Very Short Interview #1

I interviewed Bruce Richard in Fort Myers, Florida. He said the following after I began with the questions:

• What should my expectations be in this course?
• BR: You should expect some sort of self-run projects that assist in your understanding of what it feels like to run your own business. Expect to learn from experts in the field who may come and speak to your class.
• What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
• BR: An entrepreneur is someone who sees the world through a different lens. They see opportunity behind every door and take the time to explore even the smallest possibility for success. They view opposition as a sign that what they are doing has great potential for greatness.
• What do you think I should learn in an entrepreneurship course?
• BR: I think that the fear of failure should be resolved somehow throughout the course. If you can wrestle down that fear through group projects or experiential assignments, entrepreneurship can become exciting and nothing but a blank canvas to paint your dreams on.
• What do you wish you had been taught in school before setting out on your own path as an entrepreneur?
• BR: I wish that I had been taught that failure is okay. Failure is the way that we grow most efficiently. Our business had valleys where nothing seemed to be going right, where everything we tried to do failed, but it was through that failure that we found the key to build the business that has supported my family for decades.

Bruce is an entrepreneur that started an art business with his wife. They have traveled the country for nearly two decades selling their art as well as opening up their own store on Sanibel Island.

Personally, I was amazed at how much failure it took before Bruce found success. They needed to build clientele that would help support and follow the success of the art for years. Flash forward nearly 20 years, their family is well off and the art is selling like crazy. This is something that is very applicable to my life as I want to go down a path seldom traveled. Starting from the ground up is often scary, but Bruce encouraged me that there is little more rewarding in life than watching something you created grow.