Tim McHugh
After participating in and completing the RBE course, I learned quite extensively about the core values, which will be extremely useful to me in the future. Also, RBE has provided me with an insight with regards to myself in terms of what I am capable of accomplishing individually or as part of a team. Skills, such as analytics, time management, decision-making, communication, delegation, and leadership have provided me with a foundation that will definitely benefit me upon graduation as I enter into the real business world. Throughout the semester, RBE challenged me well beyond the classroom. Running a company with six other individuals taught me to be more open-minded in the way that I approach a particular issue or problem. Sitting back and “listening” to another teammates perspective on an issue that was open for discussion, taught me that there were other ways to look at or deal with a particular situation. This opened up my eyes to the world of compromise and give and take. I felt that our team was successful because we all respected each other and were willing to bring some form of compromise to the table in our approach to running the business. When individuals felt that their idea or solution to a problem was the correct one, they vigorously but respectfully pushed for it to be implemented.
Michael Strauss
I recently just completed a semester of the Real Business Experience (RBE) course. With this, I have received a lot of knowledge that can take me further in my business career. This course is very unique and its one of the reasons why I went to Butler University. RBE taught me some major points about being a future business person.
One of the major points I have learned is that you must have confidence in yourself. Being confident in yourself will help succeed. If I didn’t have the confidence that I could sell a certain amount of products, or the confidence that I could be a leader, I would never know how the business would have done. I also learned that teamwork is a huge part to business. If you cannot get a long with your team then the team would not have the team chemistry to succeed.
All in all, the Real Business Experience course was my favorite course at Butler University. The course not only helped me in my major, but it also showed me how fun it can be. This course really inspires you to go above and beyond what you predict you can do as a college student.
TERRY BRENNAN
Having just completed a full semester of the course Real Business Experience, I have taken away many lessons that will last with me throughout my entire business career. The knowledge, concepts, and experiences gained from RBE cannot be found in any other course offered at Butler, and quite possibly cannot be found at any other school in the country. This class gave me and my fellow teammates a taste of what it takes to be successful in real life and in real business. After looking back on a successful and fun semester, there are a few major things that I will take away from RBE.
My self-development not only as a business student but also as a person improved greatly following the completion of this course. I learned a lot about myself and just how hard I am willing to work to be successful. Many late nights were spent working on starting our business and putting together a business plan. The work our group had to complete required more work and dedication than any other class I have taken. I learned that nothing comes easy in business, but if I also learned that if I really work hard for something and want it bad enough, then I can achieve my goal.
All in all I felt that the course RBE was one of the most helpful business experiences that I have ever had. I look forward to taking the course again next semester and improving on more of my business skills and abilities.
Will Schierholz
The Real Business experience course here at Butler University has taught me many lessons that I could not have possibly learned in any other courses. I was able to gain first hand experience running a business with a group of my peers. This course gave me a step up on my competition in the real business world for the future.
The most important lesson that I learned during RBE would definitely be the importance of teamwork. A group cannot be successful if they do not work well together. Teamwork includes aspects such as communication and cooperation. The reason why BU Gear, our business, was successful this semester was because our group worked extremely well together. We communicated with each other, and everyone knew and embraced their role on the team. Also, this course taught me to always be ready to adapt to change. On several different instances this semester, our group had to quickly make a change. At first, I was not prepared to do this, but as the semester went on me, as well as my group, made strides at being prepared for change.
In the end, I learned more from RBE than any other course in which I have taken so far in my college career. I gained many real business experiences that should be very helpful and beneficial to me and my career in the real world.
J.T. Mesch
What could possibly go wrong giving a bunch of inexperienced college kids $400 to create their own business? You be the judge. In being a part of BuGear, I have learned l a lot about myself and how I may fit into my business career in the future. By working with the member on my team I felt as though I definitely developed in areas that I was previously lacking in, more specifically my public speaking and my vocal participation. The course content was a big starting point for my development because it opened my eyes to what exactly I needed to do to be successful in the business world and what skills I needed to improve to find success. Before I took this course I wasn’t exactly sure on what business direction I wanted to proceed in but after being able to engage in all of the areas of business I think marketing would best fit my strengths. In comparing this experience to FBE, I thought this was much more insightful and a better indication of strengths and weaknesses. The fact that our group was able to actually run the business and deal with real life scenarios that will happen once we enter to business world is invaluable. It gave each individual a chance to identify their own strengths and weaknesses which was something FBE did not do. I think this is because it was easy to take the easy way out of things and then not have to deal with them in the future because you didn’t physically have to run the business. Within my business team I was appointed as the CMO. I actually volunteered for this because I knew this is what I was leaning towards and that I would have the chance to work on one of my major weaknesses being public speaking. Speaking to my personality I have always been a shy individual and I knew if I wanted to be a good marketer I would have to improve this skill to be able to sell to clients. To help myself with this, I volunteered myself to do all of the presenting opportunities I could so I could grow in this area. On this closing note I am going to leave you with one of my favorite Guy Kawasaki quotes, “I think the crisis part is over, we still have a lot of hard work to do.” Running a business is a lot of hard work and you have to be completely invested to see results.
Rob Branflick
In looking back at a semester’s worth of work in RBE, I have definitely learned a lot, and I have a lot to hang my hat on. But more importantly, there are a lot of things I can look at to improve as a person as well as a businessman that will prepare me for the future. In learning the lessons of teamwork and preparing for change, I realized that I have a hard time delegating. It’s not always obvious exactly where I’m heading, so I need to work on relaying my thoughts and the thoughts of fellow group members more effectively so that everyone is on the same page. In addition, I can often think quickly on my feet, but spotting change is an area in which I struggled. I put the company at risk when I didn’t look into what would happen if the Club Volleyball order didn’t go through. The Proof of Concept was then much more confusing when no invoice existed for Club Volleyball. If I had prepared better for that, the group would have been better off. These two skill sets have improved vastly over my time in MG201, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement, and I see the second semester of RBE, the practicum, as a perfect opportunity for that.
Patrick Guinane
In taking RBE the tools learned from class on how to run a business not only gave me an idea on how the business world operates but guided me closer to deciding what aspect of business I enjoy most. Learning a basic structure of what it takes to start a business enhances my understanding of how a business operates on a daily basis. Through taking the Real Business Experience I have bettered my abilities in communicating, marketing, and financing of a business. Real Business Experience has given me an opportunity that many other business students around the country have not, helping me advance in important aspects of the real business world that I will use for many years in my future career.