Very Short Interview No. 1

The person I interviewed is my friend’s father who started his own irrigation business right out of high school.  What makes him an entrepreneur is that he found a way to utilize a service that many Americans need and figured out a way to make a successful living off of it by starting his own company in this field.  On top of this, he is the owner and the only boss of his company and saw that it would be better to work for his self as opposed to getting a job with another company.

·      What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?

o   "It means that I have built my path. I never had anyone tell me to work or how to work because I know what I had to do to become successful and I did it. That is the most rewarding part of being an entrepreneur. The fact that I made it by myself. I make my own rules and guidelines as I go. When I make a mistake no one tells me how to fix it. I have to figure out how to fix it. It's called being self-reliant."

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

o   "You should learn in an entrepreneur class that if you want something to happen in life you have to make it happen. No one is going to be there forever to guide you except yourself, which is why you have to go out and get it. Never let a failure bring you down. Never give up and turn every negative into a positive."

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

o  " I wish I had taught that it's who you are that makes you, not a college degree. A college degree is a great thing... But it is a commodity. It simply adds to your resume. I wish I had taught that the most important thing in life is to keep learning. You are your own greatest teacher. The day you stop learning is the day you die."

I learned a lot from this interview about being self-dependent and figuring out what it takes to make your business start and take off.  I learned to always persevere and that the drive is what makes the entrepreneur successful. What surprised me the most is how he became successful without a college degree, and does not find one necessary.  While I believe it is possible to be successful without a college degree, I personally think it is important to learn as many things as possible in college to even further help you become an entrepreneur in the future, and that it will give you an advantage compared to those who did not attend college.