Week 3: Very Short Interview No. 1

What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?

An entrepreneur is someone who is able to find needs or voids and then develop a product or process to complete that need or void.  The need could be something missing altogether or an improvement on something that already does exist.

 What do you think I should learn in an entrepreneurship course?

Seems like the basic, necessary skill for an entrepreneur is to be able to identify or create a marketable need.  Then to be successful, one should also learn marketing, budgeting, business finance, time management, communication, and the business start-up process and alternatives.

 What do you wish you had been taught in school before setting out on your own path as an entrepreneur?

I think time management is a necessary skill that did not have much focus.  Also, methodology for raising capital and how to create a strategy for growing the business would be important information to learn in school.

The man that I interviewed owns a business that my father also works at. His name is Duane. He is a partner in the firm that his father before him had opened up. He has been a part of the company for about 20 years. Speaking with him let me learn a lot about how a business works, and the mindset it takes to come up with the idea and keep it going. Though he owns part of an engineering firm, I was still able to see what it takes for my aspirations in owning and starting a financial advising firm. I was very fortunate to have this interview and I am looking forward to our next one.