An entrepreneur who teaches a couple of instructional technology classes at BYU-Hawaii encouraged School of Business students on October 19 to "look to your natural skills and abilities - the things that you love - to guide you to the right business."
Garin A. Hess, who graduated from BYU in Provo and now lives in Mililani, co-founded Rapid Intake, Inc., an e-learning company that produces books and online simulation training modules for some of the largest corporations in the U.S.
"It's a virtual company," he said. "There is no headquarters. We operate out of our homes."
"I get to do what I love to do. That's something that I've strived for all of my life. I really love my work," said Hess, an undergraduate English literature major. "I get to see the ideas go to fruition. It's kind of like a farmer: you get to grow it and weed it."
Hess explained while he was at BYU he sat through a series of entrepreneurship lectures that "fired me up," and eventually with the support of his wife, Kristen, he started a number of businesses, "none of which succeeded in any real way. Some were miserable failures, but I just wanted to start a business. I wanted to be creative and make money."
One of his ventures, for example, "got lots of customers, but we never made any money. Why? None of those fit something that I was good at."
Hess knew he loved computers and writing, and a job as a trainer at the MTC helped him discover he also loved teaching. However, he didn't put these together into a business idea until a series of jobs led him to make a "computer-based training module for another company I was working with at the time. After falling out with the manager, my wife suggested I go out on my own. It was a little bit scary, but it was also exciting."
"There is no formula for being a successful entrepreneur," Hess continued. "I used to take these entrepreneur surveys, and almost invariably they would tell me I should go work on the factory floor. I didn't score well."
"One of the reasons our business has been successful is because we started it doing something we love. If you're doing something you don't like, I don't think you can be successful because your heart's not in it."
Hess stressed it's also important to "exercise your capacity to act in the face of fear and anxiety. Fear is really a paralyzing poison that keeps you from doing things. I don't know how many people over the years have told me they would really like to start their own business."
"Don't let the fears get in the way. I don't want to minimize the risks, but let fears become a catalyst for positive change," Hess said, recommending that we "choose every day to do something that is outside your comfort zone. It might be talking to somebody, or learning something new. Your capacity to act in the face of fear will increase."
He also emphasized, "Learn to love learning. Face learning as a daily part of your life's journey, like eating and drinking. Leaving college should not mark the end of your learning. My partner and I are the most miserable when we're not learning something new. We live right on the learning curve. Our tools and technology are changing rapidly."
For example, Hess admitted he created his first web page only four years ago. "I knew the web was something I had to learn, because that was where everything was going."
Another "great stroke of fortune" occurred when one of his clients asked him to convert a project using Dreamweaver, a web-authoring program. He told her he didn't know it, but he would learn it and do a good job."
"Less than a year after that experience, we published our first book. We acted from the standpoint that we're going to learn whatever it takes to be expert with this tool."
Hess added the book didn't make a lot of money, but "it built a lot of credibility for our business. If you can get people to pay for your marketing materials, that's a good thing."
He also advised the students to take "action, action, action: it is the difference between an idea and reality. Too many people spend too much time planning, and not enough acting."
And finally, Hess encouraged the students to "include the Lord and your spouse on your advisory board. Include the Lord in everything you do. He's going to include Himself in your life, whether you like it or not. He'll either shake you up, or improve your efforts. Look at business as a tool for what the Lord wants you to accomplish in your life."
"Trust in the Lord. No business will be on the upswing forever, and some will fail," Hess added. "It doesn't matter who you are, you can do what the Lord wants you to do. You can be successful."