Difference between revisions of "Lesson:How to Be an Entrepreneur"

Revision as of 09:57, 19 April 2013

Conversation

Answer the following questions. You might be asked to write them down or answer them out-loud.

How can you define an entrepreneur?
Do you have your own business?If so, what´s your business about?
If not would you like to have one? Why? Why not?
What´s the biggest challenge on having a business?
When should a person decide on changing his/her job for owning a business?
In your opinion, which is better: having a successful own business or being a successful employee? Why?
What motivations does an entrepreneur have?
Which are the good aspects on being an entrepreneur?And the bad ones? Why?
Do you consider yourself an entrepreneur? Why? Why not?
Is there any entrepreneur you admire? Who?
Do you think entrepreneurs have the power to change a region?

Vocabulary

Look at the vocabulary below. Take time to explore the links for their definitions in English and their translations to Portuguese. When you are done, make a sentence with each word. Ask your teacher if you should write them down or say them out loud.

d | t - amazing
d | t - own
d | t - business
d | t - entrepreneur
d | t - hire
d | t - job
d | t - epiphany
d | t - start
d | t - hold
d | t - soon
d | t - find
d | t - frustrate
d | t - certainly
d | t - realize
d | t - actually

Video

Watch the following video but DON'T read the transcript yet.

After watching the video do this listening exercise.

Reading practice

Read the following transcript then do the associated reading comprehension exercise.

Transcript:

You’re amazing at your job. And so one day you had an epiphany. Why am I working for some other dude *I don’t even like that much when I can start my own business. Congratulations you’re an entrepreneur. Wait, hold it right there muchacho. Starting a business doesn’t actually make you an entrepreneur. And like many so called entrepreneurs, you’ll soon find yourself working fifteen hour days, will be hiring the wrong people and getting frustrated trying to manage them. And you won’t know how to fix the systems that make a great business grow. Suddenly you realize you didn’t create a business, you really just created yourself a new job and this new job kind of sucks. Here is the problem, the first thing you should’ve asked yourself is: am I actually an entrepreneur? Because, not everyone is. Yes see, people generally fall into one of three buckets: technicians, people who are good at doing the work; managers, people who are good at managing the systems people work in; and entrepreneurs, people who love building new opportunities out of, well, nothing. Now most people fall into those two categories, right? Like, take Mike for example. The reason Mike wanted his own shop was because he was a great cupcake baker. But then he found out a very hard lesson. When a technician tries to be a manager or an entrepreneur, it just doesn’t work. So if you want to start a business, first decide what kind of person are you then find partners who can help you in the other areas.

Writing practice

Write a couple of paragraphs ---->>>> instructions <<<<-----. Make sure to use words you learned from the text and try to make it as long as you can.

@@ Line 50: / Line 50: @@
 <div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:95%">Transcript:<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
---->>> Transcript
+You’re amazing at your job. And so one day you had an epiphany. Why am I working for some other dude *I don’t even like that much when I can start my own business. Congratulations you’re an entrepreneur. Wait, hold it right there muchacho. Starting a business doesn’t actually make you an entrepreneur. And like many so called entrepreneurs, you’ll soon find yourself working fifteen hour days, will be hiring the wrong people and getting frustrated trying to manage them. And you won’t know how to fix the systems that make a great business grow. Suddenly you realize you didn’t create a business, you really just created yourself a new job and this new job kind of sucks. Here is the problem, the first thing you should’ve asked yourself is: am I actually an entrepreneur? Because, not everyone is. Yes see, people generally fall into one of three buckets: technicians, people who are good at doing the work; managers, people who are good at managing the systems people work in; and entrepreneurs, people who love building new opportunities out of, well, nothing. Now most people fall into those two categories, right? Like, take Mike for example. The reason Mike wanted his own shop was because he was a great cupcake baker. But then he found out a very hard lesson. When a technician tries to be a manager or an entrepreneur, it just doesn’t work. So if you want to start a business, first decide what kind of person are you then find partners who can help you in the other areas.
 </div>
 </div>
 ==Writing practice==