Do you own a business? Or are you convinced that you have the next “million-dollar” idea (trust me, I’ve been there)? Regardless, we both share something in common – a passion for entrepreneurship. Although I have come up with a lot of ideas, with some being much better than others, I wasn’t sure what steps I needed to take in order to get my idea off the ground. While I’m still waiting to come across an idea that “has legs”, my experience in working with startups at Chapman and Company has better prepared me to eventually start my own business. Furthermore, I have experienced a great deal of other positive change as a result of joining the Chapco team as a marketing intern; even throughout this pandemic, I have still managed to grow in both my professional and academic life. How so?

To start, working in close proximity to startups and entrepreneurship as a whole has given me the chance to learn a lot from the sidelines. Arguably the most important thing that I have taken away from my experience at Chapco is not being afraid to reach out and have a lot of conversations with a lot of different people. Despite being an outgoing person, introducing myself via LinkedIn and asking a working professional to grab coffee was something completely foreign to me. However, I am a strong believer that if there was a book titled An Entrepreneurs’ Guide to Being Successful, this would be chapter one! It is honestly amazing just how far LinkedIn messages and emails can go, and I highly recommend that you begin making some of these connections especially if you are a college student.

My experience at Chapman and Company has not only enabled me to pick up networking skills which help me make connections and expand my professional network, but I have also been exposed to completely new opportunities that I otherwise would not have known about. One example being Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha – a student-run organization where members can connect with one another and learn valuable lessons from local entrepreneurs and company founders on a weekly basis. Due to my experience in entrepreneurship at Chapman and Company, and my comfort level in having conversations with entrepreneurial-minded individuals across the country, I was elected the President of UNO’s Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization for the 2020-21 school year. In addition to inviting entrepreneurial-minded speakers who have personal experience in running a startup, I am working alongside my executive team to implement a company garage fund that will help support student entrepreneurs from UNO. In my eyes, being selected as President of the organization and the creation of the garage fund are both things that never would have happened without my experience at Chapco.

All-in-all, I am beyond grateful for all I have learned, and the opportunities that I have been exposed to as a result of being surrounded by entrepreneurship and joining the Chapman and Company team just one year ago. Looking forward, I am pumped to support student entrepreneurship at the University of Nebraska at Omaha through my involvement in Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization.