Nick Walker / Scroll Photo
Todd Owen, a senior from Idaho Falls, and founder of Custom Built, is announced as BYU-Idaho Student Entrepreneur of the Year and receives a check from Paul Allen, keynote speaker of the Entrepreneur Conference on Thursday.

Starting early in the morning with a panel discussion, the day was filled with information. Guest speakers from around the country shared their expertise on business and students learned about the real world.

Each of the guest speakers was invited because they had something to share with some students. BettiJo Hirschi, founder of Bath by BettiJo, The Mommy Times and Another Leaf Designs, spoke about how to act like a big fish when you can barely swim.

Hirschi is not what might be considered a typical entrepreneur. As a mother with one child and a second on the way, she said her daughter is her greatest work. Hirschi opened her first business while she was working for the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C.

Running a business is not all fun and games, Hirschi explained. “But with the right background and experience, anyone can do it,” Hirschi said. She also taught some lessons she has learned from Bill Gates, the most important of which is to “believe in yourself and your ideas.”

The Student Entrepreneur of the Year Contest showed that many students at BYU-Idaho believe in themselves and went home with awards to prove it.

Todd Owen, a senior from Idaho Falls, and founder of Custom Built, won the title of Student Entrepreneur of the Year. Owen started his construction business in April of this year.

The business, which focuses on construction of small projects such as garages, sheds and storage units, has grown immensely in the six months it has been in operation. “It’s been excellent,” Owen said. “I now have nine employees beside myself and we have generated over $150,000.”

With the boom of his business, Owen has found it difficult to keep a balance between work and school. “The most demanding thing is that customers are usually homeowners, which means they are used to things getting done between eight and five,” Owen said. “It’s important to have a good enough connection with the customer that they can understand my schedule.”

Trusting his employees and delegating has also been important for Owen. All 10 of them are students at BYU-I and Owen said all of the other nine employees deserve credit for the award.

Although Custom Built won the prize, Owen said there were a lot of great companies in the competition. “The finalists and semifinalists had incredible companies,” Owen said. “It was a lot of fun to compete with people that I knew had done a lot of work.”

Russel Ellsworth, a junior from Othello, Wash., won second place for his business, Water Tight Construction Exteriors. Bret Matson, a senior from St. Anthony, Idaho, won third place for his business, Matson Construction Management.

The winners were each awarded a monetary prize. First place recieved $3,000, second place received $1,500 and third place received $500, which was donated by the Idaho National Laboratory.

The conference provided information to many students. Jordan Moon, a freshman from Seattle, Wash., said he learned a lot about what you need to do to be an entrepreneur.

Moon attended the Student Entrepreneur of the Year award ceremony and was very impressed with the students and their businesses. “They had the determination and drive to do things,” Moon said.

Moon doesn’t have any plans as of yet to start a business, but said he is interested in Entrepreneurial work.

“I came out of the conference with new skills and information,” Moon said. “That will be helpful.”