One of the greatest benefits of the Customer Discovery process is that you learn what moves people to action. And if you’re lucky, your passion collides with your customer’s. Introducing the EntrepreNerds Scholarship Program is one such success story in the making.
We have certain core values that guide us at EntrepreNerds. We are committed to promoting equality, entrepreneurship and education. Unfortunately, it’s a sad fact that some of the people who need us the most have the least means. I work with a lot of clients that have similar experiences, like nutritionists, counselors, coaches, etc. This is a tricky space for the business owner that has a conscious.
How do I earn an income while making a meaningful impact?
Some business coaches might tell you to focus on clients that pay top dollar so you can be philanthropic with your hard earned cash later. But, in my humble opinion, that’s an antiquated approach. These days we are seeing many successful companies incorporate doing good into their core business model. And, being the trail blazer that I am, I will not settle for anything less myself.
EntrepreNerds Scholarship Fund
Our answer to this conundrum is the EntrepreNerds Scholarship Fund. I can’t take credit, this was inspired by a believer of big dreams, an award winning philanthropist and an all around fun lady, Linda Hopkins. Being unable to attend our planning workshops herself, she decided that someone else should get to go that otherwise could not.
When we announced this opportunity to the EntrepreNerds community we received a warm response. We had more applicants than recipients, which is why Rosabella Consulting matched the contribution by offering partial scholarships to two other participants. As we looked at our evolving business model and developed a crowd funding campaign to support it’s launch things clicked. Why not establish a formal scholarship fund and raise money for it through our first Crowd Funding campaign?
On March 3, we announced the scholarship fund as part of our campaign SurThriving. In the last two weeks we have received $610 for scholarships from 11 contributors. Here’s the real kicker, 100% of scholarship fund contributions go towards scholarships for cash poor startups. And, we will match the funds raised, doubling the pool of scholarship opportunities available!
This has been a great win-win-win scenario. Contributors get to give in a way that feels good to them. We get to do good without sacrificing the sustainability of our business model. And those in need get access to programming, that can make the difference between success and failure, they otherwise cannot afford!
How It Works
After the campaign wraps up, we will share a formal scholarship application form. Cash poor startup’s will have the opportunity to apply for scholarships to our workshops on leadership, planning and lean startup. Applicants will have the opportunity to request a full or partial scholarship (for which, we ask participants to cover 30% of the program fee).
Scholarships will be dispersed as long as funds are available throughout the year. Of course, the more money we raise for scholarships the more opportunities we will have to give. And living in an entrepreneurial rich environment like Northern Colorado, there are plenty of admirable, cash poor startups in need of a chance just like this one! Want to support EntrepreNerds?
Hear From Scholarship Recipients
“Ariana Friedlander knows the way and shows the way when it comes to business.
For brand new small business starters, she also supports you on your way. I recently benefited from a scholarship offering from Ariana. Even though she had already awarded the scholarship designated for the EntrepreNerds Annual Planning workshop, Ariana gave out a second one to support my venture. The workshop was outstanding. I love Ariana’s teaching style and the event was loaded with great strategies, along with practice activities to integrate everything we learned.
I will model my own practices to mirror the powerful design demonstrated by Ariana. I hope I can adopt some of her delivery skills as well. The feelings of gratitude inspire a desire to pay it forward when I have the opportunity to extend scholarships to those in need.
Thank you, Ariana!”
– Donovan Dreyer, Get Ready Coaching: For Parents, Teens & Families
“The EntrepreNerds workshop was helpful to me as an independent consultant because it made me take time to sit down and plan. The tools that Ariana provided helped me to get all that information floating around in my head onto paper and organized in a way that could help to reach my goals for this year. I also loved that this process included both my personal and my professional goals. For me, these are intertwined so focusing on just one or the other doesn’t usually work. I also liked that the other participant’s shared their experiences and ideas and I was able to learn from them too.”
– Daun Davids, Sky Woman Technology, LLC
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