"When the fans speak, people listen." - Bill Rasmussen of ESPN

The Youth Entrepreneurs Business Breakfast at
The College Basketball Experience in Kansas City.

WRITTEN BY ALLISON WAY, SENIOR COPYWRITER & CHIEF EDITOR


This morning, I had the opportunity to join Youth Entrepreneurs as they welcomed Bill Rasmussen, Founder of ESPN to talk at their business breakfast.  The breakfast opened with Eric Morgenstern, President and CEO of Morningstar Communications.  He proclaimed that the goal of the breakfast was to "awaken your entrepreneur and inspire youth to do the same."


Kyle Stupka, Executive Director of Youth Entrepreneurs, was next to take the stage.  After thanking sponsors like Lockton and Tradebot, Stupka mentioned that 22% of the alumni from Youth Entrepreneurs have started a business and 85% of alumni have changed their career goals because of YEK.


Next, Madyson Smith, a YEK alum, took the mic and told the crowd about her participation in competitions for YEK and told the story of her dream to start an indoor golf center in Missouri.  Following her was Tiffany Jasper, teacher for the YEK program.


Finally, to finish up the event, Bruce Haertl and Founder of ESPN Bill Rasmussen took the stage in an interview-style format.  Rasmussen talked about where ESPN came from (a $9000 credit card advance, money from family, a small-time investor and a lot of passion).


Bill Rasmussen iterated many times that you don't have to start "ahead of the curve" in order to become a success.  In fact, he boldly stated during the live interview that, "you don't have to know everything when you start.  We knew zero!"


Rasmussen also talked about focusing on the customers first.  For ESPN, those customers are the fans.  ESPN had to sell, primarily, to the fans first.  Bill was sure to mention that "When the fans speak, people listen."


The breakfast ended with a hilarious video--ESPN's first promotional video ever, which had a happy-go-lucky jingle and footage from sports games from pole vault to rugby.


Congratulations to Youth Entrepreneurs for putting on a great Kansas City event at the College Basketball Experience.  And congratulations to those young entrepreneurs who are going out there and learning, dreaming and doing.


Follow me! @AllisonThinkBig

Bill Rasmussen of ESPN Inspires Kansas City's Young Entrepreneurs

Ask any high school student what they want to be when they are older and they will proudly boast about their goals of being an NBA superstar, a chef, a broadcaster, or a famous photographer.  High school students have no problem telling you exactly what they want to do when they graduate from college.  But how many of them want to be entrepreneurs?  Quite a few.  

Which is why Youth Entrepreneurs of Kansas has been created.  Youth Entrepreneurs is a nonprofit organization that teaches business and entrepreneurial skills in high school classrooms and offers hands-on experiences to help students succeed as business owners or employees.  

Place an entrepreneurial-minded high school student in Youth Entrepreneurs and he is sure to succeed.  But put an entrepreneurial-minded high school student in front of the founder of ESPN and he is sure to succeed, listen and be inspired even further. 

Youth Entrepreneurs is doing just that.  On November 18, Youth Entrepreneurs is hosting its inaugural Business for Breakfast benefit in Kansas City with life-long entrepreneur and founder of ESPN, Bill Rasmussen.

Attendees of the benefit, moderated by Bruce Haertl, Eyewitness Sports, will gain business insights from Rasmussen as he shares his entrepreneurial success story.  Rasmussen undoubtedly changed the face of sports and television by brainstorming a network that has become the Worldwide Leader in Sports, ESPN.   

The Business for Breakfast will be presented by Lockton and will be held at the College Basketball Experience at the Sprint Center from 7:30-9:00am on November 18th.  The cost is $75 per person and all proceeds will benefit Youth Entrepreneurs.

Reserve your ticket today: http://www.yeks.org.

Follow me! @AllisonThinkBig