3A- My Entrepreneurship Story

I feel that I have been exposed to entrepreneurship various times in my life, however there is one specific experience that left an impression on me. The summer after my freshman year, I interned for a vegan soup startup. It was called Paleoganic and they catered to a health-wise group. In this startup, there were two founders, an intern(me), an operations manager, and a CEO. However, this startup was given help by another company from the Innovation Hub which allowed them to receive the help of an accountant, marketing manager, and a successful CEO.

My title as an intern was ‘Sales/Marketing Intern’; however, my tasks were more focused on the sales portion. I would go to the farmer’s market to sell soup and different grocery stores to demo the product and to explain to potential customers the health benefits of this soup. I had to learn all the quick facts regarding the product and be knowledgeable enough to answer any questions that came my way. Additionally, I aided the marketing manager in creating the monthly newsletters on MailChimp and helped create a brochure. I attended weekly meetings with the founders and other staff of the company. I saw the actual struggles that startups have including to but not limited to: constantly making sure that they did not go too in debt and that their sales were enough to at least break even. I was witness to how much time and effort entrepreneurs must put into their business. There was always something to do, yet there was never enough staff to help.

My supervisor was the operations manager and he was someone that I learned much from. He was a Masters student at UF for the MSM program and he told me of some things he did that he thought was important for all entrepreneurs to do such as, reading business magazines, motivational books from successful entrepreneurs, and many other things. As a rising sophomore, I took all the advice he gave me. Even though he wasn’t working for this startup, he wasn’t making any money off it yet. He did have equity in the company but he was basically putting countless hours and sweat into this business without receiving anything. He once told me, that starting a business takes over your life, and if an entrepreneur really wants to be successful, they must dedicate a minimum of five years just to the business without any (or many profits). And this thought stuck with me, because at that point I really realized that if I ever wanted to start a business, I would have to put every other aspect of my life on hold to create a successful business.

Furthermore, I decided to enroll in this class because I am interested in learning more entrepreneurship and I want to get a better idea of what is needed to start a business. I also heard that this wasn’t a too hard elective which was a plus. When I was younger, I always dreamed of having my own business and I still might want to pursue that dream later in the future. Whether I decide to start my own business or not, I still think this class will be beneficial for my professional development. I hope that this class will allow me to think outside the box more and allow more to get better at problem solving, which is a skill that everyone should have.