The Raw Passion of the Entrepreneur

Life-changing insights from The Entrepreneurship Mastery Program

I have the privilege of being Trump University's professor for The Entrepreneurship Mastery Program, the new class that met for the first time this week.

In a moment, I will share a truly remarkable quote from Amy Frankel, the guest lecturer for our first session, Understanding the Entrepreneurial Mindset. But before I tell you what she said, let me tell you about Amy.

For more than 20 years she worked in marketing for major corporations, working her way up to several marketing directorships. She then left to work for advertising and marketing agencies so she could master that side of the client/agency relationship. Finally, she and her partners founded TAG Creative, a brand communications agency in New York City.

That was five years ago. How well has TAG done? Let me just say that their client list includes Bausch & Lomb, Cosmopolitan, Coty, Hearst Corporation, Liz Claiborne, L'Oreal, Maybelline and Movado. Her company's annual earnings stand at about $5 million, which is incredibly impressive when you consider that only a few more than 275,000 of the 10.6 million U.S. companies that are owned by women generate as much as $1 million.

Amy is an extraordinary and successful entrepreneur, so when I asked her to lecture to my class, I expected her to explain skills that entrepreneurs need to start a business. Instead, I heard a statement about pure passion - a passion of a very unusual kind. I was blown away, and I think that my students were too. Let me share some of Amy's words with you:

"I had entrepreneurship in my blood and my spirit . . . I always ran my businesses like an entrepreneur, even when I was working for someone else. I always felt like a puppy on the end of the leash. There were things that I just had to run my way.

"While my partners and I were working for different agencies, we were always having a conversation that went, 'What would this be like if we were doing this our way? How would this be an expression of who we are, why we come to work, how we want to be treated and how we want to treat people?'

"In the corporate world, I often felt that I was much more of a champion of the people who worked for me than I was a champion of the company to them . . . and that was one clue that I needed to become an entrepreneur. It was about creativity, values, doing things my own way. But it was also about having my work become an expression of me . . . to have a sense that I am in my own skin, that I am doing what I am meant to do. When you become an entrepreneur, you are not fitting yourself into someone else's suit. You know it is the right thing for you."

I hope you agree with me, that those are inspiring sentiments. Let me share some news about upcoming sessions of my class, which I know will be just as exciting:

• Session Two: Market and Industry Analysis. Tim Goertel, a world-class thinker who runs strategy for ReedExpo, the leading trade show company, will explain how to gauge the potential of a new business idea.
• Session Three: The Customer and Competition. Don Sexton, a highly respected Trump University faculty member, will help students master the skills to do business in today's ultra-competitivand the founder of e marketplace.
• Session Four: Marketing and Branding. Nancy A. Shenker, a visionary marketer and founder of theONswitch, will explain how to cut to the heart of marketing and branding.

I believe that in these sessions, we will hear ideas just as inspiring as Amy's. As that happens, I will report them to you here.

Trump University professor Beth Polish teaches The Entrepreneurship Mastery Program. Ms. Polish, who received her MBA from Harvard Business School, has held senior management positions in diverse industries including media, finance, private investment and technology. She serves on the National Advisory Board of the Women's Leadership Exchange and conducts seminars around the country as a WLE "growth guru."