Very Short Interview, Part 2

    After looking back over the interview that I had with Chad Nuss, I think he provided me with some insightful and quality responses. His experience in entrepreneurship was well known to me, but after taking this class I think even more highly of him and his knowledge. I would say his definition of what it means to be an entrepreneur was very spot on. Thinking independently and being self reliant was key in not only completing this online course, but as well as in idea development and innovation which are both large elements of entrepreneurship. I also really liked his point about seeing demand in the market - I thought about it a lot when I was completing the assignments about identifying and filling needs. Like Chad, I also wish we presented with more examples of small businesses in the early stages of development. I think this would provide a lot of knowledge that would be very valuable and applicable.
    Follow up interview:

Alex: What struggles have you encountered with running your business since we spoke last?
Chad: I have struggle the most maintaining productive and effective team dynamics. Interpersonal relationships are key in business and if your team is not operating at its highest level profits are going to suffer as a result. I have been implementing some different team building strategies to improve our company culture.

Alex: What are your long term goals for your current company InsideOut?
Chad: I want to continue to develop our web presence, innovate our current marketing tactics, implement some new technologies that would be beneficial for our clients, and continue to keep profits on a uphill slope to potentially exit from the business at some point.

Alex: If you could give one final piece of advice for an aspiring entrepreneur like myself, what would it be?
Chad: Never give up. Continue to stay interested in a variety of topics. Work on fundamental skills such as speaking, typing, writing, and reading as these are necessary regardless of your field. Practice your ability to focus for long periods of time without distractions. Enjoy the ride!

I think I have definitely progressed as an entrepreneur as a result of this class. Prior to this course, I was already very interested in entrepreneurship and had spent a decent amount of time engulfing myself in business news, blogs, articles, and books. However, I think this class did a good job of simplifying the basics of entrepreneurship and really laying a good foundation for students who are very new to the subject. I felt very comfortable speaking with Chad again, and think that I used a lot of things I learned this semester in our conversations. He appreciated me interviewing him and really listening to his responses. We also discussed some other web development interests that I have, and he was impressed with my ability to converse on a wide variety of topics.