Inspiring Entrepreneurship

Are You an Entrepreneur?

Recently, I had the opportunity to hear Len Schlesinger speak. Len is the president of Babson College, which Len introduced as the number one college for entrepreneurship in the world. Len’s presentation was related to one of his latest books, Action Trumps Everything.

 

Two main ideas deeply resonated with me, and they are principles that our company, RemoteLink embraces. The first, is the idea that entrepreneurship is a discipline that can be taught, and learned, not a mysterious, magical gift that one needs to be born with.

 

The second idea, is that the difficult social and economic issues that our world faces, will be best (and maybe only) solved through entrepreneurial enterprises that focus on addressing not only economic issues, but social and sustainability issues as well, simultaneously, as basic practices of business.

 

Entrepreneurship can be Learned

Len quotes Muhammad Yunus, Micro-finance Pioneer, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, as saying, “We’re all entrepreneurs, only too few of us get to practice it.” Len goes on to quote business guru Peter Drucker – “Most of what you hear about entrepreneurship is all wrong. It’s not magic, it’s not mysterious, it’s a discipline, and like any discipline, it can be learned.”

 

At RemoteLink, one of our core principles is that every single person is born a masterpiece of God’s creation, and it is our job to help people uncover and live out their masterpiece. At RemoteLink, we are in full agreement with Muhammad Yunus and Peter Drucker that everyone is capable of entrepreneurship and that it is a privilege for RemoteLink to provide a platform on which people can discover and grow that ability. We wish to unleash the untapped potential of people from all walks of life, and all socio-economic backgrounds.

 

Focus on Economic and Social Issues Simultaneously

To make his second point, Len lays out a pretty clear vision for how entrepreneurial businesses can and should change the world they operate in – “Focusing on economic outcomes to the exclusion of any other variable is a problematic construct. The notion that we can address economic issues separately, and then only deal with sustainability and social issues if there is anything leftover, doesn’t work. You can’t deal with those things sequentially, but have to do so simultaneously. That requires significant invention and entrepreneurship.”

 

International Social Investment – RemoteLink Philippines

At RemoteLink, we embrace this vision as well. In 2007, RemoteLink incorporated an wholly-owned subsidiary in San Pablo City, Philippines. San Pablo City is a severely under-resourced city with a large population of abused and dangerously neglected children, many of whom end up living on the streets. RemoteLink created a business unit to partner with a local outreach organization, Philippine Frontline Ministries. This business unit provides high-tech training and jobs, as well as the physical facilities and space for a K-12 school and local church, training, and recreational center. RemoteLink Philippines exists to reduce the effects of poverty on parents and children in the San Pablo area, and hopefully beyond in the years to come. Over the last 5 years, RemoteLink Philippines has developed high capabilities in the areas of graphic arts, web site development and landing page design, and uses these skills to support dozens of clients local to the Philippines, and our US base of clients as well.

 

Bringing our Social Investment Experiences Home

We would like to leverage our experience in the Philippines to develop similar programs here at home, in our own back yard. Our newest product, Internet Presence Marketing, is becoming an area of significant growth for us. We are helping local and national businesses Get Found, Be Liked, and Add Customers in very efficient, cost-effective and measurable ways. As the new business unit grows, we are excited about the potential of hiring local people in need of jobs, job training, and potential for career advancement. We have developed the operational side of the business to maximize operational efficiencies, while at the same time providing entry-level, flexible work opportunities for college students, and parents whose work hours are restricted to when their kids are at school. We are exploring a partnership with a local outreach organization in East Aurora called Community 412. We would love to fill up their East Aurora facility with chairs, tables and computers to provide local jobs for parents of school-age kids within walking distance of their homes and school.

 

In addition, our operational structure is built on employees being encouraged to grow and take the next step. As the business grows, there will be great opportunity for career advancement, and we will provide the training, and the corporate support to develop people internally for more advanced positions. We also provide the opportunity for experienced Internet Presence Marketing experts to grow their sales skills, participate in commissioned sales work, and even move out as entrepreneurs and open their own sales offices.

 

We look forward to offering our customers the best, most efficient and cost-effective Internet Presence Marketing services, from a brick-and-mortar, long-standing, local business, while simultaneously engaging the social and sustainability issues that are vital to the growth and development of our local communities and the people who make these communities their home.