entrepreneurship

Growing up, I wanted to be an art teacher or a reporter; but I never saw myself as an entrepreneur.   

"Are you kidding me?" my mom retorted.  "I got a note from your second grade teacher that you were selling home-made slime to your classmates."  I guess I forgot about the slime.

"Then, you created your own perfume, followed by math worksheets you made ... or the other way around."  "Paintings for sale?  Garage sales?  Some crazy eraser shaving thingamagic?  Don't tell me you don't remember any of that!?!?"

Apparently, I always had the entrepreneurial spirit, I just did not know that is what it was called.  I moved on to invent a patent-pending novel pediculicide, but I still only saw it as a science experiment.  Not until I entered a few entrepreneurial competitions did I understand what the concept of entrepreneurship meant.  

A friend of mine who knew that I invented a headlice treatment suggested that I enter the US Army's eCybermission competition.  My invention ended winning the national $5,000 grant prize awarded to the top 5 entrepreneurial teams.  This grant allowed me to purchase ingredients and packaging supplies in bulk and to produce a substantial inventory to supply 6 local schools with my product at no charge to the schools or the students.  

The following year, I entered two entrepreneurial competitions: University of Delaware's Diamond Challenge--where my invention advanced to the final round of the international competition, winning 3rd place, and a $3,500 grant to further develop my product--and Genius Olympiad, where I advanced to the final national round. 

And then, the coronavirus pandemic swept through the nation.  Genius Olympiad had to postpone the final round until 2021.  Soon, I could no longer purchase isopropyl alcohol to produce my pediculicide.  I could not purchase bottles or pumps for my products.  There was nothing I could, seemingly, do.  The pandemic sidelined my budding enterprise.  

I could not help but wonder: if no one can buy rubbing alcohol, what do hospitals do to disinfect their rooms and equipment?  Once again, I turned to research and found out that hospitals have long turned to using quaternary ammonium compounds, or quads, to sanitize their facilities.  Quads, in concentrate form, are incredibly affordable.  Because they are stable in a concentrate form, it is easy to transport and distribute large quantities easily. 

I immediately visited a local cleaning supply distributor and purchased cases of gallons of quad concentrates.  With a very modest upfront cost, and little effort, I was able to quickly manufacture large amounts of disinfectants.  At this point, I could only purchase spray bottle tops that were too long to use with my headlice treatment bottles that I had stocked up, but I could easily snip the ends of the pump's straw to make it work with my supplies.  The end result was my sudden ability to come up with sanitizing wipes, sprays and gels in a remarkably short time.

This was a watershed moment for me.  Never before had I viewed myself as a true entrepreneur.  How could I?  Anything I had done so far PALED--with capital letters--in comparison to the true entrepreneurs.  What made this experience different is that it was completely organic.  It was not a project done because a teacher required us to come up with a science fair experiment.  I jumped to action because there was an immediate and urgent need to fill a void.  The first stepping stone was my curiosity, a desire to identify an alternative method.  

What made this experience even more meaningful is how it came full circle.  Just as I found a way to make sanitizing products at a time when our island state was completely ransacked for sanitation products, the store shelves were raided for face masks.  When a long-time vendor came to our condo building and decried his inability to buy hand sanitizers, I filled a Costco box with gallons of my solution.  I told him how I made a large stockpile because Hawaii is so susceptible to shortages in supply.  I mentioned that my family could not buy face masks, and my mom could not order any for the employees in her supervision. He told us that he stocked up on face masks early on, because he has to be exposed to mold for his job.   We quickly agreed to trade cases of hand sanitizers for face masks, right there, on the spot.  Our condo building's employees could wear masks and his employees could sanitize their hands. 

To me, this was my first, true moment of entrepreneurship.  It involved a recognition that an imbalance of supply and demand can present a great opportunity for entrepreneurs, and that networking goes a long way.  I feel that this experience finally allowed me to "catch up" with my success at entrepreneurial contests.