Very Short Interview No. 1

For week 3, I had to interview an entrepreneur. I attended a speech last Monday, in which the Founder of Gainesville's Health&Fitness (center) talked through the Entrepreneurship club about his story. I was inspired by his story so I chose to interview him later that week.

How did you become an entrepreneur? How did you come so far?

By continual growth. I never stopped working on my goal. I renew the features of my company often, because I always have the feeling that I can do better, that I am not good enough for my customers or not as good as the other companies. I would always look at what my competitors did and applied the same in my own company. For example, I once read in a book that some companies had a meeting room only for creative thinking, and I did the same for my company when I read this. As the saying goes, "Success is a journey, not a destination".

Did you wish that you had the opportunity to be taught about entrepreneurship when you were a student? If yes, what would you have wished to be taught about?

I know that a lot of entrepreneurs had not been taught of how to become an entrepreneur when they were in school and some of them may not have even finished high school. I know that an entrepreneurship class gives you the opportunity to gain awareness on what are your possibilities if you want to become an entrepreneur. In my view, books are a very good tool for becoming an entrepreneur. I have read a lot of books about creative thinking, positive thinking, and marketing techniques, and all of them have helped me improve myself and my company.

When obstacles occur throughout your career, how do you deal with them?

I never look at them as obstacles. I always focus on my target. For instance, I was flying my plane one day when it caught on fire and exploded. I was stranded in the ocean for a very long time with a flashlight in my mouth trying to find a coast. I never gave up, because I didn't see this event as an obstacle. I kept thinking of my target. It was a matter of life and death and I was thinking this is not what I want to be (dead). I can do better than this. And I finally did it... I found the coast, the airport runway I was supposed to land on. As another saying goes, "Circumstance doesn't make the man, it reveals him." In this case, and most other cases, this is what I had... I had no option but to move on.

Throughout the interview, I admired Cirulli's persistence on becoming continuously better. From his stories, I understood that he's a real fighter and that he never gave up on his dreams. He always worked hard to become what he always wanted to, even when others didn't support him. That's what inspired me.