UPLOAD is for young people considering their options – life, love, work, the whole catastrophe.

I wrote back in January about my experiences at the UPLOAD Young Entrepreneurs Camp at the Glasshouse Mountains Eco-Lodge. It was a fantastic week in many, many ways and I would like to extend my knowledge of this priceless event to you. And I’m quoting most of this blog entry because I could never explain UPLOAD even half as well as Edgeware have:

With UPLOAD, Edgeware offers stimulating, accessible, enjoyable explorations of enterprise development and entrepreneurial skills, delivered through a series of interactive, hands-on workshops with expert trainers and young, real-world entrepreneurs. UPLOAD is all about helping young people equip themselves to navigate turbulent times and to create meaningful, sustainable and responsible employment and life pathways.

Now, Edgeware have just released their 2009 young entrepreneurs program, which I am very excited about. I’m very happy they have also added in the teachers and youth workers workshop too!

The UPLOAD Young Entrepreneurs Camp (for Over-18′s)

An intensive residential week at the beautiful Glasshouse Mountains Eco-Lodge. Delivered in partnership with the Sunshine Coast Institute of TAFE, with a focus on building and growing fledgeling enterprises.

The UPLOAD Young Entrepreneurs Camp (for Under-18′s)

An intensive non-residential week in central Brisbane, taking place during school holidays, with a strong focus on personal development, teamwork and leadership.

UPLOAD Professional Development Workshops (For Teachers and Youth Workers)

Offered in half-day, full-day and three-day versions, focused on developing and practicing leadership and facilitation skills in the Edgeware model of youth enterprise development.

Futher information on these upcoming events and some charming photography from the January UPLOAD are available here.

BONUS Twitter list blog! As shared by the Edgeware team on Twitter: Top 100 Social Entrepreneurs, Businesses, and Ideas on Twitter

Double Decadance is on this Saturday night at Fortitude Valley’s Step Inn. Funds from the event go towards Open Doors which supports young people aged between 12 -18 years who are exploring, questioning or identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender (LGBT).

Each Monday, Wednesday and Friday disadvantaged LGBT teens can drop-in on Open Doors for support and networking. I’ve always loved the idea of drop-in centres and this one is definitely a fantastic use of the resources run by a former Family Planning Queensland counsellor and educator. Fantastic stuff!

On another related note, the Open Doors website links to Think Before You Speak, an initiative to halt derrogatory sayings such as “that’s so gay.” It’s aimed at schools, which I think is pretty accurate. Loving the Say Something Original pledge where you can contribute your version of the saying mentioned. “That’s so redunkulous!” is so far my favourite but “girl putting a fork in a toaster thats on [sic]” is pretty strange also! If only there was an apostrophe it would be complete, but you can’t ask for much when it’s going towards raising awareness on such a topic.

Anyway, you should come along on Saturday. It will be fun!

The past weekend I’ll admit has been one of sleep catch-up and moping around the flat because I felt the magic was gone. Silly me! I’d just spent the past week feeling that “today is the first day of the rest of your life” and was so hyped up that when Saturday came around I was distraught I’d missed it in favour of eighteen hours sleep!

If anything the business planning of this week took a backseat to the personal development side, which just shows how entwined these two aspects of an entrepreneur’s* life are.

I started off quiet, but most do when thrust into a new environment with strange people. This was evident immediately when our godfather for the week, Michael Doneman, pronounced us all “weirdos.” The Eco-lodge was gorgeous and even the wasps were bearable for the week. Our kitchen was in a train carriage and I slept in a church loft with a wonderful view.

The general timetable of the camp was for Michael to start us off with some business strategies and planning content, then a guest speaker would present and answer our questions. After a presenter or two (snack breaks in between) we’d have a bit of free time in the afternoon or social activities before dinner. Usually fun activities in the evening and the food was always of the best quality mastered by Ludmila Doneman and Nat Duncan. Oh, except that dinner the 15-odd Edgies devised too.

Monday – Scott McKay of Wolfbyte

Scott visited and was a great start to the camp.

Theatre sports in the evening set a nervous yet hilarious tone for the group’s dynamics. Miming and guessing games were just too good of ice-breakers to pass up in the program I guess.

Tuesday – Edward Harran & Elliott Bledsoe

Social media, Creative Commons licencing, swimming at the dam, discussing the Johnny Bunko manga business book. I worked a fair bit on developing my business idea and putting into use the matrix tools Michael had given us earlier that morning in deciding on niche markets. Bit of clarity here.

Wednesday – Esther Cole of Frollop & Ben Johnston of Joseph Mark

I think I gained a fair bit of inspiration on starting my own business from these two, more than on other days of the camp. Both being alumni Edgies, Esther & Ben both had a creative and individual flair which made the day (much like Tuesday) an entertaining one in the least.

The day ended with Japanese taiko drumming by a bonfire. There’s nothing left for it. I MUST resume my drumming. I loved it just too much. I was on fire. I WAS that fire. The blisters on my hands are badges of honour and reminding me that by Friday of this week I will have cleaned off my own drumkit in the garage for a bash; the first since late-2007.

Thursday – Karen Woolley of Proscribe

Thursday we worked on our physical representations of our business plans. We had until 6.30 to create them from all sorts of scrap material and craft supplies.

My epiphany came when I was about to hit ‘send’ on a reply confirming my ideas for Brisbane Twestival, having just been approached to work on the event. The Event Buzz had hit me for the first time during a week of confusion and vagueness over what I wanted to do. Now I know! Event management and social media is where it’s at. I love these worlds and I will make a mix of these my bag.

The exhibition of our sculptures was on during the evening. Mine was pretty awesome but I’ll have to explain it further.

Friday – no special guests

The day to say goodbye. This was the most intense day of reflection that, yes, there were tears. There were poems, stories, hugs, games and even tree-planting.

We started the day presenting our business plans with ten minutes per presentation plus seven minutes to fill out feedback forms on each. I still am yet to look through the majority of my received feedback forms as I want to look over them when I feel the motivation fading away. Also, I finaly realised that what I’d been told all along was true: action DOES come before clarity.

The drive back to Brisbane with fellow Edgies reminded me how alike we all are. Burning for the future and each with our own individual strengths and weaknesses, all agreeing that screaming the chorus to “Sex on Fire” by Kings of Leon is the greatest after a few drinks yet you have to be in the right mood for John Butler Trio.

Things I am Accountable for

• 1 hour drumming each week
• 6 hours on business plan each week
• 6 hours blogging each week for TechWiredAu
• 10 jobs applied for each week
• Learning sign language

(traditional media picked up on the story and fellow Edgie Mike Boyd’s blog on Upload is here)

*I have since learned that “entrepreneur” is not a dirty word afterall!