Like many before him, hopeful entrepreneur Jason worked on a business he wanted to launch while in Dr. Cornwall's program. His plan was to move to Montana and open a coffee shop. However, as is often the case, nothing went according to plan

In May of 2005 Jason Duncan walked across the stage at Belmonts graduation. At that moment he became the first alumnus of our new entrepreneurship program.

Jeff is the Jack C. Massey Chair in Entrepreneurship and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.

Like many who have followed him, Jason had worked on a business he wanted to launch while studying in our program. His plan was to move to Montana and open a coffee shop. He even had a name for his coffee shop EVOKE.

However, as is often the case, nothing went according to plan.

Try as they might, he and his wife Jenni were never able to open their coffee shop in Montana. But they did find a way to get into the coffee business. Since every attempt to open a store seemed to meet a roadblock, they adjusted their business model and opened EVOKE as a mobile coffee catering business.

EVOKE did not set out to be a mobile coffee catering company, said Jason. But what we found out is that we grew up doing this, made money, and knew that we now had a foundation to stand up on.

Although they had success with their mobile coffee catering business in Montana, in 2008 they decided that their best chance for long term success was to move EVOKE to Jasons home town of Oklahoma City.

When we moved EVOKE to Oklahoma City, we knew we had two options: to work our tails off and learn from our mistakes in Montana or shut EVOKE down and move on, said Jason. We knew we could be better. We took the first option and worked tirelessly to run a solid company based on what we had planned years ago.

Jason and Jenni realized they would have to adapt their business model once again in this new market.

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From conception to creation, an entrepreneur’s journey to success