Last Thursday’s Midwest Entrepreneurs class began with a time-lapse YouTube video of the construction of an $875,000 grain elevator roughly five miles east of Monmouth, IL. The man behind the project is Will Zimmerman, a 2011 Monmouth College Business Administration graduate—and former Midwest Entrepreneurs class member–who owns and operates Avon, IL-based Modern Grain Systems.

Today’s blog entry is written by present class member Raahsaan Fox.

The YouTube video that began class last Thursday can be found at the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qELQMCDRtk

Enjoy…

Prof. Gabel

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Last class we heard from Will Zimmerman who is a Monmouth College alumni. Will graduated in 2011 and ever since then he has never looked back. Will came up with his idea for his grain storage construction business while he was a senior at Monmouth College. He drew up his business plan for one of his classes and used that same plan to pursue the proper funding for his business. His business plan was approved and he received a $200,000 loan to start the business.

Something interesting Will pointed out during his presentation was that a lot of his peers didn’t approve of his idea and thought he would fail terribly and cost his family tons of money. Despite the negative reactions he went forward with his plan and today he is a steady name when it comes to building and servicing storage units in this area.

After his business became up and running one of Will’s top priorities was to pay off his loans as quickly as possible; something he had learned as a business student here at Monmouth College. He said he wanted to do this because the longer you have lingering loans the higher the interest will be and the harder it will be to pay them off. He also pointed out how he didn’t believe in using the money he made to make his life better. He used the money to make the business better. “ You have to spend money to make money” I think is a quote to live by for all business owners because some people forget that and when they make money they never want to spend it.

Will pointed out how his main problem with his business was the fact that he was 21 when he first started and the people who worked for him were much older and they had a hard time taking orders from a younger boss.  He also made it clear that the thing that separates his business from his competition is his work is second to none. He makes sure he is always available to help his customers and his work ethic is unmatchable.

Will’s success just goes to show that anything is possible if you believe in yourself. He went from a partying college student to President of Modern Grain Systems. If that doesn’t give you hope then I don’t know what else could. Will is a good example of how  hard work and dedication  can get you ahead in the world!!

Raahsaan Fox