Louisiana, LSU, and more specifically Kenny Nguyen, CEO and Founder of Big Fish Presentations, are at it again. Nguyen spent the weekend in Chicago at the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization’s (CEO) National Conference and took home the honor of 2012 College Entrepreneur of the year, brining more recognition to the university and the state for its outstanding entrepreneurial initiatives. Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization does not only help students expand possibilities, but also already successful entrepreneurs like Nguyen.
Over 1500 entrepreneurial minded students attended the event and were able to hear big-name speakers Mike Delazzer from Redbox and Jeff Hoffman from Priceline. Nguyen was also a speaker at the conference in addition to winning one of few awards given to, “select students who had special businesses with promise and impact to the world.”
“The conference was the ultimate way to network and meet the millennials that can change the future,” said Nguyen. He believes this is a national way for entrepreneurs to network and recruit upcoming talent. As a speaker and student mentor, it is only fitting that when Nguyen came back to Louisiana, he wrote a blog post to further help current and future entrepreneurs. He included the five essentials to making it:
- Team – I never wanted to be the smartest guy in the room. I strive to be a leader of leaders. I truly believe our team contains some of the most creative talent, and I couldn’t do this without them. Always hire the best!
- Passion – You have to love what you do. Passion drives my sleep-deprived body to work every morning. Passion helps keep things growing.
- Focus – Focus helps Big Fish to stay within our niche. Presentations are unique. We want to defend and conquer our niche service.
- Documenting Systems and Processes – Doing this hels record what works for the company and what doesn’t. Documenting also helps scaling a service based company, which makes it easier as we grow when training new sales people, account managers and designers.
- Priorities – We keep 5 top goals for every quarter, six months, and year. Every employee then has their top 5 personal goals that relates to the 5 team goals. If they achieve their goals, we reward our employees with a bonus. Doing this helps to maintain a motivational and driven office environment.
As the conference continues to inform, support, and inspire entrepreneurs, they are actively accepting new chapters and preparing for next year’s National Conference. For more information or to apply, visit c-e-o.org.