My entrepreneurship experience is with a close family friend. Willy and Sharon have a passion for air boating, and they saw a need for Florida experiences for locals and tourists. They started their own air-boat company called Wild Willy's Airboats. The name "Wild Willy" came about because when I was younger, I was riding in the car with them and my mom and Willy didn't know where he was going and kept making all these wild turns, so I called him Wild Willy. The name stuck, later to be turned into their business name for the air-boats. Willy and Sharon run their small air-boat business in Kissimmee/St. Cloud Florida and have a few employees. They're located on a fish camp where there are a lot of locals that like to hang around helping the business. They also attract many customers from all around, some even coming from Europe! Sometimes when I have free time I like to go down and help with the register and welcoming guests. There are small gators that people can hold and pose for photos with, and that's always fun to watch. It is inspiring to see their business continue to grow, all from Willy following his passion for air-boating and the love of outdoors.
I enrolled in ENT3003 because I wanted to learn more about what it takes to be an Entrepreneur. I am not naturally creative in the sense of coming up with designs or artwork, but I'm always looking for new creative ways to help businesses and systems. All businesses start with an idea and an entrepreneur to make the idea turn into reality and I wanted to learn more about this process. I am excited to have hands-on, real-life experience in this course. I look forward to further developing some of my own entrepreneurial ideas and getting feedback from the professor, TA's, peers and the public. I am always looking for self-improvement and this class seems like it will help with my creative thinking and experiences.
What a great personal connection you have with their business! I love the outdoors as well. I think that it is fantastic that they were able to turn their love of the outdoors into a thriving business!
ReplyDeleteMy step-dad was a fishing guide in Edgewater/Oak Hill area. Fishing is a huge industry on the coast. Air boats are unique in that they can go just about anywhere! I can imagine that their business is big with the tourists in that area.
DeleteExcellent post, Kelly!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed learning about how your interaction with some family friends sparked an Entrepreneurial opportunity for them. I believe "Wild Willy's" is an excellent name for an airboat tour business and would attract a lot of customers and tourists. Glad to see that FL tourism business is still booming!
That company sounds like so much fun and a great idea. That's very inspiring that they saw the need and seized it and it became successful. It's awesome that you have a good relationship with these people. Great post.
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