An Interview with a Local Entrepreneur - Essay Example

? An Interview with a Local Entrepreneur An ‘entrepreneur’ refers to a person who takes all inherent risks and starts a new business or venture of his own. They have strong leadership capabilities with which they lead a business by selecting efficient managerial staff and thereby fulfill their dreams. When one focuses on the small scale entrepreneurs, it will be important to identify the capital base and the local market. I had the opportunity of interviewing one such local owner of medical store. He owns a small pharmacy store cum clinic for around two years and is doing quite well in his business. Owing to ethical reasons, animosity has been maintained about the person, and hence his real name has not been used here and is replaced by Jimmy Ferris. But his story of coming into the business and being successful is worth telling. The story shares the difficulty that a person faces in his life, yet moves on to fulfill his dreams. It was truly a beautiful experience to have a chat with him and know about his journey through the business. This may also inspire new ideas, which are waiting to get explored. In today’s world, new and budding entrepreneurs are coming up with vibrant new ideas which are worth noting and considering. This is, however just one story among many. Hackensack is a city in New Jersey in the United States having a population of around forty-five thousand. There are several small businesses in this city which covers different industries, including marketing, agriculture, healthcare, housing, insurance, information technology, manufacturing, and other public sectors. Each business has its own story behind it about the role that an entrepreneur plays, and thus each has a different success story. The story narrated here is that of Mr. Jimmy Ferris (name changed) who was born in London in June 1976 in a family that had histories of business starters. His father was involved in an import-export business and made huge money at one point of time. Jimmy, from his very childhood, was very interested in medicines and so wanted to take up a career in that industry. He also completed his medical studies from a known medical college in New Jersey. Being a very good student, he successfully completed his course and joined a medical college as a junior doctor. When he talked about how he started up his own pharmacy, a story that Jimmy shared was quite challenging. By the time Jimmy was doing well in the medical college where he was serving as a junior doctor, his father’s business started deteriorating with respect to the market conditions and other dealership problems. The markets were becoming vulnerable and his business started failing, which led to severe losses to his company. Ultimately, the business had to be terminated. This affected their lives heavily as the family’s expenses were mainly covered by the income from the business. Jimmy, too, had just started his career, the income from which was not sufficient enough to support his family entirely. All this together had created a situational crisis for the entire family. Jimmy’s father could not take up the shock of loss and failure in his business and suffered a massive heart attack, which led him to bed rest for a long period of time, and according to the doctors, he was not supposed to involve in any kind of stress taking job, if he had to stay well. So, it was clear for their entire family that the man was no more in a position to conceptualize any new business which might hurt his health. Around the end of year 2009, Jimmy started thinking of starting something of his own. He had to support his family. His father was ill, and his mother was trying to support the family by taking up a small job in a fashion garment store. Thus, it was a huge responsibility on Jimmy to take up the lead for the welfare of his family. Jimmy shared his reasons why he chose to start up a pharmacy store or a business in this industry and not anything else. From his childhood, Jimmy always loved to serve ill and sick people. This was also the reason for which he was interested in medicines. Through his knowledge he wanted to serve and cure people, not just to earn money but to actually satisfy his desire to heal and assist people. According to him, he has seen many doctors in his life who do not treat patients from their passion; rather they treat them very badly. Jimmy’s eyes would fill with tears whenever he got to see such situations. Yes, earning was also a necessity for him. But he always wanted to serve and earn and not ‘serve to earn’. So, when Jimmy had to think of starting a business of his own, a pharmacy store, along with a clinic was what came to his heart and mind at the first instance. However, in order to start a venture on one’s own, there are several risks to be considered. Jimmy, too, had to take certain risks; the first being the availability of capital for setting up of his business. He needed a space for the store to set up, and an attached space for treating patients, and an easily accessible location would be helpful. When he had just planned his own start-up, he had not left his job at the medical college because he knew it would take time to set up, and it would require patience till he could become successful in his venture. The amount of money that he required for the set up was arranged through loan that he took from a bank. Owing to the relationship that he and his father shared with the bank, getting a loan was not that difficult; Jimmy’s academic performance, too, added to his credibility. However, a loan was also supposed to be repaid, so Jimmy had to make plans accordingly. While doing the job at the medical college, and serving and curing patients out there, Jimmy started setting up his pharmacy store, contacting people who would be dealing with him for the supply of the drugs, and those who would serve the store. Thus he set to make a plan for his business. He gave his full effort in order to save time on the set up and implementation of the plan. Very soon, Jimmy’s pharmacy started in a popular location in Hackensack. He was lucky enough to get a proper location within a relatively less time. In order to promote his pharmacy-cum-clinic, Jimmy also allocated some capital towards advertising for his store and the services that would be available for the patients. Jimmy’s business started, but as can be understood, every business has some highs and lows. Firstly, Jimmy’s venture was a new one. Therefore, as can be expected, it would take time for people to know about his pharmacy, and to recognize him as a doctor. Moreover he was into a business which was not uncommon to the people or the industry. Why would someone go to his store when he/she already has a known store to serve them? So, quite naturally, it was not working from the very first day. However, Jimmy did not lose hope. Instead, he kept on working hard at the medical college and learnt the art of treatment further. Gradually, he asked his patients to come to him for check-ups at his own clinic. This let the patients get information about the new pharmacy store cum clinic. Thus, steadily, his pharmacy store and clinic started getting attended by patients, and all those who would come there also purchased the medicines from that same outlet only. This saved them from moving to different places. The distinguishing factor of Jimmy’s pharmacy store was that he had selected and recruited those people to work in the clinic who were very caring towards the patients, such that patients would feel comfortable to attend the clinic. This was one very important reason that made the clinic popular amongst people. Soon, Jimmy had several patients who would come to him personally in his clinic for treatment, and purchased medicines from his store itself. Within a few months, Jimmy made arrangements for the availability of different physical tests required by patients, at his clinic. This helped the patients and their families even more, because they could undergo diagnosis and relevant medical tests and obtain treatment from a single outlet. Here also, Jimmy served his people by providing the tests at a little lower price than the other nursing homes or hospitals. This price cutting helped him stay strong in the market. So Jimmy was serving the people just the way he wanted, but at the same time, he was concentrating on his business issues as well. Within two years from the commencement of his business, Jimmy is doing very well. Common people in Hackensack now know about Jimmy’s pharmacy store and clinic, and they love to be served and cured there. Even people, who are not aware of this venture, are slowly and gradually getting to know about the facilities available at this center. Although his business is not very big, it is now popular, in a local context, and his two purposes are getting served at the same time: firstly, to serve and treat people differently from the general hospitals and private doctors and secondly, to support his family. Jimmy also talked about his plans for expanding his business. Now, that he is finding his pharmacy to be doing well and that people are attracted to his store and clinic, he has plans to expand his business. Jimmy wants to open up similar stores in different small locations within Hackensack, and once this plan becomes successful, he has plans to expand throughout the New Jersey. He wants a uniqueness to stay in his business, which lies in the “way” doctors would treat their patients. So, he would himself get involved in the selection of such doctors and people, such that he may choose people having knowledge along with the proper behavior and approach. His business was supposed to follow his thought – ‘serve and earn and not serve to earn’, and in this way, he wishes to make his business different from others. His expansion plans are also targeted towards social benefits. He devised a program for door-to-door medical service and response to private calls in cases of emergencies or elderly people. He plans to install a 24x7 hours’ service and customer care executives would attend calls all day by working in shifts. This will ensure that people can reach medical service when they need it urgently and at the most odd hours. Door-to-door medical check up facilities will be started once he is a little more settled. Such services would be provided at a low cost such that even poor elderly people, neglected by their family can also avail some medical nominal treatments at the initiative of the doctors. For the people having ideas to start up a new venture like Jimmy did, he suggested that if one has innovative ideas, he/she should not wait for anything. Experience in the field is a requirement for sure, but if the ideas are properly generated, then business should be expected to grow and income would automatically come in. One should be enthusiastic and hopeful about what he/she is doing. When a venture is new, it is bound to face initial hurdles, but one is supposed to have faith in him/her self and understand that those problems would stay initially, and gradually disappear as one can move towards success. However, Jimmy also believes that in order to be successful in a business which is not new for the customers; uniqueness would also be required, which would make the business different and hence more attractive. Jimmy believes that the main reason behind his success was that he always targeted to satisfy his patients’ needs up to their expectations. One can just go and do a job, or he/she has the option of doing better and beyond that to serve one’s customers. It is necessary to get into the right business, and once that is done, one should be able to perform with all efforts. Jimmy also has plans to quit from the job that he is doing in the medical college, and give his full time in to his clinic. He also enjoys the fact that when a business is owned, one can use his/her time in a flexible manner. According to Jimmy, it is also necessary to stay updated with the news in the market. For example, if today few other people start following the similar strategies that Jimmy is following, that would make the competition tougher. So Jimmy always tries to keep himself updated and prepared for such situations. Jimmy believes that there can be no proper time to start a venture. If one is ready with ideas and other necessities, one should go for it immediately. According to him, inspiration matters a lot. Every entrepreneur gets inspired through some source, which may be a person, a situation, or anything else. Jimmy’s zeal towards his business was driven by financial necessity and inspired by the passion to cure sick people in a human way. Thus, the conversation with Jimmy made one thing very clear. If someone has dreams in his/her eyes, he/she then also has the ability to fulfill it. The only thing that is required to be done is to go for it. One should not wait for anything if ideas are available. If plans are properly executed and implemented, then success is bound to come in the long term. This is evident from the case of Jimmy Ferris. Jimmy had dreams in his eyes, but he planned and executed them when he was inspired by situations. He had to face a lot of initial difficulties which included his family problems, crisis, the unavailability of financial support, the competition in the market, but in spite of that, he planned his thoughts and with hopes in his heart he implemented them. It took time to succeed, but eventually he is reaching the doors of success. Today he has so many patients to serve and they not only come for the service but they actually love to come at Jimmy’s clinic because of the unique response they receive from the people who serve at the place. Jimmy can now think about expansion plans because he has learnt the ways and measures of how to improve in the business so as to stay in the market and succeed more. Modern entrepreneurs are coming up with either new ideas or with difference in old ideas and playing major roles in serving their customers. This should also inspire the new entrepreneurs to come out of their fears and live their dreams to the fullest which not only would lead them to success but also serve people in the best ways possible. Read More