I am a sophomore studying at the Fisher School of Accounting at the University of Florida. At the end of my junior year, I will be applying for UF’s 3/2 Program, which helps you earn a combined Bachelor’s and Master’s in Accounting in five years. After that, hopefully I will pass the Uniform Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Examination. However, I don’t plan on being an accountant my whole life. I would like to earn a combined Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration degree. A CPA with a JD/MBA degree has so many career possibilities that aren’t limited to accounting. In fact, there are plenty of famous people who earned degrees in accounting who either used accounting to start their own business or found their way with a completely different career path. Former lawyer and best-selling author John Grisham earned his first degree in accounting. Jazz saxophone musician Kenny G. earned a degree in accounting as a backup career plan because he felt the music industry was not the sturdiest basket in which to collect all of his eggs. J.P. Morgan worked as an accountant before he was needed to take over the family banking business upon his father’s death. Walter Diemer was an accountant who experimented with chemistry in his spare time. He ended up inventing bubble gum and began selling it under the name Double Bubble in 1928.
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| Kenny G. graduated Magna Cum Laude with an accounting degree from the University of Washington |
Personally, I aspire to start my own business selling (you guessed it… if you’ve been reading the rest of this MyStory Blog) hockey equipment. I know there are huge hockey equipment companies that may be too powerful to compete with, such as Reebok, Bauer, CCM, Easton, Warrior, Vaughn, and Brian’s, but having a dream job in mind never hurt anyone. One small goalie equipment store that has truly inspired me to start my own hockey equipment business is Don Simmons Sports, located in Fort Erie, Ontario. Don Simmons Sports (familiar customers just call the place “Simmons”) is only a half hour away from my hometown, Buffalo, NY. I am a loyal customer of Simmons; I have purchased thousands of dollars of goalie equipment from their store beginning when I was eight years old.
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| Don Simmons Sports is stocked wall to wall with goalie equipment |
Don Simmons was an NHL goaltender who started his own small goalie shop that eventually grew to be one of the biggest non-NHL sponsored goalie equipment companies in the world. There are only a few equipment brands that pay NHL sponsorship fees in order to advertise their names with the professionals. These big-name NHL brands such as the ones listed above (Reebok, Bauer, CCM, Easton, Warrior, Vaughn, and Brian’s) tend to be the most expensive. Simmons has successfully expanded from Canada to the American and European hockey markets by offering much cheaper prices for top-of-the-line goalie equipment, all handmade in Canada (never made in China like some of the NHL sponsored brands). They ship their equipment worldwide to hockey goalies of all ages and skill levels. Goalies in some of the smaller European professional hockey leagues wear Simmons gear because their leagues do not require them to wear only the brands that pay NHL sponsorship fees. I spoke to Mark Simmons, son of Don Simmons and current owner of Don Simmons Sports, and he told me he would never pay the NHL any sponsorship fees because he has too many customers that count on him for his high quality and low priced goalie equipment. Mark is a perfect example of a modest man who refuses to succumb to the desires of materialistic corporations such as the National Hockey League. He has been quite successful without the NHL’s help in advertising. He knows he could probably earn more money if he reached out to the customers who want high-end equipment with renowned brand names, but he respects his customers who appreciate his decision to keep his equipment affordable.
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| My whole setup was custom made by Don Simmons Sports |
When I came to the University of Florida, I started off majoring in Finance. My advisor at the Warrington College of Business Administration told me the best Finance majors are actually the ones who switch over to the Fisher School of Accounting. I made the switch to accounting because I believed it would open more doors for me in the long run, and I can still take all the courses a typical Finance major would take. If I can start my own business someday, I will not have to hire somebody to do all the accounting work for me; I will be able to do all of that myself. For now, all I know is that I do not want to limit my future career to strictly accounting. If I do fulfill my dream to own a hockey equipment company, I am not sure how I will go about setting my company apart from the rest of the companies out there. I have plenty of time to figure that out. I wonder if I will want my brand to be used by professional players in the NHL or if I should keep my prices low and use the underground approach like Don and Mark Simmons did. If I stick to my family values, especially our honor, I will not let materialism sway my decisions in business. If my business is struggling without the NHL’s assistance in advertising my hockey equipment with professional hockey players, I may be forced to have my company pay NHL sponsorship fees. However, if my company can earn a significant profit without the NHL’s help, I will probably let the quality of the equipment do its part in selling itself, not the brand name stitched onto the equipment.
