What's Going Down Up North
On Sept. 29, business and community leaders and entrepreneurs from Cache, Rich and Box Elder Counties will learn how to "zig zag" their way to business success. They'll also have opportunities to network and learn about northern Utah-specific activities in business recruitment and business retention and expansion, hear about USU's commercial enterprises, and receive an update on the Utah Science, Technology and Research (USTAR) Initiative.
It's all part of the annual "What's Goin' Down Up North" business summit, which will be held at the USU Innovation Campus, Calibration Building, 489 East 1650 North, North Logan. Rich Christiansen, serial entrepreneur and author of the "Zig Zag Principle," will keynote the event. The tag line for his latest book is "the road to success is never a straight line." Hence, Christiansen will instruct summit attendees about his Zig Zag Principle, which he describes as a revolutionary goal setting strategy.
"The business world teaches that you should go directly for your goals, but that sets you up to fail," Christiansen says. "When you charge directly at a business goal you often run out of resources and die. Chasing directly toward a business goal doesn't work -- nine out of 10 businesses will fail that way. In business you have to methodically identify detours and go around them."
Permission to Detour
Christiansen says he'll give summit attendees permission to not chase directly at their business goals, but rather to tactically set detours. Attendees can expect to take away a better understanding of three key thoughts or steps that he says make up the Zig Zag Principle.
The first step is to assess where you are at and what resources you have. "Go ahead and set that big, hairy goal," Christiansen adds -- but don't go for it just yet. "First look for the quickest way to profitability, understanding that there will be crazy detours. Then, drive toward that profitability."
The second step, once a business has achieved profitability, is to add more resources and implement processes. "Whatever works for you, document it," he says. "You achieved profitability. Now add the resources and processes."
Third, he says, is to add the scale element. "Scale is the component that doesn't require you to be the one turning the crank. Set up your business so that others can carry it forward," he explains. Simply put what Christiansen means is to add whatever components are necessary to mass reproduce or mass replicate the business' success, so that you don't have to babysit what made you successful in the first place.
Guard Rails
"The Zig Zag Principle is the sequencing of those steps and putting guard rails in place so you don't end up in the weeds while pursuing your goals," he adds.
Christiansen says he will also talk about how to fail efficiently. "We all have failures. With the Zig Zag philosophy, you clearly identify your goals and allocate your resources (money and time), and charge toward your goal in a specified amount of time. If you fail, you shake off the dust and go forward instead of wasting resources on a bad idea," he says.
For example, Christiansen says he founded 32 different businesses using between $5,000 and $10,000 in startup capital. Eleven of the businesses failed and 11 have been multimillion dollar successes. "How do you start up that many businesses?" he asks. "You learn to fail efficiently."
Christiansen adds that he will also talk about not risking what you are not willing to lose, and how that puts entrepreneurs in the right mindset to succeed. "The Zig Zag Principle a powerful strategy. I know and understand how challenging it is to run a business when the economy is down. This is a model that allows people to take control of their destinies," he says.
Walks the Talk
Paul Larsen, Brigham City's community and economic development director, says Christiansen has the credentials and "a good grasp of entrepreneurship and business principles. He has walked the talk and should be a very good speaker. This is an excellent opportunity, for a fairly low cost, to receive some important business training and information."
Larsen notes that the summit's content is germane to northern Utah. The business recruitment piece will include insight into EDCUtah's business recruitment activities in northern Utah, with comments from EDCUtah President & CEO Jeff Edwards. Meanwhile, the business expansion and retention portion of the summit will highlight activities regarding the implementation of the Business Expansion and Recruitment (BEAR) program in Box Elder and Cache Counties.
"We just got started with the BEAR Program this summer," says Larsen. "What we are doing is very much along the lines of what Carbon and Emery Counties have done with the program. They have been very good to work with us to get our program started and running."
Later on the agenda, Envision Utah will present the "Bear Lake Valley Blue Print," which is a plan for how to manage growth in the Bear Lake Valley. Following a networking break, summit attendees will hear a series of five-minute fast track presentations from area businesses and organizations. Presenters include:
Bear River Publishing
Boys & Girls Club of Brigham City Mentoring Program
IMDS
Whitaker Construction
Volcron
Zeo-lite
USU Brigham City Master Plan
Ashco
Utah Alliance for Economic Development
Bridgerland Applied Technology College (BATC) Business Programs
Bear Lake Memorial Hospital
The fast track presentations will be followed by the Cache Entrepreneurial Council Awards and Christiansen's keynote address. The summit will adjourn at 2 p.m.
