When Samuel Zell attended the University of Michigan in the 1960s, he and a partner made their first entrepreneurial decision to purchase an apartment building in Ann Arbor. Today he is “the largest landlord in the country” and ranks 112th on the 2005 Forbes Magazine list of the 400 richest Americans.

Zell told an audience of about 500 students, faculty, alumni and guests at the Max L. Rowe Auditorium on Monday afternoon that the key to success was simple: “Don’t be afraid to go right when everybody else goes left.”

As it turns out, hundreds of University students are on the right track.

Alex Ring, senior in Business, has been a source on finance for the New York Times. Brian Precious, Stephan Seyfert and Zachary Horn, MBA students, run Illini Professional Services, a consulting firm.

Although these student entrepreneurs are just a few in a University of thousands, they have distinguished themselves in the classroom and in the working world.

With entrepreneurial resource centers available in several colleges, including Engineering, ACES and Business, students have the opportunity to receive financial advising. The centers encourage students to attend speeches by guest lecturers, such as Zell.

Zell emphasized the importance of tenacity in a successful career and reflected on his own “unjustifiable” self-confidence.

“Ain’t nobody I know who’s been real successful who didn’t have passion and conviction,” Zell said.

Ring said his motivation and determination have set him apart as a young entrepreneur.

“I opened up my first mutual fund at age 12 and started investing in stocks at 14,” Ring said. “I have experience with investment and stocks that most don’t get started on until much later.”

Anthony Mendes, executive director of the Academy of Entrepreneurial Leadership, said college students are very passionate about entrepreneurship. He said the opportunities for success are high and the costs of failure are low.

“My advice is to take advantage of, and create your own opportunities, ” Mendes said. “We provide resources but students cannot wait for someone else to make it happen. They make it happen. (Entrepreneurship) is not just starting a business, it is channeling innovation and creativity into ventures that produce results, whether they are for social interests or for profit.”

Precious said marketing yourself is essential anywhere in the business world.

“We are dedicated to making a positive impact on the Champaign business community, and we feel fortunate that small businesses are in place,” Precious said.

Rhiannon Clifton, communications and marketing specialist for the College of Engineering’s Technical Entrepreneur Center, said the resources at the centers are specifically designed to get student ideas off the ground.

“Being in the university environment you have so many resources you wouldn’t have otherwise,” Clifton said. “You need to get momentum going so when you get out there in the real world you have something under your belt.”

Sharin Valia, junior in Business and president of the finance club, works with the Golder Center for Equity Research in the College of Business.

“We want to help students see the different industries and to see what is out there job-wise and opportunity-wise,” Valia said.

Mendes said because there are so many students with potential for success, it is hard to say who will be the next Sam Zell, but it is anybody’s game.

Although Zell has a net worth of $2.3 billion, he said profits are “really just a way of keeping score.”