(From left): Elaine Warga-Murray ’70, Terry Tateossian, Holly Migliaccio, and Theodora Sergiou
Every day new startups emerge, but not every business will make it in today’s highly competitive market. According to Terry Tateossian, founding partner of SocialFix, one must be “intolerant and blindly optimistic” to be a successful entrepreneur.
Ms. Tateossian and other entrepreneurs visited Georgian Court University on March 15 for “How to Be an Entrepreneur,” an event hosted by the GCU Business Club. Ms. Tateossian; Holly Migliaccio, co-founder and owner of Rook Coffee; and Elaine Warga-Murray ’70, CEO of Regency Management Group, shared their experiences and answered questions about their companies and how they got to where they are.
Most people become entrepreneurs because they are convinced they have better ideas or can do a better job than others. However, to get there, “you need to have positive people and supporters around you,” said Ms. Migliaccio.
“Every day is different, and trying to balance the family part is hard. However, developed over six years,” Ms. Migliaccio added. “At the beginning, I had to work the whole time, but when you work in retail, you have to take a step back and see if the store works without you being there physically.”
Theodora Sergiou ’92, owner of Nicholas Pools and moderator for the event, asked the panelists what skills are necessary to become an entrepreneur. Ms. Tateossian noted that “nothing will stop you if you are truly an entrepreneur.” Ms. Migliaccio urged the audience “to stay focused and to remember you can say no.”
Marisa DeVito, a GCU undergraduate business administration student from Bayville, New Jersey, noted that she had learned strategies on what it takes to be a successful business leader and how hard business owners work to keep their business running. Marisa, who has a marketing concentration, plans to go into tourism marketing and work in the cruise ship industry.
According to Ms. Warga-Murray, it is important that entrepreneurs be “able to learn” and then “learn every single thing you can.” While this was the last GCU Business Club event for this year, there are many events planned for the fall semester that are open to the entire campus, not just business students, that will offer many opportunities to learn.
Story contributed by Sebastian Mikuska ’16, a business administration major with a concentration in marketing.
