By Scot Kersgaard, JVA Consulting

I must say it is an apt name. A base camp is the place you spend a day or two getting ready to climb a mountain. You’ve done a lot of work already. You’ve picked the mountain you’re going to climb, you’ve hiked hours or days just to get to the base camp.

Just getting to base camp is an accomplishment. Now you huddle with guides, you talk to people who have already made the climb, you lay your maps out on the table, you discuss the various routes to the top. You go through your pack one last time, checking your tools, making sure you have enough food and water and the right clothes. In the interest of weight, you figure out if there is anything you can leave behind.

Then, the climb begins.

So it is with Social Enterprise Base Camp. You probably already know the mountain you want to climb. You have some ideas about the route and the tools. Before the final ascent, though, you get to spend four days getting to know some fellow climbers and getting to pick the brains of some of the best guides in the business. Finally, you get to compare notes with people who have made the climb, who have established solid social enterprises of their own.

Sarah Hidey and Janine Vanderburg can’t climb the mountain for you, but they can give you pretty solid tips on how it’s done.

This fall, in addition to the name change, we’ve also changed the format a bit. Instead of five days, the Base Camp is four days. No one wants to spend too long at base camp (there is a mountain to climb, after all). Instead of the fifth day, Base Camp now includes time for follow-up, with each participant getting one hour to talk things over with Janine or Sarah later after you’ve begun the climb and know the exact question you forgot to ask before. Also, an optional 3-hour reunion session will bring graduates of Base Camp and of prior Academies together later to learn from each other’s journeys.

Starting a social enterprise is hard work. Spending four days at Base Camp getting ready, finalizing your plans and discussing things with an experienced guide is a really great idea. See you in November.