University Professor Offers Students the Opportunity to 'Test Drive' Entrepreneurship With Vector Marketing

SOURCE: Vector Marketing

Jul 26, 2010 10:20 ET

University Professor Offers Students the Opportunity to 'Test Drive' Entrepreneurship With Vector Marketing

CALGARY, AB--(Marketwire - July 26, 2010) -  Studies show that more than 30 percent of the population has an interest in starting or owning their own business, and that this number is even higher for students entering business school. With that in mind, more and more college professors are giving their students the chance to move beyond the theory of the classroom and gain real-world experience in running their own businesses. Derek Hassay, assistant professor of marketing at University of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business, gives his students the opportunity to gain real world sales experience via his Selling Smiles 101 program. Selling Smiles 101 combines entrepreneurship with civic responsibility. Hassay's students work with Vector Marketing Corporation to sell Cutco Cutlery products via in-home personal demonstrations, donating all of their commissions to the Children's Wish Foundation of Canada.

"Today's students are very self-confident in their abilities," says Hassay. "They want to be their own boss, to be in control. But on the flip-side of that, many of them are still very protected by their parents and have never been truly self-reliant. Before jumping off a cliff without a net into the entrepreneurial world, I believe that students can benefit immeasurably from 'test driving' entrepreneurship while they are still in college. The best way I have found that enables them to do that is to work as independent contractors in direct sales."

For the past eight years, Hassay has chosen to partner with Vector Marketing, the direct sales division of Cutco Corporation, for this purpose. As part of his class, Hassay's upper-level marketing students are required to set up their own independent contractor businesses to sell Cutco Cutlery. Hassay says that this experience enables his students to 'test drive' entrepreneurism while still in college. The benefits they receive include:

• Training to be self-reliant
• A sense of pride of accomplishment
• Experience of running their own business, including time management, goal setting, creating a personal plan, making presentations, handling rejection
• Providing a "safe" entry into the entrepreneurial world, since there is minimal start-up cost and a large support network.

"By working as independent contractors for a company such as Vector Marketing, I feel that my students are able to experience the perfect balance of entrepreneurism, where responsibility and authority for achieving their goals rests with the individual, while at the same time operating and learning within an environment of teamwork provided by the company. This allows the students to 'test drive' entrepreneurism in a safe environment and decide if it is something they want to pursue out of college."

Hassay points out that even those students who discover that a career in direct sales is not for them, end up with an edge over their competitors when applying for traditional jobs. "Regardless of whether or not they stick with direct sales, the students who learn to become self-reliant via experience in direct sales will find that employers will value their experience and how it can help in the traditional workforce.

"In general," says Hassay, "I can't think of a better way for college students to 'test drive' entrepreneurship than by working in direct sales while still in college. Regardless of whether it turns out to be what they want to pursue, they will have gained valuable business experience and learned a great deal about themselves that will benefit them in their future careers."

About Cutco Cutlery and Vector Marketing
Cutco Cutlery is a 61-year-old company with headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Olean, New York. Vector Marketing is the company's sales division, coordinating all sales for Cutco Cutlery through a national network of college students who sell products through in-home personal demonstrations. More than 13 million US households have a Cutco product.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Diana Laverdure
561-313-9817
dlaverdure@comcast.net

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