Our Why.
The future of work around the world is looking increasingly unpredictable. The job market has become noisy and crowded. Competition for opportunity has become fierce. The value proposition of your skills, qualifications or experience is being challenged as never before. Everybody wants an edge. This constant change and uncertainty makes many traditional career development models ineffective. Professionals that lack deep pockets are forced to rely mostly on the strength of their career development strategy and creativity. You could be the best, smartest, and most capable professional in your industry. And in all likelihood, you could still end up unemployed.
Even if you do manage to get hired, you’re not guaranteed long-term employment. The employer-employee pact has fully disintegrated. Today's employers do not offer lifetime commitment to their employees. Traditionally, students would first graduate from high school or university, after which, they would seek to work a full-time job with regular hours that they would remain in for the rest of their lives. Work, today, however, has already moved from this traditional model, and is now constantly under disruptive pressure.
In light of such changes, everyday professionals should not be left to their own devices when it comes to navigating this newly emerging world of work. There are skills professionals can acquire to better navigate the uncertainty of the economy and capitalize on their skill set to make it work for them. As disruptive as the world of work has become, this isn't to say that career growth opportunities don't exist anymore or that they can't be created. It more likely means that there are great opportunities than ever before.
It is in this spirit of the changing future of work, that Becoming a Willing Student® was founded. We believe that professionals today need to become somewhat their own entrepreneur. This requires some form of entrepreneurial training, not just for those with a background in business or enrolled in a business program at a college or university, but for all professionals regardless of their background. It has become increasingly clear that all workers will spend a part of their whole careers being entrepreneurs, whether by choice or not. It is important therefore that all professionals, not just business professionals or business students, learn entrepreneurship.
Becoming a Willing Student® is on a mission to help aspiring, first-time and early-stage entrepreneurs launch and grow authentic businesses that inspire and prosper. We are a holistic business coaching firm for entrepreneurs who want more from their lives. Becoming a Willing Student® programs are also relevant to young professionals who are about to enter the job market, and therefore can be delivered to students at both high school and university levels. We help young professionals develop an entrepreneurial mindset when facing the job market. We believe new jobs and careers are being created just as old ones are being rendered obsolete.
As work becomes increasingly precarious for newer generations of workers, it is not only professionals that have an educational background in business that are in need of learning entrepreneurial skills, but in fact, all professionals as newer workers are increasingly expected to take matters into their own hands.
Whether your goals involve launching and growing a thriving business, deciding what's next in your entrepreneurial journey, landing the right business growth opportunities, making a successful career transition from employee to entrepreneur, learning to get to the point with prospective customers, figuring out what your unique competitive advantage is, or learning to make an instant sales or elevator pitch, Becoming a Willing Student® will help you laser-focus on the things that get you results. You’ll walk away with tangible insights, bold ideas, fresh thought processes and proven strategies that will help you feel better, do better, and get what you really want out of your business and life.
The last two decades have seen several bouts of economic instability and fluctuation, including the recession of 2018. In response to this, employers have adjusted their hiring practices and the benefits that come along with being a traditional full-time employee. Given such circumstances professionals today are forced to navigate an ever-disruptive economy where work has become more precarious. The social contract of working hard as the sole prerequisite to building a sustainable career and livelihood has ostensibly been broken. As a result, workers of the future are increasingly being required to become their own career managers.
Becoming a Willing Student® was born from the vision that authentic entrepreneurship is the key to giving people hope. We believe authentic entrepreneurship helps people learn how to lead themselves in the face of uncertainty. It helps them envision a concrete path to a better situation which empowers them to set goals and make plans to reach those goals.
Studies have shown that higher levels of hope are connected to improved well-being and can help people find meaning and purpose. We’re on a mission to operationalize hope in the world through authentic entrepreneurship and empower people to build resilience in the face of uncertainty. We use a holistic business coaching approach to empower entrepreneurs to develop an authentic entrepreneurial mindset and transform their business and lives.