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My Entrepreneurship Story

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When I was first hired at Publix, we were required to attend an orientation class that went over the ways of Publix and how the company works, as well as the history behind the company that we all know today. I had been interested in the company previously, but through the orientation I learned much of how it started and who George Jenkins was along with his vision of the store. I was fascinated to find out that not only did Mr. George was able to come up with and implement a great deal of new and noteworthy ideas for supermarkets such as having air conditioning, music playing in the background, and automatic doors at the entrance.

Since I just transferred to UF from Santa Fe, I am just starting out having all of my classes pertain to my major. When choosing classes to enroll in for this semester, I wanted to start out with a few classes that would give me a good overview of some of the major topics in business. From this class, I would like to learn the general terms used for entrepreneurship as well as some good ways to communicate with entrepreneurs and other people in the business world.

Comments

  1. Maria SlateJanuary 31, 2020 at 10:44 PM

    Hey Riley! That was so cool to learn about Publix and its history. It is crazy what has gone on behind the scenes of all the businesses we interact with on a daily basis. They all had to start from somewhere and how they made themselves successful is definitely a valuable lesson. It seems that Publix was really trying to revolutionize the way people shop and make it a higher end grocery store. Having music and air conditioning was probably a luxury back then so customers were probably more drawn to that setting. I am in the same boat as you in the sense that I am starting off my major and am trying to get a basic understanding of business related ideas. I wish you the best of luck in this class and for the rest of your degree!

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  2. Jasmin PatelFebruary 1, 2020 at 2:02 PM

    Hey Riley,
    It’s fascinating to see how Publix wants its workers to see the history behind the company, to me it shows that they want employees to know all the hard work that went into making Publix what it is. In terms of the supermarket industry, I feel Publix has become a major monopoly especially in the south, it seems to be a good company to follow for new entrepreneurs who want to start a company. Reading that Jenkins was one of the first who starts playing music in the background and having air conditioning show that sometimes you have to take a risk to stand apart from the businesses. When you discussed that when choosing classes you felt it would serve best to take classes the helped expand your knowledge of business and entrepreneurship I completely agreed, I took a similar approach when selecting this class.

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  3. Jenny KimFebruary 2, 2020 at 9:50 PM

    Hi Riley,
    I really think your post is cool because Publix is a place where business is high for most grocery shoppers. For you to be able to learn the history behind it is really awesome. I usually grocery shop at Publix and its cool to see his ideas about the background music, air conditioning, and the automatic doors. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Julia HerrmannFebruary 3, 2020 at 12:00 AM

    Hi Riley!
    It's interesting that you talked about Publix in this post, because even though it's a place I go to all the time, I never think about the history of the company or how it all came about. I enjoy the fact that your taking courses to feel out for a major, I think it'll be very helpful for choosing a major in which you will be successful.

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