By Marielle Voksepp

“Ian Telfer was a screw-up. The Canadian mining industry luminary didn’t exactly excel during his undergraduate days in university. He was too busy having fun.” – Andy Hoffman, The Globe and Mail

Are you interested yet?

Last week, Entrepreneurship 101 kicked off the new year with its Lived it Lecture series featuring Ian Telfer. At one time, the current Chairman of Goldcorp Inc. and the World Gold Council was barely accepted into the University of Ottawa’s MBA Program that now bears his name.

A past winner of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award, Ian’s definition of an entrepreneur is somebody who is always trying to do things that everybody tells them won’t work. While telling his inspirational story, Ian provided down-to-earth insight into the lessons he learned on the road to success as an entrepreneur.

Here are some real-life lessons Ian shared with the audience:

• Lesson #1: Return all calls – you never know what might happen at the other end
• Lesson #2: Be REALLY excited about your idea to get investors interested
• Lesson #3: Always try to be a good partner – this is the best reference you can get

For more great lessons from Ian Telfer, watch this Quick Hits video:

To watch the entire lecture, click here.

Check out this great article written by Andy Hoffman for The Globe and Mail: Ian Telfer: ‘I’m more of an opportunist than a visionary’.

Resources:

• Course schedule
• Join the LinkedIn Group
• Get updates on Vimeo

Watch our live webcasts here.

Reposted from MaRS DD.

Marielle works as part of the education team at MaRS. She helps entrepreneurs get access to business resources both online and in-person.