Matthew Davidson

Biofuels have become a major factor in the automotive industry ever since ethanol and biodiesel were introduced. With my hopes of owning an automotive performance shop in the future, I believe that agriculture will play a major role in my future; in more than just the automotive industry. While the advancement of biofuels has allowed performance to be raised far above the level of regular gasoline, I believe that agriculture will play a role in the lives of everyday people, no matter what industry. Agriculture plays a major role in the lives of everybody, whether we realize it or not. The entire world relies on agriculture to provide them with food and many other products we use every day, which is something I had never fully understood until today. Especially in Iowa, our greatest resource is our land, which is becoming more and more scarce. As a supporter of the biofuel movement and a believer of supporting an industry that supplies us with what is needed to survive, I believe that it is imperative to preserve our agriculture industry; an industry that will sure play a major role in all our lives.

I am a firm believer that Iowa offers nearly everything that I would look for when selecting a location to live and/or start a business. I say nearly, because the one thing that I believe would be more beneficial in a bigger state would be a greater possible clientele base. I understand that a businesses’ clientele base is not limited to the state of its location, but especially in the automotive service and customization industry it is nearly impossible to reach out of state initially. The automotive customization industry is very hard to succeed in anywhere but either coast; this culture is nominal in Iowa. The only hindrance I foresee if I ever decide to open up shop would be the lack of potential customers, but I feel that anything is possible with a good plan and hard work; an obstacle I feel could be surely overcome. Aside from this, I think that Iowa has many great things to offer, and with more efforts being directed at future improvements, I am a firm believer that Iowa would be a great place to start a business.

At our time at the Pella Corporation, our speakers talked a great deal about the importance of giving back to the community you are a part of. This was not something that I was terribly familiar with, but it had got me thinking. After hearing how Central College had reached out and offered free tuition to the people of Pella Corp during a the economic crisis a few years ago, I began to see how this was a mutually beneficial relationship. As I thought more and more about this, I see how this is something that makes a community prosper. I can see how a company brings jobs to a community like Pella, but I guess I had never really understood the economics behind this concept; a concept that is very important when choosing a community to live in or start a business. A company like Pella Corp not only brings jobs to a community, but by doing so, it pumps a great deal of money and other resources into the community. This relationship creates a community that has more opportunity for success and growth. As I thought more and more about this, I began to understand how this a major factor that I need to consider when I want to open my own business. If I want to be successful in the future, having a community that thrives and is supporting is something that is crucial; this is how the cycle keeps revolving.

I feel that my biggest asset that I bring to the table would be determination. I have always been the kind of person that would never give up, but I am the person who knows when to walk away and look at the problem if I cannot get past a problem. I deal with this on an everyday basis, as I have been working on completely renovating a car for the past three years. I have not had any formal training in the automotive field, but because of my determination I have been able to work out all (okay, almost all) problems that I have faced. I have learned to deal with problems as they arise, not before they happen; which may or may not be a good thing, but I have the ability to look at the situation with scrutinizing eyes to figure out a solution. I feel that with my hard work ethic and my determination, my future success is only a matter of harnessing my full potential and making “it” happen.