Thursday, November 12, 2009

A Successful College Entrepreneur

"The progress of the world depends on the persistence of the unreasonable man"
--- George Bernard Shaw

Matt Ackerson, a Cornell University senior, was bit by the entrepreneurial bug. His story is inspiring.

For more on Matt's story, listen to my new radio program, The Entrepreneurial Mind, Smallbiz America Radio Network.

33 comments:

  1. The first quote by George Benard Shaw is extremely accurate. Most of the world's groundbreaking advancements come from people who dont't neccesarily fit corporate status quo. For example, Bill gates flunked out of college.

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  2. "Thinking out of the box" has led to great innovation.

    Being a contrarian by nature may not work in a corporate or organizational setting, however, some of the best contrarians make the best entrepreneeurs.

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  3. I think that stepping out and being different from everyone is an innate nature of the entrepreneur. Ultimately, we as a people have a tendency to go with the "in" crowd.....setting ourselves up for stereotypes and generalizations. At the same time we teach that everyone is different, and If we let that "different" light shine we will make more accomplishments through out our life times. I find it interesting that our elderds usually say they wish they had taken more risks. Well i think the "entrepreneur" is the type of person that has fulfilled that void.

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  4. Pretty good story Bruce. i enjoyed listening to Matt's entrepreneurial ideas, even though he went through alot of trouble. but honestly i find it very interesting how 1 entrepreneurial meeting made Matt quit the rowing team to persue a business of his own. It gives me an idea how a speech can influence a students life.

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  5. I think this story is interesting and informative. Here you have a man who is dying to start a small business and every approach he took just got shot down. This is going to happen in our lives as well, so we have to be ready to expect this through out the course of our career. Lets just hope we dont end up on the dean's list in that respect.

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  6. Manofgod33 has an interesting point. Some folks think that being differest makes you stand out in a negative way. If we let the "different" light shine, we may make more accomplishments in our life. I could not have said it any better.

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  7. The story to me shows a man who is trying to achieve his own business and everything he does just doesn’t work for him. Starting your own business isn't going to be easy and isn't going to go according to your plans. There are going to be problems, the good businesses that make it figure them out and learn from their mistakes.

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  8. This story is very interesting and just re-emphasizes the saying that "the greatest risk is not taking one". In Matt's case he must accept the fact that you must learn to experience loss in order to be a master at winning. Rome wasn't built in a day and things take time. Just persevere and have the right positive mindset and attitude and you will go far.

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  9. I also must agree with what ManofGod33 said. Pretty much in a nutshell, if you follow someone else's shadow for the majority of your life, you're not doing yourself any favors. A person can make a difference by offering something else to the table that noone else can. Two different minds work better than two of the same. :) Very good story, professor bruce.

    - Esther Oh

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  10. The story about Matt Ackerson was interesting and I think people can relate to him. He was inspired by a speech about hard work, and persistence, and how you can achieve millions by doing that. The story is interesting because even though his first business did not work out he didn’t just quit he thought of a new business to start. I don’t know if it was the best way to market his business, but the controversy definitely got him noticed weather it was in a good or bad way it made his business known. I think Professor Bruce is right in saying you can stretch the rubber band but be sure not to break it.

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  11. I believe Matt should get more credit for being ambitious and persistent. Even though he took his marketing tactics to a new level, he understood the consequences and took the chance anyway. People like Matt will be the ones who come out on top in the end

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  12. Professor Bruce,
    This article was very interesting and informative for a college student like me. Usually there are positive and negative effects to situations, in this story Matt faces many difficulties and yet he was consistent in his work and I think it is clear that all entrepreneurs face many challenges and setbacks when starting their own business. Thanks for the insight!
    Puja D Shah

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  13. While Matt's methods may not be the best, his determination and persistance make him a good entrepreneur. First of all, he quit the rowing team in oreder to focus on his business. Setting aside things that aren't so important and prioritizing is a good way to get your business going. He also networked a whole lot. He talked to all those students. He also had an interesting way of promoting his business. The one thing that stood out is that Matt never quit. He was willing to do whatever it took to have a successful business.

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  14. I think this is a great story.Matt had the right idea to start a business and the ambition to be persistent, but he was not going about it in the right way. I believe if he went about getting permission to go around the dorms, he would have not run into a problem. And as for writing the name of his site all over campus, this was not a good idea. He could have put up flyers to inform students about his site or sent out a text message to a few of his friends that could have forwarded the message to other people. This would ahve gotten the name of his site out there quickly. He could have also advertised on his facebook if he had one.. These techniques would have gotten the business flowing and kept Matt out of trouble

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  15. I was surprised by how inspired and motivated Matt Ackerson was by one speech, but to each his own. Matt did have good ideas for his new businesses he just went about pursuing them in the wrong manner.

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  16. I myself am i entrepreneur while attending college. I run my own business and can relate to matt's story. Some choices that you have to make are tough. Many times over these last 3 years while friends have been going to the beach , i have been working on sheetrocking someone;s bathroom or tiling someones dream kitchen. It is very tough to be a full time student and entrepreneur. But that being said i feel as if matt went about things in a wrong fashion. He took a chance and i appauled him for that. But i just feel his method was nto really the best idea for the company he had.

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  17. Matts story s inspiring. Even after being caught both times he didn't seem to be discouraged. Matt was determined and I think that's a quality every entrepreneur needs. When something goes wrong you can't let it get in your way you need to come up with a better idea to get by it.

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  18. He reminds me of a guy i saw on tv today 'Jason Sadler' of iwearyourshirt.com who made a business of wearing t-shirts to advertise peoples businesses. He started off making a dollar a t-shirt and now he's practically rich.... That's why thinking out of the box and having perseverance are good traits to posses if you want to be an entrepreneur.

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  19. Entrepreneurship involves an opportunity, an individual, an organizational context, risk, and resources. In my opinion the biggest factor involved in entrepreneurship is risk. The risk of failing, the risk of losing everything, the risk of possibly ruining something good, the risk of so many possible things going wrong. The beautiful thing about entrepreneurs is that they are willing to take that risk. Most of society follows a pretty similar path; birth, school, growth, job, payments, and eventually death. It is a suitable, and wonderful life for some. For others how ever it is the idea of a nightmare. Being like everyone else, being some random number in a company, being an x in some annual report. Entrepreneurs tend to write their own books, their own stories, in their own personal way. If you look back in history you will see that most successful entrepreneurs are those who took the less traveled path, who put every ounce of their energy into something others thought of as a joke, they were the “unreasonable men”. Take a look at Bill Gates, who flunked out of college because he had the idea that every house hold will one day own a personal computer. His professors thought he was crazy, who is the crazy one now? Or perhaps take a look at Jeff Bezos who started Amazon.com with the idea that one day there will be paperless books. Amazon was successful with it’s online bookstore but everyone still thought he was crazy for thinking that books will go paperless. Then came the Kindle; a device that allows you to download any book ever written in under 60 seconds, and it has no paper. Who is crazy now? So when it comes to a story like Matt’s I can’t help but wonder where his ideas, drive, and willingness to risk it all are going to take him. Everyone else who made it stretched that rubber band until it was about to rip, why shouldn’t Matt.

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  20. The story about Matt Ackerson was interesting and I think people can relate to him. some people think that create a new business is something easy and not always life will give u what you want you have to be prepare for ups and downs!!!

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  21. Very interesting story, I think Matt did the right thing, he kept going and wasn't giving up. Life is not easy, and you will be faced with many difficult situations down the road, but you have to keep trying until you achieve your goal. Just like the famous quote says; "Don't give up when you still have something to give".

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  22. I was glad to hear this story and thought it was funny. It took courage to do what Matt did. A person must first believe in himself or herself. Matt believes in what he was doing so he could stretch the rubber band. I learn another lesson from Matt Always be humble and know when to say you are sorry and bow down. Saying I am sorry can also help you as Matt found out from the administrator who told him how to effectively promote and not get caught. I can relate to this story because when I came to college I was 30 years old and scared but I believed that I could face the challenge ahead I am stretching the rubber band I work full time and have a family and I am maintaining a above average G.P.A. I just need to stay focused and be sure not to let my rubber band break.

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  23. i think we all have a different stereotypes but most of successful businessmen are common of the way they running their business and how to be successful. i like the idea thinking out of the box, i'm about to graduate but i'm thinking to be different and work for my own even if i make less.

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  24. Very good story professor Bruce. I think, from my standard, as a college graduate that i have to be ready for failure or being shot down. As you have said in other blogs, the way i go about it is to laugh it off and keep moving forward. If you want to be successful you wont let anything stand in your way.

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  25. I absolutely agree with manofgod33 that “being different” is in the nature, not only of every entrepreneur, but would even go further and say that is in the nature of every one of us. The thing is that most of us are afraid to accept the fact we are different in some way from others and instead we just adapt to the norm of society. While when you look back into history, almost every great accomplishment was done by a person that was considered, at least at that point in time, as stranger.

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  26. I can't agree with Matt Ackerson passing out free beer coupons. The spirit he has for his coupon practice is what people should take from his story. When one thing does not work for a person there is always a alternative way. Progress is not a easy road to go down most time, but the rewards are always great. In retrospect Ackerson's method could have work or not work, but it good that he tried. Once one person tried it lays ground work for rules to be set out.

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  27. I completely agree with the quote and believe that Matt's story is a prime example of what he is talking about. When doing business you have to expect that you will be turned down repeatedly but you can use that as a reason to give up. Matt broke the rules but definitely mad a name for himself and now everyone knows what he did, and knows about his business

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  28. This is a great story of a kid who wasn’t afraid of stepping out of the box and doing what he felt like doing. Not caring what people will say about what he is doing, and not letting anyone hold him back from achieving what he put his mind to.

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  29. This was an interesting radio post, I agree with with the determination of Matt Ackerson to get what he wanted no matter the rules and consequences, and in this lifetime, determination and ambition is key to success.

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  30. This is a great story anytime you can get out of your comfort zone in business it can pay dividens. Not being afraid to step out of that zone can unlock so many doors for any young business owner.

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  31. this is a great story professor bruse. i enjoyed listening to Matt's entrepreneurial ideas, even though he went through alot of trouble. but honestly i find it very interesting how 1 entrepreneurial meeting made Matt quit the rowing team to persue a business of his own. he must have beeen pretty serious about starting his business. or maybe he just didnt like rowing.

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  32. I believe that is a great quote because it true. If you waiting from someone you shouldn't be persistant on your own wait for no one. Life is like a moving train you have to get on and go for the ride.
    This story was great because it showed a professor who stepped out of his comfort zone

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  33. I enjoy the fact that Matt was willing to "step on the toes" of the administration at Cornell in order to pursue his dreams of starting these businesses. Too often I've experienced educational institutions stifling the creativity and ideas of students.

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