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Business Ideas – 3 Lessons From Brett Wilson


hi I’m Evan Carmichael walked over to
another edition of modeling the Masters
today’s post is brought to you by
American Express they recently launched
a Facebook page called amex for business
Canada that has a lot of resources tips
tools information for entrepreneurs that
I hope you’ll go check out now I believe
that the fastest and most effective way
to grow your business is to model the
strategies of people who have already
done what you’re trying to do so today
we’re going to look at how an engineer
discovered that engineering wasn’t his
passion and he wanted to be a
businessman against the advice of his
friends and family and everyone around
them he left his high-paying job to go
back to school get an MBA and into the
business world he went on to become one
of the richest people in Canada this is
a story of Brett Wilson and a top three
lessons you can learn from his success
Brett Wilson a Canadian engineer
businessman and television personality
is best known for his appearances on
CBC’s dragons dead after growing up at a
middle-class family his father car
salesman and mother social worker Wilson
went off to college to study engineering
he would get his bachelor’s degree in
engineering and go to work for one of
the old companies in Western Canada
however after a few years of working as
an engineer he discovered that he wanted
to do something else business after
going to school to get his MBA Wilson
would join nine of the friends to start
an investment club they each put in two
hundred dollars and invested in the
stock market they would soon each get
back 221 dollars but more importantly
understanding how the stock market
worked how Commission’s work how to buy
and sell stocks as well as learn to
research and watch market trends it
wasn’t much money but this small
investment club got Wilson moving and
drove him to wanting to do more in the
business world he would go on to work
for an investment bank but his
entrepreneurial spirit was still not
satisfied he would bide his time Network
make contacts I learned everything he
could so one day he could start his own
business finally he would create his own
investment advisory firm and later team
up with three partners to create a
brokerage firm first energy capital that
would offer investment services to the
oil and gas industry today first energy
capital has handled more than 150
billion dollars worth of mergers
acquisitions and asset sales wilson has
been named one of the top 20 deal makers
in canada and one of the top 10 mergers
and acquisition specialist in canada by
following his gut am i not listening to
the people who didn’t believe in him
brett wilson was able to go from an
engineer to a highly successful
entrepreneur to help you explode your
business here are three auction items
and you can learn from Brett Wilson
action item number one stay the course
most people have ideas to start
businesses but they don’t take action
it’s scary it takes a lot of courage you
might fail and it’s outside the normal
corporate world that most people are
used to it takes a lot of guts to start
a business and in many cases your
friends and family won’t understand why
you’re doing it they may tell you you’re
crazy and you should get a comfortable
job so you don’t have to worry if your
passion about being an entrepreneur
don’t let the naysayers get you down
focus on why you’re running your
business and keep jumping over the
hurdles putting your way until you reach
the success year after Wilson believes
that real entrepreneurs have to stay the
course even when your friends and family
don’t think what you’re doing is a good
idea Wilson started out his career as an
engineer and had a good job in the oil
fields but was missing the passion when
he wanted to change careers and focus on
business his family and friends tried to
convince him that he had a good job and
she’d stick it out he then took a
management test at his engineering job
and failed it they told him that he was
not management material Wilson had to
prove everyone wrong so he left his job
and started following his passion
according to Wilson it was hard not to
enjoy the success we were having doing a
deal a day it was enthralling to be at
the office I got us caught up in my
career as any investment banker could be
I worked for about three years as an
engineer one of the big oil companies I
discovered that I wasn’t passionate
about engineering I was passionate about
business despite being told by one of my
first employers that I wasn’t management
material I enrolled in the MBA program
at the University of Calgary I was the
first graduate to major in
entrepreneurship after i started my
business a company named Wilson Mackay
my dad asked me if I was still looking
for a job entrepreneurs have to be
willing to stay the course even when
those closest to you question what
you’re doing option number two watch and
learn when I started my first real
company about X offer business I was 19
years old and didn’t have a clue what I
was doing I was in over my head and
didn’t want to fail my aha moment came
when I realized that I wasn’t the first
guy to try to sell software so our
research companies like Microsoft mcafee
and into it to see how they got started
by looking at how Bill Gates grew his
company he became my mentor even though
I had never met him you can learn a lot
about how to market your business and
build your company by following the
success clues that those before you have
left behind Wilson had completed his
education in both engineering and
business but the course he found most
valuable was consumer and buyer behavior
today he believes this course taught him
the proper way to market and how to
brand businesses his most valuable skill
is watching and learning watching her
other businesses do to create brand
awareness and how each successfully
competed for capital he desperately
wants others to understand his behaviors
and spends a lot of time trying to pass
this information along to other aspiring
entrepreneurs according to Wilson it
doesn’t matter if you’re a doctor
scientist engineer or lawyer the tools
of marketing are invaluable I sometimes
think people over worried this take me
under your wing notion people can be
mentored by simply observing carefully
for example I’ve been mentored by
Richard Branson in the marketing world
and a variety of business people in
terms of
their business acumen i watch and learn
and I’m still watching and learning
action item number three grow during
hard times when times get tough
entrepreneurs often scale back question
of their cut out to be a business owner
and often go looking for a job when
economy is doing poorly the successful
entrepreneurs look at it as an
opportunity for growth they realized
that the competition is likely not
invested in marketing or new innovations
and that there is a lot of talented
people who are looking for work to grow
through tough times you need to get
closer to your customer and develop new
products and services that can help them
solve important pains that they are
facing Wilson do his business the hard
times are being innovative he believes
that entrepreneurs you focus on building
a culture of innovation always look for
ways to be better improved more
efficient and do things more
intelligently if you can’t find a
solution create one if you’re constantly
innovating you’ll have some failures but
your successes will help you not just
get through hard times but grow through
them according to Wilson innovators
thinkers are constantly asking a
question how can make things better no
matter what stage you write in your
career what industry you work in every
went around you can benefit from new
ideas don’t be afraid to think outside
the box just because something works
doesn’t mean it can’t be better don’t
expect not to be afraid real courage is
being scared to death and going ahead
anyway hard times are an opportunity for
growth struggle doesn’t so much build
character as reveal it so remember stay
the course watch and learn and grow
during hard times to finish up the video
i wanted to share with my favorite true
stories about brett wilson and some of
his best quotes
when Wilson was young his father set him
up a job cutting the neighbors lawn all
summer long Wilson said he knew a friend
that was making three dollars for each
cut I thought it was a good way to make
some extra money for the summer he mowed
the lawn twice a week for a total of
thirty cuts at the end of the summer he
went to collect his summer wages and she
handed him of ten dollar bill wilson was
flabbergasted he expected ninety dollars
instead of the ten dollars she’d given
him he would later be quoted as saying
as you look back on his life I didn’t
negotiate a price up front I learned a
lot about communicating and being
upfront and established in mutual
expectations in hindsight a great
learning experience and for great cause
the weed old neighbor
thank you for joining me for another
edition of all in masters if you like
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it a thumbs up below I’d also love to
hear what you have to think if you want
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remember to check out the mx4 business
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on the next episode
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