We are thrilled to welcome Kahlil Ashanti (Entrepreneur, Actor, Producer, Writer) as our guest speaker at our iB Curriculum on Wednesday, January 23rd. Kahlil was generous enough to provide a preview of what to expect from his curriculum for your reading pleasure. Take it away, Kahlil!

In the business world there are several ‘requirements’ that we as entrepreneurs and creative souls feel the need to meet. These requirements are drilled into our psyche from day one - boxes that need to be ticked to help us feel like we can’t present our ideas to anyone of any worth until we ‘have it figured out’, until we’re ‘prepared’. Business plan. Elevator Pitch. Projected Revenue. The list goes on.

I think we should learn to find solace in the chaos of having no idea how these boxes are going to get ticked, and embrace the magic of creating our own normal.

I’d like to share an experience with you that changed the way I look at business development and audience engagement.

In early 2010, fellow actor/writer TJ Dawe, talent agent Justin Sudds and myself sat around a table and began mapping out how we were going to write the stage adaptation for PostSecret.com, the worldwide phenomenon blog that has over half a billion hits and counting, plus five NY Times Bestselling books. What is PostSecret.com? Check out the website. You’ll get it.

First, we needed to option the intellectual property, to get the permission of Frank Warren, the creator of PostSecret. This involved cold calling his literary agent in New York City, and convincing him that three (basically) unknown guys from Vancouver could be trusted with the reputation one of the most respected and recognized non-ad-supported brands on the internet. Frank is incredibly protective of PostSecret, and for good reason. He’s turned down opportunities to appear on Dr Phil and many more.

The business brain would say

1. ‘You need money to start a business. No New York lit agent is going to just give you the rights to anything unless you have some capital.’ We didn’t have that.

2. ‘you need a thorough proposal’.

We had an outline of what we wanted to do, but in the early stages of anything you spend a lot of time finding out what you don’t know, and taking your best guess. You can only guess so much. Eventually it’s showtime.

But we truly believed we were on to something, and our priority wasn’t money. It was shining a light on the bravery of so many strangers who had shared their secrets with the world.

This kind of play had never been done before. A new genre of theatre. What we wanted to create was more of an independent film/documentary that happened on stage, not a play.

There was really no business model to follow. No mentors for us to lean on, no meet-ups for us to attend and share our thoughts with. There was no normal. We had to create it.

To top it off, we all had wives, families, day jobs. This wasn’t an all-out ramen noodle push to lose sleep, shut out the world and write until it was right. We didn’t have that kind of time.

I learned the two words that made all the difference in the success or failure of our entrepreneurial venture. I also learned how meaningless all of those boxes were at the beginning, but how with proper listening, they would each get ticked in ways I never thought possible. In our attempt to create our own ‘normal’, we found ourselves in the midst of something extraordinary.

In October 2012, the finished product, called PostSecret: Unheard Voices was optioned by MagicSpace Entertainment, one of the top Broadway touring producers in the United States, who are investing in the project to bring it to audiences everywhere. Here’s a sneak peek at the promo video, just for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_05II11fSE

But how did we do it?

I am forever changed by this experience, and I’ll be sharing our ‘secrets’ at an institute B speaking engagement on Wednesday January 23, at 10am PT. Can’t be there in person? Follow me @kahlilashanti and institute B @instituteb on Twitter using #iBCurriculum and join the conversation.

There is no normal.

Kahlil Ashanti

Kahlil Ashanti (Entrepreneur, Actor, Producer, Writer) thinks that dogs should never be better dressed than people. He is best known for his critically acclaimed solo show, Basic Training. His multi-lingual work in theatre has earned him several awards including The GreyFriars Bobby Award, Scotsman Fringe First Award, NY Times Critics Pick and a Broadway Drama League nomination for Distinguished Performance. Basic Training has been optioned for television development by Barry Josephson (Bones, Enchanted, Men In Black) and Lowell Mate (Everybody Loves Raymond, Roseanne) and will be green-lit as a series this summer. Recently selected for Cirque Du Soleil as a character actor, Kahlil is constantly searching for opportunities to be a part of life giving projects that are bigger than all of us. As co-founder of VC funded ReceiptNest.com, he found himself knee deep in the tech world, surrounded by people who wanted to tell their stories in compelling ways. Apparently it’s called pitching. Go figure. Please be advised that Kahlil barbecues with charcoal, not propane.