"...the development of a business from the ground up- coming up with and idea and then turning it into a profitable business. But while the definition of entrepreneurship is simple, it's execution is much more difficult" (Brooks, Businessnewsdaily.com, Jan. 5th 2015).
This is true, however it's important to remember that the scope of this definition can be interpreted so many different ways. Consider this: Mark Zuckerberg is a successful entrepreneur earning billions, John Mackey of Whole Foods Market is a successful entrepreneur earning millions, and I, Anthony Davila am also still a successful entrepreneur despite earning only hundreds. They key thing is though, just like them I had an idea, put in the time and effort, and profited. My experience with entrepreneurship began during high school when I was subject to forced companionship on one of my mom's Joann's trips. I was doing my best to bide my time texting when I had a couple of thoughts:
1) hey, some of these fabrics were actually pretty cool
2) I wish my shirts were made from these
3) wait... Why couldn't they be?
From there, I bought a yard of galaxy print fabric, learned how to use a sewing machine, and made my first (and slightly off center) pocket T-shirt. The next day at school the amount of positive comments I got about that shirt was crazy. I realized that I had the ability to manufacture a product, an eager market, and a good chance to maybe make some money.
Over the next several months, I quickly learned and developed tricks to turn a craft project into a viable business. I made model pockets to keep size uniform, I switched to an assembly line-like production to sew all pockets first and sew them onto shirts last. I even hired my first (and only) employee to boost production. Advertising came in the form of Facebook and Twitter, with shares and retweets bringing my business to other schools. I even made a crude google doc system to keep track of orders.
In the end, I never made the Forbes list, the fad slowly dwindled, and so did my free time. However, I am happy with my efforts and had a lot of fun along the way. Most of all, I got to see the definition of entrepreneurship come alive.
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I am very excited to take ENT3003 especially through a unique program like Innovation Academy. I hope to gain the creative psychology, technical skills, industry knowledge, and attitude necessary to bring my efforts to the next level.
First a little constructive criticism on the quote, its a good quote just throws of the theme being in different font. Second as far as the substance goes it seems like you caught onto that trend right at the perfect time which is crucial. Although you weren't some big business thats what a lot of fashion companies do now to stay current. Check out my blog to see how some of the things you learned on your own I learned from a fellow entrepreneur. http://entgarrett.blogspot.com/2016/01/my-entrepreneurship-story.html
ReplyDeleteHey Anthony,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your story. Not every entrepreneurship story is about the big guys. I believe everyone is an entrepreneur at some point of their lives. I think its pretty cool that you caught on to a trend and used it to your advantage to make some money, not many people would put in that much effort.I also have an entrepreneurship story that started at a young age and involved fashion http://carolinalafuent3003.blogspot.com/2016/01/my-entrepreneurship-story.html