Tamakkan? what do you think it is?

Abu Dhabi is starting to look after its inhabitants and put them on display to encourage everybody to become an entrepreneur. Tamakkan is an Arabic word that means enable, so basically if one starts a business or wants to start a business and wondering what to do, and you live in Abu Dhabi, then you will need to attend these sessions, they have been running for a year now.  I attended two of them so far and find the idea really great as it puts individuals who had achieved something under the spotlight and make the others inspired. Also the show invite few lecturers to talk about subjects that is relevant to marketing ones business or product. 

Last week's event was nice as the three people that came each added a different flavour to the show:
     
1. Grant talked about the 30 seconds elevator speech. basically we all have to practise to say What we do as a business in 30 seconds, and present ourselves to individuals, say in elevators, in the shortest and most informative way, and also to always have a business card handy.  meaning back to basics, as word of mouth is very important.

So here is my 30 seconds of your life:
 
"My name is Suad I am an academic consultant I help students to go abroad, here is my business card in case u have someone who wants to study and needs help. What about you?"
 
Or "My name is Maryam I run an art school, here is my business card, we can turn you into an artist in less than a week. What about you?"

2. Bob Lipset discussed social media (Facebook and others) and how to use to grew your business

20 ideas:
Write your info down or record it as we forget it so carry a note book or an ipad. 
Eavesdrop. Listen to what people say any where then find out if you can help them and create what they want

Do something new. Sign up for a class take up a new hobby listen to music, just so you meet people

Write down what annoys you. You  are not alone so if you want things that are different then other peopl may also want different

Take two ideas and put them together
Think beyond the obvious
Get physical release those endorphins
Get the blood flowing
Hit the corniche (its a fantastic place in Abu Dhabi by the way)
Learn to salsa
Lazy people have lazy ideas, while Aggressive people have aggressive ideas
Get an outsiders opinion
Need to bring in a fresh perspective
Just listen to your customers suggestions
Change your routine, as New surroundings can thrill you with new experiences
Take a different way to go to work
Try something different 
Listen to music or something else
Take a shower, think, Let your mind wonder and get creative during the shower (wet brain storming)
Make a list as this becomes a hard copy of your thoughts and ideas
Be a book worm knowledge is power 
Absorb everything about your subject 
Unrelated concepts create new ideas

Sleep On it before saying it or doing it, you can actually create new ideas when you wake up
Ask google! you may get help
Doodle (mind mapping) mindless doodling on paper any thing, Key words, ideas, circles, squares etc 

Forget every thing you know, If you are stuck then hire professional  help

the final speaker is with the owner of Jones the grocer,  who talked about how he managed to capture the license to operate the restaurant and how painful was the process of creating the first store, it took  resilience, survival and confidence and most importantly imagination.  The "do it yourself" attitude helped of course, and then he invited us all to have free coffee and a cake in the restaurant,  as we were all hungry, he must have made heaps of cash that night, as we all had our dinner (paid for it ourselves) and then the coffee was free.  i tell you guys, this was the most imaginative thing this entrepreneur had done; he knew that most of us drove from Dubai, and missed dinner, a win-win to all of us.