Very Short Interview No. 1

The entrepreneur I interviewed is family friend named Doug Armstrong, a 70 year old business man who has never worked for anyone but himself in his life. When he was 17 years old, he opened his first business - a donut store he owned for five years before selling it. He then started his own company selling car stereos, which he owned for 20 years. Finally he started a company selling inflatable boats, which he owned for an additional 15 years. With over 50 years of experience, Doug is a wealth of entrepreneaur knowledge. I think one of the biggest things that sets him apart from small business owners is that Doug has never in his life worked for anyone but himself and has a strong desire for independence and an interest in niche markets. For example, at the time he started his stereo company, that was an up and coming trend.

Here is a transcription of our conversation:

Me: What do you think makes someone an entrepreneur?
Doug: An entrepreneur is a person that can formulate or seize an idea and carry it through to an operating business with great enthusiasm.

Me: What should my expectations be in this class?
Doug: To be taught the pre-planning aspects and the risk vs. reward ratios for the types of business that you are interested in starting. How to secure funding from banks. Also to understand that you don't use short term cash (operating capital) to purchase long term assets such as equipment or vehicles.

Me: What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
Doug: Someone who seizes an idea and has the courage to carry it through to an operating entity.

Me: What do you wish you were taught in school before becoming an entrepreneur?
Doug: Financial planning so you truly  understand the financial requirements of operating the business and controlled growth... An example: When I started my first business and started to run into cash flow problems due to very rapid growth. I foolishly assumed that all I had to do was increase sales when in fact that made the problems worse because of the additional inventory that needed to be purchased.

Although my family has known Doug for many years, I really didn't know much about his businesses. It was fascinating to learn the history of his life and his thoughts on entrepreneurship, particularly what he wished he had known before. I look forward to speaking with him again.