ENT 28A- Exit strategy

1)    The exit strategy I plan to make is to sell the business for a large return.

2)    I selected this particular exit strategy is because the reality is that I do not want to deal with the stress of owning a business and everything that comes along with it for the rest of my life. I want to travel and do things I enjoy, maybe pursue a new hobby. However, all of these things require money and that’s why I would choose to take the large return and sell the business so that the stress is off of my shoulders.

3)    I don’t think that this exit strategy has had any negative effects on the other decisions I have made in my concept. Realistically, I wouldn’t leave or sell the business until I was one hundred percent satisfied as to what it has become. Also, it is one thing to say all of this now as a figurative strategy, however if faced with the actual decision of walking away from a business I created I am not sure what I would do. The above was what I think I would do. Hopefully one day I will have the opportunity to find out!

ENT 27A- Reading reflection 3

Entrepreneur I chose from the list: Elon Musk

1      What surprised me the most about Elon Musk was that he dropped out of school very shortly after returning to acquire (Or so he thought) a PhD in physics. Musk had a passion for learning, as many entrepreneurs do, and was very passionate about physics. So for me, I was surprised to learn that he didn’t stick around to learn as much as he could about physics. I most admire Musk’s personal growth and attitude. He is a very humble man, and genuinely wants to further advance the planet technologically. He started with one company, which then grew into a crazy successful business which we know as PayPal, and then he branched off to create tesla and SpaceX. He was never satisfied in his work and kept pursuing new opportunities as they appeared. What I least admired about Elon Musk was sometimes he would get frustrated while in business meetings and literally storm out of the room. As much of a non-big deal as this seems, I honestly couldn’t find anything else about him that I didn’t admire. He seems like a very down to earth and highly intelligent man. Musk encountered some minor failures but for the most part he was overall a very successful person. When he did face failure, he would do what any good entrepreneur would and learn from it to better himself and his future endeavors.

2      Apart from being naturally extremely intelligent, Musk’s core competencies were his ability to think outside the box and to pursue and idea when it popped into his head. Ideas such as tesla and SpaceX were spur of the moment ideas that turned into real world successful businesses. Of course, his determination and strong work ethic didn’t hurt either.

3      One part of the reading that was confusing to me was when they described musk’s lesser well known businesses that had to do with solar panels and other energy sources. It was unclear at times whether these were existing companies, future companies that Musk wanted to create, or simply just ideas that were food for thought. I ended up googling this information after reading the book to see if these companies existed and what they were all about.

4      I would ask how he transitioned from an idea to a reality with his companies. It is one thing to think that building rockets and space technology would be cool but then to actually do it is astounding to me. It seems like a monstrous task to take on. Another question would be whether he believes a college education is necessary. I have heard him express his views on college education and how he doesn’t believe it is a good indicator of anything important and is overall unnecessary to being successful. It would be interesting to hear his perspective.

5      I think that Elon believes that hard work is vital. He wouldn’t be where he was today if it weren’t for hard work, nor would many great entrepreneurs that the world has seen. Hard work is the key to success and making dreams a reality. And yes, I do share this same opinon.

ENT 26A- Failure

1)    A failure I can think of off the top of my head is earlier in the semester I repeatedly failed at chemistry practice exams while preparing for an upcoming test.  I was doing dozens and dozens of practice problems, each of which had the same outcome, which was me going online to figure out how to do the problem. I did not have any other choice but to do well on the exam, and I ended up pulling two all-nighters in a row and finally figured out how to do the problems correctly. I ended up doing well on the test, but that feeling of repeated failure after time and time again of practicing was not a good feeling. I felt helpless and contemplated changing my major because of it.

2)    From this, I learned what I am actually capable of doing if I set my mind to it. If someone told me that I would pull two all-nighters in a row just to study for an exam I would have told them that they were crazy. However, when I was faced with a time when I had no other choice but to stay up all night and learn the material, that is what I did. It was extremely rewarding when I got a good grade on the test. I also learned that it is insane that students stress themselves out over a simple numerical grade that realistically means nothing in the real world, however that is a topic for a different conversation.

3)    In general, as much as failure hurts and can be difficult, I believe that it is vital to coming back a stronger and better person in various aspects of life. In the moment, I felt terrible when I failed. Maybe even depressed at times. However, whenever I look back on my failures compared to where I am today, I realize that those failures taught me valuable lessons that helped me get to where I am today in all areas of life. Personally, I handle failure in such a way that probably isn’t the healthiest. Whenever I feel anything but happy, I keep all of my emotions on the inside and rarely express how I am feeling to others. Sometimes it eats away at me, but in the end I get through it. I believe this class has had a positive outlook on the way I see failure. I don’t see it as strictly a failure anymore, but rather an opportunity in disguise. It is an opportunity to learn about yourself, and what you can do to become whatever it is you want to be. I certainly believe I may take more risks and not have second thoughts about it due to some of the things I have learned in this class, and regarding the people I have read about in this class.