Revo Island

1. Who can be an entrepreneur?

Anyone with the ability to take risks, a clear vision, dedication to work, leadership, courage and creativity has the potential to be an entrepreneur. We can take Roxanne as an example, even though she experienced many ups and downs in her life, she never gave up. She devoted herself to her work. She can work under uncertainty and knows how to respond appropriately to situations.

2. What are the risks, rewards, and trade-offs of a lifestyle business versus a high-potential business—one that will exceed $5 million in sales and grow substantially?

Lifestyle business is one where the entrepreneur seeks to generate an "adequate" income while living where s/he wants, doing what s/he loves, or having the flexibility to be around. Lifestyle entrepreneurs as a specific breed of business owner who is neither a financially independent hobbyist nor wealth-seeking empire-builder. According to the National Commission on Entrepreneurship, at any given time, 6% to 9% of the United States adult population is involved in planning for a new business. Most of these aspiring entrepreneurs, they say, will start a "Lifestyle Business" - primarily providing employment to themselves and their families.

3. What is the difference between an idea and an opportunity? For whom? What can be learned from Exhibits C and D?

Ideas and opportunities are two different things. An idea is the first step in the process of building a business, and an opportunity is a business idea that has been researched, refined, and packaged into a promising enterprise, ready to launch. Opportunity comes with great ideas. In this case, Roxanne came up with any idea to use the waste beeswax. She sifted through the idea, looking for opportunities. Her idea really worked in this case. An idea has no value unless you make it into a business, in which case you must understand what problem you are explaining and for whom you are solving it. Also, whether there are enough people who have this problem who are willing to pay enough money to do an actual business. An open door is an idea that can be executed, an idea that will succeed if it has the resources available.

At Exhibit C, Roxanne decided to focus on skincare, while Exhibit C also showcased facilities for toilet preparation, employment compensation and production. Similarly, as we can see from chart D, the total number of institutions decreased in 1988, but has increased since 1992-1993. We can see a comparison of standard industry categories in this annex D.

4. Why has the company succeeded so far?

The main reason for the success of their business is Roxanne's idea. Her dedication and skills have also helped the company succeed. They have a very strict policy that if the retailer can't pay the debt within 30 days, they won't deal with the retailer. Their companies also have no debt, so they don't have to pay high interest rates to any debtors. Similarly, her partner Burt was understanding and supportive.

5. What should Roxanne and Burt do, and why?

They should stay in North Carolina because there is a large percentage of the country population lives within a 12-hour drive of North Carolina. There is also more supply of skilled labor in North Carolina than in Maine. Moving back to Maine is not a good decision because it has high transport costs, high payroll taxes, and lack of expertise. In addition, if they keep the company in Maine, they will stunt its growth.

North Carolina is already the place of several other internationally-known personal care companies, so it is proven that North Carolina is a good place for such a business. Burt’s Bees also had promising leads in North Carolina on a plant manager from, Revlon and, a sales and marketing manager with experience Vogue, and Victoria's Secret. Quimby’s expertise deficit could largely be solved with these two experts.