Explore Careers as an Entrepreneur

1) Listeners heard from role models who owned clothing stores, developed all-terrain wheelchairs, and more! Why does someone become an entrepreneur? Do you think you would like to become an entrepreneur? Why or why not?

2) The role models in this video were inspiring! They work hard to solve problems and help people. Do you think anyone can become an entrepreneur? Are there special skills or talents that all entrepreneurs must have? Explain your answer.

3) While describing her business, one role model told us, “I just wanted to follow that passion and just develop the product and bring it to life.” Entrepreneurs often develop products or businesses around their passions. What are your passions? Can you think of any products or businesses you could develop around those passions?

4) A role model said that “being an entrepreneur allows me to be the leader that I want to be.” Are all entrepreneurs leaders? Explain your answer.

5) Listeners learned about many different entrepreneur role models. And each role model had a different business. Although these role models were all very different, they had some important things in common. What did all the entrepreneurs in the video have in common? Did their businesses have anything in common?

6) Almost everything around you began as an idea. From a light switch to a car, each of these things began as someone’s idea. Look around you. What else do you notice that began as an idea?

A good entrepreneur is someone that thinks carefully about the idea that they want to take from start to finish and have confidence in that idea to really take it forward.

Everything that is of value, anything that you’ve seen created that allows you to enjoy whatever you like, movies, going into buildings, seeing art, turn on the light switch, get in a car, all of those things began as an idea.

I decided to become an entrepreneur because I had a dream about the product that I’m currently developing. I love jewelry, and it’s a jewelry product, and I just wanted to follow that passion and just develop the product and bring it to life.

I started a company called GRIT, and we make an all-terrain wheelchair for people with disabilities, kind of a mountain bike wheelchair. As an engineer, there’s really nothing more rewarding than seeing something you designed that you made actually change somebody’s life.

I’m a co-founder of a company called Constant Therapy that delivers therapy over the iPad to patients who have had a stroke. Helping them make small steps in their lives to communicate, to talk to their family members, their loved ones is just priceless.

I am the founder and CEO of Luminomics, a human-centric lighting company. We maximize the use of natural light in design spaces.

I am a licensed general contractor here in Detroit. I specialize in kitchen, bathrooms, full-scale renovations. My slogan is construction with a woman’s touch.

I’m the owner of Stacked Yoga. We are an intimate studio that is here to service the community of Bed-Stuy. Being able to provide those spaces where they’re able to practice and feel safe and welcomed.

The OULA company is an African textile company. We import African textiles, and we create women’s wear, children’s wear, and home wears. We’re creating jobs for our seamstresses here locally in Seattle. We’re creating jobs for the artisans that we work with in Ghana, and we’re creating jobs for the seamstresses and the production managers that we work with in Sierra Leone.

I am a founder and CEO of an Irish startup called Spinoza. We are supporting underserved cataract patients with our 10% of profits.

I am the founder and owner of a company called World Clothes Line. It is an online retail store that sells casual clothes, but we have a buy one, give one philosophy. So for every item that we sell, we match it, and we give an item to someone in need.

I am the founder and CEO of AmarisWorks. I wanted to be an entrepreneur because I wanted to be my own boss. I wanted to be the one who set the direction for the type of work that I did, the way I did the work, the teams that I was creating because I had my own vision.

Being an entrepreneur allows me to be the leader that I want to be.

Independent Learning Guide: This all-purpose guide can also be used by educators, parents, and mentors to jumpstart a valuable discussion about entrepreneurs and their career paths.

Classroom Lesson Plan: This step-by-step lesson plan is available to guide a more in-depth “before, during, and after” learning experience when viewing the video with students. This lesson plan is also suitable for use in after-school programs and other educational settings.

Fun Page Activity: How much do you really know about entrepreneurs and business owners? Find out with this thought-provoking true/false activity. You might be surprised by some of the things you learn!