The entrepreneur I chose to interview is my cousin Rob. As for his background, he obtained his Bachelor's Degree at the University of Minnesota and was then deployed to Iraq in the mid 2000's After returning he attended the University of Southern California and obtained his MBA. In his first year of work he worked as a family employee. He then discovered his partner who he wanted to work with. They established their own corporations and split revenues. My cousin's corporation, Veterans Business Concepts (VBC), was made to generate business opportunities for small veteran-owned businesses. His function is to consult directly to veteran-owned, small businesses, for contract management and management consulting. He also works with the medical Veterans Assocation. The reason he wanted his own corporation is so he could control his business functions and have an impact. His partner does consulting as well but operates on a more short-term basis, constantly taking on different endeavors. Although, they still split their profit. Rob provides a more stable aspect to their partnership while his partner is constantly focused on innovation. As Rob said, "he (his partner) is much more risk-tolerant than I am."
What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
In the short, it is the ability to run a business where the decisions that you make day-to-day directly affect the company. My decisions affect profitability, strategy, what customers I target, etc. All business functions, are under my control.
What do you think I should learn in an entrepreneurship course?
So, a few things. Cash is king, everything with a small business and a start-up is all about cash. You need to know how to raise money and manage cash flow. Using cash accounting is useful where you are essentially recording what cash goes into your bank and how much comes out. Second, start small and fail fast. Do your research before bringing an idea to the marketplace. Do not use money from an existing line before you know you are going to be successful. Do not be afraid of having your idea stolen in the marketplace, take some risks, you already have a head-start, chances are it will succeed. Also, learn more from people that might buy your product or service. Take your ideas to customers as soon as possible, do not sit at a desk all day.
What do you wish you had been taught in school before setting out on your own path as an entrepreneur?
Small business (cash) accounting! Big business schools are not going to teach about this. Accounting from the perspective of a large business, is often too general. Cash accounting just says, if cash comes in I record it and if cash comes out I record it. This is the system that most small businesses use and there are some subtleties to this way of accounting. Business school trained me to be a bureaucrat in a Fortune 500 company. In general, I wish I would have learned more about small business management.
Rob offered some great entrepreneurial advice for the future. He went into many of the technical aspects of managing a small business while also offering ideas for how to become an entrepreneur in general. Customers are the primary reason small businesses exist and there has to be a strong connection in order for any entrepreneurial venture to eventually succeed. This was the big piece of information I pulled from his answers. Also, there generally are an amount of risks involved in any small-business and you have to take some. Finally, I would conclude that the 'start small, fail fast' motto is vital for any entrepreneur to be eventually successful.
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