To gather Misfit Entrepreneur’s stories I asked Co-Creators to answer 6 reflection questions…they’re real good and they’re a secret! But I’m going to share the Q&A of the first question each Misfit Entrepreneur submitted. I want to know, based on their answers to the first question, which stories you are most intrigued to learn more about?
So here you go, meet Jerry, Sheila, Kimball, Creg, Jackie, Donovan, Nathalie, Ritika & Ron! Tell us, which 3 stories you would like to learn more about in the comments below.
Jerry Thurber
Q: Why did you choose to connect with your entrepreneurial spirit? A: I thought I had a better idea for how to run a business. For me, this was not so much about the problem I wanted to solve, but the way I wanted to solve it. I felt like the traditional business models did not treat employees, contractors, partners and customers the way they should be treated and I wanted to try and do things my way.
Sheila M. Balloffet
Former Flower Farmer & Seller
Waverly Road Farm
Q: Why did you choose to connect with your entrepreneurial spirit? A: The first summer I retired from teaching I signed up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for just flowers not vegetables figuring that at $12 a bouquet a week for the summer was a small luxury I could afford until I got my garden going. I forgot to pick up my flowers a couple of times and they were promptly given away which made me rather sad. I realized that nobody really has the time to pick up flowers once a week, but that having flowers delivered just during the summer would be really nice for myself and maybe other people too. I had been gardening for years and loved to grow flowers. We were living on a small acreage just north of town (Fort Collins, CO) and so I had the property to follow through my idea of delivering a bouquet of flowers in a quart jar to homes and businesses.
Kimball Nelson
Owner, Photographer
Q: Why did you choose to connect with your entrepreneurial spirit?
A: I grew up in a family with a small business and worked in it as a young adult. I wanted to be a photographer, and unfortunately, there are not many jobs as a photographer available. So I had to start my own business. I continue to be an entrepreneur because I enjoy the creativity, the challenges and the flexibility of owning my own business.
Creg Horn
Q: Why did you choose to connect with your entrepreneurial spirit?
A: I chose to connect with my entrepreneurial spirit because I came to a realization that I would never achieve true freedom or balance of time and wealth if I chose to pursue the traditional safer route of employment. I could not fathom having to work a set schedule my whole life in exchange for common amenities.
Jackie O’Hara
Owner
Q: Why did you choose to connect with your entrepreneurial spirit?
A: CONTROL: For me, starting my own business was about having control of my own financial future and control of how I wanted to ethically conduct a business to fund that future.
Donovan Dreyer
Q: Why did you choose to connect with your entrepreneurial spirit?
A: I chose to connect to my entrepreneurial spirit because I have social innovations to give to a wider audience after 15 years of high school counseling. I have learned so much by working with the modern teen and families that I feel I intrinsically driven to share the discoveries.
Nathalie Rachline
Q: Why did you choose to connect with your entrepreneurial spirit? A: I’m convinced now I don’t necessarily have an entrepreneurial spirit to speak of, but I have this strong desire to explore that world, convinced it brings strengths, ability to think differently, basically the opportunity to rethink many things in life.
Ritika Puri
Q: Why did you choose to connect with your entrepreneurial spirit?
A: I almost feel like I didn’t have a choice. It overpowered me. I didn’t see any other way in life. I felt uncomfortable with anything other than ambiguity. I wanted to experience the lifelong journey of wanting to build something from the ground up. My choice happened as a series of micro-decisions. I started freelancing on Craigslist. Then I started hitting more milestones. Before each milestone, I would run into severe challenges. I still do, all the time. I’m still going to, as I continue to learn and grow.
Ron Fey
Q: Why did you choose to connect with your entrepreneurial spirit?
A: That happened originally when I was very young. I started out mowing and watering lawns and shoveling snow. It evolved into handyman work and all sorts of other things. By high school I was caring for 15 properties at one time. I was good at it. People recommended me to others. I never advertised, work just came to me. For the most part I liked the work, but didn’t know anything else at that young age. I did really well, especially for my age, but was poisoned by the then popular idea of going to college, working in an office, and making “big bucks” working for someone else. People who worked for themselves or with their hands were losers I was told. I got out of that lawn care and handyman stuff in college vowing never to do it again. I found that working in corporate America at large high tech companies in any capacity was about the most self defeating, cruel, soul sucking deal with the devil one could make. I bailed out of that mess and never looked back. I was a self employed pilot and flight instructor, and did aircraft cleaning and maintenance to keep busy at the airport when not flying. I did well enough in aviation, and had been interviewing with a major airline while living and working with the U.S. government overseas when the economy and the September 11 attacks ruined aviation for some time. So I ended up out of aviation. I enjoyed living in Europe for over a decade. Working for the U.S. government left me with much the same taste as for corporate America, but at least I was living in Europe, seeing and doing things I otherwise couldn’t. Upon returning to the U.S. I was instantly reminded of the horrors of working most jobs in the U.S.; low wages, long hours, working holidays and weekends at the whim of employers, few if any benefits, little or no time off, basic maltreatment of workers and the constant junior high cafeteria style politics and bullying. From what I get from several sources, the U.S. has currently the worst working conditions of all developed countries and getting worse. I yearned for the days of self employment, either as a main source of income, or as a side job, just in case I have to bail out working for someone else. I can bear the hardships of self employment far better than trying to swallow whatever nonsense some employer wants to throw at me. As it turned out, I would work with my hands a lot, to include lawn care and handyman work among other things. I enjoy it and do not think it is for losers. Actually it’s quite the opposite. I sometimes wonder where I would be now if I started to grow a lawncare/handyman business in college and stuck to it. I have a lot of time off with my current job as a merchant mariner. No time like the present to do things I’ve wanted to do for some time, to include building a side business.
Which three Misfit Entrepreneur’s stories would you like to learn more about? Tell us who’s stories resonate the most with you in the comments below!
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