Writing

Engineering

Entrepreneurship


Quotes

  • "Too Few Engineers, Too Many MBAs!" Guts pg 157

  • "Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things no one can imagine." Alan Turing

  • "Your only limitation is your mind." Bruce Lee

The Journey of an Entrepreneur in the Oil Industry by Dr. Folkers Rojas

Preview...

Prologue

As a community we idealize entrepreneurs like: Steve Jobs (Apple), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Warren Buffet (Berkshire Hathaway), Elon Musk (SpaceX, Tesla), and Bill Gates (Microsoft). We remember giants from the 19th century: John D. Rockefeller (Standard Oil), Andrew Carnegie (Carnegie Steel), Henry Ford (Ford Motors). Ironically, we glorify and celebrate the arduous journey of the entrepreneur as if they were Vikings returning from plundering a foreign land bringing back treasures beyond belief. Behind every crazy adventure there are key individuals that help and push it forward.

Successful entrepreneurs must also become business leaders to succeed. 

Chp 1. Why?

I keep trying to understand one simple question: Why? As it turns out it can be followed by many words to describe a series of particularities that all sum up to the same end effect. Why do I see things differently than most people? The journey of an entrepreneur starts with the understanding that you are different and willing to accept what may very well be in your DNA. The modern adventurer not only travels and discovers the physical world but also questions and wrestles with philosophical unknowns. If you are currently telling yourself: I’m not that type of person. I advise you to consider the following: Do you want to be in a better place tomorrow than you are today? Is your existence limited by the passage of time? If you answered yes to either of those questions then it is in your DNA too. You have the foundation but like any seed it needs to be nurtured. You can be an entrepreneur too. As a society we glamorize entrepreneurship. We admire the struggles and celebrate the victories. The goal of this manuscript is to document and share my experience starting my first company from conception.

At the turn of the 19th century, explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton was a restless scholar with an ambition to be the first man to reach the farthest reaches of Antarctica. To recruit people for his expedition he placed an advertisement in a local newspaper to staff his crew with only the finest. The ad read as follows:

Help Wanted: “Men Wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.”