World-Class entrepreneurs drew a huge crowd of business leaders, future entrepreneurs, faculty, and students to the largest Sebo Series in Entrepreneurship since its inception. Two of the featured entrepreneurs included the founder of Kinko’s, Paul Orfalea, and co-founder of The Bulldog Group, Ellie Rubin, both successful book authors as well. They shared startup advice to 450 attendees during the fifth annual entrepreneurship program in the Lenhart Grand Ballroom at BGSU.

Paul Orfalea, author of Copy This! and The Entrepreneurial Investor, was the keynote speaker. He began his presentation by identifying four great qualities he admits to having, which make him a successful entrepreneur:  1) he is a “horrible reader” 2) he is not at all mechanically inclined 3) he is extremely restless 4) his parents weren’t big on school, but emphasized “learning” instead.

His advice is to nurture an atmosphere where you can ask “why.” For instance, when your child comes up to you with a picture he/she painted, most parents would say how good the picture looked. Orfalea suggests asking the child why he/she painted this picture. He was raised in a family of “why.”

Orfalea also says that the biggest challenge he faced while running Kinko’s was going from leaders with good technical skills to leaders with good people skills. “The workers who face the customers are the ‘boss,’” he says. Workers need to be reminded that they are important.

He admits that one of his biggest mistakes was not telling people “thanks” enough, but prided himself on always knowing what the customer wanted.

Orfalea advised that in order to lead people, you need to “manage yourself.” Get plenty of sleep, trust people, and allow for mistakes. He also says that “to be successful, you have to work, love, and play...Have a balance of life.”

The morning session featured entrepreneur Ellie Rubin, a bestselling author, international speaker, and media personality. Rubin transformed her company from a traditional marketing and design start-up into one of North America’s leading multimedia production houses. She created one of the hottest niche markets in software-content management and authored her first bestseller, Bulldog-Spirit of the New Entrepreneur.

Rubin emphasized to the Sebo audience that entrepreneurship is a state of mind… “think of entrepreneurship as a verb.” People remember personal stories from entrepreneurs so she suggested that aspiring entrepreneurs start their own story with a dream and create a venture.

The story Rubin told the attendees began with one of the worst experiences of her entrepreneurial life. She was in the hole $700,000, facing bankruptcy within the next ten days, and sitting in a room with an investor.

At that moment, Rubin said she realized it was actually her best moment. She says that when you’re an entrepreneur, “there’s always an option.” Rubin got up from the meeting and called someone who had always been a supporter of her business. That person helped her line up a $30M partnership with Microsystems. According to Rubin, finding options is part of entrepreneurship.

Rubin presented five key elements for those wanting to become entrepreneurs. (Read more about her presentation.)

In addition to these two world-class entrepreneurs, other high-profile entrepreneurs participated in four concurrent sessions where audience members were able to interact with the presenters in smaller groups. The four sessions included:

• “The Startup” with Bill Dallas, creator of FOX Sports Grill, who discussed the ups and downs of creating a new dining venture.
• “Small Business” with Ron Whitehouse, HQ Chicago Inc. (retired), who presented insight about his three small business startups and acquisitions and suggested what contributed to their growth.
• “Financing” with David Seidman, Emerging Ventures Limited (retired), who helped his audience members see through the eyes of the investor and discussed how to find sources of funding for your venture.
• “Sales” with Bob Heckman, The Allen Group, who examined effective sales and marketing techniques, based on his book, Boardroom Selling, which presented senior-level executives’ perspectives.

This day-long event was hosted by the College of Business Administration’s Dallas-Hamilton Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, with principal sponsorship from J. Robert Sebo (’58), BGSU Board of Trustees. Additional support was provided by the BGSU Foundation and Huntington Bank

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The night before the Sebo Series, nine highly successful entrepreneurs were inducted into the inaugural Dallas-Hamilton Hall of Fame. (For more info on this program, click here.)

Next year’s Sebo event is already set. Save the date- Friday, April 24, 2009!

For more about the Dallas-Hamilton Center, click here.