My Entrepreneurship Story

I'd like to think of my dad as an entrepreneur; he's started several companies with his best friend from childhood and they have been business partners for as long as I can remember. Some of these organizations have been extremely successful and others, eh not so much. I think a lot of it has to do with trial and error, learning from experience. But, along my dad's entrepreneur journey he met a man named Andy Mckelvey, whom I had a pleasure of meeting.

Andy Mckelvey bought my dad's business along with a bunch of local sites around the state of Florida in order to expand it. They were in business together for several years until he sadly passed away from pancreatic cancer. This man was brilliant, although I was too young to realize it myself. He was the founder of monster.com, which I assume to be his big break. I'm unsure of the other companies he was involved in but I'm convinced that he was an entrepreneur himself. After purchasing my dad's company he allowed him to still help him in running it. He was a very generous man and invited my dad and his business partner with their daughters to accompany him on a vacation. So naturally as a 10 year old when my dad first told me about the trip and told us we were taking Mckelvey's helicopter to his 180 ft yacht in the Bahamas, I did not hesitate one second to accept. It was an unforgettable trip to say the least. My favorite part of the trip was spending the day on this local's island which happened to be a bar and grill called Chat and Chill. They had the best conch salad I ever had in my life, and it was caught moments before they used it to make in the salad.

So this is my sister and I with our friends parading around Chat and Chill. Apologies for the poor quality of this image. This was taken in 2008 and can only be discovered from my facebook which reduced the picture quality magnanimously.

You would think that this man of so much wealth would've flaunted his earnings, but he is the most humble person I have ever met. If anyone were to walk by him walking down the street, they would have never been able to tell his worth, not by a long shot. I guess in a way him and my dad inspired me a bit. I decided to take this class because it was the next one to take in the classes I was scheduled for my degree, but I was also so excited to take this course. I've always had an interest in entrepreneurship, this will be the first time I get to learn about it in depth than just meeting people that are entrepreneurs.