To the Core of the Matter

This is one of those questions I get all the time:

• I've had this job for years and now I want a change. I've always dreampt of X business, am I crazy to try it?

This question has everything to do with "core skills". Those are the skills that you already have a firm grasp on. Skills that you have acquired in some way or other, in your life, that give you an understanding of the business that you want to start.

For instance, if you want to start a retail store, some of the skills that would be important would be:

• Sales experience
• Outgoing personality
• Organized
• Knowing a bit about the product that you want to sell
• Having connections with people who want to buy this kind of product if it is "niche"
• A grasp of basic bookkeeping
• Physical ability to lift and carry merchandise
• Ability to negotiate!
  

A retail business if a physical thing. It requires long hours, hauling of merchandise, moving things constantly. As muchtime as one spends talking to customers, one is also dealing with vendors, if the product is bought wholesale. It's a taxing thing! Take that same business online and you may have taken our the customer contact and the physical environment of a store, but you still need all the other skills.

What are your core skills?

Folks who work in one industry and find a "void" somewhere that they want to fill as a business person have a good way to enter self-employment. They already understand the industry from the inside out! Sure, there are still going to be lots for them to learn, but knowing the key players, what the industry requires and the "lay of the land" are huge benefits.

This is not to say that if you want to retire into something entirely different than what you did for your life's work, you won't succeed. What I would say is this, though: Talk to people who have stores if you want to open a store. Talk to people who offer a service to a niche market if that's your dream.

We all have "core skills" and your chance of success lies directly in the path of those skills. You can develop those other skills you may need to expand your business to the dream that you have. Start out with the ones you already have to build a firm platform or base in which to work from.

Having the business of your dreams may very well be a series of steps, instead of one giant leap from where you are to where you want to be.

Adventure or Crisis?

I was just saying the other day that I have a hard time deciding which posts belong in what blogs I write these days.
This one is clearly economy related.
You also may not want to hear it.

Oh good, you're reading!
If you think that you can "console" yourself with: But the economy sucks and everyone is having a hard time.
Think again. Literally:
THINK AGAIN

How is it that "even in this economy" you're most likely still going to stores and buying stuff and paying for services? Because you believe they have value to you. We live in a capitalist society that, for better or worse, attaches monetary value to almost everything. You know, the commercial that goes something like, "box seats at Yankee Stadium, $500, four hot dogs, $20, the look on your kids face, priceless."

The last part is what people seem to be more interested in today. The experience. The look on your kid's face, the feeling that you get, the "experiential" part of what you're purchasing. So why do folks buy a lot of stuff online still? Two reasons I believe:

The kind of store that they would buy this in doesn't exist where they live.
The kind of store that they would buy this in doesn't have an experience that excites them.

Back to the value thing.

If you think that everyone is doing really badly then why is the latest technology still selling? How is it that we even KNOW what's popular? People are talking about it. Why? It's cool, it's new, it's really really good or it keeps getting better.

These are all keys to long term success for your business:
Quality of product AND experience.

I know that what I've said here is a gross generalization in many ways, but I'm here to kick your butt about accepting "the ways things are" as a way to operate in your head or in your company. Work harder! Throw more passion at what you're doing.

I knew a fella who wrote for an Outdoors magazine. He said: When you're going through it, it's a crisis. When you tell the story of it, that's when it becomes your adventure.

Why don't you begin your adventure now?

Your Business Lifestyle

www.imageabstraction.com

It's not unusual that I meet someone who starts a business in an industry that's new to them. For example, someone who has been in social work but has always dreampt of having a little gift shop. Six months down the line I hear them say, "But I didn't really understand how I'd never have weekends to myself!".

Every industry has it's own particular lifestyle. It's an important thing to factor in when you're considering starting your own venture. There are decisions you can make about the structure of your business and the culture you can create and then there are things that are inherent to that industry. A great example is a restaurant. Unless you're running a breakfast and lunch cafe, chances are you'll be working nights. The most important time to be in your restaurant will be the nights. It's a complete lifestyle. That may not go over well with your family.

"If I knew then what I know now..."

Do a little research in advance and see what kind of lifestyle, folks who are doing what you want to be doing, have. Even a consultant, like myself, the lifestyle varies person to person. Not everyone works this way but many do. Now that I'm working nationwide, my day spans both coasts and continues into the weekends. To some folks, that sounds like a nightmare. For me, it's what I'm comfortable with. I know myself professionally. I know how much I can handle and how to naturally structure my days. It works with my natural flow.

It's not just about starting your dream business, but making sure that the lifestyle of that business if compatible with your personality. I may have dreams of having a sheep farm, but there's no way I'm getting up that early, or giving up my city life. Know what you want and know yourself.

Some related posts here from the past are the series' on working at home, or working with your spouse.