Leadership with Ara Bagdasarian

Entrepreneur Spotlight: Ara Bagdasarian

Ara Bagdasarian is a founder for Omnilert, the world’s first education emergency notification system. Seventeen years ago, Bagdasarian developed technology that allows mobile phone users to receive emergency warning texts. Bagdasarian also serves on the Leesburg Town Council, is the President of the Arc of Loudoun, the founder of BENEFIT (which unites people with music to raise money for nonprofits) and the author of The Lemonade Stand, a book about entrepreneurship. Recently he sat down with Loudoun County Magazine’s Student Editorial Board for a candid chat about entrepreneurism, work-life balance, and serving the community.

LCM Editors: What inspires you?

AB: Problems are my inspiration. From an entrepreneurial perspective, when most people experience problems, they run away from them, but entrepreneurs embrace them. An added benefit is that the opportunity to solve difficult problems allows entrepreneurs to innovate and impact and even save lives, long term.

Your technology existed for years prior to the Virginia Tech shooting, however, once this tragedy took place, competing technology emerged. How were you able to stay ahead of the curve?

I think about electricity and how nowadays we take it for granted. But electricity is an amazing technology; you just plug something into the wall and it just works. But, you know, in the early days, it was really unique and transformational. My cofounder and I always envisioned that text alerts would one day be the new standard for safety to keep people out of harm’s way. Now we have the ability to notify people nationwide, perhaps worldwide, about dangerous situations.

What is one way you manage your numerous commitments in Loudoun County?

It’s all about time management. I always tell my kids to live and die by their calendars. Everything should go on your calendar, no matter what. If you’re going to take a little break, run to the store, brush your teeth, then put it in your calendar so you have everything organized out of your head. That allows you to be able to work on multiple projects, and everything is a project. That’s the thing, too: look at everything as a project. It makes it a lot easier to wrap your head around.

Do you talk about time management in The Lemonade Stand? Regarding The Lemonade Stand, I wrote that with my partner because we met potential entrepreneurs who had great ideas and would share their ideas with us. Then I would see them a year later and ask ’Hey, how’s it going?’ And they would say, “You know, I don’t have the time and I have to write a business plan. I have to raise money. I just can’t, I just can’t do it.” After hearing that about, you know, 100 times, we thought, hey, why don’t we do something about this? Because both my partner and I never went to business school. We didn’t study the field that we’re in, and we learned a lot of lessons the hard way. In fact, before we started Omnilert, we started like four or five other businesses. So it wasn’t like there’s one shot and that was it. We learned a lot. The whole essence of our core philosophy is that a problem is an opportunity. So how do you embrace opportunities? How do you embrace the problems and do something innovative? Can you do something better based on that problem that you experienced? The Lemonade Stand is not a step by step guide. It’s more about embracing problems, and that optimism is core to entrepreneurship. Optimism is when you’re hopeful about the future, and you ask ‘Will I take it one step further?’ And it’s more about seeing a better future and then actually being able to do that, selling your ideas, concepts, because it really is about selling your concepts to the people to get things done.

Do you think you’ve learned more by actually being on the ground learning everything about business step by step?

I think you have to do things rather than just study. The thing is, with entrepreneurship, you can get started today. You don’t have to wait until you have a degree in business or a degree in something else. Entrepreneurship is what I consider to be a mindset. It’s a mindset of embracing problems, embracing challenges and doing things--not just talking but actually doing things. I’m always reading books about business and entrepreneurship. Learning should be a lifelong process. So, learning the hard way, going back, and understanding why we did certain things, or how things can work better, is also very important. The key thing about entrepreneurship is: don’t wait. Start something if you have an idea. If I could go back, I would say, hey, anytime you have an issue or a problem, go ahead, start something right now. There’s a student at George Mason that I’ve been mentoring. He’s studying environmental science. And he started a new company to work with businesses on establishing green

practices even though he is still in school. The point is, get started now.

Interview by Loudoun County Magazine Student Editors

Loudoun County Public Library “Write On” Submissions, Loudoun Literacy Council Student Work, and At-Large Submissions

“Recuerdos Cubanos.”Oil on aluminum panel, Suzanne Lagos Arthur

During the pandemic, students at the Loudoun Literacy Council pressed on and persevered with their language learning. The following submissions come from an intermediate to advanced class of adult learners who work at Fabbioli Wine Cellars in Leesburg. Students were asked to write about their favorite hobby. “My favorite hobby is hiking. It is so relaxing to see nature. I started hiking by helping my family take care of our animals: sheep, cows, and horses. Hiking was part of our work. It was fun to take the cattle different places and walk the sheep to the woods. Hiking is part of me.” ~Celia “I started making wine when I was 25 years old. My boss, Doug Fabbioli, was my teacher. Over the last 5 years, I have practiced and experimented. Now that I have experience making wine, I feel ready to teach others, including my wife, how to make wine.” ~Arturo “Swimming is my favorite hobby. I started swimming when I was six years old. My cousin taught me. Since then, I have practiced and taught myself. After swimming for 19 years, I want to swim the sea.” ~Lupe

“My favorite hobby is listending to music. I have been listening to music all of my life.” ~Rebecca “Cooking is my favorite hobby. Sometimes, cooking is not fun, but I want to learn more about it.” ~Felix

The New Normal

Waking up startled Beeping in the background I lay there just trying to Convince myself to move outside of The warm cocoon I’ve created Slowly waking up minute by minute In the few moments of peace I have somehow obtained Then ending up before the laptop And the stress starts to creep in As I remember what lies ahead Focusing on the good only works Until the good is gone Then all is left is the the dreaded The day starts with the good And is gone in the blink of an eye Then the tedious arrives And with it, a neverending stare But somehow the day comes to an end Much quicker than it started I slide back in my cocoon Hoping for a better day

Poem by Kundana Parupalli