After graduating from Indiana University with his bachelor’s in communications, Brian Willsey ‘12 (MBA) struggled to find any employment, much less a fulfilling role. The Great Recession made opportunities few and far between and highly competitive, even for college graduates. Brian eventually found a job with Par Masters, a golf training center in Noblesville, Indiana. As a golfer himself, this role offered a paycheck, a bit of fun, and, unbeknownst to him at the time, a kickstart to his entrepreneurial journey.
About two years later, Brian moved on to a new role at a bank. While it was helping to pay the bills, it was not fulfilling to Brian at all. It was then that he realized he needed to make a change.
“That job was really the final push that I needed to do something different and that I wasn’t fully prepared to be where I wanted to be in the working world,” said Brian. “So I decided to go back to school.”
And that’s when Brian discovered the MBA program at the University of Indianapolis.
The MBA program at UIndy allows its students to pursue a concentration to tailor their education to their interests. Originally, Brian considered adding a marketing concentration to his MBA path, but after taking a finance course with Dr. Matt Will, he realized that his interests actually lied in the world of corporate finance.
“Dr. Will explained finance in a way that I could understand but also that drove me to want to learn more,” said Brian. “His knowledge and control of the material was engaging and I just gravitated toward that.”
Brian’s experience at UIndy could not have been more different than his experience at IU. With small class sizes, Brian was able to connect with his professors on a personal level. These relationships strengthened his understanding of the material and grew his professional network.
“I had a great experience at UIndy. It was a completely different school environment that I had come from at IU,” said Brian. “Small campus, small class experience, one-on-one time with professors that you don’t get in that 300 person lecture room.
“I would say just a lot of the professors were really awesome to have. I got to know them; they got to know me. Everybody was very receptive to diving in and taking the time to answer questions. So that was a great experience.”
While it wasn’t the path he thought he’d take, it was the path that would open doors for him after graduation, giving him the freedom to follow his interests.
“The MBA program really laid the foundation to some of that basic knowledge that I knew would be beneficial no matter where I went,” said Brian. “I was in real estate development before I jumped into the entrepreneurial space. So the program did help me get that corporate job, but outside of that, it’s base knowledge that I got from the program. Certain skills, practices, and being able to speak about the financial side of the business world are all things that helped build the foundation of what I learned to take the next step.”
In 2012, Brian graduated from the MBA program and enthusiastically pursued his entrepreneurial interests. He went on to co-found a distillery in Indianapolis called Hotel Tango. Building a business from the ground up was no easy feat, but Brian felt confident thanks to his MBA experience.
“I was better prepared for building the business because of my MBA studies at UIndy,” said Brian. “I basically started a business from nothing and built it into a multi-million dollar organization. I think that would have been much more challenging had I not gone through that program.”
Today, Brian serves as founder and CEO of Tinker House Events, an event venue in downtown Indianapolis. In this role, Brian focuses on the overall business strategy and finances of the organization. While his journey wasn’t without its challenges, headaches, and sleepless nights, he has no regrets about where he is now: “I enjoy the hell out of it.”
Photo credit: Indianapolis Business Journal/Eric Learned
