Our school had the special honor of hosting David Cochran and Bruce Croxone to speak about entrepreneurship. It was quite the elaborate event – it was televised with a professional TV host. A fancy talk show couch was set up, as well as hired security and police to manage to student traffic. No expenses were spared indeed!
Many students were excited for this event, the lineup stretched out into the hall
David was first on stage – it was truly a pleasure to listen to him– he had lots of great energy and spoke well! His story chronicled his struggles and key traits required of an entrepreneur.
David was doing terrible in high school, graduating with a 50 average and no prospects. Afterwards, he worked at a series of low pay wage jobs until hitting rock bottom by racking up 20k in credit card debt! (He paid for a car with credit at the time – unbelievable huh!) Out of desperation, he hit the yellow pages and phoned 60+ real estate agents with the following pitch, “I have no experience in real estate but I am smart and eager to learn, I am willing to work 1 month as your assistant for free, at the end, you can hire me or fire me”. Only after 60 rejections did 1 agent give him a meeting. That agent later became his mentor and offered him a VP position in a new company. David worked relentlessly for 4 years, regularly pulling 80-hour workweeks. His compensation was 16,000, 35,000, 80,000, and 250,000 from year 1 – 4.
Bruce was next up on stage and explained what it entails to be an entrepreneur. He found his success with the online dating portal, Lavalife. His team worked day and night, going through many different iterations before it took off. Things like perseverance and drive are just a few of the traits you need to succeed in this field. This is the same for many other career fields – “work life balance” simply doesn’t exist if you want to win. Investment bankers, medical residents regularly work 80+ hours a week. The Financial Samurai has a great article here. Another interesting point Bruce brought up was that post-secondary education isn’t for everyone (ironically, he is presenting at a university to a bunch of students). Some people just don’t excel in the restricted and formulaic classroom learning. In addition, many students graduate and then what? It’s important to realize that “learning doesn’t end when you graduate”
