Very Short Interview With Entrepreneur Part 2

In my first interview, which I did not post due to time differences while on vacation, I interviewed my step father. He started his own Acupuncture practice. He no longer runs a practice and doesn't have his license anymore due to his age but I thought he would be a good person to ask about entrepreneurship since he has been there and done that. The questions I asked him during the first interview were:

Q: Why did you choose the medical field, specifically acupuncture?
A: I chose the medical field because I enjoy helping people. The reason I chose acupuncture was it is a natural way of helping someone, potentially healing someone. Acupuncture isn't just used to treat someone with a sickness or an injury but it can also help people quit smoking or relieve stress.

Q: Why did you stop practicing acupuncture?
A: I stopped practicing acupuncture because the VA stopped covering acupuncture as a medical expense. Most of my patience were veterans and without them as patience it was not financially smart to continue to have my business open.

Q: What was the most difficult thing about starting your practice?
A: At first it was finding a location to have my practice at but once I found the right location it was getting along with my business partner. We did not see eye to eye on many things and eventually I had to leave and start my practice on my own at another location. Most of my patiences followed me to my new location so the second time starting up wasn't nearly as difficult.

My first impression of the initial interview was there are so many obstacles to start a business and keep it running. It was discouraging knowing that your business could shut down because of something you couldn't control yourself.

For my second interview I was unable to record my step father due to distance.

Q: Have you ever considered obtaining your Acupuncture license again and restarting your company?
A: Yes I have considered it but I doubt it will ever happen. As you know, I am getting a little up there in age and I don't want to spend the time or the effort it takes to start it back up. Although, I do miss my practice I am still able to use acupuncture on your mom and brother so in a sense I never really stopped. I just stopped getting paid for it.

Q: When you first started you business, how successful was the business plan you drew up and what speed bumps did you hit along the way?
A: I had a lot of help from your mother starting my business. She had the capital which made it much easier to start. When you are starting something new, especially a business there are always unsuspecting things that come up. The biggest for me was the falling out I had with my partner, who I was sharing an office with. This made it difficult in the beginning but I overcame it and was better for it.

Q: How financially successful was your business?
A: Wow, getting right to it? Before we moved from down south I was definitely making more money because of the amount of people that lived in the area. Once we moved here, having the office out of our home was a tax break and helped lower our mortgage payment every month so that almost made up for the lack of business I was receiving. Your mom or I was never putting money back into the business so I would say it was definitely successful until the end.

Since I knew the entrepreneur fairly well I was confident during my first interview but not about what to ask because I didn't have a good sense of entrepreneurship. After my second interview, I felt much more prepared and thought I had better questions to ask due to my newfound knowledge of entrepreneurship. My step father believed that I had made steps towards becoming an entrepreneur since my first interview but I still had a long way to go.