Entrepreneurship Story

My Story

I've been around entrepreneurs my whole life. Both of my parents started their own business before I was born. My step-sister's parents are also entrepreneurs. I guess you could say it runs in the family. If you've ever donated blood on campus or anywhere in the state of Florida really, chances are you were in a blood mobile that my parents built. They own a company in Clearwater,FL that build blood mobiles for what used to be Florida Blood Services but has now merged with several other blood banks to become One Blood. I have literally seen my parents company go from a business in our home, to a multi-million dollar company that, at one time, delivered buses all over the country. My step-sisters parents own a similar company in Hudson,FL. My brother and his wife work for my dad but are venturing off to start their own mechanic shop, mainly focusing on diesel engines and auto repair. 

 Growing up around this has definitely given me an appreciation for hard work and dedication. There were some years the company didn't make it out of the red, and other years the company had so much business they had to turn it away because they couldn't physically handle the capacity at the shop. It's made me fearful to start my own business because you don't have a guaranteed paycheck or benefits or set hours. My dad worked from sun up to sun down every day and he was constantly on call to go fix broken down blood mobiles. We lived a pretty comfortable life growing up, so for that I am thankful. But the risk of it and the stress and pressure I saw on a daily basis was too much for me to handle. I said I would never own my own business and I was ok working for someone else that had job security and stability. 

 Some day when I retire and my husband is a store manager I might have my boarding facility for horses. But that's a long shot.

 Seeing my parents lead people and put in a hard days work have made me the great manager I am today. Neither one of my parents have college degree's but my mom can run books and numbers better than most accountants I know and my dad has yet to come across and engine or generator that he couldn't fix.
Honestly the main reason I chose this class is because it was required for my degree. However now that I have seen the course work and the books I'm looking forward to learning more about this.

The refrigerator magnet is what our old buses used to look like. Now most of them are red.

The second picture is my dad and I at Cape Canaveral. The bus we are standing in front of is one that my dad built as a learning unit for kids to learn about the space program. The inside was all computers and workstations for kids.