Case Study

Entrepreneurs: Creating Their Own Dream Jobs

Linda Nelson and her husband, George Sanders, are world class scuba divers who own a dive shop near Grantsville, Utah, which are 4,250 feet above sea level and 900 miles away from the nearest ocean! The couple wanted to find a way to offer classes at a training facility that would complement their own “ocean” in the desert. Looking at geothermal maps, Nelson realised that saltwater springs ran beneath the ground that they had chosen as their location, Sanders, who also owned a construction company, had the equipment to excavate the site, and the couple set out to build their desert ocean. “Nobody” thought we could do it,” laughs Nelson. The geo-thermally heated man made ocean, named Bonneville Seabase, is 200 yards across at its widest point, contains bay as deep as 62 feet, and is home to saltwater species such as nurse sharks, angel fish, tangs, puffers and others. Scuba divers and snorkelers come to Bonneville Seabase from across the United States and Nelson and Sanders have hosted guests from as far away as Australia and Thailand. Annual sales exceed $300,000.

Dream Cars

Fractional ownership, in which a person buys the right to use an asset for a certain number of days each year, started years ago in real estate before moving into private jets, yachts and other luxury items. Blas Garcia Moros, a retired Microsoft executive, saw the opportunity to apply fractional ownership to one of his passions, exotic cars. Shortly after retiring, Moros was shopping for a new Ferrari but was so impressed with other makes of high performance cars that he had difficulty deciding which one to buy. He soon realised that he had difficult deciding which one to buy. He soon realised that he was not the only exotic car buff who faced the same issue and with his friend Larry Murrah, a former owner of several luxury car dealership, he decided to launch Collexium, a company that offers upscale customers the chance to purchase fractional ownership in then luxury and high performance sport cars, including two Ferararis, two Lamborghinis a Lotus Elise and two Bentleys. For an initiation fee of $15, 000 and an annual subscription rate $15, 000, Collexium members can drive any of the ten cars whenever they want up to 30 day a year. Currently, Moros operates only in South Florida but has plans to expand into other warm weather cities with significant populations of wealthy residents. “Collexium offers auto enthusiasts what wine enthusiasts have: great variety and an easy way to enjoy it,” says Moros.

Custom Motorcycles

Jesse James, a distant relative of the famous outlaw from the 1880s, has become quite famous in his own right and also has a bit of a “bad boy” reputation. Unlike his bandit relative, however, the modern James is most famous for building customs motorcycles at his 250,000 square foot shop in Long Beach, California. James, who started in the television show Monster Garage, started West Coast Choppers in 1993 in a corner of his mother’s garage. “I’m just a glorified welder,” says James, sharing his wide shoulders as if brushing off any attempt at imposing fame on him. “I build things.” He does build things. Today, James custom builds motorcycles for clients from across the globe, including a recent $3000,000 version of gleaming silver with a sidecar for Robert Wheeler, the CEO of Airstream, the company that make the classic travel trailers, to commemorate the company’s seventy fifth anniversary. James’s company has hand built custom motorcycles for well known clients such as Kid Rock, Shaquille O’Neal, and Keanu Reeves as well as for average citizens. Doing what he loves to do and doing it well have resulted in a three year backlog of customer orders. James actually started on his career at age nine, when he took a Schwinn Straight Bar bicycle that his father had given him and decked it out with fresh chrome and pin striping and sold it at a collector’s show for $850. “It’s not that different from what I do now,” James says, “expect now I get 125 grand each.” Indeed, each bike that West Coast Choppers builds is like a Savile Row suit, custom fit to its owner and his or her personality, and prices typically range from $50,000 to $150,000. West Coast Choppers generates $5 million in annual sales. (Source: Chapter 1, Entrepreneurs: Creating Their Own Dream Jobs (pp.25-26), Scarborough, N.M. (2012) Essentials of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management 6th Edition, Pearson) Answer all the questions.

1. Describe how these entrepreneurs exhibit the entrepreneurial spirit.

2. Examine the benefits that these entrepreneurs reap from owning their own business.

3. Explain the career lessons that you have learnt from these entrepreneurs.