My entrepreneurship journey started to really become evident in my senior year of high school. To back up a little though, for as long as I can remember I have been fascinated with money and thought it was so cool that you can create something and make money for it. For me, and as for most other children, my first exposure was the classic cliche lemonade stand. Because this childhood experience for most people is pretty common, I don't consider that the real start of my entrepreneurial journey.
In my senior year of high school I created the weightlifting club at my school. I did this because I was very passionate about bodybuilding and also because I wanted something fun to do with my friends during our club period on Tuesdays at school. What I did not expect, however, was an interest for entrepreneurship to arise from this. When forming the club, I was able to get over 200 students interested in the club I was forming. I thought it was fascinating that my idea was already becoming tangible and had caught the interest of so many students. Upon selecting thirty members for the club and leading meetings throughout the year I loved the experience of being able to run an organization with people I enjoy and being able to help others simultaneously.
The next chapter of my entrepreneurship journey began this past summer when I interned in London. With an hour and a half commute to work everyday I had lots of time to do some thinking and reading. I had heard from a friend that he listens to Podcasts on his way to work and that's how I discovered "How I Built This", a podcast about the founders of successful companies and the stories of how they built them. I began to look forward to my commute everyday so I could listen to my Podcast and fell in love with the idea of eventually starting my own company.
Along with the inspiration from the Podcasts, I also gained further interest in being an entrepreneur from working at my internship. This inspiration primarily came about from the conversations I was able to have with Andreas, the founder and CEO of the small conference company I interned with. After working with the entire company's workforce of about fifteen people for a few weeks I was given the opportunity to sit down and talk with Andreas. I explained to Andreas how I was interested in Entrepreneurship and how I thought it was so cool to see the entire company functioning on our floor of our building and this was something he had started only seven years ago. From our conversation one of my biggest takeaways was that he explained that he didn't invent conferences and that you don't need a brand new idea to start a company, you just have to be a little better than a successful competitor. Additionally, I thought it was amazing that he was so invested in his company that he told me it felt like a child to him.
Throughout the entire fall semester following that summer, I spent many hours thinking of how I can start my own business, read several entrepreneurship books, and watched many informational videos for inspiration. I also teamed up with one of my best friends from back home who is also interested in being an entrepreneur to work on an idea that we thought of.
After recently attending a meeting at UF in which an entrepreneur named Chris spoke to us, I realized that it was time to stop thinking about it and start taking action. Chris explained that he truly believes being an entrepreneur is actually less risky than having a corporate job because your fate is in your own hands.
While I still do not have a real business, my goal this semester is to start one and start taking actionable steps to achieve my goal. I know if my business turns out to not succeed, the experiences I have along the way will be invaluable.
So why did you Enroll in ENT3003?
The reason I enrolled into ENT3003 and picked up an entrepreneurship minor is mainly meet people that have a similar passion for entrepreneurship that will be able to help me through my journey. In addition, I am very interested in the subject of entrepreneurship and knew I would enjoy working on the assignments given to me. Throughout the course I hope to learn more about myself through the assignments and also learn some useful tips to have a more successful entrepreneurial journey.
I also love NPR on the way to work or school, listen to WUFT-FM our local station if you haven’t. I also did a brief internship at a company called Feathr and the way the founders had so much passion for their company really stuck with me. It really takes that love and drive for a cause to make it happen.
ReplyDeleteHey, Ben!
ReplyDeleteI love how you've always seem to know what your passion is and actually go after your passion, like creating a weightlifting club in high school. Also, I like that you already have experience being an intern in a small company, which gives you the insight to see what it really is like to be an entrepreneur.