You've got to make your own job, TV host tells Sault youth (2 photos)

Over 300 local secondary school students filled The Machine Shop Wednesday afternoon to get some timely career advice from Sean Wise, a well-known business mentor, public speaker, author, Ryerson university professor and TV personality.

In a changing world and economy, the days of graduating from university or college and expecting to work for the same company for 30 years are gone, Wise told his young audience at an event hosted by Millworks.

At the same time, Wise said, conditions are ideal to be your own boss.

“Now is the greatest time in history to be an entrepreneur,” Wise told SooToday.

“The barriers and the cost to launching a business has dropped” thanks largely to the Internet, Wise said.

Wise said “today we have things like Amazon web services and Google and LinkedIn, and so the cost of launching a digital business has dropped from $5 million in 1997 to about $5,000 now, and that just makes it open to everyone.”

Because of the Internet, Wise said young entrepreneurs may also now live and work in their hometowns instead of being forced to relocate to larger cities. 

“It’s a great time for high school and university students because they’re facing huge unemployment and under-employment and you can’t rely any more on the government or your town to give you a job, you’ve got to make your own,” Wise said.

“That’s no longer a huge hill to climb, it’s a lot of work, but that work is now doable (thanks to the Internet) and we know first hand we have 425 entrepreneurs working hard on businesses each and every day at Ryerson University where I teach.”

“I’ve seen everything prosper that can sell through the Internet, everything from jewellery to software to apps to services, everything is trying to go digital because it’s cheaper, faster and easier.”

That said, can hard-working young people who start up their own businesses through the Internet realistically hope to move out of their parents homes and have living spaces of their own?

“I have no less than two dozen first hand examples of my university students not accepting jobs at graduation because they’ve created their own sustainable businesses,” Wise said.

Wise said business incubators such as those run by the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre (SSMIC) and Millworks, located in The Machine Shop, are impressive.

There are also plans to start up another social entrepreneur site (known as The Nest) locally.

Incubator environments allow entrepreneurs to relate to each other’s business challenges while also inspiring each other with support and business suggestions.

“At Ryerson we have seven of them…people don’t want to work in their basements and be isolated, and in fact we know it’s more successful when you co-work, and we’ve noticed in our incubator at Ryerson with over 400 people in it, is that they help each other almost as much as the mentors help them,” Wise said.

“I think the incubator strategy, the strategy to give people a place to collaborate is huge, and Sault Ste. Marie is definitely taking great strides forward in it.”

Wise worked as a behind-the-scenes producer for CBC’s venture reality show Dragons’ Den for five seasons before becoming the host of The Naked Entrepreneur, a show originally produced on Ryerson’s campus and now seen on OWN Canada.

“We call it The Naked Entrepreneur because most of our guests are so successful they’re comfortable being open with what didn’t go right in their businesses and their lives…it’s important to give a well-rounded view to future entrepreneurs, because if all you do is watch the social network movie and think that’s the life of a start-up, you’re in for a very rude awakening.”

Naked Entrepreneur guests have included Harry Rosen, Debbie Travis and Kevin O’Leary.

Apart from Wednesday afternoon’s pep talk to high school students, Wise will be delivering an address entitled Bridges to Better Business at The Machine Shop at 83 Huron Street this evening.

Doors open at 5 p.m., with Wise’s speech scheduled to begin around 7:45 p.m.