University Daily Kansan / Monday, November 21, 1988
9
John Kiefer
Changing courses Businessman gave up engineering for record business
By Katy Monk
Kansan staff writer
John Kiefer was about to get a bachelors degree in engineering at KU when he decided the field wasn't for him.
So he did an about face. He decided to open a small record store instead.
Now, 30 years later, he operates one of the largest stores of its kind in the country — one of a handful of stereo and record stores that carries more than 100 lines of merchandise
Most customers of Kief's Discount Records and Stereo Supply, 2100 W. 25th Street, go there simply to shop for merchandise, but some take the opportunity to learn from Kiefer's business sense.
During the past few years, Kiefer has been invited to speak to a class in the School of Business and has lectured several times for the KU chapter of the Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs, or ACE.
Some of his attraction as a speaker stems from his enthusiasm about the stereo business. Kiefer was took time out of his schedule to speak to KU students simply because he enjoyed doing it.
And Todd Gentle, president of ACE, said students came away with a lot from a talk with Kiefer.
Gentle first heard Kierfer speak in a spring presentation by ACE. He said the organization had invited
"He's very helpful." Gentile said. "He didn't get a business degree, and most of the students in ACE aren't in business. They're in political science or something. And the University doesn't offer any
entrepreneurial classes."
Gentle said that when Kiefer was starting out, he was influenced by people similar to himself now — those who started out small and made it big. Now, the Kiefer is influencing young entrepreneuries in turn.
Kiefer kept a low-key attitude about his lectures, which are actually more like conversations with colleagues.
"I just tell them about all the goofy things I've done, all the mistakes I've made," he said.
Kiefer said most students who came to hear him speak were looking for insights into starting their own businesses, but they also wanted to know about the stereo business. He gives them a little of both, from advice about starting out to an explanation of the details of price markup. He surprises them with statements such as 'I've never seen any such thing as a markdown' – such as his way to introduce the mathematics of markdown.
Kiefer said his beginnings interested many budding entrepreneurs.
"A lot of them are kind of relieved to find out that there are guys like me, that weren't walking around with me."
Kiefer is living proof that a successful businessman doesn't even have to be in the top 50 percent of his class. If he had been more interested in engineering, he said, he would have done better in school. That experience translates into another piece of advice.
"If you're not doing what you want to do," he said,
"It may be a lot more difficult to succeed."
When it comes to friendship, you guys are a couple of units. Thanks for B.N.B. Love, Team Pups & the double-chicken.
Hey Norris "Mr. November" & John "No Mistakes",
Compatibility Defined
IBM-Com-patient*'city* adv. 1. Capability of existing together in harmony. 2. Able to use most common software; usu. of the business/research world. 3. Growth & flexibility. 4. Hyundai 16TE.
Retail KU Price. Disc.
$ 1045. $ 735.* 30%
Introducing a new level of IBM-compatibility, speed (10Mhz) and flexibility (5 expansion slots). Each Hyundai includes 640K memory, a "10I" keyboard, full software (wp, spreadsheet database, orientation, support and an 18 month warranty. Best of all—its backed by $20 billion Hyundai Corporation and your local Connecting Point Computer Center in Downtown Lawrence
HYUNDAI
Introducing the Super 16TE PC-compatible.
Retail RTFice. Disc.
Super 16TE $1045. $735. %20
□ 2 drive, amber monitor 1095
□ 2 drive, color monitor 1299
□ 30Mb, amber monitor 1495
□ 30Mb, color monitor 1699
le Systems:
- Based upon full system purchase, IBM is a reg. tm of IBM Corp.
ConnectingPoint COMPUTER GENTER
KU's "Seoul" Authorized Hyundai Dealer
804 New Hampshire St.
Downtown Lawrence
843-7584
Attention KU Apple Purchasers:
Connecting Point's "Apple Team" has contracted to support KU departmental calls. Call us or assistance in select areas. (No phone service required) (Not awl for personal purchases.) Connecting Point now has a full line of Apple "Add-ons" from software to drive.
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