Written by Patrick Guild | Valley Vision, Drexel U Intern
I am attending Executive Insight because I want to meet people in Sacramento that have successfully started their own business. I want to meet the people who were brave enough to fail - who were brave to enough to dive head first into a need that they identified. As a business major, I often think about starting my own business and think that their firsthand advice is invaluable. I want to know where determination and preparedness stop and sense and timing take over. Going out on your own is always a gamble, but that doesn’t mean that you can't prepare yourself for it.
Our region has developed a reputation as being restrictive to new business, yet often people say that entrepreneurship and small business will be the catalyst to Sacramento’s next economy. So it will be great to hear from people who have managed to do it and how it’s done. I will be asking them: what resources are out there for entrepreneurs and small business? How has the entrepreneurial climate in Sacramento changed over the years? Has it gotten better? Has it gotten worse? Is there is a stronger network now?
I also strongly believe that entrepreneurship is not something that happens over night. It is not easy to tell exactly when one becomes an entrepreneur. Is it when you get the keys to your first business? Is it after you make your first sale? Is it a tendency that you are born with? It takes an entrepreneur to answer those questions.
Starting an independent business doesn't happen through an agency. It is something that has to happen organically. Connections have to be made in a face-to-face setting. There has to be build up, an exchange of ideas. D you meet other entrepreneurs at meet ups? Do you attend networking events? Is there a place in the region where entrepreneurs go to share ideas and stories with each other?
Not every young professional wants to go into the jobs that are most commonly offered in the Sacramento area, but some of us see needs in this region and want to know that we can address them. Where are the gaps? Where do successful business owners need more people to have training and experience? How much experience are they looking for? What do they look for in new hires? What opportunities are out there for young professionals that we don’t hear about through the schools in the area?
I obviously have a lot of questions for entrepreneurs in the region, and I don’t get a lot of opportunities to ask them. That’s why I’ll be attending Executive Insight.
