The most recent time I was exposed to an entrepreneur was last year. My dad's friend started an app that contained high school sports schedules. It was a great idea, and still is, but he hasn't implemented it right to make it viable. It could be said that he hasn't "secured the resources." His funding plan was to get sponsorships for the schools he represented, and a portion of the sponsorships would go toward the payment of his employees and the running of the app. However, he allowed the app to be an any dollar amount, and gave most of the sponsorship to the school. The company could buy banners on the app, but that was about it. He doesn't have a good business plan to keep the app going.
To be honest, I took ENT 3003 because my adviser told me it would be a good class to take while I was away from school working at my internship. It scares me to think of myself as an entrepreneur. I don't find myself creative enough to come up with an idea that can solve a problem. Hopefully, this class can change that idea, and even if I don't pursue a career in entrepreneurship, I will at least have the confidence to know that if I wanted to, I could.
A family portrait of my brother, my sister, and I.
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI really like how you talked about the app your dad's friend started but they also discussed how he hadn't implemented it the right way. This showed me that you are already portraying some of the traits of a seasoned entrepreneur that can take someones good idea and match it with a successful business plan in order to make it thrive.
The last paragraph of your story is very similiar to me in the sense that I think it seems scary to consider myself an entreprenuer just because of the uncertainty that comes with that. Here is a link to my story.
Deletehttp://chrispate25.blogspot.com/2016/01/week-2-my-entreprenurship-story.html
Your dad's friend sounds like he started off on the right foot, but didn't quite plan out his next step. The coolest thing though is that he is out there trying to make his dreams work! Putting his plans into action, but perhaps he could use a bit more planning...
ReplyDeleteAnd although it doesn't sound as if you have your mind set on starting your own business TOMORROW, it does seem that you are open minded for taking in all the tips/tools you can gather from this course. I hope you do gain the confidence, because you could definitely become an entrepreneur if you wanted!
Keep up the good work!
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteSeriously, this is the 3rd time I am sending this to you. I have no clue why it won't let me publish it, and I fail to copy it every time in the event it doesn't post.
Here we go again! First, kudos to your father’s friend for beginning his journey toward entrepreneurship. I am not sure what his app would accomplish, but what matters is that he had an idea and ran with it.
We have probably all heard the expression, measure once, cut twice, and although it makes literal sense, it also makes figurative sense. We accept this as a warning to plan and prepare for something in a thorough, careful manner before we take action. In other words, as I heard growing up, think before you act. It seems that your dad’s friend learned this lesson the hard way – like most of us. However, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good idea, it just means a solid business plan normally fleshes out some of these problems that could save us time or money – or both.
As a final thought, I would encourage you to remember what Walt Disney said: If you can dream it, you can do it! Don’ let your fear paralyze you from having dreams and ideas. You don’t always have to find a problem and then come up with an innovative solution. In fact, you just find a product and make it better or more useful or efficient. My best friend did exactly that when he bought the Roller Racer from the man who invented it, a Boeing engineer, for his grandchild. My entrepreneur friend marketed in such an effective and innovative way that WHAM-O bought it for millions!
Dream big. It doesn’t cost a thing.
All the best.
Linda