Students Who Catch The Entrepreneurial Bug

Founded on the principles of teaching and training business executives how to be more effective in their business, finding greater efficiencies, and moving towards better execution, e3 (e-cubed) FactorTM was launched to improve how business gets done.

Owning a business, or entrepreneurship, is all about having the freedom of doing things your way. My passion is to show entrepreneurs how to take advantage of sound business principles and experience, and mold these into a success story of their own.

The purpose of all of the materials that I have developed for entrepreneurs is to help them find success in owning and operating a small business.  The presentations, training courses, and materials have all been developed with the entrepreneur in mind, from first-hand experience of what it takes to make it big in business. As I have taught thousands of business people and students over the years…one thing always stands out…their passion for learning the ways of successful business people!

The journey of entrepreneurship is incredibly challenging, yet highly enjoyable and rewarding. It’s a journey that will open up an entirely new world for or youth. Since our young people are our future leaders, what better time to expose them to the incredibly rewarding world of entrepreneurship. To keep capitalism moving forward, and to teach young entrepreneurs the correct steps in launching and running a successful enterprise, I felt it was time for the Young Entrepreneurs Success (YES!) program to be developed.

Owning and operating a small business is obviously a big step, but if you carefully plan each step of the journey (as best you can) and then execute the plan, you will be very happy and satisfied with your business endeavors. It will open up a whole new world…that world is known to millions as the “road to success…the one less traveled.”

With over 80 different seminars and workshops, along with the coaching system that we have developed will help any entrepreneur find success in owning and operating a small business.  The training and materials are designed to show:

• What it means to own and operate a highly successful business
• How to determine the right business for you, plus the pros and cons of buying a business
• How to evaluate your chances for success
• How to stay focused
• What a well-crafted business plan can do for you
• How to gather the information needed to formulate a successful business plan
• How to write, organize and present your plan, as well as what documents to include and why
• How to brainstorm and strengthen key strategic alliances

I see education a little differently than some and take a little different approach to how we run a workshop or bootcamp.  It’s always my goal to see that all those who attend have a learning experience that not only educates on certain principles and concepts, but also gives insight into the practical application of these principles and concepts. My goal is always to deliver real life experiences and then build within students the confidence to apply what you have learned in a successful way. We can accomplish this and set a solid foundation with our youth to lead us into the future.

The basis of all of the workshops, webinars, seminars and bootcamps is to get people familiar with the issues, functional requirements and decisions they will make in the creation of a new venture—particularly in writing a solid business plan.  Attendees learn the foundational knowledge and skills necessary to develop an effective business plan, and learn how to launch your new venture, or expand your existing company in a successful way.

Towards the end of the workshop attendees will have an opportunity to “Pitch Your Idea to Investors.” This gives them a better perspective of what it’s like to present to a group of mock investors, and hear their feedback.

I want people to enjoy this entrepreneurial experience.  Life is too short to wade through the mire.  The courses form the foundation for the rest of your business life.

By the time we finish up one section of the training, and eventually all of the courses, my students have learned a treasure trove of information for starting and operating a successful small business. My hope and dream are to make this an enormously positive experience that is highly rewarding, because I know it will be for me.

Brian

Thank You Veterans and Military Families for Your Sacrifices – Article by Lily Burana

As Memorial Day Nears, a Single Image That Continues to Haunt

By LILY BURANA

Memorial Day. The unofficial kickoff to summer. Barbecues sizzling. Lawn sprinklers hissing. Local marching bands tooting out Sousa. Red, white, and blue bunting hanging from the porch railings, and on T.V., someone begins a recitation of Lt. Col. John McCrae’s classic poem: “In Flanders field, the poppies blow. Between the crosses row on row …”

In the run-up to every Memorial Day weekend, for the past several years, a certain photo takes top spot in those most circulated among my fellow military and veteran wives. On blogs, on social media sites, it is shared and “liked” over and over. Taken by the photographer Todd Heisler, from his 2005 award-winning series for the Rocky Mountain News, “Jim Comes Home,” which documents the return and burial of Marine Second Lt. Jim Cathey, who lost his life in Iraq, the photo shows his pregnant widow Katherine lying on an air mattress in front of his coffin. She’s staring at her laptop, listening to songs that remind her of Jim. Her expression is vacant, her grief almost palpable.

Associated Press/Rocky Mountain News, Todd HeislerThe photo, taken by The New York Times’s Todd Heisler, while he was a staff photographer at The Rocky Mountain News in 2005. The night before the burial of her husband’s body, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the coffin, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time. The Marines made a bed for her.

It is the one and only photo that makes me cry each time I see it. What brings the tears to my eyes is not just the bereaved young woman, but the Marine who stands behind her. In an earlier photo in the series, we see him building her a little nest of blankets on the air mattress. Sweet Lord, I cry just typing the words, the matter-of-fact tenderness is so overwhelming. So soldierly. But in this photo — the one that lives on and on online — he merely stands next to the coffin, watching over her. It is impossible to be unmoved by the juxtaposition of the eternal stone-faced warrior and the disheveled modern military wife-turned-widow, him rigid in his dress uniform, her on the floor in her blanket nest, wearing glasses and a baggy T-shirt, him nearly concealed by shadow while the pale blue light from the computer screen illuminates her like God’s own grace.

I believe this photo has had such a long viral life not just because it is so honest but also because it is so modern. During a spouse’s deployment, your laptop is your battle buddy. Your sense of connection and emotional well-being is sustained via e-mail, Facebook, Skype and Instagram. It appears, per Lieutenant Cathey’s widow, that the same is true even in a time of loss. This heartbreaking — and groundbreaking — photo showcases the intersection of technology and agony.

I’ll never forget trying to describe the photo to my friend Veronica, an Army wife. I was standing in her stately West Point living room, trying to detail what was so moving about the stalwart posture of the Marine, the listlessness of the grieving wife, my voice cracking, and before I was halfway through my description, tears started streaming down her face. It is testimonial to the image’s power that it even affects people who haven’t seen it.

The photo was later included in the book, “Final Salute,” which includes photographs by Mr. Heisler and is written by Jim Sheeler, a former Rocky Mountain News reporter. The book tells the story of United States Marines stationed in Colorado at Buckley Air Force Base whose duty was to notify families of deaths in Iraq and then escort the bodies home for burial. The book is based on a series that also won a Pulitzer Prize for Mr. Sheeler in 2006. (Mr. Heisler, who now works for The New York Times, also won a separate Pulitzer for his photographs.)

That photo has an equally poignant companion in the same series, a view from the civilian side, wherein Lieutenant Cathey’s coffin is being unloaded from the cargo hold of a commercial airplane in Reno as the passengers look on through the windows. You can practically read the thoughts on their solemn faces: “Who is that?” “What if that were my son or daughter?” “I can’t imagine what his family must be feeling.” “How sad” or “How noble.” I would bet you every penny I have that not one of them was thinking, “When the hell is this going to be over so we can get off this thing?” Two parents lost their son, a wife lost her husband, an unborn child lost his father, and a handful of average citizens saw just how seriously the military treats a fallen warrior’s final trip home.

Associated Press/Rocky Mountain News, Todd HeislerSecond Lt. James Cathey’s body arrived at the Reno Airport in 2005.

On one hand, you could view this as a perfect representation of how the majority of civilians are cosseted from the atrocities of war — they’re in the comfy, climate-controlled cabin, untouched by tragedy and free to move on, to gather their luggage, head on home, and forget about it. On the other hand, you could view it as I do: A stunning moment that makes clear our connectivity. They all took that journey together, and on that airport tarmac, the much-discussed gap between civilians and the military was closed, a bond forever fused by the passengers’ bearing witness to the final stage of a sacrifice that was both foreign to them and for them.

I believe that the civilian-military gap isn’t always born of indifference, but rather, at times, a sense of helplessness on the civilian side. What can I do? If you do nothing else, you can remember those who have given their lives for their country. Our country. Remembrance, which may seem a modest contribution in the moment, is a sacred act with long-term payoff — a singularly human gift that keeps on giving, year after, year after, war-fatigued year. I don’t need to remind you that America’s sons and daughters are still dying in combat. I don’t want to browbeat you into feeling guilty for not doing more. Instead, I want to tell you that as the wife of a veteran, it is tremendously meaningful to know that on this Memorial Day, civilians will be bearing witness and remembering in their own way — that those who are gone are not forgotten. I also want to say that as you remember them, we remember you.

Thank you.

Lily Burana is the author of “I Love a Man in Uniform: A Memoir of Love War and Other Battles” (Weinstein Books). Her husband, a former soldier, is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

PS  This article is from today’s New York Times –

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/25/as-memorial-day-nears-a-single-image-that-continues-to-haunt/?src=tp

I Will Never Forget My Commitment to Freedom

As we just reflected upon that tragic day 10 years ago that woke us up as a nation, and let us all know how vulnerable we are, I am one that will never forget…

I will not forget where I was when I learned about what was going on the skies and on the ground.

I will not forget how angry I was that some outside evil force had attacked our citizens, and shook the very foundation of our freedom.

I will not forget how our men and women of the military proudly stepped up and declared that they were ready to fight and protect their families, their nation, and the freedoms that we all enjoy.

I will never forget what incredible freedoms we enjoy each and every day that we wake up, and know that we all have choices, and how we only give up our freedoms if we are not willing to make a stand.

I will never forget how the leaders of our nation stood up and looked evil squarely in the face, and declared that we will never back down, and that we as a nation will rise up and defeat this enemy to freedom.

I will never forget the prayers that I offered and asked God to help us, and to forgive us for forgetting the we need to worship Him, and that we serve Him and His children.

I will never forget the empty and helpless feeling of knowing there was nothing I could do for a time except to pray and ask for assistance to find the strength to get through this tragedy.

I will never forget the pain I felt for the families of the victims, especially those families who did not know where their loved were…if they had perished, or if they were safe.

I will never forget the images of despair and utter disbelief on the faces of those who were at ground zero.

I will never forget the images of the brave firefighters, police officers, medical personnel and paramedics giving no thought of themselves, but rushing to save lives.

I will never forget the anger I felt inside and how badly I wanted to face the cowards who had done this. And, how I wanted to personally usher them into hell for what they had taken away.

I will never forget how proud I was on the tragic day, and how much more proud I am today of the American people, and for the resiliency of a people who not not cower in the face of evil, but will stand up and fight for our freedom.

I will never forget how I had to explain to my children that there are mean people in the world who want to hurt us. And then quietly asking for guidance from God to help me find the words to explain to my kids that there are millions of people who are good and who want to do what is right.

I will never forget the images of 9/11/2011 and watching the American people roll out flags the size of football fields to show our appreciation and dedication to remain free.

No, I for one, will never forget how this great nation was founded on the principles of Freedom, and when its people band together and worship God and ask for His assistance, there is nothing that we cannot overcome, and nothing that will stand in our way to keep our freedom in tact.

I will never forget how much I love this country, and will fight to my last breath keeping our country free from tyranny and oppression.

I will never forget how much strength the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance give to me personally, and to millions of Americans as we celebrate our patriotism, and our freedom.

I will never forget my commitment to Freedom.

Brian Hazelgren, September 12, 2011