Countdown To Launch 2016

Helloo!

Countdown to Launch is a business start-up program that ran from June 6th-10th, held by The Centre for Entrepreneurship at Cardiff Metropolitan University. From day one, It was so interesting to hear others business ideas and how passionate they were about doing something that they loved or bringing and learning new skills that will become their business.

During Countdown to Launch, we all learned the different aspects of business with useful workshops that gave us, the skills needed to succeed in business. These included marketing, sales, intellectual property and financial planning. Along with guest speakers who were the previous Countdown to Launch winners, Charlie Anderson and Josh Barnett.

Charlie, won Countdown to Launch in 2013 shared his knowledge and experiences about his business. He explained how he is currently funding and developing the world's first standardised network of inland cargo ports. His success and how he has been hard at work and growing his business since Countdown to Launch was exciting and motivating.

Josh, who I had already met during the accelerator program that was run by Simply Do Ideas was one of the six Countdown to Launch winners in 2014. Josh is the founder of Treatment Clothing and also starred on BBC’s TV program “Great British Sewing Bee”. His talk on marketing tools and how he uses them effectively, was very useful and motivated me to use social media more often but also searching for great content to post.

After completing assigned tasks that were given throughout the week, the final day arrived quicker than expected. Before I knew it, I was presenting in front of the judges. Nervous and forgetting everything I had a practice which felt like a hundred times, I managed to complete my pitch within the 3 minutes. Probably a few seconds earlier as it felt like my nerves got the better of me and not being a presenting kinda person, I wanted the moment to end. However, it wasn't that bad, the judges were so supportive and gave great tips and advice. They were lovely people to have met!

The final part of the last day of the week was announcing the winners. I was not expecting to be chosen, and I'm sure the other might have felt the same. In total eight individuals were selected.

Countdown to Launch has allowed me to get closer to my business goals. Countdown to Launch was an exciting and inspiring experience. It was a great to meet the judges and other passionate entrepreneurs with great business ideas. It was extremely helpful to hear the judges encouraging feedback about NamasJay. It is my passion and goal to bring yoga and meditation to students who can benefit from this.

Namaste,

Jay