Brittany
Traynor
ENT3003
– My Entrepreneurship Story
Due:
09/01/17
Since pre-school, my best friend has
always been a girl named Lauren Biegun. One day in 2005, Lauren’s dad Jeff
bought a 1975 Corvette that did not have seat belts in it. He researched ways to
install seat belts, but soon realized many parts were of low quality or overpriced. He saw this as an opportunity to manufacture seat belts himself, and he set out on a mission to take advantage of this opportunity. After about 6 months of researching, he finalized his product which was a
1974-77 dual retractable Direct Fit seatbelt set, and started his company
called Seatbelt Solutions. With time, he eventually had a full-functioning shop
in a small building right on his lawn. He showed his product to aftermarket
Corvette distributors, who saw the quality and potential in the product. After
years of hard work and expansion, Jeff now has warehouses in Jupiter, FL,
Oceanside, CA, and Elkhart, IN. He manufactures his product for over 600
vendors, and remains a sole manufacturer so as to avoid competition in retail
with his vendors. He penetrated a market with high demand and took all of the
right steps to ensure his success and quality of his product, which in turn
allows him to have loyal customers who have high satisfaction with his product
and service.
I have been blessed as a first-hand
witness of Jeff’s success. I knew him when he was in the idea stage, and saw the
steps he took to make progress and market his product. I have spoken to him
about his journey over the years and seen how passionate he is about his
company and product. See below an image of some of the Seatbelts!
I took this class because I feel
that it is very important, especially within the Business world, to gain some
knowledge about how to think critically and take advantage of opportunity. You
never know where you might come across some opportunity to make a product or
service that meets people’s needs. Being an entrepreneur takes a lot of courage
and hard work, and it starts with the open mind to even consider the
possibilities. I hope to gain some insight as to how other entrepreneurs have
been successful. In addition, I hope to learn how to open my mind to
opportunity and possibility in a way that I never have before.
Hey Brittany,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about Jeff's success. Only goes to show that if you see an opportunity, commit yourself to a vision, and apply yourself in making it happen, that starting up a company and making it a success is attainable for all. That's awesome that you got to witness his ideas turn into a concept, which turned into a huge business with warehouses all over the US. And now he supplies for over 600 vendors, inspirational!! Hopefully this class can teach us how to replicate such success stories!
Hey Brittany!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading about this opportunity that you had I thought it was very interesting and exciting as well! I think we should all take the opportunities that are there for us, and if there aren't any go out and look for them. I also enrolled in this course to see more about the business world and what is out there. Good job in you post!
Hey Brittany!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you shared this story about Jeff. His story reminds me of our bug list assignment: recognizing a personal problem, figuring out why that problem exists, and potentially fixing it. Here, Jeff was able to corner an entire market just because of that 1975 Corvette. I think it’s awesome that you have been able to see his journey firsthand as you’ve grown up.
Hey Brittany!
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome. The cool thing about watching entrepreneurs make their dreams come alive is how passionate they are about the product/business they are creating. Personally, seat belts aren't very interesting to me. But what is interesting is how he was so invested in research and the hard work he displayed. Suddenly an idea that he had turned into a small shop on his lawn, then 3 shops nationwide. That is awesome! Great post, thanks for sharing!
Hey, Brittany! You have a really interesting entrepreneurship story. I think it is fantastic to see firsthand how a novel idea can lead to such success. I never had an experience where I was directly exposed to the success of an entrepreneur, but I wish I would have or else this would be a field I would have been interested in sooner. Great story!
ReplyDelete