Very Short Interview No. 1

The entrepreneur I chose to interview is Charles Allen. He is a founding partner of Embers Wood Grill Restaurant in Gainesville, Florida. He is an entrepreneur because he was able to begin his own business from the ground up, and his restaurant has been very successful since it began. In my interview, I asked Mr. Allen three questions about entrepreneurship, and about what I can expect from this course.

Question 1: What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
Response: To be an entrepreneur means to be disciplined. There is no one to tell you what to do or how to do it. You are in charge of your day, and you must be able to have good time management skills. Many people fail because they do not take advantage of their time. Some people wake up when they are 50-60 years old and say what have I accomplished? It also means that you have control over your personal life. You decided when you wake up and when you go to sleep depending on when you finish what you need to accomplish. You go to sleep when the goal is accomplished, or you don't go to bed.

Question 2: What do you wish you had been taught in school before setting out on your own path as an entrepreneur?
Response: I would of liked to have been taught how to better implement what I learned into the real world scenarios. Academia teaches you the rules and regulations. It teaches to know and understand how the world works, but it takes time to really become an expert. It takes between 15-20 years to become an expert. When you become an expert is when you can make big things happen.

Question 3: What should my expectations be in this course?
Response: School teaches you how the chess pieces move, in the game of life. You should expect to learn the basic rules of the game, and path that will lead you to become successful. It will take years of experience before understanding exactly how the world works.

Reflection: During the interview I was surprised with the responses that Mr. Allen gave me. It now seems to me that being an entrepreneur requires a large amount of hands on experience. This course is paving the way for me to be able to use the knowledge I acquire from the course to be a successful entrepreneur. I also did not expect him to say that it takes about 15-20 years to really become an expert in entrepreneurship, or any other thing I decide to do. Overall, Mr. Allen was very insightful, and he has changed my mindset in terms of what to expect from this course and how to use the knowledge I acquire with my future goals.