Scott Turner
In Motion Staff Writer
Photo By: Scott Turner/ In Motion
The Extreme Entrepreneur Tour recently came to Daytona State’s Mori Hosseini Center, providing tips to aspiring business owners.
Some 400 people came out to learn about the secrets of success that the presenters had to offer and were met with quite a show.
The event began with Daytona State College’s President, Carol Eaton, recognizing student scholarship achievements, among them Mary Rachel Clark, Norma Castillando, Linda Walker and Ashley Manchester.
Each of these students had an entrepreneurial goal in mind for their future.
EJ Carrion then introduced himself as the moderator for the presentation. He related several personal tales and tied them to the concept of motivation and always striving to achieve goals.
Several audience engaging activities kept everyone involved with the proceedings. A clapping exercise at the beginning of the presentation got everyone smiling and laughing to start off. They were called at many points throughout the presentation to high-five each other and tell these previously unknown people that they are awesome.
Michael Simmons was the first speaker for the event and he put forth a personal presentation. He spoke of how he started off at 16, when he started a website design company and had effectively no idea what he was doing. He recalled how he actually got an advance on his first job to help pay for books to help with the initial design and how he was able to lessen the workload by outsourcing some of it to others.
Simmons then told us that when the economy got bad, his company wound up failing. He fell on incredibly hard times and told of his struggle to eventually overcome those circumstances. Looking back on it, he was able to say, “There really is no such thing as failure, the knowledge you take from those experiences really is worth it, and will help you in the future.”
He followed up by giving some tips and stories about how he regained a successful business and favorite inspirational quotations.
Carrion then returned to speak and related his own success story and ideas. He spoke of his more humble beginnings, his difficulty with reading and what drove him to start trying. One thing that was said to him at a young age always stuck with him: “We’re given the problems that we have so that we can become the people we need to be,” and that was the focus of his presentation.
Carrion presented practical tips and the concept of thinking big, but starting small. He went over traps and justifications that often prevent people from starting on their dreams and how to push past it. He closed the day with a very personal and haunting exercise to motivate the attendees into action. He asked them to picture themselves on their deathbeds and as they were about to pass, to envision the various dreams and ideas they have had coming down to demand an explanation as to why they were not a reality.
networking opportunity for all those present was held in the lobby of the Housseni Center where a group photo was also taken and copies of Simmons’ book were available to purchase for ten dollars.