During an event put on by Students for Entertainment Employment (SEE), Bob Fish, the co-founder and owner of Biggby Coffee (formerly Beaner’s), told students how it took him eight years to complete a four-year degree at Michigan State University.

Although Fish referred to himself as a “slow learner,” he now supervises the 87 Biggby’s stores in his franchise—which has 39 more yet to open this year.     

Clearly, whether you catch on quickly or it takes you a little more time to understand, starting your own business can be very realistic possibility—if you know where to start.

 

Find a mentor

According to Mike Frandsen, director of the Gerstacker Institute, one of the most important things a student can do is spend time with successful entrepreneurs through internships and extended job shadowing.

“If a student wants to be an entrepreneur, they should take every advantage to learn first-hand from those who have done it,” Frandsen said.

Josh Fales, 2006 graduate, works at a corporation called Coherix for a CEO that Frandsen calls a serial entrepreneur, a person who has pursued multiple opportunities in self-started business.

“It’s best to get experience before you launch out on your own,” Fales said. “Coming out of college, you think you know everything, but there’s a lot more that you can learn.”

According to Fales, while Albion taught him how to read, write and think analytically, the business skills he’s acquired have come from hands-on experience while working.

Fish said that he understands that business is something most people won’t understand until they experience it for themselves.

“We put all of our operators through classes, but they don’t know anything until they open their stores,” Fish said.

          

Learn people skills    

Not only does Fish keep his customers, employees and the community up-to-date with his regularly updated blog (www.whereisbiggbybob.blogspot.com), Fish said he chooses to drive to different Biggby sites each day as opposed to working in an office.

Why? Because one of the seven core values of Biggby Coffee is engaging the community, a value Fish takes seriously.

 “I think that business is essentially driven by people, not things,” Fish said. “It takes a person to buy and a person to sell. Being involved with people is about the most important thing you can do.”

According to Fish, the ideal business focuses on relationships  not only with consumers, but employees and community as well.

Likewise, Fales said that he has found that networking with colleagues has its benefits.

“It’s always amazing,” Fales said. “People are always willing to go out of their way to help you if you show that you’re interested.”

When Fales went to Chicago with the Investment Club before he graduated, for instance, he met the vice-chairman of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), a fellow Sigma Nu alum from Albion.

According to Fales, his new contact helped him begin looking for finance-related jobs within Chicago, and even passed Fales’ resume around to firms that he personally knew.

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help,” Fales said. “You never know where it will come from.”

 

Show initiative

When Butch Dyer, the former director of Gerstacker, gave Fales the contact information for the CEO of Coherix, Fales took the opportunity to call the head of the corporation.

“It was pretty stupid to do, but it worked out well,” Fales said, who was given a job not a week later. “It showed that I had initiative.”

 According to Fish, it’s important that a person not be distracted by excuses or fears. Excuses, whether in the form of being too young or not having enough money, are the inability to overcome our basic fears said Fish.

For instance, Fish challenges what would have happened if Biggby’s hadn’t succeeded like it has.

 “They don’t put you in prison for owing money—there’s no such thing as a debtor’s jail anymore,” Fish said. “If I had failed, all I would have had to do was get a job [to pay off my debts]. We all have fears, but the definition of courage is taking something you’re afraid of and doing it anyway.”