Entrepreneurship Story
My roommate and I bought aluminum window shutters to prepare for Irma’s impact, yes, at the time the hurricane was supposed to go right through and across Miami. We were those people who decided to stay, with a couple million others, and ride it out- full impact. I had spent all week trying my best to install all the shutters and looking out for extra water; we could feel the sense of urgency in the streets, people were starting to panic due to the lack of gas, water, and home protection materials.The day before the storm it was as sunny and beautiful as it gets. A few miles from where we lived was a Home Depot, where we had made our last runs for protection materials and everything was going to close that day at 4pm. We were about to be on our own. Everyone was scrambling to buy anything they could tape to their windows for an added layer of protection, however there was nothing left.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t install all our shutters, Home Depot had already closed, so had every other store around town. At that moment, sitting in our living room, it hit me, we were in the perfect circumstance to go make maximum profit for our extra shutters and get most of our money back while helping people protect themselves last minute. The window of opportunity was until sundown. I had to allocate our resources to make this happen. My roommate’s Camaro had some gas left, enough to take us back to the Home Depot parking lot where desperate people would swing by. We had 8 shutters left, we payed $20 per unit. When we arrived at the parking lot, somebody had beaten us to it and was selling older shutters for $10 dollars each. We wanted people to pay a premium for our new and desired shutters: $40 dollars each.
My roommate was ready to call it quits, our competitor had us beat with his lower prices, I motivated my roommate and we stayed a while longer. Our competitor left before the sun went down, he gave up, we stayed, we had total market control. 15 minutes later a lady comes by with cash and asks how much, we told her, “$40 each.”
She said, “You’re crazy the other guy was charging $10.”
I told her, “The other guy is gone, and our shutters are newer, you’re crazy for not protecting yourself.” She bought every single one, we helped her load her Corolla and she went home, so did we, Irma didn’t hit us. That was my small-time entrepreneurship story, I think, though it’s very small it hits all the principles and mindset to make a good foundation for what entrepreneurship is.
Enrollment to ENT3003
Luis, I tried doing this with post-storm materials, but I lost the motivation and never took any action on my plan. One thing I have learned is that most markets or demands come when there is either a change occurring or people are desperate. In this case, people were desperate and you were offering exactly what they needed. Another thing this story shows is your patience. Your friend didn't seem to want to wait as long, but in the end I hope he saw the benefit of waiting. When it comes to seeing goods, the prime to sell may not always be when it is convenient for you. Part of being a business person is understanding when to sell and when to buy, I believe you did both perfectly in this case.
ReplyDeleteThanks :)
DeleteThat was a good idea to take advantage of the city's need for those shutters. The guy selling them for 10 bucks would have deterred me probably but your perseverance paid off. You were able to help others while still helping yourself which worked out well. I am also in this class while I study business and hope we are both able to gain something from this class this semester.
ReplyDeleteYes sirr
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