Expo of Entrepreneurs - March 3, 2009
The Expo of Entrepreneurs sessions were excellent. Approximately 90 students and local business people came to hear Tony Berry, president of The Berry Company, as he gave the audience a list of 10 tips for success. The tips follow:- Know that your most valuable resource is your time.
- If you can't measure it, don't do it. Keep track of what you're doing so that you can make comparisons on a quarterly and yearly basis.
- Bigger is not necessarily better.
- Don't think that you have to recreate the wheel.
- Make everything you do focused on serving the customer better than anyone else.
- Read everything you can get your hands on about your industry, your world, and people. What motivates people to buy? You can't be too much of a sponge.
- Listen more than you talk.
- It isn't all about the money.
- Do what you love and you will love what you do. You've got to be passionate about what you do.
- Timing is everything.
- Ready--fire--aim used to be his philosophy.
- Now, his philosophy is: Ready -- aim -- aim -- aim -- check the wind -- fire.
After he concluded his talk, he joined a panel that included: Stephen Cooley from Keller-Williams Realty, Phillip Dibrell of Allstate Insurance, Jill Watts - a Mary Kay consultant, Eleanor Childers of Eleanor Childers Wedding Consultant and former owner of Eleanor's Bridal Shoppe, and Kirk Leslie of Kirk Leslie Painting, Inc. The panel answered questions from the audience for the remainder of the sessions. The interaction was lively with good questions and excellent responses from the panelists.
Two additional sessions of the Expo of Entrepreneurs will be held in Fall 2009 at our Chester Center.
A grant from Citi Foundation allowed us to offer these sessions.