Inspired Entrepreneurship

HCOB: Looking back to your time at Auburn, were there any mentors or faculty that you can point to that stood out to you as being in any way transformative in your thinking and entrepreneurial process? Bell : I would say in the beginning, the best resource I had was my brother, Neil, because he had already been in the billboard business for three or four years and he was always there to help. As for Harbert, I would point to Dr. Michael Kincaid — everything we did in his classes was in a speech format. He told us, “You’re not in here to read books. You’re in here to experience getting in front of people and talking about your business and pitching it.” When I walked into his class, I was afraid of speaking in public. But he said that ev- erything that you do is going to be in a presentation format It forced me to become comfortable with verbally expressing the nuts and bolts of my thinking. When I came out of Har- bert, I had already made close to a hundred speeches, and that experience has shaped how I lead meetings and discus- sions to this day. That was probably the biggest impact of the entrepreneurship program at Harbert for me.

HCOB: One final question — what advice would you give to students considering an entrepreneurial career path? Would you recommend they jump right into starting their own business as you did right out of college? Bell: I wish I had the definitive answer. On the one hand, there’s a lot of value in going to work in a normal work en- vironment where you can experience personal and profes- sional growth, a good manager that can show you the best method for how to lead, mentor, train and coach. That is something that you simply cannot get if you step out your first day out of college and begin running your own business. So, if you decide to go in that route, you’re going to have to find other ways to develop your leadership and management abilities outside of the work environment — which is what I did. As for the optimal time frame? For me, the ideal time is two or three, maybe four years after graduation, depending on the industry. That said, there may not be the perfect time for everyone.