Setting goals was just one of the lessons Downs spoke to students about Monday night at an event put on by the MSU Entrepreneurship Association, a group that offers students support in finding suitable business ideas.

The association was formed in August as a way for students to learn more about entrepreneurship and hear from real-life movers and shakers.

“We started because we wanted to be a network for entrepreneurs at Michigan State,” said Andrea Saieh, the association’s president. “There wasn’t really anything established that actually encouraged students to become entrepreneurs, so what we want to do is be that encouragement.”

To be a member, there is a $35 fee which allows those students unique access to professional investors in the form of a competition that will take place next semester.

Beginning in January, members will be given workshops geared toward starting their own businesses and then will partake in a competition judged by professional investors to see what kinds of ideas will or will not work in real-life situations.

“Students are going to develop their own business plan with their own ideas for business and are going to be presenting it to actual professionals,” said Saieh, a marketing and apparel and textile design sophomore.

Downs shared some of the personal experiences that shaped him and gave students encouragement while stressing the importance of hard work.

“The students should learn to stay focused, to know themselves and to put themselves in a position to be lucky,” Downs, 42, said.

The year’s final speaker is Bob Fish will present Dec. 3. Fish is the co-founder and CEO of Beaner’s Coffee — which will change its name to Biggby Coffee in January 2008.

Students who attended found Downs to be a helpful speaker in regards to being an entrepreneur.

“I’m interested in starting my own business. I idolize people like Mike Ilitch — a self-made man — and I see college as the transition years,” said Brad Beesley, a general management sophomore and member of the association.