Texas State alumnus turns opportunity into entrepreneurship

Growing up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Marshall Traylor took an unconventional path to Texas State University’s McCoy College of Business. He never toured campus, didn’t know many people who attended, and arrived for orientation without a clear picture of what college life would look like. But the Hill Country — and the opportunities that followed — were exactly what he was looking for.

"The first time I went to Texas State was for orientation,” Traylor said. “I'm an outdoors guy, so I would say that was my primary love for Texas State. It was a lot of the reason why I enjoyed it so much and stuck around for the MBA program."

Traylor earned his BBA in marketing from Texas State in May 2023 and his MBA in December 2024. While he was a graduate student, he worked for Murchison Commercial Real Estate managing retail properties, which unexpectedly led to a new career path.

Although marketing was his original goal, Traylor found that success often comes from embracing opportunities.

"Once an opportunity presents itself, just do as much work as possible,” he said, reflecting on his path into commercial real estate after an unsuccessful search for a marketing position. “I wasn't worried about the check for that specific period. I just wanted to do the best work that I possibly could because then I knew they would have other projects for me."

That mindset opened the door to bigger opportunities. Before long, Traylor found himself taking on his biggest project yet: leading the transformation of one of the company's properties into Eastbound Tavern, a neighborhood bar and restaurant in Dallas that opened this summer, where he serves as managing partner and redevelopment operations lead.

Launching a business proved demanding. His days start early and end late at night as he balances everything from construction management and hiring staff to investor meetings and daily operations. Along the way, he's learned lessons that he says no classroom could replicate.

"I've learned more in the past year doing this than in probably all of my years of school,” Traylor said. “Overall, though, the most rewarding part is the relationships and meeting all the people in the neighborhood."

Still, Traylor credits McCoy College with giving him something even more valuable than technical knowledge.

"It was more about learning how to learn and building confidence,” Traylor said. “I developed the confidence in being able to figure things out."

As Eastbound Tavern continues to grow, Traylor is already thinking about what's next. His vision is to build a business that can thrive independently while he turns his attention to new ventures, including a healthy restaurant concept he'd eventually like to bring back to Central Texas.

"I really hope to move to Austin,” he said. “I want to start a restaurant that I would want to eat at every day. That's my goal."  ✯