Synopsis

We are in the era of entrepreneurship.  I can’t speak with a dozen people without finding myself in conversation someone working on a startup.  In the past decade, it seemed like a rite-of-passage for college students to operate businesses out of their dorm rooms.  The American Dream had morphed into the Fraternity Fantasy.  Forget GPA, what’s your IPO?

But, just like college, it’s an endeavor that is exponentially easier to navigate if for those who already have money, youth and connections.  During a Cornell Tech speaker series at Bloomberg in New York City, Chairman of New York Angels, Brian Cohen in conversation with Scarlet Fu stated, “Entrepreneurship is a bunch of rich kids because they have a safety net.”

We’ve all heard the dire fail rates of startups, but we prefer to selectively glorify the unicorns.  The New York Times reminds us that “For all the successes, entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that about 20 percent of small businesses fail in their first year, and by year five, half close. Those are discouraging odds...”

In The Clover Canal: A Toolkit For Cultivating Favorable Opportunities, emerging entrepreneurs and business leaders will come understand an ever-evolving landscape of unprecedented and inevitable change. It's lessons will help founders improve essential business skills and strategies necessary for sustainable success, especially if they are starting out without the advantages of money, youth and professional connections.

Outline

Introduction. I wrote this book to help founders improve essential strategies necessary for the sustainable success of their companies.  Entrepreneurship may start with one good idea, but it requires a portfolio of skillsets to flourish.  The purpose of this book is to guide leaders in building a strong foundation from which to pitch their innovations.  

Like a clover, the book expands into four sections, covering four main tenets:  
 
1. Cultivate Intellectual Curiosity by constant reading across topics, learning and applying new knowledge.  Being a better thinker will make you a better communicator throughout your network.  Always keep the mindset that you have something to learn from everyone -- From toddlers to the most successful CEOs.  There’s always something more to know.

2. Articulate Ideas Effectively through practice, integration of feedback and reiteration with the evolution of progress.  As I mentioned in Forbes, Tuck School of Business corporate communication professor Paul Argenti states, “You can’t be a great leader if you’re not a great communicator.  You can’t execute it if you can’t communicate it.  It’s that simple.” 

3. Nurture Purposeful Community by connecting with others who will support you in the short and long-term.  Strategically expand your circles but remember that Networking Should Never Be Forced, as I co-authored with Harvard Business Press author & Forbes contributor, Dorie Clark.

4. Add Value Always by volunteering without the need for instant, or any, reciprocation.  If you add value, your offer to help will rarely be declined.  Use your efforts to open doors.  Money should not be the only form of payment you accept -- Access can be much more valuable, and indirectly lead to money in the long-term.  

Audience

The audience for my book are emerging founders who are seeking ways to raise their chances of success.  They spent a few years tackling the challenges all startups face and are ready to regroup and rally.  These are the leaders who embrace experience as invaluable learning opportunities and finally realize there’s more to entrepreneurship than a good idea.  It requires a portfolio of skills for cultivating favorable opportunities in an ever-evolving landscape of unprecedented and inevitable change.  It requires The Clover CANAL Principles, lessons to help founders improve essential business skills and strategies necessary for sustainable success.

MIT economist, Peter Temin warns that “80 per cent of the population is burdened with debt and anxious about job security… America is regressing to have the economic and political structure of a developing nation.”

In this climate of insecurity, people from every socioeconomic background are increasingly turning to entrepreneurship as a solution to unemployment.  Many of them do not have the advantages of money, youth and professional connections.  Many will believe an idea will be their launchpad to overnight glory, when in fact, innovation is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.

Furthermore, Keith Speights reported in The Motley Fool that “History repeats itself.  Roughly 20% of new businesses survive past their first year of operation. That was the case two decades ago and is still the case today.”

At the five year mark, half of all businesses cease to exist.  
Only one-third survive to see their 10 year anniversary.  
However, after several years of operation, survival rates begin to flatten.  The likelihood of survival increases the longer a business has already been in operation.

In Insights by Stanford Business, Professor Elizabeth MacBride concurs by emphasizing that Entrepreneurship Requires Practice, Practice, Practice because “repeat entrepreneurs are more likely to succeed… It's really a long-term commitment. Learning from that experience can shape your future.”
Each new, subsequent venture that more experienced, committed entrepreneurs embark on often have greater longevity than the previous attempt.  The odds of success frequently increase each time around because new lessons were picked up and applied later.

Promotion

Lisa's network includes almost 10,000 LinkedIn connections; approximately 1,800 Facebook friends & 500 followers; over 2,000 Instagram members; and almost 4,000 Twitter users.  

Contact her at CloverCanal@gmail.com

Lisa Chau is an international speaker and digital strategist with global marketing and public relations experience and thousands of social media followers. She has published over 130 articles in Forbes, US News & World Report as well as Huffington Post on TABLES:

• Technology
  
• Academia
  
• Business
  
• Leadership
  
• Entrepreneurship
  
• Strategy

Her work includes profiling high level executives, successful entrepreneurs, established professors, distinguished creatives and award-winning authors.

She was a featured guest on Midday Talk with Dan Roderick, speaking on millennials and digital strategy. The show aired on National Public Radio (NPR) Baltimore, which is ranked #21 in the radio market in the US, out of 273.

Lisa is very active in academia, and serves on the Board of the Dartmouth Club of New York.  At Columbia, she organized and hosted the "How to Build a Strong Start-Up" entrepreneurship conference for over 100 guests, mentioned inYahoo Finance.  Lisa has spoken and led workshops at Yale, Dartmouth and the Ivy Council's Innovative Leadership Summit hosted at Princeton University. She lectures undergraduates and MBA candidates at The New School and The Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College. At MIT, she taught a seven week summer course which covered the use of social media to enhance professional networking.  She has also been a featured guest in Smith College's Executive Education Leadership Series

Competition

1.  The Startup Pitch: A Proven Formula to Win Funding by Chris Lipp  (Author). Publisher: Powerspeech; 1.1 edition (November 10, 2013)

The Startup Pitch is the most complete reference source to learn pitch skills and win investor funding. Less than 1 out of every 200 pitches gets funded. To win investment, you need the proven formula and the right skills to pitch your startup. 

2. To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others by Daniel H. Pink  (Author). Publisher: Riverhead Books (December 31, 2012)

Pink's book takes a raw look at the art of selling, approaching the basic need and experience of salesmanship with a fine-toothed comb. By detailing how many people's assumptions — such as that extroverts are best at sales — are not necessarily true anymore, Pink gives a fresh look at the what selling really means.

3. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath Dan Heath  (Author). Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (January 2, 2007)

The anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make ideas stickier, such as applying the human scale principle, using the Velcro Theory of Memory, and creating curiosity gaps. Along the way, we discover that sticky messages of all kinds—from the infamous “kidney theft ring” hoax to a coach’s lessons on sportsmanship to a vision for a new product at Sony—draw their power from the same six traits.

4. The Business Guide to Sustainability: Practical Strategies and Tools for Organizations by Darcy Hitchcock (Author),‎ Marsha Willard (Author). Publisher: Routledge; 2 edition (July 11, 2009)

Sustainability promises both reduced environmental impacts and real cash savings for any organization - be it a business, non-profit/NGO or government department. This manual has been written by top business consultants specifically to help managers, business owners, organizational leaders and aspiring environmental managers/sustainability coordinators to improve their organization's environmental, social and economic performance. The authors attempt to demystify 'sustainability', untangle the plethora of sustainability frameworks, tools and practices, and make it easy for the average person in any organization to move towards sustainability. 

5. Simple Success Secrets No One Told You About (The Business Pro's Essential Toolkit Book 1) by John Carlton  (Author). Publisher: Carlton Ink; 1 edition (August 4, 2015)

An organized quick read that is crammed with essential advice, tactics and strategies used by the best marketers alive to grow and sustain your business. It organizes the vast archives at the blog into clear categories from a blogger and business mentor.