ENTR 201 Is a Sweet Class

Our intro course, ENTR 201 “Entrepreneurial Mindset and Innovation,” kicked off last night, with Professors Larry Schuffman and Yanli Zhang teaching this semester.

The class got off to a fun start with Schuffman and Zhang throwing candy to students who answered questions. Talk about a sweet class–that’s one way to reward class participation, huh? Although free candy won’t happen every class, it was still a nice touch for the first class.

One feature of ENTR 201 is that entrepreneurs visit the class to tell students about their journey, including overcoming failures. But last night, there were already entrepreneurs in the room: the students themselves. A quick survey of the room revealed at least five students who already have a business, including website design, fragrance sales, photography, fitness training, T-shirt design and healthier coffee sales.

But ENTR 201 is not just for students who want to own a business someday. Far from it. In fact, many of our ENTR students won’t, or don’t want to, own a business. “Entrepreneur” has a much, much wider definition than simply owning a business. That’s why ENTR 201 is called “Entrepreneurial Mindset and Innovation” — it teaches students how to develop the mindset of an entrepreneur, a valuable skill and talent that can be used in any career, whether you are working in a company with thousands of employees or a small accounting firm, or–yes–owning your own business. With so many industries–really, all industries–changing at such a fast pace, employees need to be innovative, creative and able to pivot. The same-old, same-old doesn’t work anymore. ENTR 201 teaches students how to be those desirable employees that companies want today.

Enrollment for ENTR 201 is full right now, and we have a waiting list for the course in case anyone needs to drop during the drop/add period. If you’d like to get on the waiting list or find out how to take ENTR 201 in spring 2015, please contact Sharon Waters at sharon.waters@montclair.edu or 973-655-6803.