Dr. Matthew G. Kenney is President of Kenney College,  a specialized graduate school offering a MBA in Entrepreneurship. He founded Kenney College, which is licensed by the Florida Department of Education’s Commission on Independent Education, with a simple mission: Enriching Entrepreneurial Minds. As both a scholar and entrepreneur, Dr. Matthew Kenney believes that educational and commercial opportunities are being missed because entrepreneurs are not being instructed in a way complementary to how they learn. An award winning MBA professor and pioneer in the are of online education, Dr. Kenney has a goal to fundamentally change how entrepreneurs are instructed, believing there must be more emphasis on individualized instruction; small student-faculty ratios; and more academic freedom for both students and professors. He is the author Entrepreneurship: Myths, Realities & Rewards (2007) and Academic Entrepreneurship (2009), both available via Amazon.com, and his scholarly work has been published in peer-reviewed management, marketing, technology and entrepreneurship journals.

Dr.Kenney grew-up working in a family business and started his own company at 23. His entrepreneurial success led to consulting opportunities and an appointment as Entrepreneur-in-Residence for Johnson & Wales University. He has earned his A.S., B.S., and MBA from Johnson & Wales University, and his Doctorate in Business Administration (marketing specialization) from Nova Southeastern University’s H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship.

What are you working on right now?

I’m having a great time building Kenney College.  Higher education is a great industry because you are constantly meeting and working with talented and ambitious people, but often the work is theoretical. It’s fun building a brand again, and conducting research that will lead to amazing opportunities. My team and I are currently working on several grants that are at the cutting-edge of the study of entrepreneurship as a science. We’re building an elite brand dedicated to understanding the entrepreneurial mind, which is very exciting. The work we’re doing is making a real contribution to society.

3 Trends that excite you?

The study of entrepreneurship is my passion and vocation, and I’m fascinated by how innovation and creativity manifest in human beings. Basically, I’m excited by learning more about the entrepreneurial mind and how it works. Three trends that excite me now, and which I am working on are:

1) Stimulating entrepreneurship in the sciences.

To reduce our dependence on foreign oil and regain jobs lost from the Great Recession we’ll need more commercialization of scientific research, especially university based research. Academic genius does not generally translate into entrepreneurial genius. Technology transfer (e.g. commercializing research) will be at the center of our recovery, but opportunities will be missed until scientists begin to develop entrepreneurial traits. Our team at Kenney College is working hard to be a bridge for technology transfer and we’re very excited about it, especially in the bio-energy arena.

2) Examining the link between differently-abled learners and entrepreneurship.

There has been more focus recently on examining the relationship between learning disabilities and entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs are far more likely to be classified as learning disabled, but the coping skills developed by entrepreneurs with dyslexia, dygraphia, dyscalculia etc. seem to enhance entrepreneurial abilities. Our team is doing a lot of research in this area. We’d like to see the phrase learning disabled replaced with differently-abled, since many entrepreneurs view their so-called disability as a blessing.

3) Online education.

This is the fastest growing area of Higher Education and Department of Education meta-analysis has shown that it is often more effective at helping students attain learning outcomes than on-site courses. However, colleges offering online programs struggle with higher levels of attrition. There are many factors for this but it’s my belief, as an entrepreneur and marketing professor, that colleges are marketing to online students incorrectly. Most are trying to replicate a traditional classroom, with 30:1 student faculty ratios and McDonaldized instructional materials. This simply doesn’t work. Online students have different psychographic and demographic profiles. We believe the future in online instruction must, among other things, offer more customization of instruction and tailoring instruction to student learning styles.

How do you bring ideas to life?

It begins with research. Before bringing a product or service to market we need to have the confidence to know there is a likely customer waiting for us upon completion. Experience and intuition are important also, but research findings give me a lot of confidence. Earning the ability for Kenney College to offer a graduate degree was a huge accomplishment for me personally and our team, but it wouldn’t have been possible without literally years of research. Every paper and assignment I did as a doctoral student, including my dissertation, was aligned with my goal of building Kenney College. Once you do the research the opportunity begins to crystallize. For example, when you visit our home-page, you’ll note it looks nothing like any other college.

It is designed to appeal to kinesthetic learners as this is the learning style of most entrepreneurs, which is our target market. Kinesthetic learners are those who learn by doing and represent about 5% of the population. My advice to any aspiring entrepreneur is to remember that research separates ideas from opportunities. Find data that supports your intuition and it will give you, and your stakeholders, more confidence.

What is one mistake that you’ve made that our readers can learn from?

When I was launching my first business I underestimated the importance of planning and researching. For example, my first venture was a fresh-foods business. I would produce and deliver all-natural products directly from my shop to local stores. The sales were so strong that a supermarket chain I was selling to wanted to distribute the products chain-wide, or to about 60 locations across multiple states. Rather than making multiple little deliveries, I’d make 1-2 per week into a central warehouse. Sounded great at the time, but the warehouse wasn’t equipped to handle fresh items very well. Lobster salad cannot sit unrefrigerated on a pallet like a case of corn, but it did. I learned a valuable and expensive lesson: Distribution is probably the most important and most difficult aspect of the marketing mix.

What is one idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

Paradigm shifts don’t happen too often, but when they do get on board and be a leader. There is currently one happening in Higher Education as we shift from an online vs. on-site mentality to one that views both methods equally. Outside Higher Ed, I’d be looking to the bio-energy field as the ‘next big thing’. The technology is there, it’s mainly a question now of reducing costs via economies-of-scale and distribution. There is too much money flowing into the industry for there not to be, in my opinion, a major breakthrough. If I were beginning my entrepreneurial career I’d be in this space.

Where do I envision Kenney College in 10 years?

I see it as an elite brand and the leader in graduate level entrepreneurship education. There are many fine undergraduate and graduate programs across the world teaching entrepreneurship, but our goal is to develop successful alumni, instructional techniques, research findings that make us the gold standard.

What impact higher education has had on your development as an entrepreneur?

I used to be very frustrated by the educational system, especially high school. I felt like I was misunderstood and that school was a waste of time. It wasn’t until I went to college and studied entrepreneurship that I realized that I wasn’t the problem. The problem was that I wasn’t instructed in a way complementary to the way I  learn. Once I was with other entrepreneurs learning became fun, and the undergrad experience helped me learn about myself.

As a MBA candidate I learned more about how others saw the world. For example, I better understood corporate culture, which helped me become more successful selling to big companies. I learned about organizational behavior and began to see the causes of employee problems, and how to solve them. More importantly, I saw that my ineffectiveness in some aspects of leadership were the likely causes of the problems. My MBA was a fantastic investment and transitioned me from a career in the grocery industry to one in academia. I would highly recommend a MBA to anyone who is in a transitional phase of their career.

The doctoral degree was much more academically rigorous and gave me great insight into the cultural aspects of academia, which I needed to achieve my personal goal of becoming a college president. I’d highly recommend a DBA or doctoral degree in general to anyone interested in a career in academia. Or, to consultants who want to use research to identify profitable
opportunities. The emphasis in a doctoral program is much more on conducting primary research and becoming a subject matter expert is a specific discipline. It’s more challenging than a MBA, but well worth the effort. It’ll fundamentally change the way you see most issues.

Connect:

Kenney MBA
Matthew Kenney on LinkedIn
Kenney College on Twitter
email: matthew@kenneymba.com

Sue is the co-founder of textSAT,  a national service that delivers daily SAT learning tips, via text message, thus offering teens and tweens a way to be SAT proactive, minus the active.

Sue knows tweens and teens well, as all of her professional incarnations have been tween/teen centered. She began her career as an art teacher in a top public high school in New York, a job she absolutely loved. She then went on to become a published, award winning children’s book author. Next, Sue added college essay coach to her resume, and additionally, she works as the art director of an extensive, cutting edge art program at a popular summer camp. Sue’s love of tweens and teens, coupled with her background in education and her ability to write with word count in mind has led her to take her first entrepreneurial voyage, starting a business that seamlessly incorporates many of her passions and skills.

What are you working on right now?

I started working on textSAT about a year ago. Text messaging has exploded from its humble roots as a way for tweens and teens to send short secret notes to each other, to a major method of safe, reliable and green information distribution. Text messaging is being used in unlimited ways and has clearly reached the tipping point. It’s a more common method of communication than talking. And over 99% of text messages are read. It’s an absolutely perfect platform for SAT test prep.

3 Trends that excite you?

The SMS explosion in particular and the mobile phone industry in general, electronic readers and websites like esty.com, where you can see what arts and crafts people are making all over the world.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I act on them. It’s the simplest thing in the world, but it took me about 25 years to figure it out. You have to get up in the morning with a list of things that you must, must do to bring you closer to your goal every single day. The biggest surprise I have found so far is that nothing on those lists were ever as hard as I imagined they would be.

What is one mistake you’ve made and what can we learn from it?

I waited too long to become an entrepreneur. I know now that moving forward on a great idea is not as hard as I thought it would be. On the contrary,  it is absolutely invigorating. It’s a rush like no other! My advice? Jump in. Don’t just daydream about great ideas. Get off the couch and act!

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away?

Right now, this very minute, the public is receptive to any and all text messaging services.

SAT prep is big business. What separates textSAT from the myriad of other choices out there?

textSAT wants kids to get an early start so they don’t find themselves cramming for a seriously important test. But we know kids, and we know that they don’t really want to do that. They want to be kids and have fun in their free time. Not study for a test that is years away. So textSAT brings the information right to them; in a pizza shop, the mall, their friend’s TV room. And we do it on a platform that they love, in a way that takes about ten seconds of their time. We make the information tween and teen scene friendly so it never feels textbooky, it feels like the text message that it is. It’s a completely painless way to test prep. And it works! Based on multiple surveys, kids are reading the messages and they’re retaining the information. They’re happy, and so are their parents!

What other things would you like to do in the future?

There are so many things I want to do! I want to get back to my art and design roots and create a line of jewelry that has been dancing around in my brain for some time. I want to write more books. I want to open a local arts and crafts shop that I can ride my bike to and where I can host free community events and author readings. I want to make every decade of my life better and more exciting than the one before.

Connect

TextSat

Sue Wilkowski’s book on Amazon

As President of Anvil Media, Inc., Kent Lewis is responsible for managing operations, marketing and business development to achieve the search engine marketing agency’s mission: to be one of the most respected search engine marketing agencies in the world. Current Anvil clients include Borders, Dr. Martens, gDiapers, Lucy Activewear, Moonstruck Chocolatier, Oregon State University, PC World, Planar, Trend Micro and Yesmail. He is also founder and acting President of Formic Media, a search engine marketing (SEM) agency focusing on the small business market.  With a background in integrated marketing, Lewis left a public relations agency in 1996 to start his Internet marketing career at a Web development firm, where he also created a free monthly lifestyle e-zine. Shortly thereafter, he built and managed his first search engine marketing team at local full-service marketing agency before co-founding Wave Rock Communications and later, eROI. Lewis was also Director of Marketing and Business Development at goodguys.com, an online electronics retailer. In 2001, Lewis created pdxMindShare an online career community and Portland-area networking event. He is also an adjunct professor at Portland State University, where he teaches SEM workshops. In 2003, he founded a charity fundraiser event, Anvil’s Annual Get SMART Gala, to raise awareness for SMART (Start Making a Reader Today) for which he also sits on the board. In 2005, Lewis co-founded SEMpdx, a trade organization for SEM professionals based in Portland, Oregon. He is also a member of EO, a global organization for entrepreneurs, and is a recipient of Portland Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 Award. Lewis sits on advisory boards for emerging companies like InSyght Consulting, NeutralSpace and Nozzle Media . He also speaks regularly at industry events and has been published in books and publications including DMNews, iMedia Connection, Portland Business Journal and Search Marketing Standard. When Lewis isn’t working or hanging out with his family, he likes to write about his travels and life experiences on his blog, The Kent Lewis Experience.

What are you working on right now?

Currently, I’m working with my co-instructor to retool slides for our upcoming SEM Workshop at Portland State University. The world of search engine marketing changes constantly, so we have to keep it fresh to stay relevant.

3 Trends that excite you?

The three trends that excite me most are: the (long overdue) US adoption of smart phones & mobile marketing, the growth of Web-based video and localized search engine marketing strategies and tactics. Mobile marketing is finally making headway in the US. That means we have new opportunities to target consumers with geo-specific messages and offers that are timely and relevant. I’m also excited about the opportunities surrounding Web video. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a 3 minute video is a library of content. Lastly, locally-based businesses have powerful new ways to reach customers via organic search, paid search and social media (including augmented reality). I look forward to seeing how these technologies and trends converge.

How do you bring ideas to life?

Short answer: Brute force. Long answer: It’s taken a few years to assemble one of the world’s best search engine & social media marketing teams at Anvil, which makes bringing ideas to life much easier. Outside of Anvil, my network has been instrumental in growing other business ideas.

What is one mistake that you made, and what did you learn from it?

My biggest mistake was not reconnecting with my former boss before he died unexpectedly of a massive heart attack. He gave me two major career opportunities, and after firing me, we didn’t talk for almost a year. I missed working with him, and weeks before dying, told his significant other that he missed working with me and looked forward to connecting in the near future. The lesson is that life it too short. If today was your last day on this planet, how would it change the way you spend your time? Don’t let petty disagreements or obligations keep you from what really matters: family, friends and doing exceptional work.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

Figure out what you’re extremely passionate about, then start a blog (or YouTube channel, podcast, forum or equivalent social media presence) and create compelling content around the topic until you build awareness, credibility and followers. From there, start to monetize your presence via sponsorships, advertising and affiliate marketing. Generate enough passive income to retire early or give yourself opportunities to create more balance in your life or career.

What resources have been instrumental to the growth and success of your businesses?

I rely on a variety of resources to ensure the success of my businesses. First and foremost, I rely on the resources and network of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) as well as a group of business  owners and executives on the Portland Advertising Federation Agency Roundtable. Between the two, I feel like I get the insights and validation I need when tackling new challenges.

What is your greatest personal extravagance?

Beyond my family, my greatest extravagances include snowboarding, driving fast cars and chocolate old fashioned donuts.

Connect

The Kent Lewis Experience

PDX Mindshare

Kent Lewis on Twitter