Last week in the Applied Arts building, over 600 students attended event related seminars taught by David Ochi, an entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience and has started over a dozen businesses with a diverse range of industries. Ochi helped students understand the ins and outs of a sturdy business model while encouraging them to start some sort of side hustle.
Over the course of the week, students had hands-on experience learning how to take their ideas and turn them into a viable business model. The event aimed to teach valuable skills and to streamline the process in creating one’s own side business with the tools being more accessible than ever.
On Friday, March 14, a workshop challenging students to start a business from conception to first sale in six hours, so far the record is four and a half. With the idea of making an extra $500-$1,000 from five to ten hours with a newly created side hustle it caught on. According to Professor Graves, by the end of the week a total of 327 students who involved themselves in the program expressed interest in starting their own side gig. Some of these side gigs ranged from selling stickers with the aid of websites like Redbubble or selling services such as providing tech support through Fiverr.
Leading up to this were a series of free sit-in lectures that kept classrooms full. All throughout the week there was no problem filling up seats as students listened and took notes on the advice that was being handed out. The students focused on making their business ideas into reality.
“There’s no better time to start a business in human history than right now,” said Ochi.
Ochi showed how fast it took for modern products to reach 50 million people, pointing out that the telephone took 75 years, and that Facebook took only two years to reach the same goal. He mentioned how “night and day” the process of becoming an entrepreneur is compared to when he started over 30 years ago.
According to Ochi this rapid change has affected the barriers to entry for upcoming entrepreneurs by increasing the accessibility of essential tools and resources needed for a startup. Online shopping, advertising on social media and automated banking being readily available means one doesn’t have to have industry connections or a large investment to get started. From pagers to cell phones and the mass adoption of internet access, a lot of technological advances expedited the whole process. The six hour challenge would be near impossible without the accessibility we have with modern technology.
When asked what the goals for this week were, Ochi responded: “To help students realize that entrepreneurship is innate to them and represents to them the greatest opportunity to achieve their dreams.” Ochi also emphasized that learning business skills can help students garner knowledge that can be applied to every other field.
“Even if you don’t make entrepreneurship your primary source of income, the skills that come with being an entrepreneur can help your career in a thousand ways,” Ochi said.
Upcoming events that are currently being planned for the near future include “H2” (Heart & Hustle), a more competitive event designed to help students learn to sell. Next is the Entrepreneur’s Financial Workshop, a workshop designed to help students understand how to manage money for their business.
