Jai was super motivated and was like a bull at a gate with his new enterprising idea, which was to design, make and sell an app. For those of you who are not Geeks and are unfamiliar with the terminology, an App basically means Application Software for a devise such as an iPhone, Ipad or computer.

He bought an Apple App developers license under his Mum’s name and downloaded all the software onto his school’s apple computer (a computer that he gets to loan on a permanent basis until he leaves his school… lucky boy!). He then poured through the various emails and instructions and did whatever was required to get himself underway.

The process proved to be very challenging and it wasn’t long before Jai was faced with a huge roadblock! He was stumped! The information and requirements were very complicated and technical and Jai really needed professional help to get him through it. I could see his spirits dropping fast, so we sat down for a chat about roadblocks.

When you are “building up” an enterprise idea, it is important not to get bogged down by all the “What ifs”. If we all did that we wouldn’t get past first base. Whatever enterprise you choose to do will have its roadblocks and you will need to troubleshoot a way to get around them. Firstly it is important to come up with an idea and build it up, and then the next step is to work out a general plan for developing the idea into an enterprise. This would mean identifying each of the development stages. From there you think about all the detail and consider the roadblocks for Stage One.

So Jai and I considered his Stage One Plan. The plan was to become registered as an App developer, download the software, then become familiar with the software. Jai’s roadblocks were:

•    The software was not loading correctly onto his computer
•    The software was difficult to understand
•    He didn’t know how to get started with using it

So we planned a simple strategy to deal with these roadblocks.

We were to be in Geraldton for a holiday in a few days. Jai strategy was to pay a visit to our successful App developer friend and ask him to help him get started.

That he did, and when I saw Jai next I could see the spring back in his step. He now had new understanding and some direction, plus he had opened a line of communication with an expert, who could possibly become a mentor down the track. Having a mentor is one of the proven best ways to a successful business.

What Jai learnt was that for the software to work properly he needed to download another program onto his Apple computer. So when he arrived back to Burekup, he downloaded the program, which seemed to sort the software issues and it was looking like he was now finally ready to get going with it all.

He headed off to school that Monday, only to arrive home later that day without his computer and looking very frustrated!

Apparently when he went about his online school work, he found that all the school programs that he used were no longer compatible to his computer. He paid a visit to the school’s computer tech, who identified what had caused the problem… Jai downloading this new program! He wasn’t very happy with Jai. He said that the computer would need to be wiped clean and completely reconfigured, then reloaded up with all the school’s programs again. To top it off, he was told that it may take him a few days to get it sorted.

Not good news at all! More roadblocks!

What will Jai do next with his enterprising idea? We will revisit his journey as an App Developer in a later blog. It will make interesting reading with some hard lessons learnt!

Next up we will touch base with Kaitlin and see how she is progressing with her enterprising idea.