LLC Owner Interview

According to Abdullah Alshawi, the company began after he found a need in the Middle Eastern education market for students who wanted to study overseas. According to the majority of them, the finest destination to study abroad is the United States since it provides students with more than just further education by allowing them to work while studying. Furthermore, Alshawi had an advantage when launching the business because he was well-connected throughout the Middle East. He had lived in several countries in the Middle East before moving to the U.S. He also had a good command of the Arabic language, a dialect mostly used in the region which added to his strengths.

Meanwhile, Alshawi had good experience with the U.S. education system such as universities, colleges, and institutions, which he gained while looking for an opportunity to study in the country. Another impetus that propelled him to start this business was his dream to be an entrepreneur and venture specifically in the education industry to motivate others to pursue their education. Furthermore, he got motivated by the fact that starting an online business from scratch means the virtual space offered him a chance to learn new things in the online space, and this made him realize it was quite motivating for him to start any idea in the future for little capital than any other physical location.

Finally, Alshawi got motivated by the skills he had acquired in business administration and digital marketing to start the business. He had learned them from his professors and other materials and saw a need to apply them in a really life situation leading to the founding of his business.

Challenges faced by Entrepreneur: Ask about what problems came up as the business got under way and how they were solved. What was a major challenge faced by the entrepreneur? How did the entrepreneur overcome the challenges?

According to Alshawi, the challenges facing start-ups are many, but the most critical step for all entrepreneurs lies in being patient as they wait for success. It means that they need to work hard, learn as much as they can even minor issues that determine a lot. For him, he experienced some challenges with writing formal emails to the universities to establish partnerships which took him days because English was his second language. The other problem was that technology and online business were tough to learn not just the basic, but it had to be advanced to compete with the existing rivals in the industry efficiently. In that phase which is the buildup or lunch phase, there are no results that can motivate and push it up a little bit, so he had to work a bit extra to ensure the business flourished.

Furthermore, establishing a business with a small budget necessitated that he works twice as harder as a regular employee. For him, he had to cut down on his basic expenses to save some money for the business. He also spent a lot of time learning, planning, and executing his strategic plan. Keeping in mind all of these challenges, he survived by believing in one key principle: hope is not measured nor trackable until you launch the business and wait for six months at least to measure the ROI. Then you can decide if it can generate profit, worth time or not.

Reflection/Advice: Ask the entrepreneur to reflect on his or her experience. What advice would he or she give to an aspiring entrepreneur? Has running a business been rewarding?

Overall, I can say that starting up this online business has been rewarding for Alshawi. Good and bad ideas are worth the effort, and the success or failure of either depends on the resilience of the person implementing them. He advises that right now, a hard-working entrepreneur can build an idea from scratch to a business that generates high returns. An average person has a million-dollar idea probably per day but those who take the risk to start and put time and efforts to build it up correctly will succeed. In the end, it might not weigh in if it was for the first or the last time. On the other hand, being an entrepreneur is investing in yourself, and that means it is a win-win relation. There is no risk for any mistakes or failures will build you stronger and raise your chances of being successful.