Alistair Johnston, of how Japanese watermelon farmers were able to find a creative and innovative solution to overcome practical obstacles to selling their product.

Space is a premium in Japan. Watermelons take up a lot of space, not only in the personal refrigerators of households but in the shelves of groceries as well. This has led to some stores as well as households avoiding carrying or buying the sweet fruit. This has always been a traditional problem of which there is no solution, unless grocery stores and Japanese houses get bigger. Until a group of Japanese farmers decided to challenge these assumptions. They decided to find a way to make watermelons easier to store, ship, display as well as stock. They invented the square watermelon.

They discovered that by growing watermelons in a square box, the fruit takes on the shape of the box. This new method allowed them to overcome all the traditional obstacles as well as add new benefits, allowing the farmers to charge more for the square watermelon. The new square watermelon was not only stackable but was measured to fit perfectly inside the family refrigerators.

I want to share with you the lessons from this story:

“1.) Don’t Assume: The major problem was that most people had always seen round watermelons so they automatically assumed that square watermelons were impossible before even thinking about the question. Things that you have been doing a certain way your entire life have taken on the aura of the round watermelon and you likely don’t even take the time to consider if there is another way to do it. Breaking yourself from assuming this way can greatly improve your overall life as you are constantly looking for new and better ways to do things.

2.) Question Habits: The best way to tackle these assumptions is to question your habits. If you can make an effort to question the way you do things on a consistent basis, you will find that you can continually improve the way that you live your life. Forming habits when they have been well thought out is usually a positive thing, but most of us have adopted our habits from various people and places without even thinking about them.

3.) Be Creative: When faced with a problem, be creative in looking for a solution. This often requires thinking outside the box. Most people who viewed this question likely thought they were being asked how they could genetically alter water melons to grow square which would be a much more difficult process to accomplish. By looking at the question from an alternative perspective, however, the solution was quite simple. Being creative and looking at things in different ways in all portions of your live will help you find solutions to many problems where others can’t see them.

4.) Look for a Better Way: The square watermelon question was simply seeking a better and more convenient way to do something. The stores had flagged a problem they were having and asked if a solution was possible. It’s impossible to find a better way if you are never asking the question in the first place . Always ask if there is a better way of doing the things that you do and constantly write down the things you wish you could do (but currently can’t) since these are usually hints about steps you need to change. Get into the habit of asking yourself, “Is there a better way I could be doing this?” and you will find there often is.

5.) Impossibilities Often Aren’t: If you begin with the notion that something is impossible, then it obviously will be for you. If, on the other hand, you decide to see if something is possible or not, you will find out through trial and error.”

Think about these lessons as we plan our new year’s resoltutions. Would you buy a square watermelon? Are there areas in our life that need a new perspective? There are a lot of opportunities, challenges as well as dreams to be achieved this 2010.

Let’s follow the examples of these ordinary individuals as they strive to make a difference. Each week, lets all get together and share knowledge, stories, experiences, information, all for the sole purpose of getting One Step Up.

For comments, suggestions or stories that you want to share, email me at stirspecialist@gmail.com , or visit www.stirspecialist.blogspot.com

Last Friday, I got a chance to meet a hero. It was anti climactic in a way. Not exactly how I envisioned meeting a hero would be like. I was expecting an adulating crowd with him. Or a horde of security that follows certain hero athletes around. I was expecting him to be, well, I expected him to be special.

He was not. He was so ordinary that if I had never ever seen a picture of him before, I would have walked by him without even giving him a second glance. And yet, the world , through the global news channel, has chosen to confer on him the title, CNN Hero of the Year.

I don’t need to tell you what Efren Penaflorida did, or what his accomplishments were that made him deserving to win that historic award. But in case you didn’t know, he is not the pound for pound symbol of athletic excellence. Nor is he one that possesses amazing vocal or physical talent. He actually defines the word ordinary.

He is so ordinary that upon arriving at the doorstep of his country, a fellow countryman even tried to steal his things. Doesn’t that put a lot of things into perspective?

I walked and watched, from the other end of the street, as the parade in his honor crawled through Makati. The parade ended in a makeshift stage where bands started to play in his honor. As I stood there watching and enjoying the show, a man stood beside me watching. The crowds had began to fill and we ended up standing side by side. I glanced at him and had to take a second glance, I was standing beside him. Just like that, I met the CNN hero of the year, in the crowd, unobtrusive, alone, very ordinary, at a concert in his honor.

We keep searching for heroes. When we were young, we longed and dreamt that our superheroes would always show up and save the world. As we grew older, we still kept searching in vain for more heroes to show up. We even starting raising the bar on what it meant to be one. We almost even demanded that a hero should also be defined as a martyr, someone that sacrificed everything for us to idolize and emulate him or her.

Maybe that has always been our problem. We keep seeking out heroes with super powers or super achievements. We want to be helplessly standing at the sidelines and watch for the appearance of a hero to save ourselves, our situation and even our country.

This Christmas, lets reflect on how each of us can emulate Efren’s example. His simple acceptance speech was straight to the point. He emotionally spoke,

“Our planet is filled with heroes, young and old, rich and poor, man, woman of different colors, shapes and sizes. We are one great tapestry…Each person has a hidden hero within, you just have to look inside you and search it in your heart, and be the hero to the next one in need.

So to each and every person inside in this theater and for those who are watching at home, the hero in you is waiting to be unleashed.

Serve, serve well, serve others above yourself and be happy to serve.

As I always tell to my co-volunteers … you are the change that you dream as I am the change that I dream and collectively we are the change that this world needs to be.”

We can all be heroes. We need to be the change that we want to see. Thank you Efren. Lets all be the hero we can be! Merry Christmas everybody!

Let’s follow the examples of these ordinary individuals as they strive to make a difference. Each week, lets all get together and share knowledge, stories, experiences, information, all for the sole purpose of getting One Step Up.

For comments, suggestions or stories that you want to share, email me at stirspecialist@gmail.com , or visit www.stirspecialist.blogspot.com

I was overwhelmed by the response to the STEP UP (Student Entrepreneurship Provides Unlimited Possibilities) Summit held last Saturday morning at the University of the Philippines conference hall. I remember arriving thirty minutes after registration started and asking a volunteer from UP if there were a lot of students that arrived and registered. The volunteer, Karla, smiled and asked me to peek through the door. I opened the door and was shocked to see the hall almost two thirds full. It was going to be a good day.

We were very lucky to have three very interesting speakers. I would like to thank Philip Tan of Wellmade, Bunny Pages of Pages Holdings, and Lino Gomez of Human Capital Asia, as well as Charmaine Ong of the Zugbuana Jaycees. We were also very grateful to have almost 300 students from five different universities attend.

Philip Tan was an amazing speaker. He entertained the audience with his stark honesty coupled with a fantastic sense of humor. He spoke of starting at the very bottom, working as a gasoline boy at an uncle’s station. He was very frank about the hardships and difficulties of becoming an entrepreneur but at the same time, he spoke openly about the rewards should you make it.

Bunny Pages is a natural speaker. But as Bunny tells it, he did not start out that way. He even showed pictures of how he looked when he was young and how it affected his confidence and contributed to his shyness and fear of public speaking. He then showed how you can invest and work at something to become good, very good. He then showed to the students’ surprise, pictures of how he was able to shape and mold himself, and through hard work and constant practice, overcome. He turned himself into the epitome of confidence and a fantastic public speaker. He certainly left a lasting impression on the young audience who will never forget his mantra of R and R (Running and Reading), a philosophy of having a sound body and a sound mind through constant practice.

Lino Gomez, an innovation consultant, surprised the audience with simple exercises that produced dramatic results that also showed that we have a tendency to lose creativity as we grow older, and how to regain and relearn the ability to be creative. He went on to show that harnessing creativity and churning innovation can overcome traditional barriers to entrepreneurship.

And I can’t say enough about Charmaine Ong, who helped organize the event and was the program host. She is a good role model of an entrepreneur who goes out of her way to give back to society. She even hosts a radio program every Saturday over DYRF entitled “Oras ng Jaycees”. Thank you Charmaine.

Thank you to the student organizers led by Neil Huele, Angeli Cortes, Gele Gantuangco, Joan Doyon, the members of UP TAO, as well as others that contributed their time and effort to make the event a success.

But it is only a first step. We have more to do. STEP UP is an organization for student entrepreneurs as well as those that want to be an entrepreneur to come together and help each other achieve their entrepreneurship dreams. We would like to invite more students and young people to join. Together we will keep taking more steps forward towards growing more young entrepreneurs and contribute to our country’s progress.

For those that are interested to register and join, please email stepupcebu@yahoo.com . We are also looking for successful entrepreneurs and businessmen who want to participate and help shape and mold the next generation.

Omar Diaw, World Entrepreneur Day organizer for Senegal, wisely wrote, “A society that wants more entrepreneurs to ensure its survival and long-term growth must work to develop an entrepreneurial culture in its community because entrepreneurs contribute to greater wealth creation. The effectiveness of government policies to support the creation and the resumption of business will only bear full fruit if all the actors of economic development – among which are the educators in our country – work together to develop creativity and new attitudes of young people who are feel unsafe to take risks or make change… With our help, these young people will be better prepared to create sustainable businesses.”

Let’s follow the examples of these ordinary individuals as they strive to make a difference. Each week, lets all get together and share knowledge, stories, experiences, information, all for the sole purpose of getting One Step Up.

For comments, suggestions or stories that you want to share, email me at stirspecialist@gmail.com , or visit www.stirspecialist.blogspot.com

I still remember it very clearly in my mind. A couple of months ago , I received an email from someone I did not know. He wrote, “I am a student entrepreneur, and I would like to meet with you.” I emailed my mobile number, and the rest of the events soon became a blur.

Tomorrow, a amazing thing will happen, this driven young man, Neil Huele, who originally emailed me, together with many other young college students from different universities as well as young professionals will get together for the very first STEP UP (Student Entrepreneurship Provides Unlimited Possibilities) Summit. It will be held at the conference hall of the University of the Philippines Campus starting at 8am. Some of the speakers tomorrow are fantastic stories of entrepreneurship, like Philip Tan, founder and CEO of Wellmade, and Bunny Pages of Thirsty, Bright Academy, and Moooon Café fame. Young entrepreneur Charmaine Ong was also instrumental in bridging the assistance of the Jaycees for this event.

I want to share with you an article written by Michael Simmons on the 7 Myths of Student Entrepreneurship, which can motivate more students to consider entrepreneurship as a viable alternative to employment after graduation.

“ 1. I don’t have enough money - Many of America’s largest corporations started on a shoestring budget out of somebody’s garage. A successful Web development company a friend and I started in high school cost only $80 to set up. To compensate for a low budget, you have to be creative, resourceful and make realistic plans.

2. I don’t have enough time - Many of America’s largest corporations were started in people’s spare time. Perfect examples are Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, and Dell, all of which were started on part-time schedules. All of us have 24 hours in a day. If the business is important to you, you will prioritize it over less important activities and create a business model that fits your schedule. For example, one student at California State University started a business teaching financial skills to high school students during summers. With the money he earned from starting the business, he is putting himself and his brother through school in addition to paying off all of his other expenses.

3. I’m not smart enough - Says who? SATs and grades have very little correlation to people’s potential to be successful entrepreneurs. In fact, "50% of millionaire entrepreneurs never graduated college and 75% of U.S. presidents were in the lower-half club in high school," according to Mathew Lesko in his book, Free Money to Change Your Life. Some examples of businesses started by individuals while still in school are Microsoft, Dell, Napster, Netscape, Fedex, Apple, Tripod, and TheGlobe.com.

4. I’m not creative so I can’t come up with good ideas - There are many books in the library or book store with low-cost business ideas. One specific book of ideas for student entrepreneurs is Generation Inc.: The 100 Best Businesses for Young Entrepreneurs. Or you can find young entrepreneurs at your school or in the media and ask them how they came up with their business idea. Networking with other youth entrepreneurs will also adjust your own mindset to be open to ideas for a business. Also, there are a lot of business ideas already out there that work, that you could replicate or modify slightly.

5. I can’t because the economy is bad - Many of the most successful corporations were started during recessions. During recessions talent is easier and cheaper to find, rent is lower, and there is less competition. All of this adds up to recessions being one of the most opportune times to start a business.

6. I don’t have enough experience - Microsoft, Dell, Kinkos, and Yahoo are just a few of the many successful companies started by people with no business experience. Your experience can certainly affect the success of your company, but you have to start somewhere. If your first business fails financially, then you still will have gained the unique experience, learning, network and growth from running the business that will give you an edge over your peers. I’ve heard many people say they’d rather employ somebody with a failed business than somebody with no experience at all. Companies would rather you fail and learn on your dime than on their dime.

7. I can’t because I’m afraid of failing - According to most statistics, the majority of businesses fail financially after the first few years. In fact, the most successful people in the long-term often have the most failures in their life. So, it is OK to fail. The key is whether you fall forward. You can fall forward in front of your other classmates with the network, experience, and personal growth you got from starting your business. According to Napoleon Hill, a bestselling author who researched the habits of extremely successful people such as Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford, "Every failure has within it the seeds for equal or greater success." It is your decision whether you plant these seeds.”

Michael Simmons is right. How often is it that we are discouraged because of one of these myths from becoming a young entrepreneur. I want to share a Chinese proverb, “"If you are facing the right direction, all you need to do is keep walking." 
, and add to it, “All you have to do is to keep stepping up.” I want to invite students and young people to join us tomorrow and discover ways all of us can step up.

Let’s follow the examples of these ordinary individuals as they strive to make a difference. Each week, lets all get together and share knowledge, stories, experiences, information, all for the sole purpose of getting One Step Up.

For comments, suggestions or stories that you want to share, email me at stirspecialist@gmail.com , or visit www.stirspecialist.blogspot.com