Compare & Contrast Three Entrepreneurs
A few characteristics of an entrepreneur include
courage, determination, social responsibility, and to be a risk taker. After
reviewing the three videos required for our ENT 301 assignment, I believe that
Jim Garland, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson could classify as some of the
worlds leading entrepreneurs. Although they hold different positions in
companies and have achieved different levels of success, some of these
characteristics can be seen in each of their lives. To understand the
comparison and contrast between each of these entrepreneurs, they must be
examined individually.
Jim Garland can be considered a wonderful role
model for most entrepreneurs. The story of his business start-up, the aviation
and boat cleaning service, portrays what many consider to be “the American
Dream;” building a business from the ground up and making it successful. Some
similarities that Jim Garland shares with Elon Musk and Richard Branson include
they all started out as entrepreneurs from a very young age. Another similarity
that Jim Garland shares Musk and Branson is he is a huge risk taker. During his
video, he discusses how new regulation and the economy has greatly affected his
business, however, he has not made any cuts to insurance for his employees and
has tried to expand, despite a difficult a economy. I would say one thing that
separates Jim Garland from Branson and Musk is his desire to invest back in his
employees and to provide them with the same opportunity he has experienced.
While Jim Garland is an excellent example of
entrepreneurial characteristics, Elon Musk is an entrepreneur unlike most in
the world. As I have previously stated, a common area among all three
entrepreneurs discussed in the videos is that they all started out as young
entrepreneurs. Musk created Zip2 and sold the software for 22 million dollars
at age 28. In addition, another characteristic of an entrepreneur that all
three have in common is their determination to take on risks. For example, Musk
invested every last cent he had into his company Tesla in order to receive a 70
million dollar contract for smart car batteries. While he shares common
characteristics with Garland and Branson, I believe that what defines Musk as
an entrepreneur is his desire to forever revolutionize industries, including
the online financial industry and the worlds dependence on fossil fuels. In
addition, I think another entrepreneurial characteristic that defines Musk is
that he is highly intelligent, thus allowing him to be deeply involved in
product engineering and architecture, particularly SpaceX products.
In addition to Garland and Musk, Branson also
shares several characteristics of what defines an entrepreneur. For example,
some of Branson’s closest friends have said, “He was wired to be a business man
from day one.” Much like Garland and Musk, Branson got his start early as an
entrepreneur selling Christmas trees at age 13. In addition, Branson, like
Garland and Musk, has had to overcome challenges, such as dyslexia, tax evasion
charges, and has had to perform dangerous stunts to market his company Virgin. One
major difference between Branson and the other entrepreneurs viewed is that he
isn’t impressed by wealth when creating his ventures. For every venture he has
created, he’s been more interested in how much fun and exciting his experience
creating these businesses has been. Although he’s driven by money, he’s not
impressed by wealth.
