SCSU 2017: Putting the “Business” in Minnesota Business Venture!

“If you don’t have a passion for what you’re doing, do something else.” Chief Operations Officer and soon to be CEO of Great Clips, Rob Goggins, set the day off to a great start with his speech this morning. He shared about his upbringing, gave advice, and talked about what it means to be a leader and how to be successful at it. He shared stories about what he does on a daily basis and about his personal mission to show appreciation for his staff. He ended the speech by telling the MBV students about opportunities and how they should all consider doing PSEO, Post Secondary Enrollment Options. Rob gave a lot of great tips to the students and left them thinking about the true meaning of leadership.
 After the speech, MBV Program Manager Amanda Labo directed the students to their breakout sessions. Each student went to a session tailored to what department in their company that they are in. There were three sessions that students could attend: Marketing, Operations, and Finance. In the Marketing breakout session students learned about the “P’s of Marketing,” the basics about how and where to market a product or service, and the outlets and costs of marketing. For operations, students got to hear about logistics, costs of producing and maintaining, and also about the locations and employees. Lastly, students attending the finance breakout sessions learned that Finance’s role in a company is to make sure all the numbers are adding up by talking to marketing, operations, and all other business units. The students in finance also learned that they would be putting together a spread sheet and profit and loss sheet. Students gained a lot of information and knowledge about their roles and are now ready to create a business!
After lunch, students dressed up for mock interviews. Their nervous energy and eager anticipation outside of the Atwood Ballroom while waiting for their interviews was palpable. Each student was interviewed by business professionals and was given written and verbal feedback on their performance. At the end, you could see how proud each student was!
As students left the Atwood Ballroom after their interviews, their CEOs directed them to Ritshe Auditorium for the next speaker: Jerrid Sebesta. Jerrid, from Taatjes Financial Group, quickly got the attention of each student in his speech through the amount of energy and positivity that he brought to MBV. Jerrid spoke about growing up in trailer homes, to then being a “D” or “C” list celebrity, to now being a family man. He discussed his idea of success and really pushed his ideas of being financially literate. From saving money for college to saving money for a car, Jerrid stressed the importance of having a budget and the goal to never be in debt. Next, Jerrid talked about credit cards and shared stories of how someone could easily get trapped with the big banks. Lastly, he brought up his youngest son: Beckham Sebesta. Jerrid shared that his faith, children and marriage were more important than being a “D” or “C” list celebrity, and left the audience with a question: What do you want? And why?
Students got a chance to network and have a tasty picnic meal before it was time to dismiss them to their companies. Students used the information learned throughout the past few days to further hone their business plans. Students then had the opportunity to go bowling before curfew. The third day here at MBV was amazing, but it’s time to get some rest for day four!

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