The questionnaire is complete and includes sections on the entrepreneur, the business, industry, competition, marketing, and some interesting questions on why they think their business remains successful. An interesting comment from one of the business owners --- "successful business" is probably taking on a new meaning these days --- Survival! Interesting comment. I'm wondering how the entrepreneurs will respond to the question.
First interview tomorrow morning. Got the questions ready. Picked up a voice recorder to capture important points that I might miss as I'm taking notes and engaging the respondent in the conversation. 6 or 7 more interviews lined up for next week!! I'm trying to not over-kill with this project. I'm finding that setting parameters and establishing some boundaries is going to be essential. Because of my enthusiasm for learning more about what's going in the area with entrepreneurs, I tend to overcommit and am turning this into a year long study.... Speaking of overkill, I came across a couple of books that are so timely for this project. One is by Jim Collins, the guy who wrote Good to Great. He did an other study on businesses who failed. The title is "How The Mighty Fall And Why Some Companies Never Give In." The other is "Billion Dollar Lessons by Carroll and Mui." Both focus on the subject of this study - business success contrasted with business failure. Why do some fail (or Fall as Collins says) and others succeed. Hopefully I'll gain a fresh perspective at the end of the project.
