We were faced with the challenge of producing an entrepreneurial experience at an indie music and art festival, ETC in Norfolk, VA. My team and I decided that we would use this opportunity to test out a new event we are organizing in November called Start. Start is a 28 hour business obstacle course, where teams compete to complete a series of challenges and solve problems. The event will be very similar to The Amazing Race or Iron Chef, creating problem solving that follows a certain theme, in our case, entrepreneurship.
According to this article from Brick Dave, Legos even help develop life skills.
We created 3 challenges that would stimulate the mind and allow someone to act entrepreneurial with the result to hopefully be able to take those tools and use in their own businesses and business ideas at a later time. Often times folks just go build or just go sell instead of a collection of both, which is why we wanted to create challenges that got people to think now and use later.
Our Challenges:
1. LEGO Challenge
– Teams (or single person) given a small bag of LEGOs
– They have to build something
– Then have to sell it
– Teams that achieve the highest dollar amount win (and keep the sales money)
This demonstrates the hustle it takes to be an entrepreneur.
2. Image/Caption Challenge
– A picture will be on taken at our tent
– People can submit their best photo and caption to social media using #’s
– At the end of the day, we select the best one and the one with the most exposure which will win a prize.
– We will build a life-size “polaroid” style frame, which can include each of our logos that will be in each of the pictures taken at the event.
This demonstrates what it takes to come up with clever captions and taglines for social media.
3. Branding Challenge
– A generic logo will be set on display
– People will submit their best Company Name and Product or Service to go along with the logo
– The most creative entry will win a prize
We had never put on a booth before so we didn’t know what to expect. We had been to conferences and events, but never like this. We went in with an idea of what would happen, but as with most things in life, things didn’t work out as planned.
We bought 5 pounds of LEGO’s with the idea that builders would get a set, build something cool, and then sell. What we saw was that those who described their creation better, sold at a higher prices. So we learned that it was all about the pitch, not necessarily how amazing the space ship (or whatever) was made. I found myself getting into the action while helping folks build or describe their creations. I built two sets one drone and one amusement park. I scrapped my drone halfway through the development phase to focus on the amusement park. It started with 2 rides and as I asked onlookers if they wanted to buy, I added my rides. Up-sold. I would say this is an amusement park with 3 rides, including a slide and swing. It can be yours for $10. Folks showed interest but no one cashed me out. Until I got to 5 rides and a better story. I kept telling a stronger more compelling story even though the legos were just legos, maybe 40 pieces in all. With each encounter with a possible sale, I was able to see where there was a lack of value communication, I got a better idea of what each person was looking for the more I tried. And eventually, yep! I sold my amusement park for $5! Lesson learned. It is not just about building, it is about selling an experience.
When you put something together its about finding out what words and combination of production, target and explanation needed to make a sale. So, how did our other builders do? What did they learn? It was amazing to watch how quickly these kids were learning how to be an entrepreneur. Here’s three of our favorite examples.
Julian:
The first thing he built was a space ship. He thought it was an amazing product, but no one would buy it. He kept asking, and people kept giving him a polite “no thank you.” So he came back to our tent and we asked what his pitch was. We went over it, and together we came up with a better pitch for him to use, and unfazed by all of the previous “no’s” he heard, he went back out to sell his space ship. A few minutes later see him running back to our tent clutching his $6 in winnings. In just under an hour, Julian had caught the entrepreneurial bug and jumped right back into building another product to sell. And another and another. And by the end of his visit, Julian had $17 in total sales. Thats more than some REAL companies have. The more he went out and tried to sell, the more he learned and the better he got at selling. That kid is going places.
Riley:
Riley was a self acclaimed LEGO master. He laughed at our measly 5 lbs of LEGO’s and told us about the 50 lbs he had at home. His experience was noticeable from the start, as he quickly put together an epic truck/rocket ship thing. Riley’s expertise in LEGO building was very clear to us as he practiced his pitch and went over all the features that his truck/rocket ship had to offer. Then his father gave him a 10 min time limit to make a sale before they moved on to the rest of the festival. And, with 2 min to spare, Riley came back to the tent and showed off the $5 he just made for his creation. He was thrilled!
The 3 Brothers:
Two twins and their little brother came over to our tent for the sole purpose of playing with LEGO’s. But when we told them that they could sell what ever they build and keep the money, their eyes lit up. The first one to finish sold his creation ON THE FIRST TRY. He came back for more too. All of the brothers were building and selling, and building and selling. The spent about 3 hours with us, and during that time generated a grand total of $31! By the end of it, they had it down to a science. They’d start with a simple version of a product, then put some extra pieces in their pocket, if they had a hard time getting the sale, they’d add value to it with their extra pieces until they could make the sale. It was a thing of beauty.
Watching people get the hang of entrepreneurship, and catch the entrepreneurial bug was very inspiring for us to watch. Especially the kids! We got people thinking outside of the box, and getting out of their comfort zones. Because we all know they only place you can grow is when you’re outside of your normal comfort zone. We saw people get in front of complete strangers, and get their hustle on. We had some kids come out and make more money in a few hours than some companies do in their entire existence! And that is what its all about. Watching people learn and grow. Thats what we’re here for.
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