Kent State alumnus and president of MC Sign Company Timothy Eippert spoke about creating a successful national business Thursday. Oct. 16, at the Kent State University Hotel and Conference Center.

Eippert’s speech, titled “Entrepreneurial Product Development, Innovative Services and Tech Strategies,” focused on what Eippert has learned in the past 25 years of running a business and what students should focus on when entering the work world.

MC Sign Company is a business focusing on making and servicing signs for companies such as Toys R Us, Kentucky Fried Chicken and U.S. Bank. Eippert bought the company after he graduated from Kent in 1992. At the time, it consisted of only one truck but now services signs throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Guam.

Eippert said the title of his book would be “Think Big” because he wanted a bigger and better way of doing business.

“Who would have thought making a business of signs?” Eippert said. “How in the world do you make money doing sign service?”

Toys R Us spends $1 million on servicing signs each year, Eippert said. Even when the recession hit in 2008 and companies were going out of business, the signs still stayed lit. The company wants to keep its image up especially in its last moments, Eippert said.

Audience members who aspire to be entrepreneurs gained insight on how to achieve their future goals. Eric Dubitsky, assistant director of advancement in the College of Business Administration, said he wants to follow the theory of “Think Big.”

Dubitsky said he wants to keep thinking “of what my next move is and think bigger than I already have.”

Eippert said he believes in essentail characteristics to keep all businesses running.

“One thing I found is watching how all business leaders put the same fundamentals around every business,” he said. “Start with a good product, have awesome customer service and surround it with technology to drive the business and product.”

Eippert finds customer service one of the most important factors for a company. He declared himself a “customer freak” and said “you’re only as good as your last service call.”

Felix Offodile, a professor in the College of Business Administration, wants to stress to students the importance of going to class every day like Eippert did.

“You have to persist in whatever you’re doing,” he said. “Students have to take advantage of everything the university has to offer.”

Contact Alyssa Schmitt at [email protected].