College students already taking care of business

Students who expect to be atop the next wave in corporate
America once they graduate will engage in extreme competition with
their peers ““ those who have already put in gear their
enterprising dreams and have decided to pursue their business
ventures now.

“Those of us with innovative ideas and the drive for
financial success are looking to make this happen as soon as
possible,” said Paul Crock, a fourth-year business economics
student.

Owning and operating a business can be difficult, and balancing
school and work is just one of the obstacles that student
entrepreneurs face.

But there are many examples of students who were capable of
maintaining successful businesses while in college, including Mark
Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks.

Cuban had one goal as an undergraduate at Indiana University: to
retire by the age of 35.

Shortly after he turned 21, he bought an old bar near the
university, fixed it up with a few of his friends, and opened it as
Motley’s Pub.

The pub quickly became the university hot spot, and it was
Cuban’s ideas more than his wallet that made his initial
enterprise successful.

“I used $2,500 in student loans that I had gotten, that
was it,” Cuban said.

Motley’s Pub eventually got closed down, but the valuable
experience gained from the venture allowed Cuban to develop an
enterprising spirit which later allowed him to become a successful
entrepreneur in the technology field, starting Internet companies,
which he eventually sold to large-scale Internet providers
CompuServe and Yahoo!.

George Etre opened The Fit Zone while studying as an
undergraduate at the University of Iowa. His fitness club started
with 50 members and 10 pieces of equipment, but has blossomed into
a full-fledged gym equipped with big screen televisions, tanning
beds and a massage spa, serving over 1,000 members.

As a former business student, his classes taught him the
fundamentals of running a business, but pursuing the dream of
owning his own gym is what he bases his success upon.

“Class doesn’t teach you how to get four hours of
sleep on your office desk because you don’t have time to
drive home,” Etre said.

He was forced to skip class a number of times, especially during
the infancy of his business in which he struggled to keep it alive.
Etre remembers asking for a $15,000 loan and being mocked by a
bank.

“I walked in there, showed my proposal, stated the amount
of money I was looking for, and they laughed at me,” he
said.

Other entrepreneurs have established businesses that are a
service to the community, while still maintaining an eye for
profit.

Carl Grodnik and Brad Dickerhofe started NightRiders, a service
that gets bar-goers home safely, along with their cars.

The two students, both undergraduates at the University of
Colorado, started the company last year from an idea that sprouted
from their own personal experiences.

“I remember drinking too much and having the problem of
wondering how to get myself and my car back home,” Grodnik
said. “We then came upon the idea of forming a cab-like
service, not only for people but their cars, too.”

NightRiders dispatches drivers on motorized bikes to the
customer’s location. The bike can fold up in a trunk, and the
NightRider then drives the customer home.

NightRiders charges a nominal fee of $15 a ride.

Other student entrepreneurs have put their minds together to
form cooperative businesses.

East Coast Express was started by four students with the idea
that many students need a place to store their furniture and
belongings when they return home for the summer break.

Zach Norman, a second-year student at the University of
Washington in St. Louis, finds his enterprise ideal because the
bulk of his work is done once school is out.

Norman got the money for his initial investment in the business
from previous summer jobs. While East Coast Express operates out of
a small 40-square-foot office, it stores its furniture in an
outside warehouse whose location is secret for security
reasons.

Though it is a student-run business, East Coast Express does not
skimp on amenities, offering boxes, tape and bubble wrap to its
customers and providing insurance for all items stored.

Norman does not plan to continue running the business after he
graduates, but he thinks the friends he made and lessons he learned
will stay with him throughout his life.

“This business is going to be one of the best experiences
of my college years because it allows me to apply what I have
learned in the classroom to a real life company,” he
said.