One of the things I have learned over the past few months is that more than a few SPA grads have turned to entrepreneurship in one form or another since graduation. While many of our classmates have had long and productive careers in government, politics, the law, and related fields, the company and organization creation bug seems to have made the rounds as well. Recently I have connected with Amy Holzman (SPA/'89) and she was nice enough to take the time to answer a few questions for me.
You went from getting a degree in political science to launching a startup travel web site. How did that happen?
Like most political science majors, I had a strong interest in politics, government, public affairs, and certainly, the law. And, like most poli sci majors, my intent was to pursue a law degree upon graduation from AU. The last two jobs that I had in college were working for The Department of Interior and Citibank. I graduated within a couple of years after the stock market crash, and as a result, many students who may have pursued MBA degrees were now applying to law schools. Competition was fierce, and I decided to take one year off to work and save some money before going to law school. Upon graduation, I accepted a full-time position with Citibank; my one-year off turned into five years with that company alone. During this experience, I awoke one night with a revelation about how companies can effect increased profitability by actually walking the customer service talk – and I had a valuable process to help them do that. It would be a few years before I cut my teeth as an entrepreneur, but in 1997, I created my first company, Service Solutions International, Ltd.
Creating a company from scratch is an incredible challenge – and amazingly fulfilling. It provides an education that one cannot be taught, but must experience. In 2005, after struggling to find, and safely and easily rent a vacation home on Cape Cod, I took the skills that I learned and honed through the years to launch my current venture, Keys to..., LLC, and www.keysto.com. While emerging from Phase One, Keysto.com is a proprietary; global; online; and secure real-time reservation system for short- and long-term vacation and extended-stay property, and related services and products. Keysto.com also interactively provides a spectrum of useful information, as well as additional valuable, tangible features and benefits to many kinds of users, including: vacation and extended-stay rental property owners and administrators (listing and leasing agents, management companies, et al); short-term and extended-stay travelers; Professional Members, such as travel, real estate, and corporate agents; and related third-party service and product vendors. It’s been very exciting working toward bringing to reality my visions as to how to meet global needs and wants in the private vacation property market.
What lessons have you learned from entrepreneurship so far?
Being an entrepreneur is very challenging, and very rewarding. You have to be able to weather the numerous peaks and valleys that you will encounter on the journey. As an entrepreneur, you can engage in every aspect of the process, turning your vision into reality – and seeing your vision become reality is an incredible feeling. Of course, as with most things, creating a company, and certainly a successful company, is a collaborative effort. It’s important to recognize that you can’t do everything, and you aren’t an expert in everything. Recognizing that you need to enlist the skills and expertise of others, delegate responsibilities, and empower others to do their jobs well, is key. I also believe very strongly that you must take care of your internal customers in order for them to be able to take care of your external customers. As an entrepreneur, you set the culture for your company.
What is the most valuable thing you took away from your AU experience?
I had a wonderful experience and received a very high quality of education at American University. It’s difficult to pinpoint only one most valuable thing that I took away from my AU experience because because I think that there were many valuable aspects. However, if I had to choose only one, I might say that the more social education that I received as a result of the diversity of the student population and the incredible cultural offerings and opportunities both at American University and in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area tremendously influenced and impacted my life in many positive ways. Truly, the American University community is so fortunate to have such broad-reaching global access and exposure.
What would your AU classmates be most surprised to know about you?
...probably that, while I have made my home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, I still miss life in Washington, D.C.! And while I will always foster my entrepreneurial spirit, I still hope to complete my law degree and pass the bar exam someday...
Brian Keane, a 1989 AU graduate and President of the Alumni Board, took time out of his schedule to visit with Beyond Ward Circle and discuss his career and his current involvement with the school. As President of SmartPower, he markets clean energy to consumers in practical terms. He discusses how he got involved with the organization and how they accomplish their mission.
Jen Consalvo has a BA and MBA from AU and now is the Director of Personalization at AOL. (Enough acronyms for you?) She was kind enough to share a few minutes of her time with me to talk about her career and reflect on her time at American (SOC/BA/'94 and Kogod/MBA/'00). She even endured some pretty hefty audio technical difficulties, for which I cannot apologize enough, though the final product is fortunately quite easy to listen to.