Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? A Discussion on Starting a Successful Business

Photo by Tyler Harris on Unsplash.

The King’s College hosted Scott Rozell, founder of 240 Tutoring Inc, to discuss the challenges of starting a business and good practices for businesses and executives to thrive on Thursday, Oct. 20. 

Rozell, whose mission, as stated, is “to help as many teachers and future teachers as we can” with tutor programs to help pass their certification tests, deliberated on what it means to be an effective leader in the business world.

Rozell addressed the utility of business and where to begin. 

“A business is a tool,” Rozell said. “It is an amazing way to live the life you want to start… But before you begin, the most important thing is to know what you want out of life. If you do not know what you want in some rudimentary form, you are going to be aimless and will not be able to make quality decisions.” 

Rozell’s main point in understanding business is knowing the tangible wants of the individual. He listed a transformative process which people can use to create their company by “begin[ing] with the end in mind.” 

Rozell demonstrated the fulfillment of private business. 

“I make money by out serving my customers. I have to do a better job serving them, so they enter into a voluntary transaction with me and give me their money for solving their problems. It is so much fun to get paid to out-serve my competition.”

Rozell then jumped into the structure and characteristics of high-functioning businessmen. 

“You have to be emotionally stoic,” Rozell said. “You have to learn how to control and regulate [emotions]. You have to have grit, a beginner’s mindset; be tenacious, passionate and… effective.” 

Rozell has met a number of effective and ineffective leaders during his career as an entrepreneur. 

“There is no distinction between great executives and bad executives besides whether or not they are effective,” he concluded.

Rozell referenced management consultant, educator, and author, Peter Drucker, in his book “The Effective Executive” on what it means to be effective.

“To be effective is knowing you have to work on the right things,” Rozell said. “It sounds simple, [but] it is incredibly difficult. I have to know the number one way I can drive value this day, week, year. I have to know the number one thing I can do for customers. Being effective is key.”

Rozell then discussed relevant tactics for new business owners. 

“Be very particular about what business you go into,” Rozell said, “because ‘red oceans’ are where all the individuals are fighting each other, and it’s staying red because of all the competition. The best oceans to go into are ‘blue oceans,’ because there is little to no competition.” 

Encouraging the audience to “set clear goals, set clear paths to achieve goals, and set a metric to weigh whether or not you are succeeding,” Rozell stressed the importance for entrepreneurs to “build an audience and give them a product. Do not build a product and go searching for an audience.” 

Regarding his personal entrepreneurial journey, Rozell shared the increased risks he faced by creating a product before having built a stable audience and told students to “never go that route.” He also insisted on the importance of free marketing and understanding “the algorithms and how best to use YouTube and Google are key to quickly build an audience.” 

Rozell finished his speech by articulating that “you have to take the risk of failing, fail and keep going.”

After his speech, Dr. Paul Mueller, Associate Professor of Economics, joined Rozell on the stage to answer questions from the audience. 

“What tips do you have for people who do not have enough capital to get started and need funds?” asked Bella Rush, a junior of the House of Margaret Thatcher.

Rozell responded by stating that one does not actually need any money to start a business due to the growing technologies of the 21st century. 

“What you should do is develop a blog about the information of the product and pay people to give feedback,” Rozell said. “That should cost roughly about $500. Second, you could develop a website… and then you will be building your audience without any constant spending.”

“Did you have any backup plan in case things did not work out?” asked Stephen Nasar, freshman of the House of  Winston Churchill. 

Rozell responded, “Nope. I am more of a jump-in-head-first kind of guy.”
Colton Taussig is a freshman at The King's College majoring in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. He is an avid film-lover and takes great pride in his home state of Missouri.