Avatar Idea for Flipside Workspace™
copyright Lisa L. Duncan

The other day I was purging a monstrous stack of papers.  I hate doing it, as it is a slow process for me.  I’m not one that can grab a stack and toss it into the recycle bin… I need to look at everything one last time and do a final mental categorizing before I make that decision to toss or file.

I was rewarded by this method when I found this picture (to the right) that my daughter drew for me when she was about nine years old.

When she drew this picture, we were about 2 or 3 years into Flipside Workspace, the digital workplace we developed to help our business – and other businesses – achieve a digital “sense of place”.  We hadn’t yet opened it up to the world, and we were understandably questioning ourselves.

For those who aren’t familiar with Flipside Workspace, it is basically a professional 3D environment used for engagement and collaboration of dispersed workforces.  Rather than using video for a communication presence as many other platforms use, Flipside Workspace uses avatars in a virtual environment.  When you “enter” the workplace, the first thing you do is select an avatar to represent yourself while you walk and talk in virtual space.

My daughter was an avid Club Penguin user back then, and of course this all seemed normal to her.  (Club Penguin is a virtual world where children can play games and interact with other users.) What was not normal was the professional attire of all of our avatars.   Overhearing our conversations about our readiness, my daughter decided she would help us out.  She drew an avatar that she felt was missing from our repertoire, complete with dog, and simply titled it: “help business”.

Finding this picture reminded me how lucky I have been to work in this alternative workstyle, for my daughters to be able to see me “go to work” first-hand, to overhear business calls, and to learn at such a young age that problems are just solutions waiting to be discovered.

My daughter saw a problem and took the initiative to provide a solution.  Isn’t that what being an entrepreneur is all about?

Her drawing is a perfect reminder of the entrepreneurial spirit that can be nourished in our children.  The business person in me noted that the price for her services was missing from the drawing.

I’ll have to have a little talk with her about that oversight.