My Top 3 Takeaways From Speaking at a UVic Entrepreneurship Event

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Back in March, I was one of three speakers at a UVic Entrepreneurship Club event called "From Idea to 10K a Month: An Evening of Founder Journeys and Breakthroughs." The idea was simple: three local founders, three very different businesses, all sharing how we actually got our companies to $10,000 a month in sales.

The other two speakers were Brady from Key Vintage, a local vintage secondhand clothing store downtown, and Olivia from Isla Lune, the Victoria sleepwear brand I recently interviewed for this blog. Three completely different businesses, but a lot of the same lessons about actually getting a company off the ground.

A Good Night, in a Few Numbers

At the time, I was teaching a second-year thermodynamics course for mechanical engineering students at Camosun College. I mentioned the event to my class almost as an afterthought, and around ten of them made the trip from Camosun to UVic to come watch. I didn't expect that at all, and it meant a lot to see.

The room was full for a Thursday night talk that was mostly UVic business students, which was already a good sign. Red Bull sponsored the event and kept everyone caffeinated, which is a small thing, but it's also turned into an ongoing relationship between Heywood Academies and Red Bull since then.

The part that actually surprised me was the Q&A. We had so many questions from the audience that we ran well past the scheduled end time and still had to cut it off. I've done a few of these talks now, and I've never seen a room stay that engaged for that long.

#1 If You're at UVic and Curious About Business, Find the Entrepreneurship Club

If you're a UVic student with any interest in business or entrepreneurship, the UVic Entrepreneurship Club is worth finding. They put on genuinely good events like this one, not just generic networking nights, and they're an easy way to get in a room with people actually building things.

#2 Founders Are Almost Always Willing to Share Their Story

Brady and Olivia both said yes to this event, put together a real talk, and then stayed late answering questions from a room full of students they'd never met. That's pretty typical in my experience. If you're thinking about starting something and you know someone who's already done it, whether that's someone like Brady or Olivia or anyone else in your own network, reach out. Most founders remember being on the other side of that question and are happy to help.

#3 Don't Underestimate How Much People Want to Hear These Stories

Ten students making the trip from Camosun on a weeknight, a full room, and a Q&A that ran long enough that we had to end it ourselves. None of that was guaranteed going in. If you've built something and get asked to talk about it, my takeaway is: say yes. There's more appetite for this kind of thing than you'd expect, and you don't find that out until you're actually in the room.

Thanks to UVic Entrepreneurship Club

Thanks to the UVic Entrepreneurship Club for putting the night together, to Brady and Olivia for sharing the stage, and to everyone who showed up and asked questions, including the group that made the trip over from Camosun. If you're a student thinking about starting something of your own, get involved with a club like this one. It's exactly the kind of room you want to be in.

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