My Entrepreneurship Story

For my first ENT3003 assignment, I am writing about my previous exposure to entrepreneurship. As much as I wish I had an extravagant story to share with you all, (you guessed it!) my interest in entrepreneurship really peaked after I discovered the television show, Shark Tank.

Before I discovered Shark Tank, I had been exposed to entrepreneurship as an intern for a local start-up based in the Innovation Hub. As a data science intern, my main role was to collect demographic information and to determine the potential target market. At the time, I was naive and knew little about entrepreneurship, so I didn't quite understand the importance of my role and how difficult it is to be an entrepreneur. 

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The start-up was run by two partners who largely relied on interns to help accomplish tasks. Unfortunately, having college students as unpaid interns is difficult because oftentimes schoolwork and extracurricular activities take precedence. In the beginning of the internship, a group of ten or so interns would have bi-weekly meetings with the partners to discuss tasks and progress. In addition, some of the interns would come into the hub multiple times a week to do work. By the end of semester, only two of us remained and one of the partners pulled out of the venture. Shortly after, the start-up folded. This experience made me realize how volatile the environment is for entrepreneurs. So many factors play a role in the success of a start-up, ranging from forming a functional idea, to collecting resources to set the idea in motion, to even managing partner relationships. Looking back at my experience now, I realize the difficulty of coming up with an idea and turning it into a successful business.

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Although I gained great exposure to entrepreneurship, my start-up internship experience wasn't the main spark that lit my interest in entrepreneurship. 

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It all began when I went home for a weekend during my sophomore year. My parents had Shark Tank on while they were cooking dinner and curiosity led me to give the show a chance. Within less than 5 minutes of watching it, I was hooked. It amazed me how all of these seemingly ordinary people were able to come up with such creative ideas and put these ideas to action. I have always been a creative and imaginative person. When I was a child, I had a little pink journal full of "inventions", which included an underwater scuba-diving backpack that released balloons to raise you to the surface and some ground-breaking skin tone matching band-aids! Although my ideas weren't always practical, I loved and still do love coming up with fun ideas and solutions to problems. Watching Shark Tank really proved to me that ideas are more than just intangible thoughts and can actually be transformed into reality. Shark Tank serves as an inspiration for me, and only after watching several episodes did the importance of my start-up experience really click in my head.

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In this past year, I have taken advantage of many opportunities to expose myself to local entrepreneurship. My involvement with the Florida Business Leadership Society has given me so much insight. We have weekly speakers come in to talk to our members about various topics, and this past year we have had several local entrepreneurs speak to us about their journeys and the struggles they have faced along the way. Some of these speakers included Collin Austin from NS4L,  Ethan Feldman from Study Edge and Matt Hintze from TutoringZone. Outside of FBLS, I also recently attended the Women's Entrepreneurship Symposium at UF where I had the opportunity to listen to successful women entrepreneurs, including Kim Kaupe and Kathy Fields, speak. I found it so eye-opening and motivational to listen to these successful entrepreneurs talk about their history and found that despite obvious differences between them, they all had some commonalities. They all mentioned how being an entrepreneur was one of the hardest things they've ever done. That being said, they all mentioned how happy they are that they persevered with their ideas and followed their passions. The end certainly justified the means!

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Recently, I decided to pursue the entrepreneurship minor, hence why I am taking this course. I feel like the minor offers a selection of classes that teach pertinent skills important in any profession, entrepreneurial or not. I am really looking forward to this class because I want to develop the mindset of an entrepreneur. The notion of creating your own business fascinates me and one day I hope to create my own start-up. I am a creative person and would love bring my ideas to life. It would be amazing to develop an idea that benefits many people.  Also, I really want to be pushed out of my comfort zone. I am a firm believer that you cannot improve if you do not challenge yourself. Overall, I am eager for an exciting summer with this course and can't wait to learn more about entrepreneurship!

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Thanks for reading my entrepreneurship story!