Recently, our CEO, John Olajide, had the opportunity to share his personal experience and insight with student entrepreneurs competing in the University of Texas at Dallas Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s 2016 Business Idea Competition. The passionate competitors were vying for cash prizes to assist in furthering their business ideas, and they and many more in the audience were in attendance to glean wisdom from the judges’ suggestions and innovation acumen.
As a graduate of University of Texas at Dallas, Olajide found it inspiring to return to campus and meet with other like-minded entrepreneurs early in the business-development process. He explained that a unique mindset unites entrepreneurs, and as a returning judge for the competition, he was excited to build upon the challenge he gave to students to REACH : to build relationships with others, educate themselves, ask for help, communicate effectively with all stakeholders, and above all to stay hungry.
“It’s easy to recognize an entrepreneur: just look for the most driven person in the room, the one who is constantly absorbing information and insights,” said Olajide.
Though entrepreneurs have drive, on occasion there are times when despite the endurance to do everything right, the magic may not occur.
As an entrepreneur and innovator, failure is not a question of if, but when, and Olajide emphasized this to the entrepreneurs.
“There is often no growth without PAIN,” Olajide said, using an acronym to identify key elements of success. “It is important to persist. You may fail, but you must never give up. You must use your failures to adapt to new information or situations. Innovate constantly. Remember to take risks, otherwise, you are waiting for the expiration date of your business. Indeed, you must out-innovate your competitors constantly. And always nurture your business, in particular, the employees and partners who are instrumental to its success.”
As CEO of Axxess, Olajide has also developed and nurtured the organization’s culture to value entrepreneurship and innovation among its core values, allowing Axxess to become one of the country’s fastest growing technology companies in home healthcare. His success is not only due to his persistence with the business, but in nurturing the organization every single day.
To read more about John’s approach to entrepreneurship, please visit Axxess: Nurturing the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs on Dallas Innovates.