BUILDING BUSINESS SUCCESS THROUGH THE IBI FREE ENTERPRISE FORUM

by Laura Sturgis, Ph.D., HVCA Member

Another entrepreneurial resource which shares a similar vision to HVCA is Income Builders International (IBI). IBI was founded by Berhnard (Bernie) Dohrmann in 1991. Bernie's father, Alan Dohrmann, was the friend and mentor to Napoleon Hill, W. Clement Stone, Walt Disney and Earl Nightingale and other well-known successful business leaders and philosophers.
 
Every two months in Los Angeles, IBI conducts the Free Enterprise Forum, a six-day intensive entrepreneurial skills training seminar designed to teach business success and income acceleration technologies to those just starting out as well as those already successful in their own business who want to broaden their training in areas of business administration, planning and strategic development, marketing, networking, team-building, manufacturing, distribution, capital formation, and to develop multiple income sources.
 
Top caliber business experts and motivational speakers, many of them Fortune 500 trainers, conduct key lessons or skill sets at the Forum. And, IBI uses a breakthrough technology called Super Teaching which includes a state-of-the-art multimedia interactive audio-visual-digital information delivery system that produces much higher rates of comprehension and retention than normal teaching methods.
 
At each Forum class, valuable contacts are made with leaders in business, the arts and professions, including marketing, licensing and franchising experts, agents, publishers, attorneys, venture capitalists and private angel investors who come to the IBI Forum to support other entrepreneurs and Give back as mentors. The Forum brings to life the spirit of aloha in business, actively fostering a shift to doing business based on mutual support and cooperation, e.g. that we must Give to receive. Sometimes all it takes is a new idea, positive feedback and encouragement, a few key connections to achieve new goals, or adding a board member that opens new doors, to launch your dream into reality.

A shining example of how IBI has been instrumental in fostering local businesses in Hawai'i is the entrepreneurial success story of Kerrie Nakanishi and Janis Mizuno, founders of Animation Magic, Inc. at the Aloha Tower Marketplace. Animation Magic sells a variety of licensed cartoon character products such as Winnie the Pooh, Sesame Street, Betty Boop, etc. including novelty and apparel items. Rand Brenner, an IBI Superconductor and former licensing agent for Warner Brothers, now with his own international licensing firm, assisted them with key contacts for the product licensing and distribution agreements in the animation industry; and Bernie Dohrmann provided valuable vision planning and business structuring input.
 
At the Forum, they also connected with successful retail businesswoman, Audrey Fu, owner of Villa Roma and Chocolates for Breakfast; and Valerie Sorenson, a Diamond Society Realtor with Coldwell Banker, who both assisted them with business consulting and finalizing their lease agreements with Aloha Tower Marketplace. The owners of Animation Magic are proud to have achieved their goal of $500,000 in annual sales in three years instead of their original five year projection, all with the help of IBI trainers and local business people they met at the Forum.
 
We in Hawai'i are fortunate in that the local IBI office is the strongest and most active organization in the U.S. and internationally. Several free introductory events are sponsored each month on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island by IBI, including previews to learn more about the Forum, after class support meetings to further advance progress made at the Forum, and a monthly SNAP Super Networking Accelerates Potential in the most fun and productive networking game in town.