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Appalachian alumni share experiences in business, entrepreneurship |
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Thursday, 01 March 2007 |
By DYLAN CLAYTON
By JULIA HARR
News Reporters
Young, successful Appalachian State University alumni and local business owners will speak at the Young Entrepreneur Symposium this week.
Footsloggers General Manager Jason Berry and Etailer.com Co-Founder Jon West, both Appalachian alumni, will share their experiences in business with future entrepreneurs.
The event takes place today on the fourth floor faculty lounge in Raley Hall at 3:30 p.m.
How did you get your start?
Berry: I started out at ASU as
a transfer in 1998. I’ve always wanted to have an outdoors shop and as
I lived in Banner Elk during school, I guided rating trips and worked
at Ski Country Sports.
I didn’t care too much for those industries and thought I’d give the
outdoors retail sales a shot and ended up really liking that. I got a
job at Footsloggers in 1999 and started working there more and more.
There was such a great atmosphere to work and the desire to stay with
Footsloggers is largely dependent on that.
West: Actually, I won a most
likely to succeed in the annual entrepreneurship contest, and so I
started to pursue that idea and that fell through, but we kept going
with the company and started doing some other things and I ended up
doing this.
To what do you credit the success of your business?
Berry: I’m pretty
enthusiastic and that’s important when dealing with customers. You need
to always be enthusiastic in what you do and thankfully that’s just
part of my personality. My communication skills weren’t so hot when I
started out, but now I feel I can communicate well and that is also
very important.
West: A lot of things. One is
Bryan Toney (management department). He was a lot of help. Another
thing is just being hungry for success; we worked all the time and did
a lot of research and got a great end result.
Q: What was the most helpful thing you learned while at Appalachian?
Berry: I think Appalachian has a wonderful business school. The professors know their stuff and communicate it well in the classroom. There were some really neat programs in the marketing department that allowed for travel to Denmark working for a real company. Actually getting experience in a business was a great opportunity.
West: I took one of Bryan Toney entrepreneur classed where we had to do a business plan. There were 12 students from Appalachian and 12 students from Germany we split up into five or six groups came together to form a business plan. The business we formed won the plan for the class and I go an A. I also got to lay out the framework for that [business] idea. It made you think about a lot of things you didn’t have to think about before.
Do you have any advice for future business owners?
Berry: The biggest advice I
could give is to do your research. The more research you do, the less
likely you are to be surprised. When a business owner keeps running
into surprises, that’s what keeps him up at night.
West: Start it while you’re young, and buy your socks at www.socks4life.com.
Q: Why are you participating in the Young Entrepreneurs Symposium?
Berry: I was asked to participate based on being a former student who got into an entrepreneurial situation after graduation. I enjoy sharing any knowledge I have. I’m still pretty young and had a lot of opportunities early on and like to share those with others.
West: I think the entrepreneurship program did a lot for me; this was a small way to give back. About 60-75 people should be there trying start a business and make it a success.
Q: Do you think your college town location has an impact on business?
Berry: Yes. What’s nice is there is consistent business. In Boone, you have a really strong student population nine months of the year and in those three summer months, you have tourists. The college definitely helps, and I enjoy working with college students. It’s a big climate change for some students and they often don’t understand layering or why to buy a good pair of socks, and I like helping them out.
West: [3tailer.com is based near UNCC] It’s a good way to get new talent and stay plugged in with young people. The industry is young and we’re looking for new creative people and good interns. There are a lot of good companies around here like IBM, it’s just a great location.
Q: If you could do anything other than what you’re doing now, what would that be?
Berry: I honestly don’t think I would want to do anything different than what I’m doing. This is pretty much what I’ve wanted to do exactly, and I’m fortunate in that regard.
West: I would probably be a consultant up in Washington D.C. for a private company. I didn’t want to work for the man, so I started my own company.
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