Professor shares insights in book form

Since Mike Glauser’s 2014 cross-country bike tour, visiting 100 business along with way, he’s been pondering the practices entrepreneurs utilize that allow them to be successful.

Now he’s sharing his insights in a new book “Building your dream on Mainstream America: How to create a great company living where you love, doing what you love,” scheduled for release early next year.

“The purpose of the book is to teach people how to create their own jobs and their own companies,” said Glauser, director of the Jeffrey D. Clark Center for Entrepreneurship at USU. “More of us are going to have to be self employed in the future.”

In a presentation Tuesday night in the Eccles Conference Center, Glauser introduced topics that will be touched on in his book, such as the importance of thinking positively and having a clear purpose among others.

“Those who have a ‘why’ to live for can endure any ‘how,’” Glauser said, quoting Viktor Frankl.

Glauser said one of the benefits of starting a business oneself is that it can make you feel happier and more secure.

“There’s a ton of research that shows people are happier if they control their own future,” Glauser said. “If you have your own business and you know that you don’t have to rely on someone else to take care of you, you’re going to feel more secure and satisfied.”

While Glauser’s book will include information on various facets of entrepreneurship, the focus will be why and how one should start their own business.

Students from many majors, including those outside of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business, agreed that knowing how to start a business will benefit them in their lives.

“I’m one of those girls that always wants to open up a cute bakery or some sort of business,” said Sadie Hughes, a freshman majoring in English. “I really don’t know anything about business. I just know you have to really be prepared.”

Glauser said many people share Hughes’s notion that being prepared is important in entrepreneurship, even going so far as to call fear of unpreparedness the greatest obstacle prospective business owners face.

“Most people that decide they want to be entrepreneurs are fearful that they can’t do it, and they lack the confidence,” he said. “As soon as they find the key principles to success and follow them, they gain confidence and believe, ‘Hey, I can do this.’”

In 2016, the public will have the opportunity to learn these principles with the release of Glauser’s book.

“I … want to know what other people have experienced,” Hughes said. “When I sign up for classes, I ask people if they’ve taken it before, so like that, I would want to get other people’s ideas before starting a business.”

Jeff Johnson, a senior majoring in economics, said he think it will be an interesting read.

“For me it’s really important to hear from people that are successful in business to learn from their mistakes and their successes,” Johnson said.

—levi.henrie@aggiemail.usu.edu