Most employees don’t like their
job. You can do pretty well in
the corporate world when
everyone in the cubicles next to
yours hates what they do just as
much. There is a spirit of
competition between employees
and office politics to deal with
but in comparison to the world
of being a small business owner
it ’s a walk in the park.
The three major factors that
separate someone with an
employee ’s mentality with
someone with an entrepreneur’s
outlook are:
1. Passion for what you do
2. Courage to take risks
3. Not lusting for immediate
results
We will get into more specific
business models ideas later.
Before diving into that, it ’s
imperative that you take a look
at the rewards and sacrifices that
come along with owning a
business. Nearly everyone fancies
the idea of running the show,
however too few know about
the core values that all
successful businesspeople share.
Passion For What You Do
Co-founder of Apple Computer
Steve Jobs gave an inspiring
commencement address in 2005
at Stanford. The main underlying
theme was that Steve was guided
throughout his career by
following his heart. Be wary
when teachers, parents, friends
or even other business owners
give you advice about career
direction. Only you can carve out
your own path.
Remember that each individual
has vastly different interests and
passions. When you deny what
you love and go for an idea that
is safe or has worked for others,
you are living in-authentically
and putting yourself at a great
disadvantage. The reason is that
whatever you choose outside of
your passion, there will be
competitors that love to do what
you hate. In short a person with
passion beats out the
competition because the rewards
of a job well done go beyond
profits alone.
Founders of Apple in the early
days. They got in at the
beginning of the PC movement.
Courage To Take Risks
Taking risks isn’t about waving
money around and hoping for
the best. It ’s about putting
everything into a project or idea
without knowing what the
outcome will be. When you take
a risk you venture into new
frontiers where few have been
and few can follow.
Proven methods may be good
for beginners. However, the high
competition and inability to get
ahead of the pack gets
frustrating as you gain
experience.
People that think big fall harder
when they fail but they also
enjoy much larger gains when
they got it right. Those who play
it safe all the time are merely
treading water.
Not Lusting for Immediate
Results
Whether an employee cooks
fries at Burger King or is an
executive at Gucci, the fact
remains that working for
someone else gets you fast,
predictable rewards. When you
work a certain amount of hours
you make a corresponding
amount of money. Although a
salary worker gets the steadiest
form of payment, the results are
much the same. People get used
to getting tossed a bone
immediately after performing a
trick.
People new to small business
sometime find it hard to come to
terms with the fact they may
have to practically work for free
before they either perfect their
business model, quality of service
or gain a large enough client
base.
Plenty ideas will fail and largely
be a waste of time and
resources. This simply cannot be
avoided. You can only see if an
idea is a winner or not by testing
it out. The good news is that
when you stumble upon
approaches that work you can
rinse and repeat ensuring future
profits. Failed ideas only cost you
in the short-term.
Bob Rook, music lawyer, with
James Brown in 1977.
Think and Grow Rich
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Idea 1 – Combine Two
“Unrelated” Abilities
Imagine for a moment a young
man named Ben Strand who
loved playing in bands during
high school. Although music was
his first love he later became
interested in law, got the
necessary schooling, and went
on to be a criminal lawyer.
Several years later he looked at
his Jazz guitar, which he
continued to play as a hobby
and yearned to be a part of the
music business.
Sometimes the best business
ideas are a blend of something
you love along with a trade you
learned out of necessity to earn
a living. An excellent spot for
Ben would be to start his own
music law practice. His combined
passion for music and legal
knowledge will make him well-
equipped to draft recording
contracts and advise companies
involved in the music business.
Idea 2 – Get There First
Today’s lightening speed
technological progress ensures
that new jobs and business
opportunities will continue to
appear well into the future.
There is always a period that has
the largest window of
opportunity for a given sector.
Apple Computer as mentioned
above was founded when only a
tiny minority of geeks used
computers. The market for
computers was its most primitive
state as computer users had to
purchase kits and build PCs on
their own. Apple was the first
company to make personal
computers accessible to the
average consumer. Although
being among the first doesn’t
guarantee success in the future,
it certainly helps. It is always best
to get started in an area that has
huge opportunity (even if only
you see it) yet isn ’t saturated
with competitors.
Idea 3 – Improve Efficiency of
Classic Models
Plenty of businesses are lagging
behind technological progress
and continue to use a dated,
inefficient model. Sometimes
taking a classic service such as
paper printing and simply
updating how clients order
products, plus revamping design
submission, the approval
process, and invoicing can give a
company a tremendous
advantage.
Trade printers 4Over agree to
work only with resellers and
graphic designers. Orders are
made through logging into the
system and ordering specific
products (business cards, for
example), quantities and features
such as a glossy varnish. This
alone has saved the company an
amazing amount of time in client
communication. On the backend
employees at 4Over have a
definite electronic task list in
front of them created from data
generated by the system.
Artwork can be transferred and
accepted online, saving the client
from driving down to a local
printer to sign off on proofs.
Everything from delivery requests
to invoicing is completely
electronic.
Conclusion
This article is intended to inspire
you to create your own business
ideas based on your current
expertise, experience and
passions. Dry lists of business
ideas are relatively worthless
when you consider what you
really need to do is look inside
yourself for the answer.
Running your own business is
not for the lazy or faint of heart.
If you have a powerful internal
compass and a desire to create
new, better ways of doing
business you may just be crazy
enough to become a serial
entrepreneur.
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Comments
LeanMan 4 months ago
What ever business you decide
to go into, take as much advice
as you can get; you may be
surprised as to what help there
may be available for you. Talk to
local government business
support people who not only
can give you advice but can also
often point you in the direction
of sources of funding and grants
and other help to get your
business off the ground.
Talk also to the business
managers in a couple of local
banks who can be great sources
of information and leads to
additional support.
But most importantly, go for it!!!!
SwiftGlassEater 4 months ago
Well said! I'm chest-deep in the
murky waters of launching my
own budding business and it can
be an intimidating process, you
just gotta keep thinking positive
and never let your knife edge
dull! I think the silent killer of
self-starter businesses would
falling victim to routine. You can
always learn new things and
apply new tactics! Good hub!
Keep it up!
sonde79 4 months ago
The state of local business is
horrible where I live (Windsor,
Canada). I constantly see new
signs go up on old buildings. It’s
like an endless cycle of failure.
A friend started ranting to me
about a greek restaurant that
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