The person I have contacted has a profound business experience and great entrepreneurial skills, for he managed to combine his education, youth working experience, and personal skills and create a successful youth fashion clothing company. Greg Stevenson is what people would call a professional worker, with the only amendment: he works for himself.
He is a confident, well-educated man, who has prominent managerial and leadership skills, is a master interlocutor, and can tell exciting stories for hours, but, being quite busy with his company, he brilliantly manages his time and the conversation itself.
Being a kid, he has decided to become a millionaire before he reaches 25. He did not have any wealthy relatives who would be successful in business ownership, but his uncle owned a small cafe, and his mother’s cousin had a flower shop anyone would be proud of. Those were the real-life examples, quite successful, one must admit.
A degree in international economics and business management was, indeed, helpful, though not sufficient for a young entrepreneur. He had no military experience, which he sometimes is sorry for because he believes that army is an excellent school of time management, leadership skills formulation and many other necessary entrepreneurial requirements.
Greg started his first venture when he was 19. He managed the college Art hobby group. It enabled him to receive his primary managerial experience and the basic ideas of business.
After graduation, Greg decided to quit the hobby group management business and find something more profitable and rewarding. For a start, he found a job in a marketing agency that gave him a profound real-life experience in marketing communication, its principles, and strategies. A three-year expertise in a steadily growing company allowed young Greg to grow as a professional and develop many essential business skills, knowledge and experience. But one day he realized he wanted more.
His initial interest in arts, design, and color made him turn his attention to the fashion business.
By this time he met Lindsay, his future business partner, and wife. She was also interested in the fashion industry and has a working experience with a comparatively large company that both made clothes and was the product wholesaler. Lindsay had a good experience in sales and was acquainted with the clothing production and distribution industry. Greg admits he owes a lot to his wife’s knowledge and talents, as well as her business contacts that were very useful along their entrepreneurial experience, especially during the first several years after the company’s foundation.
Mr. Stevenson now believes it was quite a risky affair to start up a company without any real experience in various business matters. He admits he often suffered from lack of knowledge and experience in many business fields, but also is entirely sure that his business was worth it, and does not miss the opportunities he did not use. He is glad he chose to start up his venture instead of working for someone else. He adores his small business and is glad he does not miss the opportunity.
Entrepreneurship is something any relatively independent and intelligent person considers at least once in a lifetime. Greg was not an exception to this rule – he went even further. He dared to start up a company that took a lot of his time, money and efforts but is, in the end, a rewarding part of his life experience. Using his savings, a bank loan and a family and friends support he began the production and distribution of clothes – first, female, later the assortment widened, and, finally, he decided to concentrate on stylish youth clothes. The market, though full of such companies, did not offer any real competitor that would provide the type of product Greg’s company produced. It took his company several years to reach the positive cash flow, primarily due to a significant sum of initial borrowings and bank loan debt, but owing much to the product success, Greg was able to manage his financial problems (which were, by the way, his worst nightmare, as he admits). His most significant triumph was the recognition of his clothes in Europe and cooperation with a famous Italian designer.
Of course, along with the history of Mr. Stevenson’s business, he had to deal with numerous issues and turn to professionals in different fields: lawyers, accountants, financial specialists, designers, sales managers, etc.
Greg’s goal was, as you probably remember, to become a millionaire at the age of 25, but he soon realized that building a reliable business took much more time and effort than he thought before. In the course of time, his goals changed. To some extent, because he turned himself, as well as his family status, lifestyle and personal characteristics did. At the very beginning, Greg Stevenson did not see the complete picture of his future business, did not realize what it will take him to become a successful entrepreneur. He was self-oriented. But later on, business and family changed his personal preferences. Greg had to work very hard to reach the height he put before himself, but now, when the business is developing and stable, he can afford some time and money to spare. And this is the material reward successful entrepreneurship offers. But there also is a psychological and emotional reward of self-realization, achievement, recognition, respect.
One of the steps he realized he needed along the way to success was an MBA program, which was not only useful in the systematization of knowledge and experience but also brought new valuable information for the opportunities of further business development.
As I have learned from the interview, an entrepreneur is a goal-oriented, creative, hard-working person, who never loses an excellent opportunity and takes good risks in favor of the company future growth, development and prosperity. It was not surprising that own business takes all one has an even more: it makes personal time, skills, talents, efforts and patience and much more.
What I’ve learned is that one should not be afraid to take risks and find ways out of hardships. He, who wants to be a successful businessman, should never lose heart, no matter what. Any entrepreneur will rise and fall, and rise again, if he is talented and high enough, and his efforts will be rewarded with self-realization and personal growth, which no money can buy.
Source: Our team of editors is thankful to CheapWritingHelp.com writing agency for this entrepreneurship essay.
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images pixabay