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Speaker asks young entrepreneurs: ‘What is your Everest?’

February 26th, 2015 Posted in Opinion

Martin Frey has spent decades in the business world, but when it came time to give advice to the Utah State University Entrepreneurship Club on Wednesday, he turned to the top of the world.

The former managing director of the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development told club members gathered in Huntsman Hall that the lessons he learned during a 51-day climb of Mount Everest in 2011 could be applied to building businesses.

During his first attempt to summit, Frey and his group were trapped by a storm for six days before being forced to retreat halfway down the mountain.

That, he said, is just how life is sometimes.

“There will be storms,” Frey said. “Your attitude as you face those storms is 10 times more important than the storm itself.”

Frey was one of eight of the 12 climbers from his group who ultimately reached the summit that year.

Frey encouraged students to identify their Everest — and the storms that may come along with it.

“Take on those challenges, know that you can change the world for the better,” Frey said.

Club president Spencer Bailey said he enjoyed the way Frey connected his adventures to the challenges of entrepreneurship.

“Being an entrepreneur is all about doing something you’re passionate about and doing something that’s different than the status quo,” he said. “As students I think that it is really important for us to hear from individuals who have been right where we are and doing exactly what we want to do in the future,” he said.

More information about the Entrepreneurship Club is available at huntsman.usu.edu/eclub/

Britnee Nuehring, Jaesea Gatherum, Madi Smith, Zach Sahely, Camille Strong and Bethany Heywood contributed to this article.

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