Jump, but not too fast
Entrepreneur and executive Jim Etkin uses the momentum of jumping careers to make his business go far.
When Jim Etkin (BAcc ’82) enrolled at the University of Florida, all that he knew about the Warrington College of Business was an old law school joke: after graduating, students who earned A’s became professors, B’s became judges and C’s made all the money.
After a year of earning C’s in a pre-med program, the joke started sounding more like an encouragement, and Etkin tagged a course in accounting onto his class load. To his delight, he loved it – always a numbers guy, he thrived in the classroom, hanging onto the professor’s every word about how accounting can help a business grow.
Knowing he’d found his place, Etkin changed his major to accounting and continued to flourish. An internship in his junior year led to his first accounting job at Deloitte, where he worked in the World Trade Center on the 102nd floor.
“[The building] was so tall they had to allow for sway,” he recalled. “I used to put a pencil down, and literally on a windy day it would start rolling.”
Working at Deloitte helped Etkin pass his CPA exam. It also helped him realize that he disliked auditing. The theory of accounting was what fascinated him most, he realized; not crunching numbers all the time. Etkin started itching for a chance to work in an entrepreneurial role, where he could put theory to practice. The urge grew even stronger when he moved to a role in trading in foreign exchange at Drexel, Burnham & Lambert on Wall Street, so much so that when his dad called, asking for help with his business in Florida, Etkin left Wall Street behind and headed South.
Looking back on leaving his job on Wall Street to change careers in Florida, Etkin says that it’s important to take a deep breath before jumping into something new. It’s good to change paths, he says, but don’t jump too fast.
“If I knew now what I knew then, I probably wouldn’t have left, I would have stuck it out for two years,” he admitted. “So that’s what I would say – don’t jump.”
Once in Florida, Etkin rolled up his sleeves and got to work. His dad’s business was transitioning away from music and entertainment into event planning and themed parties. Etkin helped grow the business, organizing 65 full-time employees during the summer, when business was slower.
In the days before the internet became popular, he had his mind set on modeling the company after Expedia or other one-stop-shop hotel booking sites that guide clients to travel transportation, accommodation and equipment for themed events.
It was cheaper to hire other companies to set up events, Etkin discovered in the late 2010s. The best way he could serve his clients was by compiling the products of other companies into one website. Need chairs for a conference? Event-Options.com was designed to make finding and renting such items easy.
Etkin’s website, launched in 2017, didn’t take off until 2021. Before that, many long-standing businesses were still suspicious of the internet and its longevity, Etkin said. But when the world spent the coronavirus pandemic shopping online, the business exploded.
These days, Etkin’s responsibilities include hiring more staff and connecting with clients and suppliers about sales and delivery. In his free time, he’s babysitting his grandson, visiting his kids and playing sports. Though he’s living his dream, using business concepts in real time to expand his company, being an entrepreneur doesn’t allow for much free time, so he aims to spend as much of it as he can with his family.
“It’s very important for people to love what they do,” he said. “Because if you love what you do, you’re not working. You’re enjoying.”
