Mason Faux
English 1109 at 10:30, M-W
11-16-2020
Research Response Exercise
One story that I thought was interesting was the one about Burnell Colton. He was the person who started their own grocery store. Burnell always had an entrepreneurial side to him. Selling candy to people at school to get some extra cash. Fast forward some years to the tragic Hurricane Katrina, one of the most deadly hurricanes of all time. It destroyed Burnell's community as well as many others. Once they started to rebuild he saw that there was no store near and that they had to go a far distance to get to a Walmart. He was set on opening a store. Many people called him crazy saying “everybody thought I was crazy. I kept hearing, ya know “it's going to be too much money, nobody is going to support you.” It was a lot of Negativity.”(Callings 150). Some people always have this entrepreneurial side to them like no other. Always finding ways to get some extra cash or starting businesses. That's what I liked about this story is that when everyone called him crazy he saw an opportunity. Sometimes you have to take big risks like that in life. They might not always work but you have to learn from them and move on.
This story is about how a young man was able to start something great after a tragic time. It may not seem like it but little things like this can change not only his life but other people's lives in the community. By Burnell putting the store there he was able to cut the time of travel by a lot for everyone who had to take 3 busses to get to Walmart. In Mount Gilead, there has been a ton of different small businesses that have come and gone. It made me think about how many businesses fail shortly after starting up. What I found is that 20% of new businesses fail during the first two years of being open, 45% during the first five years, and 65% during the first 10 years. For Burnell to be able to start a successful business where the odds aren’t very good is amazing. He has been doing this for over 10 years and been helping the community along the way. I think that he is a great example of what using your creative side and not listening to others bringing you down looks like.
This picture is from a news article that they did about Burnell and his business. It’s a great article that gets in-depth about what he has done with the store for the community.
https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/its-last-grocery-store-standing-lower-ninth-ward-n417971
Hi Mason I enjoyed reading your research, the statistics about business failing really made me think how much hard work goes into them and how hard the owners must be working to keep it open, I know my brother who is creating his own business works long hours every week to try and become successful. I also really like the photo I had no idea so many journalists and media like Ellen DeGeneres and Lester Holt had interviewed Brunell and his business .
ReplyDelete