Ahh the possiblities as I pondered my newly formed question, which business shall I start? Now this is a really hard question to answer as I have come to find. See like just about any other american I feel the pressure of the economy or is it the two jobs I hold because of the economy? Anyhow, like many, I feel the desire to become an entrepreneur. Unfortunately this, in the opinion of many of my friends is not the time to even hint at the notion of starting a business.
Many, many weeks ago when I resigned with the remainder of the world geared towards positive thought that recession had befallen us I began to ask myself "how can I improve my financial situation"? Well, many options have come to mind like getting a second job which now will mean a third job. Find gainful employment via the internet, or as I have found provide gainful employment to those willing to charge me to do some type of low level marketing or coupon processing. Still don't quite understand that one, I always thought the cash register did it for you.
My final and what I believe to be my most promising thought has been to start my own business. And believe me, I really like that idea I have always wanted to have my very own "something" to run but just haven't given it much credence until the spector of economic doom veiled my finances. Quite a paradox for me as I guess it would be for you too start a business now, right!
So as I have embarked upon this task one glaring truth became evident to me as I imagined running my own little boardroom meeting, walking into my office with my faithful yellow lab at my side; and that is I don't know what kind of business I should have. My vision of me and my dog looking at our quarterly financial report indicating unrivaled sales and profits stopped with all the finesse of the squeaky brakes on a UPS truck.
So decidedly, the decider (that's me) resolved to take a systems approach to this whole quandry. What would the first step be, ah ha!
1. What experience do I have? And I had to be truthful in this one and by that I mean I had to think of all the things and experiences I have had and not just the ones I have been paid for?
2. What do I consider my personal strengths? I needed to know this up front because without an honest perspective I would not know exactly how far any of my afore mentioned experiences would take me. Face it, with out the necessary intestinal fortitude I could invalidate otherwise honed skills and of course those that aren't so honed either.
3. What do I really like to do and how many people in the world share my interests?
4. Is there anything I am interested in that I do not currently engage in or have experience with that I would do just about anything to gain experience in. I think of this all the time. I have a friend who was a very experienced physical therapist, left his day job and started a very lucritive little rib joint. Now where did that one come from?
5. On what level can I start my business, home based or brick and mortar? Will it require a partnership or investors?
6. If can do it alone, do I have enough money to invest? Can I get loans? or Will I need venture capital.
Like me by now you should be pretty much on your way. Yes, confusing! I had a multitude of ideas and thus began the thining process. I whittled my list down to what I believed were the top three ideas of the whole questioning process. These three I felt were the most promising for me and leaving it at three allowed me enough energy and resources to begin the task of market research.
Having only three businesses which remarkably came to be pretty closely related in type made it very easy for me to begin writing a business plan in conjunction to market research. Also, since the top three were selected through a process I was developing potential future endeavors and I haven't even gotten my initial business off of the ground yet. Pretty cool, my business was already diversifying.
And finally, the most important element in the process the final selection! There is no more important question that needs to be asked than "will I really enjoy this business?". Believe me, figure this out now. When you're going on 16 hours, working days on end with no day off in sight it's going to be your love or lack of it for what you're doing that will make or break your venture. Not to mention the effects it will have on your family if you hate your own business. Be careful, be prudent and most of all do something you love.