'Apprentice' shares passion for entrepreneurship

POTSDAM — Randal D. Pinkett is famous for being hired by Donald Trump on season four of "The Apprentice," but he says he prefers working for himself.

"Entrepreneurship is not a thing that you do, it's a way that you think," Mr. Pinkett said. "You have to know how to think like an entrepreneur if you want to survive in this new reality. That's not just how you survive in a tough economy; that's how you thrive in any economy."

The reality television show star gave the keynote address to kick off Clarkson University's global entrepreneurship week Wednesday night. Now the chief executive officer of BCT Partners, a technology consulting firm, he dazzled students by pulling up in a limousine.

He said he got his start as a kid, selling lemonade by the highway and peddling the toys he no longer wanted to other children. Mr. Pinkett went on to earn five degrees, including his bachelor's, three master's degrees — one from Oxford University, England, as a Rhodes scholar — and a Ph.D.

After all of that, though, he went back to basics and started a business with very little money.

"I started in a garage with no heat, no air conditioning, and squirrels living in the ceiling," he said. "I had to humble myself in a way that kept it real. Despite all the accolades, getting a company off the ground isn't easy."

After winning "The Apprentice," Mr. Pinkett spent a year working as an executive with Trump Entertainment Resorts in Atlantic City, N.J., where he oversaw the renovation of three hotels.

Besides his work with BCT, he is now the chairman of the New Jersey Democratic Committee's "Yes We Can 2.0" initiative, and was floated this summer as a possible lieutenant governor candidate for Jon Corzine's campaign.

"In these challenging economic times, what we see is this fundamental shift in how the economy functions. Now, Donald Trump is filing for bankruptcy. I'm not," Mr. Pinkett told students. "The entrepreneurial mindset — you've got that on lock. That way of thinking is the defining way of thinking for the 21st century."

Mr. Pinkett recommended that students seriously consider starting their own business instead of looking for employment after graduation, and said that if they do work for a company, they should market their skills to find more revenue streams.

He said that colleges act as incubators for entrepreneurs, and pointed out the many successful companies that started with "campus CEOs." He also credited his work on student organizations for teaching him about leadership.

After his speech, students swarmed Mr. Pinkett's table to ask advice, purchase his books and get autographs.

"I got a good vibe here at Clarkson. There's a very alive spirit on this campus — I want to say it's warm, but it's cold here," he said, laughing. "It seems like a really great environment."