To get students interested in starting their own companies, a center in the Dillard College of Business is sponsoring a free event this Wednesday at noon, part of a series: Building the Job I Love.
Assistant Professor of Management and Director of the Lalani Center for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise, the organization making the series possible, Jeff Stambaugh said, “It’s about opening your eyes to a world of opportunity that a lot of us have never seen… and to think, what do I really want to do and how would I really get there?”
This week’s seminar features Chris Powers, a Texas Christian University graduate in business who started buying rent houses in college and, who, over the last six years, has been involved in more than $20 million in real estate transactions. Stambaugh said if somebody had taught him at 20 what he is sharing through speakers such as Powers and Leslie Thompson of Dusty Rocker Boots, who spoke in February, he might have done some things differently.
“What I’m trying to do is let [students] open their eyes to the opportunities,” Stambaugh said, adding that students have responded positively to the guest speakers, and that the series has motivated attendees.
“It’s easy to look at entrepreneurs as supermen and superwomen. They’re not. They don’t do everything perfectly, but they get out and they try,” Stambaugh said, hoping students will follow suit.
He goes on to share “I grew up in a family of employees… they certainly didn’t own their own business.” But, he admonishes, “That’s changing… the people who are going to get ahead are the ones who are able to lead.”
Stambaugh seems pleased with the results of the series thus far, even saying that he plans to continue it next semester.
“It’s been so successful… this isn’t about business students, it’s about students. We have an entrepreneurship minor that’s open to everybody, and I’m going to try to get more people interested in it.”
