Very Short Interview No. 1

     For my “very short interview with an entrepreneur” I interviewed Tracie Shannon, a family friend. Tracie is an animal intuitive who has even appeared on the T.V. show The Haunted in order to communicate with horses involved in a haunted barn. In addition to being an animal intuitive, Tracie became an energy healer in 2005 and currently owns her own practice located in Lakeville, CT.  Tracie is an entrepreneur because she took what she loves and made a successful business out of it by identifying an opening in the market. In recent years the demand for energy healers has increased as reiki, a healing technique, has become more mainstream.

     The following is a transcription of the interview:

Me: In your own words, what does it mean to be an entrepreneur?

Tracie: To be an entrepreneur means I can take an idea, dream, or passion and turn it into a reality. And, I create that reality in a way that best suites me, my lifestyle and schedule allowing me to be more present and available to my clients - both human and animal. It also means being able to help people and animals in a way I never dreamed possible and feeling the satisfaction of knowing my passion brought a sense of relief, joy, and, at times, excitement and happiness to someone's life. It means I am responsible for my schedule, communicating with clients - potential or otherwise, my finances, marketing myself, introducing new products or modalities. It means I am responsible for my own continuing education and networking with others in my field to learn about new ways of keeping my business current and attractive to current clients as well as potential clients. It means taking responsibility for missed appointments, miscommunications between clients and myself. To be an entrepreneur means taking responsibility for what needs to be improved upon and/or for those parts of the business, which no longer work. To be an entrepreneur means I am afforded the opportunity to feel proud of my accomplishments, what I feel I have contributed, and continue to contribute, to my community without the feeling of obligation because, "It will be good for business." coming from some "higher up". To be an entrepreneur means putting yourself out there every day not knowing what will come of the results but enjoying the process of finding out.

Me: What do you wish you had been taught in school before setting out on your own path as an entrepreneur? Do you think an entrepreneurship class would have been beneficial to take?

Tracie: I feel my business education provided me with the fundamentals of becoming an entrepreneur.

Though I didn't become an entrepreneur until 12 years after graduating college I think a lot of what I learned during those 12 years further prepared me to become an entrepreneur. After college I attended numerous self-improvement and self-empowerment workshops and seminars that were very different from my business education. Those workshops and seminars added to my experience of being an entrepreneur because they taught me about self-worth, confidence, and the importance of believing in myself regardless of what others thought or said about me and my work. But, if there one was specific class that had been offered it would have been titled, "Do what you love to do and you will never have to "work" another day in your life!"

Me: What’s one thing you wish you could have done differently when you became an entrepreneur?

Tracie: I don't know if I would have done anything differently. Everything happened exactly the way it was suppose to happen. Of course, there were days where I wished I was making more money, had more clients, different clients, differently locations, additional locations.... and the list goes on. But, looking back I wouldn't change a thing. It all taught me so much about myself and I had a lot to learn - and still do. There are always improvements I can make and continue to make, but if I had changed one thing all the other amazing things I experienced may never have happened. 

     By the end of the interview, I was surprised that Tracie wouldn’t change anything about how she started her business. I would have thought that there would be at least a couple of things regarding the startup the she would want to change, i.e. advertising, marketing. I absolutely loved the part where she said, “it all taught me so much about myself” because I think entrepreneurs are in one of the few careers were an individual is allowed to explore every interest that they possess.