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Stretching the Rubber Band
posted by Bruce Freeman on Aug 29, 2009 | Comments (46) | Permalink | Trackback URL
From time to time we all skirt the rules a little in our efforts to succeed.
Matt Ackerson was in college (Cornell University) when he was stung by the entrepreneurial bug. Matt shuffled into an entrepreneurship speaker series late one night. He listened as the speaker told his story of hard work, adventure, and making millions. A few weeks later he quit the rowing team. The coach assumed he was in love with some girl, the real reason was he wanted to spend his time starting a biz.
His first start-up was an events-based website for local students. He walked dorm to dorm, and individually surveyed over four-hundred students. In one dorm the residence hall director stopped Matt for “soliciting” and asked that he leave the building. He was getting close to finishing his survey, so he politely said “Ok, no problem,” left her office, slipped around the corner to continue. He was caught a few minutes later and was forced to stand trial in a court of his college peers. Matt apologized for the transgression and got off easy.
Matt’s second business was a coupon website. After the site was built he was eager to test the concept. He sent out several thousand emails to inform students of the important benefits of the service. Although there was a positive response (particularly for the free beer coupon) his marketing tactics were quickly curtailed when a disgruntled grad student reported him to the administration. The administrator let him off with a warning, and then nonchalantly told him how to effectively promote like that again and not get caught.
A few months later Matt and a few friends were continuing to promote the coupon website when they decided to chalk the website name on just about every walk-way across campus—including the stone steps leading up to the Dean’s office. Well, I guess you could say that Matt made the Dean’s list but I don’t think it was for academic achievement.
Two possible morals today. You can stretch the rubber band, but don’t break it OR to paraphrase the great George Bernard Shaw, the progress of the world depends upon the persistence of the unreasonable man.
FILED IN: New Thinking, Public Relations, Productivity, Sales
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Nice working with you, Bruce. Great post. Also, you have a great voice for radio.
Great story. Only comment, speaking as an attorney, is to have reversed the morals. Persistance is a virtue, but remember to stay within the rules! And, maybe a third moral. Don’t bite the hand that feeds! Flaunting the rules and aggrivating the Dean, was stretching the rubber band too taut!
As always, Bruce’s stories and comments are instrumental in running my business.
Matt’s second business was a coupon website. After the site was built he was eager to test the concept. He sent out several thousand emails to inform students of the important benefits of the service. Although there was a positive response (particularly for the free beer coupon) his marketing tactics were quickly curtailed when a disgruntled grad student reported him to the administration.
Great story. Only comment, speaking as an attorney, is to have reversed the morals. Persistance is a virtue, but remember to stay within the rules! And, maybe a third moral. Don’t bite the hand that feeds! Flaunting the rules and aggrivating the Dean, was stretching the rubber band too taut!
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I believe matt was a little too pushy with his marketing techniques. i give him credit for his ambition to promote his business, but sometimes that could do more harm than good.
I believe that Matt was greatly influenced by the speaker’s stories of hard work, adventure, and making millions. Although Matt’s tactics were in a way “relentless,” i believe he had the right mindset of an entrepreneur. He stayed persistent, didn’t settle, wouldn’t take NO for an answer, and enough was truly never enough. I think that if Matt expanded in his strategies and ideas, he would have a good chance of succeeding in his entrepreneurship.
lol, that’s a fantastic job for Matt…even the Dean’s office became his victim. But sometimes we have to be brave to do something, right? Only by then we can see the result of our work.
I understand where Matt is coming from. Everyone in the world wants to make quick and easy money. Not everyone actually goes through with it. I give Matt credit for trying but I think he should have followed the rules and maybe he would stay be in the coupon business. He should have tried to work out a deal with the University or maybe brought his idea somewhere else.
Entrepreneurship involves an opportunity, an individual, an organizational context, risk, and resources. In my opinion the biggest factor involved in entrepreneurship is risk. The risk of failing, the risk of losing everything, the risk of possibly ruining something good, the risk of so many possible things going wrong. The beautiful thing about entrepreneurs is that they are willing to take that risk. Most of society follows a pretty similar path; birth, school, growth, job, payments, and eventually death. It is a suitable, and wonderful life for some. For others how ever it is the idea of a nightmare. Being like everyone else, being some random number in a company, being an x in some annual report. Entrepreneurs tend to write their own books, their own stories, in their own personal way. If you look back in history you will see that most successful entrepreneurs are those who took the less traveled path, who put every ounce of their energy into something others thought of as a joke, they were the “unreasonable men”. Take a look at Bill Gates, who flunked out of college because he had the idea that every house hold will one day own a personal computer. His professors thought he was crazy, who is the crazy one now? Or perhaps take a look at Jeff Bezos who started Amazon.com with the idea that one day there will be paperless books. Amazon was successful with it’s online bookstore but everyone still thought he was crazy for thinking that books will go paperless. Then came the Kindle; a device that allows you to download any book ever written in under 60 seconds, and it has no paper. Who is crazy now? So when it comes to a story like Matt’s I can’t help but wonder where his ideas, drive, and willingness to risk it all are going to take him. Everyone else who made it stretched that rubber band until it was about to rip, why shouldn’t Matt.
My opinion is if you want to achieve something in life, you can’t give up. Of course, you will be faced with many difficulties down the road, but if you give up because someone told you “you can’t do this” you won’t go far in life. Those people that give up very easily always struggle in life, and are always focusing on what other people say about them.
I agree with the moral of this story. Every institution gives guidelines and boundaries on what is acceptable and what is not. I believe it is important to push buttons and stretch boundaries in order to attain true progress.
I was surprised by how inspired and motivated Matt Ackerson was by one speech, but to each his own. Matt did have good ideas for his new businesses he just went about pursuing them in the wrong manner.
This was an interesting talk show article on Matt Ackerson. Professor Bruce, stated it perfectly saying that just because someone might stop you and not let you do what you want to do, try to continue to do it until you get stopped for good. Don’t let one person determine your future, but don’t go to far where you can’t do anything anymore because of trouble.
When you want something in life you have to go for it. No one would ever accomplish anything in life if we let the little things get in our way. I think Matt had the right idea on being persistent and I am all about bending the rules. I was once told life is full of obstacles and its how you deal with them that define you. Although Matt may have got into trouble he still got his point across and his motivation will later make him successful.
I think this is a great story. Matt had the right idea to start a business and the ambition to be persistent, but he was not going about it in the right way. I believe if he went about getting permission to go around the dorms, he would have not run into a problem. And as for writing the name of his site all over campus, this was not a good idea. He could have put up flyers to inform students about his site or sent out a text message to a few of his friends that could have forwarded the message to other people. This would have gotten the name of his site out there quickly. He could have also advertised on his Facebook if he had one. These techniques would have gotten the business flowing and kept Matt out of trouble.
The old saying that boys will be boys applies here The world needs people like Matt. To often these days people are told no and say with that answer. Matt never gave up on his dream, even if it meant getting in trouble. That is how successful business are made. Not everyone follows the rules. The world needs more people Matt who have a dream and will follow it no matter what. His drive and determination is what made him. The writing of his website all over campus was not the best idea, but it was also done in chalk, not paint and could easily have been washed off. People are to uptight these days. I applaud Matt.
I was glad to hear this story and thought it was funny. It took courage to do what Matt did. A person must first believe in himself or herself. Matt believes in what he was doing so he could stretch the rubber band. I learn another lesson from Matt Always be humble and know when to say you are sorry and bow down. Saying I am sorry can also help you as Matt found out from the administrator who told him how to effectively promote and not get caught. I can relate to this story because when I came to college I was 30 years old and scared but I believed that I could face the challenge ahead I am stretching the rubber band I work full time and have a family and I am maintaining a above average G.P.A. I just need to stay focused and be sure not to let my rubber band break.
i think that matt is so ambitious but without a plan, it seems that he is not organized. starting a business without a plan will not success, it is the samething if you open a restaurant in the desert. following the rules is very important.
Nice story. But it just shows how stubborn people can be. But also shows the will to be successful
I believe that people can achieve any goal in life. People can prevent bad things from happening to them. People can also make things work out for them in order to succeed.
It has been said “Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage.” The key is to take every obstacle as a challenge and grow from it. Every time you fail at something you learn something even bigger. That’s how entrepreneurs think! And you have to be ready to take that risk. If you think you are going to loose, you have already lost. In Matt’s case, he needs a game plan and stick with it. Know when you are right and ACCEPT when you are wrong. Matt needs to get himself organized and go after his dreams without breaking the rubber band!
The reality is that you need to be a little OCD in order to achieve anything great in life. Matt’s story reminded me of a movie a watched few years ago called Amadeus. The movie was about the life of famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. After I watched it I was amazed by the fact how unconventional of a person he was (to say the least) and yet he produced such brilliant music. The reason for that was because music was everything for him and thats why he was very good at it.
Matt’s behavior may be a little extreme but I think there’s an admirable quality to it. His willingness to do anything to succeed is a good quality for all entrepreneurs. Just because Matt ran into a few hardships, that didn’t give him an excuse to quit. Entrepreneurs should expect to go through tough times but you never really fail until you quit. Matt’s story is inspiration to never quit. Hope one of his businesses takes off.
He reminds me of a guy i saw on tv ‘Jason Sadler’ of iwearyourtshirt.com who made a business of wearing t-shirts to advertise peoples businesses. He Started off making a dollar a t shirt and now he’s practically rich…. That’s why thinking out of the box and having perseverance are good traits to possess if you want to be an entrepreneur.
This is def a lesson in persistence, you have to strecg your self and make yourself flexible.You have to keep pushing the envelope until you find something great.
This is a funny story that teaches the rewards for being persistent. Many people quit after getting into trouble the first time but I guess he wouldn’t be persistent if he didnt keep trying. However, his last means of advertising probably got the attention of the whole student body so I’m not sure he will have to continue his tactics.
This was an interesting radio post, I agree with with the determination of Matt Ackerson to get what he wanted no matter the rules and consequences, and in this lifetime, determination and ambition is key to success.
Pretty good story Bruce. i enjoyed listening to Matt’s entrepreneurial ideas, even though he went through alot of trouble. but honestly i find it very interesting how 1 entrepreneurial meeting made Matt quit the rowing team to persue a business of his own. It gives me an idea how a speech can influence a students life.
Matt may have been a little overly persistent at times but6 he is still an inspiring individual. Even after being caught and told to stop both times he didn’t seem to be discouraged. Matt was determined and I think that is a quality every entrepreneur needs. When something goes wrong you cant let it get in your way. You need to come up with an even better idea to get by it. Like Matt did several times successfully.
the moral to the story is a good one. however i do not like how the student just keeps on getting into trouble and does not really care. this cannot be good for business. And further more in his last stunt drawing in chalk the website everywhere it seems like he is just about to break the rubberdand. it seesm as if he could be thrown out of school for this.
I believe that the creative mind should never have any boundaries or limits per say but the employee should have some strict moral guidelines that he/she should be required to follow because at the end of the day You are a representation of the company
That is a determination. They didn’t let him through the door, so he ‘got in through the window’. I think that if someone believes that he or she will succeed, that person should push his or her ideas forward. Don’t stop, don’t think too much, just keep doing what you are doing and do not stop believing in yourself.
“stretching the rubber band” is an inspiring story. Fully enjoyed.
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I believe that Matt was greatly influenced by the speaker’s stories of hard work, adventure, and making millions. Although Matt’s tactics were in a way “relentless,” i believe he had the right mindset of an entrepreneur. He stayed persistent, didn’t settle,
I believe that Matt was greatly influenced by the speaker’s stories of hard work, adventure, and making millions. Although Matt’s tactics were in a way “relentless,” i believe he had the right mindset of an entrepreneur. He stayed persistent, didn’t settle, wouldn’t take NO for an answer, and enough was truly never enough. I think that if Matt expanded in his strategies and ideas, he would have a good chance of succeeding in his entrepreneurship.
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