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Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress

MGT 358-01
Interview
Steve Simmons is the owner of a multi-skilled training consulting business. We go to different plants to train people who need it or want it; if we can't do it, we find someone who can. I was born in Baton Rouge LA. My father worked construction so I moved around with him. We lived in Detroit for a while then Orlando, and a few other places. I graduated from Calloway County High School and my father owned a business here locally and I inherited it from him. When Briggs and Stratton came to town, he opened a training business and it has been open for 11 years.
Chinny: Do you have role models?
Steve Simmons: My biggest role model is Jesus Christ, but for education, it is Dr. Paul McNeary worked for the department of education and when I taught he was my advisor.
C: Did you have a business or self-employment during your youth?
SS: Yes, my father was always an entrepreneur but my heart was always set on being an entrepreneur as well. To me, working for someone else is a false sense of security. That is why I chose to be an entrepreneur so that I could choose my own destiny and not let someone else choose it for me.
C: When, under what circumstances, and from whom did you become interested in entrepreneurship and learn some of the critical lessons?
SS: My dad always gave me small jobs to make extra money after school and right then I knew that this was a good path. It allowed me to make good money and do what I wanted to do.
C: How did you spot the opportunity? How did it surface?
SS: It really did not happen fast. You know I am 49 years old and after working all my life, I just kind of figured out what I wanted to do through experience and doing what I am good at. I realized after using my hands for so long, I wanted someone to teach me a better way to do it, so that is why I opened my own business. I was 11 when I figured out that I was good using my hands and making money. It was in my twenties when I learned...