Entrepreneurial Blog

How might the following characteristics impact success in small business: Life experiences; parental influences; career displacement; and education?

Life experiences, parental influences, and education impact the success in a small business.  I grew up with small business owners.  When I was very young (under 6) my father was the manager at a Firestone Tire Center.  He had moved up in the ranks at Firestone in Ohio and was transferred to Florida to manage his own store.  After my father left Firestone he opened his own gas station/garage with towing services.  Many a night I would get up with him and go out on calls.  I would also go to his gas station and pump gas for customers or help around the shop.  By the time I was in high school I would go to the gas station to work at the register and pump gas, I helped with the accounting and tallying the gallons sold.  After working at the gas station I would go with my mother to help her clean offices (she has her own office cleaning business).  I did not resent having to work so much I thought it was normal.  The perks were great; I had a 1978 Ford Mustang Blue with a white top while in High School.  I was also able to fill up the tank with gas whenever I needed to.  My life experiences working with my parents along with my parent’s influence of working hard helped to shape my work ethics.  I think nothing of working long hours and on weekends.  Owning your own business does not leave much personal time, especially in the tourist industry, but when we do have time for ourselves we make the most of it.  I try to make as many of my daughter’s soccer games as I can along with taking her to her other activities.

With the accounting experience I gained working for my father taught me that I enjoyed accounting so that is the education I pursued.  The classes I enjoyed most were math, business, and accounting courses.  I have my degree in Business Administration.  My husband and I own Nantahala Cabins and my life experiences, parental experience and education have helped shaped our endeavor.  My husband built and maintains the cabins while I take care of reservations, accounting, marketing, etc.

Is the need for achievement – a personality attribute – necessary for success in small business? Why or why not? Locus of control? Independence? Leadership? Discuss what the literature says, and what you think.

The personality attribute of the need for achievement is necessary for success in small business.  The achievement attributes of persistence and ambition helped me to make Nantahala Cabins successful prior to the current economic times.  My persistence and ambition also helps me through these times instead of just throwing in the towel.  When we first started our business Nantahala Cabins I strongly believed in internal locus of control.  Our decisions in our lives me learning and practicing accounting, learning different computer programs and computer technology put me in a better position to be in the cabin rental business as well as my husband’s decision to be a builder set him up to built successful cabins.  But with the extreme down turn in the economy and no matter what decisions me make about ourselves and about our cabins our business has not improved.  I am now leaning more toward external locus of control since we have no control on how our business has been declining these past few years.  In the beginning of our small business our maturity, sense of personal responsibility, our feelings of independences and our leadership has shaped our internal locus of control.  The more I can see my decisions improving our business the more I will lean toward internal locus of control but for the time being I am leaning toward external locus of control.