So what does it take to be an entrepreneur ? Its really hard to say actually and i dont know any first hand other then myself ... Could i classify myself as an entrepreneur ?!? I dont know, i have tried to setup various businesses from a very young age (startups, small business etc etc), some of them have provided decent returns and some of them a total flop.
As a result of this let me rephrase the question .... what has Garage Datacenter CEO done in his past that could be considered Entrepreneurial .... (its probably better cause i dont know what it takes to be an entrepreneur cause i still read books and various different articles on this topic so that must mean that im also still learning to answer that question)
So lets start at the early years: Age 10-16
Around Age 11: At the age of 11 (from the lunch money and pocket money i had) i bought myself a plastic bucket, some detergent and a window washer. I stood at the corner of the street (where the traffic lights would stay red for a reasonable amount of time) with another mate of mine and we started to wash car windows. Since i was so small i think it shocked some people and they gave me money *possibly* out of pity. Whatever the case this was successful cause by the end of the day i would have $25 or so ... investment was 5 dollars, return was 25 dollars, this totals to a 500% return. SUCCESS in my books ...
I tried this again on the next weekend and was in the middle of washing a ladies window when she screamed out my name *Garage Datacenter CEO !* what are you doing, i was shocked and said, *hi aunty teresa, im just making some money washing windows, (with a smile on my face)* she told me to get into the car and drove my to my mums work. At my mums work she began to explain what i was doing. My mum simply laughed and said, let him know how hard it is to make a buck (my mums cool like that) anyway, aunty teresa (bless her soul she has passed away now) convinced my mum not to let me do it again. My mum had a few words to me and convinced me it was dangerous so i stopped doing it.
Around Age 11-12: At around the same age i tried to have a garage sale. I scowered through the garage to find any items i didnt need. I rounded them all up, put them into a trolley and wheeled it to the main street where i lived. I layed out a towel put all the items on it and sat there with the same mate who had done the window washing gig with me ... i was there for a whole DAY from 10 to 4pm and sold *NOTHING* absolutly nothing. It was terrible, i actually had a lady who was looking closley at the rollerskates i was trying to sell but when i said 5 dollars she walked away .... I have to say this garage sale was a failure. Sold nothing and had to wheel everything back home, then got a scolding cause parents found out i was trying to sell some bed sheets that they actually wanted :(
Around Age 11-13: At around this age i got word that woolworth trollies would return 2 dollars if they where returned ! This was absolute gold, every trolley i found and returned would pop out 2 dollars from the little lock on the trolley handle. Spent almost a month (4 weekends) doing the rounds around my local westfields making money this way. Eventually though these trollies stopped poping out 2 dollars cause they had offical trolley collectors doing the work. This was a major success, over the 4 weeks i made about $120 dollars ! (investment $0, return $120)
Around Age 12-14: Kriss kross will make you jump jump the mac dad will make you jump jump ahuh ahuh ... This was the most popular song of the time ... KRISS KROSS's jump ! So what did i do ... i made 20 pirated copies of these and sold it to people for $4 a pop. I was young and stupid, i was at most 14 at the time ... I had no idea this was an illegal activity. Guess how i found out this was illegal .... my little kriss kross business was picking up soo much i actually recruited someone to help me make the tapes and distribute them (i actually did this little gig with the now current garage datacenter artist !, yes we been friends since primary but kind of lost touch until now). My new recruite began making copies and was doing a great job, then one day he said to me, my grand mother told me not to do it anymore cause its illegal ! I was thinking how could this be, it must be a ploy to take business away from me ... (after much research) ie asking my dad, he did tell me it was illegal ... i was so distraught and saddened by this that i threw away all the cheap 20c tapes i had brought and did away with this business. I invested about 10 dollars ad made back almost $100 in a span of 2 weeks ! (i guess this doesnt count though cause it was kind of illegal) I'd like to take this time to say sorry to kriss kross :)
Around Age 14 - 16: So the basketball card craze hit ! It was all about the basketball cards that you had and i was dead set in the middle of this. I began trading and making money through various deals between people. I used to put a premium on finding particular cards that people needed. For example, if someone was searching for a jordan living legend i would say, i will get you a jordan living legend and you will pay me an extra 5 dollars for being able to get this card for you. This worked for a whole two years until the craze finally died down. There was a time when i got abit sinister and actually created fake (first issue) cards but i felt guilty and stopped this practice immediatly. My returns doing this was great, i made money in the hundreds, both from trading and putting premiums on getting cards people wanted ... i didnt know that what i was doing was charging for a service, all i knew was the money was good !
Around Age 14 - 16: Around the same age i learnt how to work with wood in shop/woodwork class. I also learnt how to manipulate plastic with a fry pan and bend the plastic into shapes that you wanted. What did i do ... i bought some plastic, bought a similar fry pan as we had in shop class, made some bowels and bought some chocolates. I then placed all the chocolates into the bowels wrapped it up in nice selphane plastic and tried to sell it door to door. This was a major failure ... sold nothing, i didnt have a good sales pitch, it wasnt for a charity and quite frankly i had no reason why i was selling it other then to make money for myself .... investment was time + money for the plastic and chocolates (not much money) and return on investment was a big fat $0.
These where my Entrepreneurial activites prior to graduating from highschool .... sometime in future i will put the ideas that i put into action during university and post university ...
Long post .. if your up to here, thanks for reading ...
As a result of this let me rephrase the question .... what has Garage Datacenter CEO done in his past that could be considered Entrepreneurial .... (its probably better cause i dont know what it takes to be an entrepreneur cause i still read books and various different articles on this topic so that must mean that im also still learning to answer that question)
So lets start at the early years: Age 10-16
Around Age 11: At the age of 11 (from the lunch money and pocket money i had) i bought myself a plastic bucket, some detergent and a window washer. I stood at the corner of the street (where the traffic lights would stay red for a reasonable amount of time) with another mate of mine and we started to wash car windows. Since i was so small i think it shocked some people and they gave me money *possibly* out of pity. Whatever the case this was successful cause by the end of the day i would have $25 or so ... investment was 5 dollars, return was 25 dollars, this totals to a 500% return. SUCCESS in my books ...
I tried this again on the next weekend and was in the middle of washing a ladies window when she screamed out my name *Garage Datacenter CEO !* what are you doing, i was shocked and said, *hi aunty teresa, im just making some money washing windows, (with a smile on my face)* she told me to get into the car and drove my to my mums work. At my mums work she began to explain what i was doing. My mum simply laughed and said, let him know how hard it is to make a buck (my mums cool like that) anyway, aunty teresa (bless her soul she has passed away now) convinced my mum not to let me do it again. My mum had a few words to me and convinced me it was dangerous so i stopped doing it.
Around Age 11-12: At around the same age i tried to have a garage sale. I scowered through the garage to find any items i didnt need. I rounded them all up, put them into a trolley and wheeled it to the main street where i lived. I layed out a towel put all the items on it and sat there with the same mate who had done the window washing gig with me ... i was there for a whole DAY from 10 to 4pm and sold *NOTHING* absolutly nothing. It was terrible, i actually had a lady who was looking closley at the rollerskates i was trying to sell but when i said 5 dollars she walked away .... I have to say this garage sale was a failure. Sold nothing and had to wheel everything back home, then got a scolding cause parents found out i was trying to sell some bed sheets that they actually wanted :(
Around Age 11-13: At around this age i got word that woolworth trollies would return 2 dollars if they where returned ! This was absolute gold, every trolley i found and returned would pop out 2 dollars from the little lock on the trolley handle. Spent almost a month (4 weekends) doing the rounds around my local westfields making money this way. Eventually though these trollies stopped poping out 2 dollars cause they had offical trolley collectors doing the work. This was a major success, over the 4 weeks i made about $120 dollars ! (investment $0, return $120)
Around Age 12-14: Kriss kross will make you jump jump the mac dad will make you jump jump ahuh ahuh ... This was the most popular song of the time ... KRISS KROSS's jump ! So what did i do ... i made 20 pirated copies of these and sold it to people for $4 a pop. I was young and stupid, i was at most 14 at the time ... I had no idea this was an illegal activity. Guess how i found out this was illegal .... my little kriss kross business was picking up soo much i actually recruited someone to help me make the tapes and distribute them (i actually did this little gig with the now current garage datacenter artist !, yes we been friends since primary but kind of lost touch until now). My new recruite began making copies and was doing a great job, then one day he said to me, my grand mother told me not to do it anymore cause its illegal ! I was thinking how could this be, it must be a ploy to take business away from me ... (after much research) ie asking my dad, he did tell me it was illegal ... i was so distraught and saddened by this that i threw away all the cheap 20c tapes i had brought and did away with this business. I invested about 10 dollars ad made back almost $100 in a span of 2 weeks ! (i guess this doesnt count though cause it was kind of illegal) I'd like to take this time to say sorry to kriss kross :)
Around Age 14 - 16: So the basketball card craze hit ! It was all about the basketball cards that you had and i was dead set in the middle of this. I began trading and making money through various deals between people. I used to put a premium on finding particular cards that people needed. For example, if someone was searching for a jordan living legend i would say, i will get you a jordan living legend and you will pay me an extra 5 dollars for being able to get this card for you. This worked for a whole two years until the craze finally died down. There was a time when i got abit sinister and actually created fake (first issue) cards but i felt guilty and stopped this practice immediatly. My returns doing this was great, i made money in the hundreds, both from trading and putting premiums on getting cards people wanted ... i didnt know that what i was doing was charging for a service, all i knew was the money was good !
Around Age 14 - 16: Around the same age i learnt how to work with wood in shop/woodwork class. I also learnt how to manipulate plastic with a fry pan and bend the plastic into shapes that you wanted. What did i do ... i bought some plastic, bought a similar fry pan as we had in shop class, made some bowels and bought some chocolates. I then placed all the chocolates into the bowels wrapped it up in nice selphane plastic and tried to sell it door to door. This was a major failure ... sold nothing, i didnt have a good sales pitch, it wasnt for a charity and quite frankly i had no reason why i was selling it other then to make money for myself .... investment was time + money for the plastic and chocolates (not much money) and return on investment was a big fat $0.
These where my Entrepreneurial activites prior to graduating from highschool .... sometime in future i will put the ideas that i put into action during university and post university ...
Long post .. if your up to here, thanks for reading ...
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