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What does it take to be a successful business owner?
My research was due to wanting to learn more about operating a business. My goal was to learn as much as possible about how to be successful in owning a company. There are several components that go into owning your own business that most would not think about. I was first most curious about how to become successful but also how to stay successful once I reached that point. Next, I wanted to know how I would be able to run my business and also provide a stress-free environment for my employees. I feel that now having this insight on this information, I can most definitely use it in real life situations. The ability to have a positive outlook even when stressed out is a great trait to have in life, as well as when running a company, because there will always be some form of stress in life. I believe that everything I researched will help me in great ways to know how to run my future business.
Interviewing the mentor:
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How did you get started in this field?
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“This is what I’ve done since I got out of The Core and this is what I’m good at. You need to always do what you’re good at.”
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This really stands out to me because I do find it to be true that you need to do what you’re good at, otherwise you will most likely be miserable and maybe even unsuccessful because you are unhappy with your job.
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Would you say you are successful in this field?
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“Yes. I feel that my success comes from loving what I do as well as doing well in this profession.”
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Again, I find this to be true because to do well, you have to have some motivation to do well, which means you want to succeed in what you are doing because you love it and want to continue doing it.
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Do you feel you will continue to do this until you retire?
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“Yes. This is what I know I will for sure be successful in, so I will continue to do it until the time to retire comes around.”
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I think that this mindset shows the determination that comes from loving what you do and being good at it.
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What do you plan on doing for retirement?
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“My wife and I are moving to the beach and starting a fishing charter, stick with something that will still benefit you even when you are no longer doing it.”
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This shows that a little determination can go a long way. If you stick with what you’re good at and not go job to job, you will only get better everyday, and it will all pay off in the end.
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What is the best way to act towards your employees?
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“Always treat them with respect. People will make mistakes, just make sure they know they made the mistake, how they need to fix it, and make sure they learn from that mistake so it won’t happen again in the future.”
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This really opened my eyes up to the fact that if you are in charge of people and they make a mistake, you can’t get mad, you have to instead make it a learning experience and teach them the better way to do it next time. This is all a part of being a leader!!
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How does it feel when you accomplish something new?
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“It is a great feeling seeing the final outcome of a project, it really shows all of the hard work that was put into it seeing the final product and it’s so rewarding.”
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This shows me that even though some things may take a little more work and time than others, it will all be worth it in the end.
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What are some challenges you face?
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“I’m constantly on the phone with customers and workers, but it is all worth it because I know everyone is being told the correct thing and things will be done the right way.”
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This shows that even though you might get irritated with dealing with questions and/or problems, you really want to be the one everyone is coming to for these answers and solutions so you know they are being told the correct things.
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What mindsets help make you successful?
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“Always keep in mind that things will get stressful at times, but everything happens for a reason.”
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This is a positive outlook on the negative things that will happen when you are in charge of so many different things. But it doesn’t help anyone when you are so stressed out, you just have to stay calm and work everything out over time.
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How do you deal with failure?
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“We typically don’t have failure because we aim to be the best. However, if there was ever a failure, the best thing you can do is stay positive and do your best to fix the problem as quickly as possible and with as much efficiency as possible.”
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This says that with proper planning and outlooks, you will have very little failures take place. However, there will be some, and you just have to handle them with grace and class and move forward.
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If you were in my shoes (Planning on going to business school and one day owning a business), what would you do?
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“Stay in school, keep your grades up, and be successful in every way you can. All of these things will pay off in so many ways that you don’t even realize.”
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This tells me that times will be stressful and hard, but if you fight through it and just get it done, it will all pay off in the end.
It was a necessity to research this topic because I wanted to further my knowledge in being successful in owning and maintaining a business of my own. This is what I see myself doing one day, so I found it very beneficial to be able to go ahead and research all the information I needed to get an idea of what i needed to do to be successful. I know that to be successful, you need to have a good mindset and a good head on your shoulders. When owning a business, you are not only trying to be successful for yourself, but also for the employees you have that depend on you, this is one of the most important things to keep on your mind when owning a business. During my research process, I learned so much and some things I would have never even thought I needed to know. When you research and look at things from other's perspective, it opens up your mind to a whole other realm of knowledge. That is what I found to be so cool about researching something I was already interested in, I didn't find myself bored, but rather intrigued in each and every concept brought to my attention. I learned several things about how to be successful in owning my own business, but the one thing that stuck out to me most was just to be headstrong, things will get tough and stressful, but the reward feels incredible after you just push through all the stress. I found that my research has helped me to better understand what I need to do and work on in order to be a successful business owner one day. I am so glad to have had the opportunity to be able to research these things before I even started school, so I know what kind of attitude I need to have going into this field.
Knowing more about my topic will allow me to be better prepared for what I’m majoring in while in college as well as starting my career. This will make a difference in my life because I will not be taken by surprise by the things I will be experiencing while in this field in the future. It also makes a difference because I have learned to think about things in a way that I have never thought to think about before, I also now see that I need to start thinking about strategies for my business sooner rather than later in order to be even more successful.
I know that you need certain traits in order to be successful in owning your own business. I know you have to be willing to put forth all of your effort, be strong-willed, and stay positive even when things get tough. It will take a lot of effort to start your business and get it going, however, once you get it going and reach your client base, you will be on your way and you then just have to maintain your business. It will be stressful when building up your business and client base, but once you get this accomplished, everything will run much more smoothly, because you then have control over everything and have had time to learn the ropes and how everything should be running.
During my research, I looked through articles, newspaper articles, stories, and interviews. Some of these sources were a bit bias, but to me, that just goes to show that people are willing to be bias because they love what they do that much, which is a positive take on the subject for me. During my interview, there were a few things that opened up my eyes, like the fact that it is true that things will get very stressful, but you just have to stay positive and look at the bright side of things. It also really opened my eyes at the statement my mentor made about his employees that everyone will make a mistake, but you shouldn’t just get mad, but rather make it a lesson to the employees so that it doesn’t happen again as well as showing them the most efficient way of fixing the problem.
After thinking that the only way to be successful in owning a business was to go to college, get a degree, and then strive to always do the best you can to get your business going and keep it going, I came to find out there is another action you can take to be even more proactive; to start learning about things like using your creativity to its advantage and managing money at a young age. This way, when you start learning at an even younger age than most people start, you know things at that young age most people don’t know until they are in their adulthood. Therefore, you will be ahead when you start college, because you will already have an understanding of the things you would typically be learning in those early classes in college.
Advice From Others:
ABOUT ME
My name is Morgan Vasil. I'm a senior in high school and plan on attending college in the fall and getting my degree in business. The thought of owning my own business is what makes me want to keep striving forward to reach my goal. I know it will be hard at times, but it will all be worth all of the hard work in the end.
I mentor for Kodiak and my mentor's name is Adrian Miller. Each day, I am responsible for knowing what is going on at each of the job sites, turning in paperwork, and anything else that is asked of me. I have learned that being responsible for multiple things at one time can get stressful, but it has definitely been a wonderful learning experience. My mentorship will help me in the future because I now know some of the aspects of running a company and what to do within the company.
Please feel free to view my video presentation of my research to learn more!
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gpL283dKQ0&t=42s
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It is important that children learn the value of their creativity and how to manage their money and be successful at a young age. If more kids learned these things at an early age, putting them at a higher risk of being successful later on down the road, we would have many more successful adults than we already do.This source is credible because it shows that you can start your road to success as a young child, which can only help you to succeed at even greater depths because you are getting a head start.
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The information provided in the text will be very beneficial in helping me to answer my essential question. It provides information on the qualities that are best to have when owning a small business and the qualities that will help you keep your business going and your mindset healthy. The study was based on Dutch small business owners and Dutch business owners are a good sample for studying the relationship between intrinsic motivational aspects and business goals. Also, I find this source credible because the things that it explains as to how to be a successful business owner and how to continue to be successful are all valid points and make perfect sense.
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It is important that if you have a dream, you follow it. There will be obstacles along the way, but as long as you don't let those things keep you down and keep striving forward, you will get to the point you want to be. However, if you let those things keep you down, you most likely will never get to the point you want to be, it's really a "You VS You" situation. Don't overthink and just get through the hard times and everything will run smoothly. There have been millions of people that were once told they would not succeed and didn't know anything about what they were doing, but they became successful by ignoring these comments and moving forward to prove those people wrong. Never give up, no matter the obstacle.
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How I Can
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Citations
“Children Get an Early Start on Owning and Operating a Business.” The Queensland Times (Ipswich, Australia), 1 Oct. 2011. Questia School, www.questiaschool.com/read/1G1-268704243/children-get-an-early-start-on-owning-and-operating.
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Georgievski, Marjan J, Ascalon, M. Evelina, and Stephan, Ute, “Small Business Owners’ Success Criteria, A Values Approach to Personal Differences.” Journal of Small Business Management. Volume 49 No. 2. April 2011.
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Wellner, Alison S. "Capitalist Dreams."<i> American Demographics</i>, Mar, 2002, pp. 36-41<i>, SIRS Issues Researcher</i>, <a href="https://sks.sirs.com" target="_blank">https://sks.sirs.com</a>.
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