My Bootcamp Hell
July 14, 2009
Intense living conditions, sleep deprivation, and self-discovery all led to one hell of an unforgettable experience for Glasgow student.
Jamie Wallace (29), a DACE student at the University of Glasgow found himself amongst over fifty students and facilitators at the SIE Bootcamp:09 held on campus at Strathclyde University. In this gruelling, week long residency the students had to work on their idea from concept and were set various challenges to teach the skills of entrepreneurship. Jamie explains, "Trying to juggle the bootcamp activities with my business and personal life was a bigger challenge than I had imagined. However, the experience has found me in good stead, especially with meeting so many enthusiastic and like minded entrepreneurs; and I am looking forward to working on a couple of projects and lending my help over the next couple of months."
During the week, the students were taught how to overcome fear by learning to smash through blocks of wood; they were also taught how to juggle (balls - not life!) as a metaphor that with time and practice things are achievable and that sometimes we need to make little mistakes to grow bigger and better; and they were taught how to read and count letters through the process of gambling away their worldly possessions to learn that attention to detail is important, but also as a reminder that the brain has to be trained to pick out the detail. Jamie tells us that he thought the juggling would be difficult as he'd tried it in the past and was delighted when he realised it wasn't as hard as he thought. In true entrepreneurial spirit he commented: "I've managed to juggle three balls four times before dropping them now, but through time i'm sure i'll be earning a few bob on the Royal Mile or Buchanan Street!"
On the first night of Bootcamp, groups were created and a challenge was set up to make as much money as possible with £50. "My team did well. We made about 32p/hour which helped us each buy a couple of drinks at the end of the week! We had several ideas and decided to do some busking, and do some hand massages and photography in George Square" Jamie continues: "Oh yes, and the night before there was some bespoke kilted photography sessions with a group of older people in the bar!" Other money making ideas (or not as may have been the case) included Ten Pin Bowling, Car Valeting, Shoe Shining and some after-hours Retail. Most of the activities carried out led to much sleep deprivation which added to the intensity of the programme.
By the third evening, concepts had been developed into mind maps and consideration was being made into who could help make the ideas happen. "It was on the Thursday night that I had my A-Ha moment - my moment of self-discovery. I realised that almost everyone wanted to proceed with their idea and I realised then that so long as that was the case, the chances of putting together a group of people to make my idea happen would be extremely difficult, mainly because I got to a stage where I was finding it hard to sell my idea to myself! I spotted this as an opportunity to change tact and decided to shelf my idea to help a couple of ideas get off the ground thus putting my experience in starting up a business, retail and ebusiness to good use. You know, waking up on the Friday morning was a great experience. I felt refreshed, and ready to do business as I felt I had found my purpose of participating in the Bootcamp again."
The students meet up again in September to see the presentations being made, and prizes handed out to the best pitches made. Jamie concludes: "The bootcamp is truely a fantastic event for student entrepreneurs to participate in. I didn't feel out of place being the only returning adult student, in fact I realised that having been working on my own over the past couple of years, I have missed out on a large network of support. I hope through the contacts I have made through this experience that we will keep in touch and be of use to eachother in the years to come".
Jamie Wallace (29), a DACE student at the University of Glasgow found himself amongst over fifty students and facilitators at the SIE Bootcamp:09 held on campus at Strathclyde University. In this gruelling, week long residency the students had to work on their idea from concept and were set various challenges to teach the skills of entrepreneurship. Jamie explains, "Trying to juggle the bootcamp activities with my business and personal life was a bigger challenge than I had imagined. However, the experience has found me in good stead, especially with meeting so many enthusiastic and like minded entrepreneurs; and I am looking forward to working on a couple of projects and lending my help over the next couple of months."
During the week, the students were taught how to overcome fear by learning to smash through blocks of wood; they were also taught how to juggle (balls - not life!) as a metaphor that with time and practice things are achievable and that sometimes we need to make little mistakes to grow bigger and better; and they were taught how to read and count letters through the process of gambling away their worldly possessions to learn that attention to detail is important, but also as a reminder that the brain has to be trained to pick out the detail. Jamie tells us that he thought the juggling would be difficult as he'd tried it in the past and was delighted when he realised it wasn't as hard as he thought. In true entrepreneurial spirit he commented: "I've managed to juggle three balls four times before dropping them now, but through time i'm sure i'll be earning a few bob on the Royal Mile or Buchanan Street!"
On the first night of Bootcamp, groups were created and a challenge was set up to make as much money as possible with £50. "My team did well. We made about 32p/hour which helped us each buy a couple of drinks at the end of the week! We had several ideas and decided to do some busking, and do some hand massages and photography in George Square" Jamie continues: "Oh yes, and the night before there was some bespoke kilted photography sessions with a group of older people in the bar!" Other money making ideas (or not as may have been the case) included Ten Pin Bowling, Car Valeting, Shoe Shining and some after-hours Retail. Most of the activities carried out led to much sleep deprivation which added to the intensity of the programme.
By the third evening, concepts had been developed into mind maps and consideration was being made into who could help make the ideas happen. "It was on the Thursday night that I had my A-Ha moment - my moment of self-discovery. I realised that almost everyone wanted to proceed with their idea and I realised then that so long as that was the case, the chances of putting together a group of people to make my idea happen would be extremely difficult, mainly because I got to a stage where I was finding it hard to sell my idea to myself! I spotted this as an opportunity to change tact and decided to shelf my idea to help a couple of ideas get off the ground thus putting my experience in starting up a business, retail and ebusiness to good use. You know, waking up on the Friday morning was a great experience. I felt refreshed, and ready to do business as I felt I had found my purpose of participating in the Bootcamp again."
The students meet up again in September to see the presentations being made, and prizes handed out to the best pitches made. Jamie concludes: "The bootcamp is truely a fantastic event for student entrepreneurs to participate in. I didn't feel out of place being the only returning adult student, in fact I realised that having been working on my own over the past couple of years, I have missed out on a large network of support. I hope through the contacts I have made through this experience that we will keep in touch and be of use to eachother in the years to come".
Posted by Jamie Wallace. Posted In : Inspiration
'S mise Seumas agus tha mi trichead! Tha mi à Lios MoChuda, ach tha mi a' fuireach ann an Glaschu an-dràsta. 'S e oileanach a th' annam. Tha mi ag ionnsachadh Gàidhlig aig an oilthigh Glaschu.
