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Sofiya and Bill
by Sofiya Semeniuk
Bill Rancic, the original winner of the television show The Apprentice, was the keynote speaker at the 33rd annual OBSA Business Banquet March 18, and he left a lasting impression on me.
I took away three things I believe will help me in my pursuit of becoming a Chartered Accountant and also help me with my current involvement in the Okanagan chapter of Students In Free Enterprise.
But first, some personal history.
I joined SIFE Okanagan in October and took on the role of project manager for the Fraud Prevention project— a task I was, at that time, alone in tackling.
Inititially I wasn’t sure if I would be able to run the project on my own especially since I hadn’t even taken the Fraud Examination course. I also had very little project management experience, in comparison to the other SIFE project managers.
After last week’s awards ceremony, I realized my situation was similar to that of Rancic’s who, while on The Apprentice, was was surrounded by contestants who seemed to be a step up above him because of pedigrees from universities like Harvard.
But to that he said: “The key isn’t what you have in terms of a pedigree, it’s how you use it to stand out from the crowd.”
Seeing that he felt in a similar way as felt when I first joined SIFE, it showed me that even someone so successful can feel the same way.
Bill attributes his success in large part to the creativity he displayed in tackling the many challenges presented on The Apprentice, such as selling lemonade on the streets of New York City.
I can apply this to the current fraud project: find a way to make it stand out from other SIFE projects in the country, and find innovative and creative ways to increase awareness of fraud in our community.
The second piece of advice that I took away from the presentation was to seize all opportunities and make your time count.
I think people can get into a routine that is comfortable and following a path that is predictable. Although this gives direction and establishes clear goals, it doesn’t allow one to take advantage of the unexpected opportunities that come up.
Those opportunities can teach you new things, such as what I am learning. For example, how to be a project manager, the complex issues of fraud, and how to network with interesting and inspiring people, while also continuing to be an active member of my community.
The third thing Bill said what what made the biggest impact on me.
“We are born with only two natural fears, the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises, and all our other fears, such as the fear of failure, we develop throughout our lives.”
I believe that those developed fears slow down our progress if we let them interfere with our goals. To overcome my fears I will try to regularly do new and different things, try not to get stuck on the small details, and be willing to take a few more risks.
