29
November
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Business Works for Youth’s Story
We had the absolute pleasure to meet Larry Earnhart, a business coach and consultant at Business Works for Youth.
BWY is an incredible program helping young adults on their way to becoming aspiring entrepreneurs.
But before I start giving you some insights into the program, let me tell you a little bit about Larry and why working with him will help you start the business of your dreams.
Larry’s incredible journey started out in the US, where he earned a PhD in Chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He then started working in the chemical production industry as an operations manager doing a chemical engineer’s job. After about 14 years he had acquired an MBA through the company and ended up moving to Canada with his family. He then bought a restaurant, ran it for a while and sold it, became a financial adviser, and then bought a handyman franchise and sold that as well after a while. In the meantime, he started teaching business classes at University Canada West and started his own consulting business for small business owners. Now he works with business works for youth where he gets to help young people become successful business owners.
He also wrote a book called “The Profit Machine”.
I think it is remarkable that young adults have the opportunity to get coaching advice on how to start their own business from someone who has worked in so many different fields and has so much knowledge about owning a business.
But let me give you some more details about the program.
• You have to be aged 15 to 30, employed less than 20 hours a week or considered precariously employed if working more, and a Canadian resident who is employable in Canada, living in Nanaimo, Duncan, Victoria or the surrounding areas.
• It is a free program. (Yup, you heard that right)
• Funding for Business Works Youth program has been provided by the Government of Canada, through the Canada-B.C. Jobs Fund.
Once you are qualified to enter the program, you will be set up with access to their learning management system website. On the website, you will find a series of recorded webinars that they conducted.
Some of the modules include marketing, branding, business law, marketing, finance, social media, operations, and how to read financial reports.
You will also have the ability to work with Larry as your business coach. He hopes to meet once a week and talk about your goals for your business, how you are going to set up your business, and talk about any questions you might have about the videos or modules.
As you travel down the pathway of knowledge, you will also be creating a business plan and present it in front of a business committee. And then you have the knowledge you need to run your business.
During our interview, Larry told us that,
“Where people start and where they end up really depends on a number of factors, one of which is luck but in large degree it also depends on perseverance, ability to tolerate risk and the desires to make whatever you can of yourself. That’s how businesses grow. That strong desire to accomplish something. The desire may be to bring a certain product or service to market “I need to provide this, because people need this” Or maybe they are driven by “I need to make a lot of money” Whatever is driving people from the inside, we want to find a way to help them achieve it. That is what this program is designed to do.”
He also mentioned that “Not everyone wants to be employed or is suited for employment.”
Yet sometimes the participants of the program will discover that they are not suited to be self-employed through the program too.
They begin with the idea that they want to start a business but then discover that it might not be the best idea for them. It’s a way of self-discovery.
As an entrepreneur, you often will be working a 60-80 hours week. If you can’t devote large amounts of time to your new business, it will be really hard on you.
But that is why the program is so incredibly helpful. Gaining the awareness that if you have the desire to start a business, they will help you achieve it. Yet, there is no obligation. Even if it doesn’t work for you in the program, Larry is there to chat and offer some thoughts and ideas.
Success: It doesn’t matter where you start, it depends on where you are going and how you get there.
