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Student Insights for Entrepreneur Interviews

Entrepreneur insights and perceptions related to their businesses were obtained through interviews conducted by students. Student insights and reflections regarding the interview process are shown on this page.

Simply scroll down the page to view. They are shown with the most recent reflections appearing first.


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Records 591 to 600 of 1253
The most meaningful part of the interview was the advice she gave me. She helped me realize how an entrepreneur starts a business, and whether or not their determination will keep the business running. If I focus in school and stay motivated I believe I can open my own business in about two years. If I need help there are many resources out there that can assist me in my journey. All of the things I learned during this interview I plan on using when I open my business. I plan on applying for a loan as soon as I am ready to take that next step. If I can’t accomplish that I can always partner up with someone and go about it that way. Her story is very inspiring and it made me want to never give up on what I want to accomplish.

Another meaningful thing from this interview is that the entrepreneur is actually my mother. I have always seen how she runs her business and she was my initial inspiration for opening my own business. I grew up around her salon and I always saw how determined she was to move forward and make sure we always had what we needed. Her hours were long and we would hardly see her but in the long run she helped me and my siblings become independent. She asked me if I would want to eventually take over her business and I am still not sure if I want to do that. There are many factors affecting my decision on whether or not I take over her salon. I love her salon and have been working for her for about a year now but I want to continue to see what type of business I want to open. In no way do I feel obligated to take over her business but it is an option I have. She has offered to sell her business before she retires and invest in my future business (partner).
Date Submitted: 2013-10-17 11:08:48
In doing this project, I found it most meaningful because not only was I able to see all of what we have learned in class in a real life venture, but I was also able to build a stronger relationship with the person I interviewed. During class sometimes I find it hard to follow everything because I have no experience in the field and do not understand completely how everything works in order to run a business. However, now that I have taken an inside look at what it is like to be an entrepreneur, I can more easily understand the ways of business. The person I interviewed is a soon to be family member by marriage and by doing this interview, I feel I have developed a stronger relationship with him. Now because, I have built a relationship with him, if I was to ever go into a business I know he has strong vendor relationships and he could possibly know people that may be able to help me out.

This whole project was meaningful to me because in being able to fully understand and see not only the difficulties but also the advantages of being an entrepreneur, it has helped me decide what it is that I can possibly do in life. I have always wanted to start my own business in the restaurant industry and taking a look into the life of how it could be has allowed me to eliminate some ideas but has also allowed me to open some doors that I never knew were there. Now that I have interviewed one person solely for the purpose of this class, I can still now go out and find other entrepreneurs to interview in order to get a more overall idea of how life can be as an entrepreneur.
Date Submitted: 2013-10-17 16:37:20
Valuable and concert information was obtained while conducting the Entrepreneur Interview. The most meaningful information was the advice received from the entrepreneur. He was very descriptive about the functions of his business. Most of all he provided proof that if you truly love something you can be successful. He also brought to my attention the challenges he currently is facing that can be problems for may other businesses as well. The financial advice was also very meaningful. Overall, love for your business, adapting to change, and financial preparation are his keys to success. The advice is informative and relative to what I am currently learning.

The entrepreneur provided the proof that love for what your selling is very important. Having the desire to share your product with the world and show people your love is a good place to start. The challenges may be to adapt to new technology. Always keeping a open mind that there is room for growth and highlighting those things to strive to fix. His emphasis on financial preparation and stability were very meaningful. He gave an example of how to think outside the box to bring in possible investors. It was extremely meaningful talk to someone who had followed the steps learned in class.
Date Submitted: 2013-10-20 19:43:20
This was a great project for me. I am hoping to open up my own business sometime in the future and with this interview I was able to get an insight into what I need to do to prepare. I had not talked to any entrepreneurs yet, so getting this one on one time to be able to pick his brain and learn about his ups and downs was definitely eye opening to me. He was telling me how to go to the banks to ask for money, what to look for in a potential investor, and the advantages he found by buying into a franchise with a good name. He also offered to mentor me more if I would like as I get closer to opening my own business. He is a good role model because he has taken one franchise and now has five successful businesses throughout the US.

With everything we have talked about it is giving me new ideas to look at while I am working on my business, and I already have a head start with this business class. I am looking to take some management classes along with financial classes, so I can fully understand all the money side of it too. One amazing thing that comes out of this is he really liked my concept and has even offered to invest into my business in the future. I am extremely glad to be able to do this project, I got a great view into what I will have to do to start my own business, and along with the process and obstacles I will most likely face. This project has had the most impact out of all my projects I have done through college
Date Submitted: 2013-10-21 06:33:47
What was really meaningful to me while doing this interview was how money is everything in starting a business. Not only do you have to have money to start up the business. But you need money to keep the business going, but also need to have money coming in to keep the doors open as well to be able to have inventory in stock. When taking with my entrepreneur she told me that “when the economy went into the recession it affected everyone. The business took a big lost, and lost almost half if not more than half of our cliental. Because of our big loss we had to let go of two of our employees. That’s where my son comes in. we built this business so when we are ready to retire our son doesn’t have to go through the ruff first five years of starting a business.” Like we first learned 90% of business is started due to employees feed up with former employers. And the owners of this stereo shop did just that. The owners also plan to pass their family business down to their children.
Another interesting fact I have learned while talking with my entrepreneur was how much the internet can hurt small family business. Most people would believe this actually happens but it does, more than we actually think. My entrepreneur shared with me how the business pays full price for inventory from the manufactures, but when a potential customer walks thru the doors looking for a certain radio with a certain price range, most of the time they can not match or even beat that price. Most people now a day’s look items up on eBay or Amazon thinking they are going to be getting a new product that has one year manufacture warranty, but they don’t realize most of the time they are mostly buying used or refurbished products with no manufacture warranty. Whereas this mom and pop store sales new product with one year warranty on new product and a lifetime warranty on the install.
Date Submitted: 2013-10-21 19:16:15
The thing I found most meaningful about this project was that after many years going to this auto shop and seeing the same owner always and always again, never thought what his motivation or intentions were for this business. Now I kind of have a feeling of how he actually grew up even though I really didn’t even meet him as a child. Made me realize that even though he didn’t have money as most people would, he went and strove for what he wanted to accomplish. He showed me that as long as you put your head into it, anything will be “easy” You have that vision in your head and as long as its there, its motivating you.
The other part he made me realized was that getting this business to go and grow is going to be tough. Not only is my business going to be opened during the time that new cars are being released, I now must have that machinery in order to fix those cars. There fore I would have to waist more money than the entrepreneur had to waste back when he opened his business up. So getting this business to compete with dealer company shops is going to be way tougher than opening just a regular car shop with the standard 2013 machines that are usually at every auto shop.
Date Submitted: 2013-10-21 20:29:58

Although have already had experience of entrepreneurship, I feel like I was learning from my business mentor while interviewing the entrepreneur. I saw real value in learning from my interviewee who has actually experienced frustration and success along her entrepreneurial journey. From sharing the story of the entrepreneur, I also learned that one can make it if focus more on the things that they want and take action towards it. For example, to own a floral shop was just a personal interest of my interviewee. When starting the business, she had neither experience nor skills of being a florist. She attended many floral design seminars, shows and took classes of flower arrangements, and as the payback of all the hard work she did, her shop started to have profit from the second year after starting.

The most meaningful to me through the interview project was that I learned new information as well as management about being an owner. I understand that successful entrepreneurs must have strong overall business management skills. This means understanding all aspects of how a business operates, including the regulatory requirements of the enterprise. For example, I questioned my interviewee if she let her employees to take the faded flowers home, the answer I got was “no”. She cited an example as the explanation that once she went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner; she was told the dim sum left over from lunch was selling at buy one get one free. She asked the waiter if they were offered to take the food of left over home, the waiter said they were never allowed to take food home according to the regulations because if they do so, some employees may keep the dim sum they like and do not sell to customers. It’s something like McDonalds throw the food away instead of give it to homeless people. The interview I took was just like a lesson, learn it then apply until absorb it successfully, and it also makes me realize there is a lot to learn when running a business. Luckily, we can learn from those who actually have the experience and know how. With these resources, success would be much secure to all of us.
Date Submitted: 2013-10-21 22:29:39
Talking to someone who has made a living and doing well off of their own business is inspiring no matter what the line of work is. Being able to create for yourself is the american dream. How far you take it once your there depends on you. Hard work and determination can accomplish a lot even if your not that experienced in what your setting out to do.
Learning to be frugal and budgeting your finances has a lot to do with the success of your company in the beginning stages. Learning that type of financial behavior will continue to be beneficial to your company through the years. But taking risk is what gets you there in the first place so dont be afraid to take risks.
Date Submitted: 2013-10-22 00:47:22
The most meaningful part about doing this project was getting to know an entrepreneur that started a business from scratch and became successful. People that want to start a business, there are a lot of high risk things, so before, they start a business. They need to think a lot of results. The business plan is the first thing you need to do. You have to think about a list of goals that you want to achieve. After that you can use to succeed. This is the first thing that I learn in this project.
The second thing, I need to study and work hard, try to become a smart guy. Learn as many new technologies as possible. try to focus on 1 thing at a time. Those things are all I need to learn.
This project is great. It helps me know how a Entrepreneur to become succeed. Build a business isn't easy for everyone, You can't say you want a business, then you can get a business. You need to suffer a lot of difficult things. If you can't conquer those difficult thins, you won't successful. So I will conquer those difficult things and I will succeed. I will learn from him too. Thank you for his information. Those information help me a lot.
Date Submitted: 2013-10-22 00:55:51
As for me, the most meaningful thing is that I should learn interpersonal communication skill. It is very important in daily life. I have been in American for nearly three months, and always I don't want to talk to others. Because I am a introversion person. I hope to open a small cafe in my hometown in the future; however, my character may hinder the business. The entrepreneur’s experience is suggestive. Interpersonal relationship has influence on our daily life, school life and career development. If we don’t have a good relationship with others, nobody will help us when we are in trouble. Only if the person has a better relationship withe others, he or she will be more successful in the future. The entrepreneur also tells me how to build up a good relationship. First, we should be tolerant and easy-going. Second, we must be honest and kind. When handling the interpersonal relationship problem, we can’t be narrow minded. When other people make success, we shouldn't be envy and should learn how to coordinate our mood in which we can maintain a good mentality. Third, we have to respect and understand others. At last, the most important thing is that we must treat others with sincerity.
It is difficult to operate a business well. We have to learn many things like management, marketing and human relations. Management will help improve the operational efficiency of our enterprise, and help our operators to use money efficiently and to make the correct investment decision in the business. Marketing can help improve enterprise’s culture and strengthen the company’s influence. And a good relation between the boss and employees will make our working environment very happy. A happy mood can lead to a high efficiency and high quality work completion. So if I will run the cafe in the future, I also need to learn these things. But there are many other things I have to do before running it. For example, I must choose a good location. The site must have many visitors. For example, the location can near a shopping mall. I need to know well about my target customers and their tastes or anything else. Anyway, I believe that if I am interested in it, I will do it very well.
After the interview, the entrepreneur says she meets lots of troubles when doing her business. She came to America 10 years ago, and she knew little English at that time. She had to develop her business; however, nobody would do business with her as they didn't understand what she said. So she went to school to learn English on her break time. She said that was a hard time, but she learned a lot during the process. She tells me that no matter what trouble you meet, you have to stick to your own goal. All the efforts will pay off at last.
Date Submitted: 2013-10-22 14:06:45
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