In early February, three Keiser University students were selected by the Office of the Chancellor to visit with two of our Florida State Senators, Sen. Jeremy Ring in Margate and Steve Oelrich in Tallahassee. These students were selected to speak on behalf of all Florida students who receive the ABLE Grant and to negotiate a more equitable distribution of available grant funding in the state of Florida. One of those students was Jason Shockey, Founder and CEO of the Entrepreneur Club.
During the visit with Senator Ring, Jason Shockey invited the Senator to be a guest speaker at one of the Entrepreneur Club meetings. As an Entrepreneur, Senator Ring was one of the pioneers of Yahoo!, launching a national sales force from his New York City apartment. The Senator is also one of the principal partners in Collegiate Sports Properties, a company that controls the rights to all archived collegiate sporting events in the country.
On Friday March 21st, Senator Ring visited Keiser University and delivered a speech to the Board of Executives of the Entrepreneur Club: Jason Shockey, CEO; Dicardo Hamilton, President; O’Shane Broady, Vice President; Christian Robinson, VP of Finance; and Keel Russell, SGA President and VP of Entrepreneur Club Development. Bryan Ceglarek, Future Entrepreneur, and Elina Zaychik, Valedictorian, were also in attendance.
Senator Ring has a wealth of experience in the realities of being an Entrepreneur. However, Yahoo!, he admits, did not make him a better Entrepreneur. It only made him think he was smarter than he really was. His real lesson as an Entrepreneur came from his experience with Convizion, his digital technology company.
In no uncertain terms, the Senator admits to Convizion being a failure. It was during a time when the internet bubble had exploded and he had millions in investor money at stake. It was only by being open to new opportunities that he and his partners were able to create a success out of their apparent loss.
The lesson was never give up. Stay open minded and be prepared to fail, as many businesses do. Also, success is not, never failing. Success is being willing to fail and being able to persevere long enough that you can turn any situation into an opportunity for success.
The Entrepreneur Club meets every Thursday at 1:15pm in the 2nd Floor Student Lounge. The Entrepreneur Club exists to provide innovative, entrepreneurial minds with a broader view of the business curriculum which will ultimately encourage their members to establish or expand their own businesses.
No comments:
Post a Comment