Lesson: How to Be an Entrepreneur

Conversation

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

1. How can you define an entrepreneur?
2. Do you have your own business? If so, what's your business about?
3. If not, would you like to have one? Why? Why not?
4. What's the biggest challenge people usually face when trying to start a business?
5. When should a person decide to quit his/her job and start a business?
6. In your opinion, which is better: having a successful business or being a successful employee? Why?
7. What motivations does an entrepreneur have?
8. Which are the good aspects of being an entrepreneur? And the bad ones? Why?
9. Do you consider yourself an entrepreneur? Why? Why not?
10. Are there any entrepreneurs you admire? Who?
11. What kind of social and political impact entrepreneurs and their businesses can have in 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 who 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, you'll 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 the first 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 talking about the businesses you know. Talk about their products, services, things you like and don't like. Make sure to use words you learned from the text and try to make it as long as you can.