Month: November 2010

At age 5 I dreamed of being a waitress. By 11  my sights were set on becoming a dancer. At 15, a powerful business woman, and with the popularity of shows like Grey’s Anatomy, when I was 17 I imagined myself as a neurosurgeon.

Today I have found what I want to do with my life – in one 2 minute video.

This footage captured my attention and basically summed up everything that I want in life.

It also led me to discover Breakdance Project Uganda This initiative is a collaboration of everything that I am passionate about in life:

• dance
• teaching dance
• working with children
• supporting third world countries

Breakdance Project Uganda (BPU) is a form of social entrepreneurship, satisfying the definition by being an example of an organization that uses innovative techniques to promote positive change in a community. BPU started in February 2006 and uses hiphop as a tool to encourage social responsibility as well as educate children in Uganda.

The project led to the production and upcoming release of the movie “Bouncing Cats”, which will be at the Bahamas International Film Festival this upcoming Sunday, Dec. 5th.

Does the name Julie Clark ring a bell? How about the title “Baby Einstein”?

In 1996, almost accidentally, Julie Clark created the now popular DVD series, and business, Baby Einstein. In the beginning investing just under $20 000, Julie initiated the success of Baby Einstein, which became worth $400 000 000 based on revenue today.

Her idea: soothing soundtrack *VHS’s for her own babies …*soon to become DVDs, obviously.
Her investment: $18 000, and her idea
Her marketing scheme: WORD-OF-MOUTH!

As the Baby Einstein products became increasingly popular into the 2000’s, Julie Clark’s name can now be seen alongside Albert Einstein, and Disney. This is a huge deal. Royalties are paid to the estate of Albert himself, which Forbes says puts him in the top 5 of most-earning dead celebrities. The Walt Disney Company purchased 80% of Julie’s business in 2001.

Julie Clark is an entrepreneur. In order to prepare for class, we were asked to read this article: http://www.quickmba.com/entre/definition/

Under Schumpeter’s view, Julie was able to come up with new products, and new markets mainly. She made baby DVDs become its own industry! Out of nothing, or thin air, as Brian Wong might say.
In terms of differentiating Julie’s entrepreneurship company from a ‘small business’ – it is clear (based on the company’s worth today), that she created “substantial wealth, [typically] in excess of several million dollars.” The innovation, risk, and speed of wealth creation were also all present.