iKC Recap: Inspire Talks—From Teens to the Health Scene

The first half of the “Inspire Talks” was a great way to kick off the morning of iKC 2012.  Formulated after the popular Internet sensation “TED Talks,” several speakers gave their own inspirational stories about business, their lives and their passions. 

The guy that started his own business four years before he could drive

First off was Brent Comstock, CEO of bCom Tech Solutions.  Brent is a bright 16-year-old who started his own tech company when he was just 12.   He shared the importance of being passionate about your small business and gave some advice for those in the audience who were looking to be entrepreneurs in the future: First, you have to find a need in a community, then you have to acquire the skills to fix that need.  Finally, you need to market that need to the public.  He learned several tech skills to help out the population of his small hometown, Auburn, Nebraska, and was an instant success.

Healthy employees = cheaper employees

The next speaker in the Inspire Talk series was Matt Condon from the Athletic Rehabilitation Center (ARC), who spoke about “Health and Wellness.”  He shared some scary stats about how as American becomes more obese, the percentage of the GDP spent on healthcare positively correlates as well.  Most of these financial burdens are taken on by the companies who provide healthcare to the employees.  His solution?  Get your employees fit and healthy (and not just so you can win the “Kansas City’s Sexiest Office” award)!  As small business owners, you can help save yourself money by encouraging your employees to get off the couch and go for a run; it’s even worth investing some of the company’s money in, too.

Just get up and exercise already, America!

Finally, Don Peterson of Big Iris spoke on “Big Data and The End of Wisdom.”  Although he said he would need hours to explain the concept of big data to the audience, he also had an interesting perspective on the healthcare industry.   He criticized doctors for not encouraging their patients to do the one thing that vastly reduces the presence of cardiovascular disease – getting up and exercising (maybe iKC panelist Micah LaCerte of Hitch Fit should’ve been speaking at Inspire Talks, too?).  He mentioned a study from the early 1930’s that showed people who had more active jobs drastically reduced their likelihood of having a heart attack or stroke later in life (it may be time to become a professional dogwalker!)  

The audience members left for their break feeling inspired to get up and work hard to solve the world’s problems (thanks, Brent!) and to later jog off that jumbo cookie that was in the iKC 2012 lunch box.