Choosing your path: education or entrepreneurship.

You graduated from Ahuntsic College in Business Management. You had to decide if you wanted to pursue your education in Marketing at HEC University, or start your own business.

Choice 1 : Enroll at HEC University.

Choice 2 : Start your own business.

Start your own business.

Since you always had a passion for fashion, you wanted to create your own clothing brand. To start, you conducted a market research to analyze consumer needs, and you chose to focus your brand on clothing made from recycled fiber. After many months of product development and searching for the right manufacturer, you reached the point where you needed to decide whether to sell online or open a store. A physical location came with significant expenses, but it offered the advantage of increasing brand visibility. On the other hand, an online store required less logistics and investment, but it can be rather challenging to establish brand visibility.

Choice 1 : Open a store in Montreal.

Choice 2 : Start selling online.

Enroll at HEC University.

You decided to enroll at HEC University to get a Bachelor of Business Administration, and you later went on to complete a master's degree in Marketing to specialize in a field of study of your interest. After four and a half years of hard work, you had finally reached the end of your studies. The only thing left was an exam the following day. To celebrate the end of the semester, your friends invited you to go out, but you were not sure whether you should take the opportunity to decompress, or stay in studying.

Choice 1 : Stay in studying.

Choice 2 : Go out with your friends.

Stay in studying.

To ensure that you were prepared for the exam, you stayed home and studied until late at night. You though you could pull of another hour of study before going to bed, but you ended up falling asleep. When you woke up the next day, you realized you had forgotten to set an alarm, and the exam was already over.

Choice 1 : Try again.

Go out with your friends.

You set aside your studies and went out with your friends at a popular bar near the school. There, you met a recruiter from a well-known marketing firm. He really liked your attitude and gave you a business card in case you were interested in an internship after finishing university. With this in mind, you decided to go home early. The next day, you passed your exam. Ultimately, you get straight A’s in all of your courses, and you get your diploma. You wanted to contact the person you met at the bar, but you were also interested in exploring other job opportunities.

Choice 1 : Contact the recruiter for the internship.

Choice 2 : Explore other job opportunities.

Open a store in Montreal.

You didn't have a lot of money left since you had invested all of your savings in the company to purchase inventory. You went to the bank to take out a loan to cover the utilities the first few months. You had visited a few locations in Montreal and fell in love with one on Sherbrooke Street in Westmount, but you knew the rent was over your budget due to the area. You also found another place on Ontario Street in Maisonneuve with a more affordable rent, but you were not sure if the area matched your market segment.

Choice 1 : Choose the location in Westmount.

Choice 2 : Choose the location in Maisonneuve.

Start selling online.

You created your website using an e-commerce software and launched your brand. To attract customers, you wanted to invest money in publicity. You hesitated between working with an advertising agency or doing it yourself.

Choice 1 : Work with an advertising agency.

Choice 2 : Make the advertisement yourself.

Contact the recruiter for the internship.

You called the person you met at the bar, and after going through the application process, you were selected for the internship. At first, you were overwhelmed by the number of tasks you had to take one, but as the week went by, you started to learn the ropes of the job. You became acquainted with some of the other interns to feel part of the team. However, you sometimes overheard them talking behind other coworker's backs. You wanted to feel included, but at the same time, you didn't want to engage in office politics as it could have affected your reputation.

Choice 1 : Partake in office politics.

Choice 2 : Exclude yourself from the group.

Explore other job opportunities.

You browsed through many job offerings and narrowed it down to five options. You attended the interviews and were offered a position at three of these companies. Now you had to choose between a well-paying job in another province, a role at a local company with excellent growth opportunities, or a position at a startup offering flexibility.

Choice 1 : Relocate for a well-paying job.

Choice 2 : Pursue a role at a local company.

Choice 3 : Join a startup.

Choose the location in Westmount.

People in the area loved your store and appreciated the conception of your clothes. Nonetheless, after reviewing the bookkeeping, you discovered that, at this rate, you would face bankruptcy if you didn't increase your profits. At that point, you debated whether to raise your prices or reduce the quality of your products.

Choice 1 : Reduce the quality.

Choice 2 : Inflate the price.

Choose the location in Maisonneuve.

Your business was not as successful as you had hoped because of the lack of customer, but you made enough money to keep it running. Unfortunately, the building where your store was located caught fire due to an electrical problem. You lost everything, and the damage was too important for you to continue with the business.

Choice 1 : Try again.

Partake in office politics.

You wanted to fit in and have friends at work, so you continued to hang out with the problematic people, but you soon realized that you should not trust someone who undermined others. When the time came for important meetings where everyone had to share an idea of a marketing strategy, more often than not, your friends stole your ideas, leaving you blindsided and unable to come up with a new suggestion. In the end, they were offered a permanent position at the company, while your work as an intern was not even acknowledge.

Choice 1 : Try again.

Exclude yourself from the group.

Without having to deal with others at works, you were able to focus on your assignments. Your supervisor was quite impressed with the ideas you offered and decided to give you a permanent position. You felt that a great career was ahead of you.

Choice 1 : Try again.

Work with an advertising agency.

The company you hired deceived you by offering a service that you were capable of doing yourself. Their marketing campaigns failed to help you improve your sale, leaving a huge dent in your budget. You decided to take a step back to reevaluate your career path, since this situation caused an immense amount of stress.

Choice 1 : Try again.

Make the advertisement yourself.

You promoted your product on social media, and one of your posts went viral. The resulting buzz created a surge in demand, significantly boosting your sales. To keep up, you had to place a new order with your manufacturer.

Choice 1 : Try again.

Reduce the quality.

You lowered the quality of your clothing which displeased your target demographic. Your customers lost confidence in your brand. As a result, the decline in goodwill ultimately forced you to declare bankruptcy.

Choice 1 : Try again.

Inflate the price.

You slowly increased the price of your products to raise your profit margins and repay your debt. While you were losing a few customers, your regulars remained loyal. Overall, taking this risk proved to be worthwhile so your business could thrive, and you may even consider opening more shops in the coming years.

Choice 1 : Try again.

Relocate for a well-paying job.

You had a high income, but it required you to work a lot of overtime. You felt lonely in this new city, and your entire life revolved around work, leading to a lack of motivation. You consulted a doctor, who placed you on a leave of absence due to a burnout.

Choice 1 : Try again.

Pursue a role at a local company.

You had worked for this company for over five years, but your never got promoted while some other colleagues received a promotion. You were misled by the promise of growth opportunities and have found yourself stuck in a dead-end job.

Choice 1 : Try again.

Join a startup.

The startup you were working for turned out to be a front for criminal activities. You and all of your colleagues were arrested and were awaiting trial!

Choice 1 : Try again.