Sometimes bad grades can be a good thing. At least that's what Wes Moss, an independent financial planner and former candidate on NBC's The Apprentice, believes.
"The only reason I'm not an investment banker today is because I was rejected by all five [banking] firms that I applied to," Moss said.
Today, Moss works with clients whose net worths run into the millions and has proven that "you don't need to win The Apprentice to have something come out of it."
In a 30 minute talk at the Penn Bookstore, Moss spoke about his recent book, Starting From Scratch: Secrets from 21 Ordinary People Who Made the Entrepreneurial Leap, and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.
His book is the culmination of research and interviews with people from 16 different cities and 21 different industries. One interviewee, a homemaker who created an entire line of baby products out of her home, now has over 10,000 different items and had to move into a bigger house to accommodate her inventory.
Another example, Giovanni, "The Margarita King," mixed tequila with other ingredients and instantly profited from the sale of his new drink.
According to Moss, entrepreneurs are ordinary people with an extraordinary hunger for new opportunities. They are also thoroughly dissatisfied with their current jobs.
He called them "HUN-ters," saying that they are constantly harnessing (H) their resources, underestimating (U) their obstacles and noticing (N) their networks.
So what did he learn from Apprentice star Donald Trump? Moss believes that there is a lot of truth to Trump's saying: "You have to love what you do."
But as college tuition rises, Moss said that job security and adequate compensation are probably more pressing concerns than a passion for work for graduating seniors.
Still, he added, the ability to take risks while remaining self-confident is what makes the difference between really successful entrepreneurs and those who are stuck with their mundane jobs.
Current college students as well as entrepreneurs from the Philadelphia area attended Moss' talk.
Neeraj Kulkarni, a post-graduate student at Drexel University, said that even though he doesn't watch The Apprentice, he enjoyed the event. Many of those who attended came across it accidentally during a trip to the Bookstore.
