The movie "Joy" is about a woman who has lived with struggle at the forefront of her life for as long as she could remember. Through a dysfunctional family, divorce, and having to take on many responsibilities, Joy still found ways to invent new things, become a successful business woman, and mother to her two children. The Entrepreneurial aspects of the movie include Joy creating a plan based off of a potentially profitable idea, gaining an investment with her fathers girlfriend Trudy, working with a manufacturing company in California, employing workers to physically create the product, and making a deal with Neil Walker to go on television and sell her product. This is everything that Entrepreneurs go through when creating a business. What is interesting, isn't necessarily the steps she has to take to get her idea off of paper, but is her drive and overall story along the way and how she, not only overcomes, but, completely conquers everything that she is put through.
Ever since she was a little girl, Joy wanted to create things and her mimi told her that she would be the person who would make the family successful. After graduating as Valedictorian in high school, she chose to stay home and help per parents get through their divorce instead of furthering her education at college. Her family's issues put a hold on her own life and what she really wanted to do. Throughout this movie you really get to see Joy transform, not only in a business sense, but as a much stronger person.
When she interacts with her family in the very beginning, her presence and domineer just flood the room with exhaustion and doubt. As the movie progresses we see how her family continue to demean her and use her for their own success only to find her silent but plotting on how to prove them wrong. She loves her family endlessly, but her drive to prove to them and everyone else that she is more than what they thought is also endless. Her first meeting with Trudy (her fathers new girlfriend) is proactive, but Joy is still not sure about a lot. As Joy and Trudy's relationship progress, Joy not only gets put in debt, but Joy treats the situations as if Joy did all of the wrong doing because she is the inventor.
Because Joy didn't have much, she understood what it meant to work hard. Her drive as always been there, it was simply focused on other aspects of her life. When Joy meets Neil Walker (Runs QVC TV) to pitch her invention and gain a time slot for a commercial, she was scared, anxious, and all over the place. When she calmed down and took a breathe, not only did she give a great pitch, she had confidence in herself and her product, which resulted in Neil and Joy making a deal. Joy's drive and discipline allowed her to overcome everyone around her telling her she wouldn't be successful, her manufacturing company attempting to steal her ideas away, over-billing her, dealing with lawyers mistakes, commercial mishaps, putting herself in a mountain of debt causing her to put a second mortgage on her house, and much more.
The bottom line is that Joy created an invention that no one had thought of or saw in stores. She was a mother who constantly cleaned up messes on a daily basis. When she created the washable mop, not only is she and her customers spending less times on their hands and knees cleaning up the mop, but they are saving money by buying her efficient product. She had a phenomenal idea that was bound to work, but because she didn't have any business experience or the best connections, she had a lot of struggle. I believe it is within her struggle that she really learns to be a top tier woman in a man's industry. She related with her market because she worked hard and cleaned her house often. Joy wanted to find something that was easy, light weight, and clean. She couldn't find anything so she created it instead. In a way, Joy understood what society needed in their homes without them even knowing it.
When Joy was able to recover from her first commercial that went completely wrong, she not only sold over 47,000 mops, but the numbers kept climbing the more commercials she did and even reached over 95,000 sold mops. Later on in the movie she is told that her mimi died. That same evening she is hit with the knowledge that she her sister paid a debt without permission; this led to Joy flying out to California and dealing with the matter. Even through loss, grief, and backlash, her drive and persistence shined through and lead her to finding ways around the manufacturing company's embezzlement scam.
Above all, the movie and Joy's character showed the growth of her strength, drive, resilience, and courage. All of these points are needed to become an Entrepreneur/ leader. She made an invention that received love and hate. She rose to the top and invented several more creations that sold. The market loved Joy and her ideas. They loved her so much that some of them tried to steal her ideas to gain a piece of her success. Even those closest to her tried to sue her for what they felt they deserved. The movie did a great job of pointing out a lot of valuable lessons for Entrepreneurs. There are so many people that don't want you to succeed. This kind of goes without saying, but can be left in the dark. Ask for advice; this is critical to gain information on what the market needs or wants. Lastly, understand what it means to thrive in chaos. There is so much that goes into starting a business, building a creating, marketing, and making a profit. Many things will get in the way and create chaos. It is how the entrepreneur chooses to overcome that will lead them to success. 
