I recently got an idea based from my military experience as a leadership instructor. The Non-commissioned officer (NCO)trains small teams, it creates winning teams capable of operating under various conditions and environments. The success of our forces lies on small teams success. The NCOs integrate civilians and turns them into soldiers, this begins at basic training. As a soldier moves from one unit to other it grows professionally and personally. It is the NCOs that shaped the once young man into a formidable soldier. Why not take our experience into the civilian sector and help corporations build small teams and managers at all levels become leaders. From this idea I want to start my business of team building activities in my city. I want to build a civilian friendly obstacle course with various activities that will help corporations build cohesive and productive teams. The problem is that I have no idea where to start. I have the how and some assets but I need some help. Does anybody have any ideas?
Please help.
V/R
Joel Carbajal
Answers
Thank you for your service, Joel. We build small teams of similarly motivated individuals over the Internet and phone. We specialize in teaching and training a turn-key system. You’re abilities to communicate, coordinate, and collaborate are what we look for. Only basic technical understanding needed. See if what we do resonates: wwwFreedomEffect.com
I am sorry to be so direct here BUT, I am going to take a different, more fundamental direction here, Sergeant. It begins with writing well. To be blunt, your note made me cringe.
But, before I illustrate, most employers will read communications you send with a critical eye toward the character of the person who wrote it. They might ask, "Just how much care did the author put into writing this?"
One phrase, in particular stood out - and not in a good way; i.e., " . . . . NCOs that shaped the once young man into a . . . . . ". What about the females?
As a life-long recruiter, your cover letter or resume written with this or a like phrase would instantly go into the left-hand stack and not receive further consideration. There were other instances of less egregious errors in your note; but this one illustrates my point well: what and how you say in your communications reflects on you.
Take a course in, perhaps, business communications or composition and learn how to write well. Doing so will at least prevent you from receiving a premature and undeserved rejection.
Most all corporations of any size have some kind of an education department. Identify those who do and get an "informational meeting" with their director. No, you are not looking for a job and no, you are not looking for business. What you are doing is sniffing out whether there is indeed a NEED for small team building activities in their industry and are seeking contacts to better grow your idea into a business. You seek their counsel.
Develop two "elevator speeches." One will most likely be used on the phone, when you get the director to answer. That one will succinctly describe and identify what it is that you want; i.e., request some of his/her time for an informational meeting. The second will be slightly different and used to again to succinctly state what it is that you want - but this one is used when you get some face-time with the director.
Last thought: healthcare is remarkably competent and efficient when it comes to delivering educational products to their own teams. Saddle up to that industry to see how they address their need for team-building activities - and, they often invest in outside consultants to provide the likes of, "ropes courses" for their staff.
Good luck - and, if you are "still talking to me" after I beat you up here, feel free to E-Mail me directly at hlstevens@att.net. I mean you no harm!
Joel
any entrepreneurial venture has a better chance for success with some" hands on experience". Your military background gives you a feel for team building - but not necessarily for the commercial market place. Google corporate team building - and do some research about WHO is currently doing what you want to do. Consider aligning/joining them to really learn the commercial side of the business. Here's two good websites to check out.
prevuemeetings.com and bestcorportaeevents.com. All successful businesses start with an idea. Good luck
Bill Blair
imabusinessbroker.com
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