Joey Conti ’15 –  Hey All! It is week three of my internship here at the Overton Network and the small business brainstorming has reached a peak.

Jeremy Overton ’00 and I started off the summer by outlining some personal goals of mine. While we explored that concept of personal improvement this question came about: “How in the world do you market success on the track to a potential employer?” I think that student-athletes across the nation, in all sports, and in all divisions eventually run into this problem. When a potential employer asks you, “What kind of skills do you have that make you a suitable candidate for this position?” It won’t bode well for you to answer: “I run pretty fast, actually.”

So we set out to conquer this question in a small business setting and one of the first answers we came up with has its roots in the training that takes place for athletes who want to be great. We were able to identify 5 actions that an athlete takes on their way to greatness, that we believe a small business owner does too.

  1. Decide – The athlete has to decide on a plan and then make the actual decision to train hard
  2. Follow – The willingness to stick with the original plan without deviation or hesitation
  3. Trust – Trust in your plan and your coaches to do what is necessary to achieve your goals
  4. Visualize – The athlete has to be able to visualize the landmarks and goals and recognize them when they happen
  5. Celebrate – You have to enjoy yourself and know when to relax

Snapshot 2 (6-25-2014 4-07 PM)In the next few weeks I will be visiting with a number of small business professionals (we have been calling them small business All-Americans) in an attempt to refine this list using their philosophies on each of these subjects. In the end I am going to be able to use this information to put together the All-American Business Model (you see what I did there?).

Jeremy Overton is a Wabash Graduate from the class of 2000 and the owner of The Overton Network. He uses his network as a means of connecting people in the Haubstadt, IN community with one another. In fact, his expertise in strategic coaching and financial consulting has earned him the nickname, “Mr. Miyagi!”

Thanks to Lilly Endowment Inc. and Wabash College for making this whole thing possible.

Cheers,

Joey-san

PS – Be sure to check out Jeremy’s blog (click the Overton Network link above) for his perspective on the Indiana Internship Program, too!