Eagle Scout to Entrepreneur

From what I can remember the first time I tasted a little bit of entrepreneur power was when I completed my eagle scout project as a senior in high school. I wanted to do something that was different, something original, that people would love to hear about. I started searching and brainstorming for ideas early my junior year but fell into serious procrastination. Finally there was only a couple months to complete my project and I was running out of time, I needed to pick something quick and something that already had a foundation I could build on. Someone suggested I do a blood drive for LifeSouth. At first it sounded a bit corny and easy but I started to do my research and found out that donating blood is vital for hospitals and most of the time they don’t have enough of a supply. I drove to my nearest LifeSouth and met with one of the managers. He told me about their numbers and how much supply they get on a daily and weekly basis, how low they are sometimes, and the lengths they go to get others to donate. He also showed me the results of a previous high school student that put on a blood drive and how much of help it was for them. I decided to take on the challenge. 
I didn't have much time to prepare but I wanted my drive to be the biggest and best they had yet. From there on the manager and I began a close relationship with one goal in mind, to get people to donate. We brainstormed ideas on how to get the word out and what we needed to do to prepare. I began to print out flyers and hand them out at school, church, dances, etc. I was able to get in touch with my schools media team and I created an ad to go on the schools morning news. I invited everyone I knew and asked them to invite their friends. Next we decided that we wanted the facility where people would donate to be comfortable and inviting. So we decided to order food for people waiting or for those that had already donated. We brought out two massage chairs and had 2 of my mothers massage therapist friends come out and give people massages. We had music and most importantly gifts for all those that donated. Finally I needed to get a couple of sponsors to provide money for all the materials we needed. I made a list of people I thought would be able to donate to the cause and approached them and gave them my pitch. It was basically like sales, I was selling myself and my idea. Finally the big day arrived, we had so many people show up that the line was extended out the door. In fact some people left because the wait was a little too long for them, LifeSouth was not expecting so many people and their check in process was not very fast. All in all, it was a huge success, we were able to donate over 80 pints of blood in one day, a record for that branch. This experience was incredibly hard work and after, for the first time in months, I was able to rest and relax for a bit. I learned the importance of working hard and having a definite goal in mind. I learned the importance of relationships and asking for help. I learned that sometimes its the hardest things that bring us the most satisfaction and purpose in our lives.

I decided to take this class because like many students I want the freedom and purpose that comes with being an Entrepreneur. It is very hard for me to imagine myself working at a 9-5 job and having a boss to answer to every day. Like many young people I am still trying to decide what my niche is and what I want to do with my life. However, I do know that there is so much work to be done and ideas to be executed and my goal is to find out how I can be ready when the opportunity presents itself. Obviously there is not a format on how to start a business or how to execute an idea. There are many successful businesses that have been created by many different means but I think the underlying philosophies are the same, and that is what I would like to learn in this course.