Tiffany Cayado was star-struck as soon as she saw Bill Rancic, first-season winner of ‘The Apprentice,’ walk down the aisle to make his speech in Lender Auditorium at Syracuse University.

‘Watching ‘The Apprentice’ in high school was what made me choose business as a study,’ said Cayado, a sophomore marketing major. ‘So he’s kind of like a role model to me.’

Most of the crowd that filled the auditorium’s seats for Rancic’s lecture on Monday night in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management seemed to recognize the speaker who won the opportunity to be Donald Trump’s right-hand man. Hands shot up when Rancic asked who in the audience had seen the show before.

For the next hour, Rancic, now a best-selling author and TV show host, kept the crowd engaged with humorous anecdotes about his life before and after reality show fame and dispensed practical business advice.Rancic said there are three traits that successful entrepreneurs share.

‘They’re good decision makers … think of creative solutions to problems … and have a never-quit attitude,’ he said. ‘They fight, fight, fight and never give up.’

Rancic used his own creative aptitude to market his first major entrepreneurial endeavor, Cigars Around the World. Before Cigars Around the World became a profitable business, Rancic went around to costume shops and bought ‘those nerdy, coke-bottle glasses’ to send to local Chicago radio shows along with a cigar, an explanatory letter and a note that read, ‘Please take a closer look at my business idea.’

The ball eventually got rolling after a slew of paid radio advertising, and Rancic landed the company’s first televised promotional spot on ‘The Danny Bonaduce Show.’

‘People think I learned the art of negotiation from Donald Trump, but I actually first used it when I sat down with ‘The Danny Bonaduce Show’ producers,’ Rancic said.

The producers said they would feature Rancic’s cigars in the show’s holiday gift segment in exchange for his appearance in their ‘eligible bachelor’ spot. Rancic agreed, on the condition that his business partner could appear on the show as well.

Cigar sales skyrocketed as Rancic began appearing on major talk shows. Soon after, his friend’s mother suggested he compete in an upcoming reality series called ‘The Apprentice.’

After his victory on the show, he credited it with giving him increased confidence and public recognition, and an assurance that ‘he’s doing something right.’

Rancic said that he still maintains close ties with Donald Trump and that he learned the value of loyalty and ‘thinking big’ from his former boss.

‘I’m a very cautious guy by nature, but in retrospect, I should have taken Cigars Around the World and thrown the net out farther,’ he said.

Rancic also took a jab at fellow ‘Apprentice’ competitor Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, who gained notoriety for her ‘diva’ attitude and ‘catty’ personality, when asked how he deals with tough personalities in business.

‘There’s a difference between tough personalities and crazy,’ he joked. On a more serious note, he said, ‘You have to get out of that environment and get to know them on a different level. Take the higher road and be the bigger person.’

Rancic said taking risks is a vital part of entrepreneurship, but that proceeding with caution is also necessary.

Above all, Ranci said passion is needed before anything else in order to excel at a job.

‘If your heart isn’t in it, then you’ll never be successful,’ he said. ‘Enjoy what you’re doing and hopefully make an impact with it. Be a good steward of the success you’ve been given.’

Karen Gutelius, an SU alumna, said she was impressed by this sentiment.

‘He has solid values,’ she said. ‘You don’t have to be an entrepreneur to respect what he’s saying, especially the part about paying it forward.’

Fellow audience members said they found Rancic to be relatable and engaging, and appreciated that he was able to keep the lecture informative without the technical jargon.

‘He covered everything without being boring,’ said Ashley Nelson-Hornstein, a junior information technology major. ‘I was almost glad that it wasn’t tailored to the college experience because I wasn’t looking for course-related material, but more of what to find in the real business world.’

Cayado, the avid Rancic fan, has run into Omarosa in New York City. But she said even that doesn’t measure up to seeing her role model.

‘Oh yeah,’ she said. ‘Much better.’

shlee10@syr.edu

Published on November 17, 2008 at 12:00 pm