The Thunderbird Entrepreneurship Club and the Center for Global Entrepreneurship were honored to host Shawn D. Nelson, CEO of Lovesac and winner of the television show "Rebel Billionaire," to speak to the Thunderbird community and share his amazing story.


Shawn Nelson

Nelson is an entrepreneur and self-made millionaire at age 27. He has beaten all odds and overcome adversity to become the world's foremost manufacturer of oversized sacs and other Lovesac specialties. In his speech Nelson shared a number of reasons why he believes he has been successful. He has dubbed these bits of personal philosophy "shawnisms," and encourages everyone to live by them.

His first "shawnism" is, "Just do something." As simple as it sounds, it definitely rings true. In a world of theories and grand schemes that are never acted upon, it is sometimes the entrepreneur who acts, rather than speaks, who is successful.

Nelson recommends that one take initiative and move forward, regardless of whether or not the plan is perfect. As he puts it, no plan is ever perfect. In the time that many entrepreneurs take to rewrite and rehash their business plans, someone else has already taken the same idea and capitalized on the opportunity. If you have a good idea and you know it, put together a plan and get started today.

His second "shawnism" to live by says, "Be what you want to be, not what you are." Nelson says that if he had viewed himself and his business as nothing more than a college student with a beanbag fetish, he would have never been successful. He chose instead to view himself as a professional and his business as the world's leading manufacturing operation of his product.

Both were true. It is just a matter of vision and interpretation. In other words, take yourself and your business seriously. Dare to believe. Be professional, dogged, and relentless in the pursuit of your dreams and you will achieve them.

His third "shawnism" says, "Embrace economic pressure." Nelson believes that economic pressure often drives success. If a person has to perform, a person will perform. As Thunderbirds, we can all relate well to the concept of economic pressure. In Nelson's case, at age 24, just two years before his business exploded into a multimillion dollar manufacturing and franchise business, he was up to his ears in credit card debt with no apparent way of getting out. Nelson says that it was this pressure which drove him to work harder, move faster, and be more creative. He essentially had no choice but to perform.

Nelson recommends that entrepreneurs embrace economic pressure in order to launch their businesses. It is sometimes more important to jump in and move forward in order to grow and learn. Without this experience of pressure, many of the best and most successful businesses would have never been launched. In other words, go for it!

Nelson did an excellent job of communicating his fascinating story to the audience. As his "shawnisms" demonstrate, he is not a typical business school type. However, it may well be his unique approach that drives his success. Over and above his public image, Nelson was willing to put himself out there and share his personal philosophies of life in a manner that we could all relate to. For this we do thank him.

Now, it's off to take a loan, be who I want to become, and start that business that I've been talking about for far too long… Cheers!