{"id":5943,"date":"2021-06-21T15:28:29","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T22:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intuitblog.com\/?p=5943"},"modified":"2025-11-12T12:45:54","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T20:45:54","slug":"from-classroom-to-career-jasons-journey-to-business-ownership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intuit.com\/blog\/social-responsibility\/from-classroom-to-career-jasons-journey-to-business-ownership\/","title":{"rendered":"From classroom to career: Jason\u2019s journey to business ownership"},"content":{"rendered":"

You don\u2019t have to listen very long to understand why Jason Hendricks started his own business. Similar to many entrepreneurs, he found a problem he could solve and dug in. But this self assurance wasn\u2019t always there. Through our conversation, Jason shared how poverty, the right teacher and a tool he had never thought about brought him to becoming an entrepreneur.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jason Hendricks, owner of Forgot or Knot, an experiential gift giving company based in McKinney, TX, started out not knowing he had options or what he could accomplish.<\/span><\/p>\n

His first business was a nonprofit called Build a Dream with the goal of inspiring youth and introducing them to professions they might not have considered. \u201cGrowing up, I had never met a lawyer or doctor or engineer and I didn\u2019t know these careers existed,\u201d shared Hendricks. \u201cIn certain environments, you don\u2019t know what\u2019s really out there and your parents and the teachers may not push you to be an engineer or tell you it is possible to be a doctor.\u00a0 You really don\u2019t know what\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Growing up the youngest of 12 children in a two-bedroom house in south Dallas, Hendricks recalled that by age 14 he was put in a position where he had to raise himself.\u00a0 His grandmother encouraged him to mow lawns for money, even paying him his first $2 bill to mow hers.\u00a0 By 19, Hendricks thought the military was his only way out.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI decided to go into the military after high school. I just didn\u2019t really see too many opportunities outside of it. And the community I was brought up in – I wanted to get out of that environment.\u201d\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t until after Hendricks left the military he began nurturing his entrepreneurship hopes.\u00a0 He enrolled at Hillsborough Community College and began taking business courses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u00a0 was introduced to the Entrepreneur Collaborative Center and it\u2019s entrepreneurial programs to help students start their own businesses .\u00a0 My professor, Andy Gold, told me about the veteran entrepreneurship program,\u201d Hendricks shared.\u00a0 \u201cI didn\u2019t know what I wanted to do. I always had questions and he said he had these mentor hours. \u2018If you want to ask questions, set up a meeting with me\u2019. I always had questions. And I took advantage of the office hours.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

During the entrepreneurship program, Hendricks learned the basics of business. He ran different companies and kept track of his customers and collected cash payments from sales. As his experience and business acumen grew, the tools he was using to manage his business needed to grow too. Professor Gold began teaching the fundamentals of QuickBooks<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI will never forget setting up my business. Professor Gold sat down with me and said, \u2018Let me show you about QuickBooks because you\u2019re going to need it.\u2019 I didn\u2019t know I was going to need it.\u00a0 I needed QuickBooks as a tool.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe things that QuickBooks offers, for example just entering your customers information, to me, that\u2019s really good discipline.\u00a0 Keeping track of your customers and how much money you have and where you are and where your money is going – that\u2019s important. It is a tool that really benefits entrepreneurs who want to start their venture, and I am lucky enough to be one of those entrepreneurs with a venture.\u00a0 A lot of people are introduced to these free tools and they don\u2019t always use them or they say no because they don\u2019t know how to use them.\u00a0 I was one of those people who just didn\u2019t know enough. So it took Professor Gold to say, \u201cLet me show you, let me educate you on QuickBooks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After graduating from the program, Hendricks started Forgot or Knot. He has a full-time job and is earning his master\u2019s degree. And like other business owners, Jason meets with his trusted advisor, Professor Gold, to discuss goals and check in on the health of his business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis master\u2019s degree program and the information I learned from Andy and me growing my business, it all falls into building myself up to be this person that can really help other people.\u00a0 I\u2019m in love with what I do, and when you\u2019re in love it\u2019s hard to not do something. And that\u2019s where I am. I\u2019m in love with entrepreneurship. I\u2019m in love with solving problems. And most of all, I\u2019m really in love with what I can become. I still have friends to this day that I went to school with and they still don’t see the possibilities in life that I can see.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI like to look at it from Professor Gold\u2019s approach, you can accomplish anything if you just do it. And that holds value.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Intuit is committed to turning big ambitions into prosperous realities. We\u2019re partnering with educators to provide real-world tools like QuickBooks to classrooms for free. Students can get the knowledge, skills, and certifications needed to stand out while preparing for the new world of work.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re an educator and interested in bringing free QuickBooks to your students, <\/span>register now<\/span><\/a> and join one of upcoming webinars this Summer.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You don\u2019t have to listen very long to understand why Jason Hendricks started his own business. Similar to many entrepreneurs, he found a problem he could solve and dug in. But this self assurance wasn\u2019t always there. 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