For Marianne Szymanski, a professor of entrepreneurship, the inspiration behind teaching business stems from the fact that regardless of one’s field of interest, the skills of business are inextricably linked to so many disciplines.

She teaches “Introduction to Business for Non-Majors,” a class open to all undergraduate students that looks at the fundamentals of business while tasking students with project proposal challenges that connect them with experts in the field.

“At the end of the day, if you write a book, if you become somewhat of an expert in your field, if you become a doctor — you are a brand, and a lot of students will work for themselves,” Szymanski said. “Everyone is their own personal brand.”

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Szymanski was a young entrepreneur in residence at 23 with her company “Toy Tips,” which conducts qualitative research on children’s toys in order to develop toys that foster skill development in kids. Within the company, she has also launched a magazine as well as a line of baby wear. 

Stone Zashin, a senior majoring in real estate development, is currently taking the class and said that the class provides students a path to go into many areas of business.

“It’s very nice to have a course that takes you through all the little things, and kind of gives you the path to be an entrepreneur in the future,” Zashin said.

The “Introduction to Business for Non-Majors” course was first introduced in 2014 and has been taught by several professors. Szymanski said she loves it because the class brings in students across schools and areas of interest.

“It’s really interesting to see what other students are [doing] on campus and how their majors and their life journeys can work into the world of business and entrepreneurship,” said Szymanski.

One class assignment is the “e-challenge,” in which students are given one week to create a profitable business plan. If students make a profit off of their idea, that money is donated to the organization Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship, which is a company that aims to foster entrepreneurship among younger generations.

Past e-challenge businesses include a group of five baseball players who set out to paint students’ nails. Although they weren’t necessarily skilled at painting nails, the appeal was that it was not common to be able to get one’s nails done by a student-athlete. Other students opted to do face painting for students before football games. 

These students were tasked with learning about customer discovery and reaching out to people themselves to find customers. Szymanski said this assignment allows students to learn the basics of accounting, sales and pitching their ideas.

“What we want them to do is pivot and fail, because then they can change it and fix it, and so they can feel how a business really operates day to day,” Szymanski said.

Another assignment, “fly on the wall,” requires students to research individuals in the business realm by following their LinkedIn, keeping up with them on the news and finding other sources to learn about them. After doing so, they must reach out to them via email, call or even through a fax machine — anything creative to get their attention.

After they get in contact with the individual, they set up an interview with them. They are graded based on their interview questions as well as how well they incorporate the information they learned into their own personal projects. After the interview, some individuals will stay in touch with the students and have even become their mentors.

Guest speakers are a key aspect of the course. Students in the class have the opportunity to hear from professionals from a range of different disciplines, including artificial intelligence, cosmetics and food, and learn about business strategies such as financial management and investing, as well as the speakers’ personal stories about their journeys in entrepreneurship.

Zashin and Szymanski said Oliver Luckett — a technology entrepreneur who founded and contributed to companies such as “theAudience,” “DigiSynd” and “Revver,” among others — was a notable speaker who spoke to the class this semester. Zashin said that during the session, he learned about the concept of serendipity in business, and that as long as one has a good mindset when approaching business, good things will result.

Szymanski said she brings in guest speakers through personal connections of faculty at the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. She said that people are often willing to have the opportunity to speak at USC. These speakers will sometimes offer internships or jobs to USC students, Szymanski said.

Gavin Murillo, an alum who took the class in Fall 2023, said that being able to network and work with the football team were some of the biggest things he did while at USC.

“We would create mock businesses, and one of the ideas I had was to create an app for athletes,” Murillo said. “Doing assignments like that, it challenged me to think about things that I would want to do, or I would want to implement in my own business.” 

After graduation, Murillo continued to build upon the idea, and he launched MPOWER in spring 2024. The company helps creators use social media to build the brands of athletes both “on and off the field.”  

Murillo said obstacles and significant challenges arise when starting a business. Murillo stressed the importance of putting oneself in uncomfortable situations, as it forces one to grow and learn.

“[The class] showed me that no matter what background you were from, no matter how big or small the idea that you had was, that starting a business is something that’s possible, [something] that you can really do if you put your mind to it,” Murillo said.

Szymanski said she gets all types of students, from freshmen to seniors and film majors and pre-med students, in her class. She encourages students to take this class no matter what area of interest they fall into, as the skills that are taught in the class can be useful regardless of what career field they are in.

“That’s something that Professor [Szymanski] kind of makes sure that all of us understand at all times, the fact that all these different skills can be applied to all different facets of business, whether or not you’re a business owner working for a large corporation or involved in a mom-and-pop shop, everything has a way to relate itself back,” Zashin said.

Correction: This article was updated to reflect that MPOWER is a company, not an app. It was corrected Oct. 27 at 1 p.m. The Daily Trojan regrets this error.