After a year of chaos due to many students graduating, the entrepreneurship club at Concordia College is back in full swing with events scheduled throughout the rest of the school year.
Jordan Petron is the Vice President of the club. He has a lot on his plate with his two majors: finance and business with a concentration in economics, and his two minors: data analysis and entrepreneurship.
“I’ve been interested in (entrepreneurship) since high school. The ideas of being able to make a way for myself, being able to build something from the ground up on my own and being able to take care of those I care about drew me to it,” Petron said.
Bree Langemo, the faculty advisor for the entrepreneurship club and the director of the Center of Entrepreneurship, encourages her students to use what they are passionate about to solve problems for others. This is what Petron put into practice when he started his own personal training business.
Petron said he loves helping people and has a lot of knowledge in training. After taking a class with Langemo, he realized he could put the two passions together as a way to make a little extra money during the school year.
The business came together almost on its own. It started with Petron meeting with a few friends a couple of times a week and snowballed from there. Eventually, Petron was building full-scale workout plans, nutrition plans and creating a website.
“It just kind of happened,” Petron said. “However, it has been a process. There wasn’t like this start point, it was a gradual process over months of time.”
A common misconception about creating a business is that there is one moment that started everything instead of recognizing it is a slow process that takes a lot of work, Petron said.
One of the first lessons Petron learned while starting a business was to always be prepared.
The first time he was approached by a client in need of a workout and nutrition plan, Petron was taken aback. He didn’t know how to price his services and without much thought, threw out the random answer of forty dollars. After it was said, Petron immediately regretted it because that price was severely under market value.
Petron has gained new customers through word of mouth with the connections he has built at Concordia and the community of friends he has. He is not currently taking on new customers because he wants to avoid burnout, and this gives him the chance to connect with his current clients on a deeper level.
Without the entrepreneurial curriculum at Concordia, this might not have been possible for Petron. Before the fall semester of 2019, Concordia only had a single course that involved entrepreneurship.
Langemo first started working at Concordia in 2020 to correct this problem. She helped build the current entrepreneurial curriculum available today. Specifically, the Entrepreneurial Mindset Certificate and the Entrepreneurship Minor were added to Concordia’s offerings.
“I’ve worked in previous roles that engage entire campuses in entrepreneurial thinking and that’s what excited me about the role,” Langemo said. “It was a way to work across campus in a very interdisciplinary way.”
Langemo believes that an entrepreneurial education is beneficial for any student because it’s not solely focused on becoming an entrepreneur. The entrepreneurial mindset that the certificate is based on is about figuring out one’s interests, skills and abilities as an individual and finding a way to solve problems for a community of people based on that passion.
Even though Petron is currently running his own business, he hasn’t given much thought to pursuing entrepreneurship once he graduates college.
“To be completely real with you, I’d say right out of college we all need to get some kind of footing underneath us,” he said.
Petron added, “I’d say it’s more of a mindset to have in the background, not necessarily a primary focus.”
Petron first heard of entrepreneurship being discussed as a mindset and not a career path from Langemo.
“We wanted the certificate to be broad and inclusive of all disciplines. Not everyone needs to become an entrepreneur to benefit from entrepreneurship education,” Langemo said.
This helps students like Petron be more comfortable with dipping their toes into the waters of entrepreneurship. It doesn’t feel like a lifelong commitment, and they can learn valuable life skills to use in jobs unrelated to the field.
The entrepreneurship club was launched in 2020 by now-alumni Max Mina, shortly after the debut of the new curriculum. Four years later the club is still enticing to students, whether or not they plan to pursue entrepreneurship after they graduate.
Lauren Strand is a student at Concordia College who plans to pursue entrepreneurship after she graduates, although she is unsure of what she specifically wants to do.
“My grandma and I always joked about opening up a bakery together,” Strand said. “When I visit her, we bake; that’s our thing.”
Strand has a clear vision of what that business plan would look like.
She and her grandma would rent out kitchen space for local home-bakers to use. Many of these bakers don’t sell their goods at the local farmers market according to Strand. Her solution is for her and her grandma to be in charge of transporting and selling the baked goods for a portion of the profits made.
For Strand, it would be an opportunity to help out a small community and to spend more time with her grandma.
However, she has also played around with the idea of working in cosmetology. Strand mentioned potentially working in a salon where she wouldn’t be her own boss. She said her background in entrepreneurship would still benefit her because she could help with balancing the books or applying for licensing.
“One of the best things I’ve learned how to do is market myself,” Strand said. “No matter what, that’s going to help me.”
Strand was first introduced to the club during her freshman year of college. One of Strand’s orientation leaders was a co-president of the club.
Freshman at Concordia spend a week with their orientation leaders and group getting to know a small group of students on campus before the academic year starts. This helps students build connections and feel more comfortable with the transition from home to college.
After hearing more about the club, Strand applied for a role on the leadership team and helped spread information about meetings and activities.
“I just really enjoyed it and I kind of stayed on. Last year I ran for the marketing position because I wanted the chance to dabble in the field before deciding to become a marketing major,” Strand said. “It was one of the things that helped me decide ‘Oh yeah, I really want to go into marketing.’”
She is pursuing a business major with a minor in marketing and an entrepreneurial mindset certificate.
Strand’s role within the club involves a wide breadth of marketing responsibilities; she even gained an assistant this year. She posts on social media, designs and distributes posters around campus and has even helped design t-shirts in the past.
Langemo loves working across campus and within the community outside of Concordia because she gets to meet a variety of people. She also loves getting to see her students get involved with the community as well.
One of the biggest regular events Strand helps out with is the StartupBrews hosted by Emerging Prairies. On Wednesday mornings at Drekker Brewing Company, a couple of entrepreneurs from the Fargo-Moorhead community speak to people from the area who show up to learn and network.
Sydni Kreps, the owner of More Than Words, was invited to speak about her journey of opening an independently owned bookstore at one of these events. It was a good opportunity to get the word out about her new store and connect with other entrepreneurs in the area.
This is the second year Strand has worked with StartupBREW to facilitate a special “Cobber takeover.” The event specifically focuses on Concordia students who run their own businesses and alumni who are invited to speak.
Dekker Brewing was packed with Cobbers, both alumni and current students, during the “Cobber takeover.” While mingling over coffee and tea, people were drifting from group to group, making conversation and sharing their excitement.
Among the attendees was President Colin Irvine who kicked off the event. He introduced the two Concordia student speakers and shared his enthusiasm for how connected cobbers are.
“I came here just for this, a place full of smart, creative, thoughtful people. A college working close with the community to solve problems,” President Colin Irvine said.