The E-Entrepreneur

It’s been about a month and a half since I finished school and became a full-time entrepreneur.  All I can say is that it’s been AWESOME.  This is who I am, who I want to be and what I want to do.  I love the concept of being able to work whenever and wherever, and most importantly: the freedom to wear whatever I feel like.  Put away those dress pants and shirts!  I can wear my t-shirts, jeans with holes and sneakers. These things are all PRICELESS to me.

I haven’t written much about what’s happened with my startup for a while now and I have several stories that I want to share with other entrepreneurs out there.  Let’s start with Story #1

Story #1:  How to Sneak into Conference for Free

There was a multi-day conference in Vancouver two weeks ago on eHealth (the use of technology in healthcare), which is topic very relevant to what we are doing and attending a conference like that would be beneficial to our startup.  However conference passes were several thousands of dollars => something that 99% of startups cannot afford.  But there are always ways around that

I have been working closely with IRAP, a government program that provides assistance to small & medium enterprises, and I know one guy from IRAP whose focus is on healthcare.  I decided to drop by his office a few days before the conference and I guessed he would be attending the conference, so I casually mentioned it.  He knew that I am a poor entrepreneur fresh out of school with no money and that there would be no way I could afford a conference pass.  As a conference pass holder, he kindly offered me his pass for Sunday.  Since Sunday was the first day of the conference, I had to check-in on his behalf.  Now….this is a man of Indian decent and I am an Asian girl => interesting eh?

This is how things played out on Sunday morning: I lined up at the registration desk and I noticed the people signing in ahead of me were showing their ID’s for confirmation.  I thought to myself: “Oh this is great, why did I wake up at 7:00am on a Sunday morning to get embarrassed in front of a crowd?!”  Soon, it was my turn and I went up to the registration desk with my straight face and I said:

“My last name is _____(an Indian last name)”

Lady looked at the computer screen and asked: “Are you with IRAP?”

“Yes”

“Here’s your pass, enjoy the conference”

“Thank you”

And BAM THAT WAS IT!!!! I WAS IN! No other questions asked whatsover.

Conference Day #2 was the tradeshow, and unfortunately I had to return the pass to the guy from IRAP so he could use it.  I knew there were several important people at the tradeshow who I needed to speak to for my startup, so I had to somehow get in for free.  I decided to go an hour before the tradeshow actually started, when people were setting up their booths. At that time, there was no one checking tickets at the door.  Once I was in, I just stuck around until the start of the tradeshow.  Whoop, and just like that I WAS IN AGAIN!

Yup, I got access to an expensive conference without having to pay a dime.  Yes I know it was not the most ethical thing to do, but hey when you are with a startup and are strapped for cash, you have to try to get as many freebies as possible!