Institute for Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurial Education Partner
"๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ซ๐ฉ๐จ๐ช๐ฒ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ป" - Doug Villhard
In life and in business, there are times when you will look to ask others to partner with you. A sponsorship, a partnership, a collaborationโฆasking a business or individual to work with you can be a nerve-racking process.
Thankfully, we have Steve Cooper at First Mid to help us prepare students for these kinds of conversations!
During badge business, CEO students are given very little advice/assistance. They look to partnering with businesses to offer sponsorship spots on their badges to help cover the cost.
๐๐๐ they ask and ๐๐๐๐ they ask for is also completely up to them.
Bobby Marcus and Zach Cohn bravely volunteered to represent their class as they stepped into a conference room with Steve and asked for a badge sponsorship. Their conversation was live-streamed for the rest of the group and together, with Steve, the entire group was able to talk through and digest ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฌ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐ก ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ช๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ง.
A few key takeaways from this meeting:
โข Present a clear ASK. Follow through on whatever you promise to your partners
โข Present a clear GET. What are these businesses getting in exchange for what they are giving?
โข It is OK if a business says โno!โ Be prepared to walk away. Donโt look at this as a failure, sometimes it just is not the right fit.
โข Communication with your team is key. You have to have a clear game plan so everyone knows what is being presented. Send in your decision makers!
โข Know ahead of time where your line is. Understand your value and the value in what you are offering.
We would like to shout out Bobby and Zach for their willingness to use their conversation and constructive feedback as a learning experience for our entire group and for Steve Cooper for taking the time to help our students gain the gift of this valuable experience!
Other News From Around The Same Time
๐๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐!๐ The class of 2025 has officially wrapped up badge business! Thank you to our first sponsors of the year! Badge business was a ...
๐ด๐จ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ถ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐น๐บ๐ป ๐ฐ๐ด๐ท๐น๐ฌ๐บ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐๐๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐๐๐! Our CEO first guest speaker tradition continued this year as we welcomed back First Mid ...
