Over this past weekend I met with an Entrepreneur that I had
interacted with over 12 years ago, the owner of Elite Preparatory Academy in
Orlando Florida, Ms. Ho. My daughter
started the academy when she was only 2 years old and after interacting with
the owner over the years, I realized that her and her family came from Vietnam
with very little money. I found her
influential in my decision to choose her to be the person that I interviewed as
she overcame diversity, being not only a single woman who started her own business
but also an immigrant/minority from another country. Her business grew within the first 3 years
that my daughter attended the school and with my daughters last years at
school, she actually started to have a waiting list. On that note, here are her answers to the
questions I asked:
What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
To be an entrepreneur is to live out your dreams. I always knew I wanted to be my own boss one
day, but after being laid off and having nowhere to go, I decided that this
dream that I had could and would become a fantasy. I no longer said “IF I opened my own daycare,
I would do this”, instead my mindset became “WHEN I open my daycare, I would do
this.” To be an entrepreneur is to be a
business person but one that wears many hats, a customer, an accountant, a
lawyer. You do not realize when you
start the journey, how diverse your skillset becomes until you have no
choice. Then it’s all about drive.
What do you think I should learn in an entrepreneurship
course?
I would hope they would teach you the road blocks that goes
into owning your own business. Nothing
comes easy. I also would want them to
build you up mentally, there are a lot of people that are trying to keep you
for achieving your goals, friends, family, the government at times, you just
need structure and guidance; like, if someone says you have to do this to move
forward, how do you react. Also, they
should stress the importance of being proactive, just as much as being
reactive.
What do you wish you had been taught in school before
setting out on your own path as an entrepreneur?
There are so many things.
I actually did not go to college, so a course like this would have
probably been ideal. Accounting is
important and for the first 6 years I had to pay someone money that I did not
really have to help me with that aspect of the business. I also wish I would have taken a permitting
or government guidance course. There is
a lot of red tape and it was probably the most stressful aspect of opening my
business. Also, marketing; my business
did not grow for the first 5 years because I did not see the need or importance
of marketing. That has since changed but
had I known that to begin with, I would have been a lot more successful, a lot
sooner.
Following my three key questions, I also felt the need to
ask Ms. Ho if she plans on opening additional daycares. She informed me that she is dealing with
medical issues right now but hopes to pursue additional locations in the
future. Some other things that I learned
during our conversation was that there are many grants to help women and
minorities and business and the “seed” money that I once thought was unattainable
is not as much of a challenge. I found
the interview to be uplifting and motivating and realized that I am already ahead
of her, and I do not mean that to come off as disparaging, I just mean that I
too can move forward with a goal business in mind with fewer issues providing
the right tools and education.
No comments:
Post a Comment