Dr Jeff Cornwall

Having been on the road much of the past couple of weeks I got behind on providing links to my columns in the Tennessean.
This week I address the need for entrepreneurs to understand the changing demands of being a CEO:

As a business grows, much attention is given to the changes necessary to keep the business successful, such as hiring more staff, expanding the resources necessary to support new customers, managing cash flow, building new systems, and so forth.
But, growth also creates personal challenges for the entrepreneur that requires him or her to change and evolve, as well.

Last week, my topic was on bankers and entrepreneurs:

The most confusing and frustrating relationships for many entrepreneurs are those with bankers.
It can seem like bankers speak a completely different language to many entrepreneurs. In fact, it is not so much like a language difference as it is a difference in culture.

The SBA Office of Advocacy has released a study conducted by George Haynes, Income and Wealth: How Did Households Owning Small Businesses Fare from 1989 to 2004?
This study extends work previously sponsored by the Office of Advocacy for the study of income and wealth of business owner households using the Survey of Consumer Finance (SCF), the most recently available data being
2004. By examining two sub-periods, from 1989 to 2004 and 1992 to 2004, the study concluded that:
– Families owning businesses remained significantly more likely to be high income earners and high wealth holders than families not owning businesses. In fact, the income gap widened between business and non-business owners during this time.
– Income and wealth for households owning businesses are more sensitive to fluctuations in economic activities. After all, there is risk in owning a business!
– Owning multiple businesses leads to even greater prosperity.

I’ve been on the road with our students the past week. In addition to the business plan competition in Evansville last week, we took 21 students to the International Competition for Delta Epsilon Chi in Orlando for students in business.
Congratulations to all of the Belmont students who competed.

Special recognition goes to those students who won the following Grand Awards
Marketing Management – Chelsea Swab (Entrepreneurship and Marketing major)
1st Place
Aparrel & Accessories – Michelle Wilkerson (Entrepreneurship major and Feedback co-manager)
2nd Place
Design Presentation – Emily Swinson (Entrepreneurship major and Feedback co-manager)
2nd Place

Cameron Powell – Winner of $2,000 Ken D’Angelo Foundation Entrepreneurship Scholarship for top entrepreneurship student of the year
Financial Services – Joe Drake (Entrepreneurship and Finance major)
Top Ten
E-Commerce Decision Making – Kirstin Long (Entrepreneurship major)
Top Ten
Entrepreneurship Challenge – Chelsea Swab (Entrepreneurship and
Marketing), Kaitlin Adams (Entrepreneurship), and Tristan Egloff
(Entrepreneurship)
Top 5
Other National Finalists:
Entrepreneurship Written Plan – Andy Tabar (Entrepreneurship)

I wrote a post a while back about how we Baby Boomers have become helicopter parents — hovering over our children during every step of their development. I also speculated that this could dampen what could become the most entrepreneurial generation in over a century.
At that time I heard some people joke that they could just imagine that some day a “helicopter” parent might hover over their children right into their entrance into the job market. Well, it seems that it is no joke and that day is now here. I have heard first hand accounts of parents showing up at job interviews with their children — these were graduate students, mind you. In today’s USA Today there is a story about parents trying to interject themselves into getting internships, finding full-time jobs, and even try to get directly involved in the negotiating process!

“Psychologically, it’s somewhat eroding. When an employer is hiring someone, they’re hiring an adult for an adult job, and then they have to deal with a parent,” says Charles Wardell in New York, the managing director and head of the northeast region at Korn/Ferry. “There comes a time when you’ve prepared children, and you need to let go.”

In my opinion, letting go should start somewhere around their early teens, not early thirties. Let them stumble, let them fall, and for goodness sake let them learn on their own from life experiences.
As I stressed in an earlier post, “We seem to have forgotten that failure, in fact, builds character. And it is the fear of failure that inhibits creativity and keeps us from learning….You will fail. Failure is a prerequisite for success.”

Sara Loeppke of Belmont University received a third place award at the Evansville University New Venture Competition this past Friday for her business the Silver Tulip. Her business is an on-line formal wear consignment business that she is transforming into a retail operation. She is also exploring importing her own brand of women’s formal wear from either Romania or China.
Congratulations to Sara and all of our student entrepreneurs who presented their businesses!

Congratulations to Cameron Powell for being named the Regions Bank Outstanding Belmont Student Entrepreneur for 2007! Cameron’s business, River Rock Media, will be competing to two business plan competitions this weekend.