At Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), our vision is to build the world’s most influential community of entrepreneurs. One way we encourage young entrepreneurs is through the EO Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA), EO’s premier competition for students who own and operate a business while attending college or university. The intense, international competition culminates with the Global Finals, where “studentpreneurs” from 50+ countries compete and make connections with both seasoned entrepreneurs and their fellow competitors.

Many GSEA participants go on to grow their businesses through EO Accelerator and eventually graduate from the program and become EO members. Tyler Olson is one such GSEA alumni. A global finalist in the 2007 GSEA competition, he is now an EO Minnesota member who owns five businesses.

We asked Tyler about his experiences. Here’s what he shared.