3A- My Entrepreneurship Story


For this exercise, I would like to write about some of the hardships of being entrepreneurial. My family owns a small graphic design and printing business in Tampa, FL. My father started the company 30 years ago when he moved to Florida. For 27 years, he had only been located at two storefront properties, both in the same plaza. 3 years ago, the pizza place next to my family’s shop caught on fire and nearly burned down the entire building. The smoke damage to the surrounding storefronts was immense, and the owner of the pizza place walked away with an insurance check. The only employees of my father’s company are my immediate family. My mother and father handled the business operations while my brother and I worked in roles such as collating, taking large orders, and helping customers.
The smoke damage to the store was so much that we considered closing the entire thing down and my parents retire, but there was too much capital located in the store that had depreciated in value. We ended up moving the entire storefront into another building over that summer in order to keep the business running. No big-name professional contractors or companies on retainer were used to make this happen, just my family and a few of my teenage friends. The insurance payouts were too small to avoid this. After the move, my family struggled for years hassling with the insurance company, affecting the business and our family.
This is a very prime example of the woes of entrepreneurship. Not all businesses succeed and even if they do, it is a hard-fought battle to keep it going. I enrolled in Principles of Entrepreneurship in order to avoid the problems that I described above. I am not sure about keeping the family business going, but if I am to do so, or start my own company, I would like to be able to be so successful, my own family does not have to go through what we did. Starting a company and making enough so I can pay for expenses like movers and not worry about another ten years is what I hope to learn from this class.

The image I selected is the stripped-down original storefront, all the printers, copiers, laminating machines, paper inventory, and computers moved out. The ceiling tiles had to be removed due to the smoke and water damage sustained.

Comments

  1. RiceKristieMay 24, 2019 at 12:58 PM

    Hello Jacob,
    Thank you for sharing your family’s experience. I think it is critical that people understand being an entrepreneur is not all butterflies and rainbows. Honestly, it’s something that really intimidates me because there is so much responsibility riding on your shoulders. I don’t think I will ever be brave enough to become an entrepreneur but I do enjoy learning about what it takes. Are you still planning on opening your own business one day after this experience?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Myles FinnMay 27, 2019 at 2:44 PM

    Hey Jacob,
    Having a family business that has complications does put a strain on everyone evolved and makes running the business debatable. That being said it is important to recognize those issues and know how to deter your business away from them. Thank you for sharing your story and including these ups and downs. Starting a business and maintaining it is not as easy as it may seem.

    ReplyDelete

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