Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I was thinking about how many people are trying to start a business, these days. A lot of their ideas are really creative, interesting and different, and those are the companies that`ll go places. But a lot of people seem to think that starting a business is about copying what everyone else is doing.

Before starting something, you should have an idea in mind---your destination. You also should know why you`re starting that business, the purpose it will serve in your life. That`s the Life Plan part of it that the Sloan brothers discuss in the 10-steps concept.

Imagine this: It`s a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, mild temperatures, hardly a cloud in the sky. Your errands have been done, or you can put them off, and you think it`d be great to get in the car and go somewhere. Maybe it`s just you; maybe you and your family; but it`s that kind of afternoon where you want to go....somewhere, and do something!

You pile into the car and say to yourself, "Okay! Where shall we go?"

The way it seems, these days, where getting in the car is the idea of starting a business, people just start driving. They get out on the road and look around. "Hey! Look at all this traffic! Why don`t we follow those cars?"

Which cars? Oh...any of them will do, as long as there are a lot of them.

Strange as it may seem, a lot of folks do pretty much exactly this when starting a business. They don`t even know why they`re following a bunch of cars. They have no idea where those cars are going, what`s the purpose behind the travel, or even where the roads might lead. They just follow a bunch of cars.

Then they complain that they seem always to be stuck in a traffic jam, or that there`s just too much traffic on the highways lately. They get frustrated because they don`t seem to be going anywhere, even though they have no destination in mind.

Throughout history, people have made the analogy that life is a road or path, and that not only is the destination important, so is the journey itself. It`s one thing to want to go to the Big Event downtown, then gradually get caught in traffic with all the others wanting to see that same event.

It`s a very different thing to have no idea at all where you`re going, but just to follow a bunch of cars at random. Yet that`s how it appears to me.

If you`re going to run a business that you enjoy, but that a lot of others are also running, then you`re going to get caught in that traffic as you get closer to "big." On the other hand, you could set up a roadside business, servicing all the people "on the road." Then; you could go in a quite different direction, on roads not many people are using. But who just jumps in the car and says, "Follow those cars!"

We`ve had a number of good discussions here about finding one`s passion. It`s a hot topic these days, what with so many people wishing to start their own business. It just struck me funny, people jumping in their cars and following a bunch of other cars....for no particular reason, other than, "Well, they must be going SOMEwhere, so I should go there too!" :-D

 theperfectbizfinder

hmm...I suspect this was a response to a different topic? ;-)

Hmm that was a very interesting post I started my bussines from I hobby that I really enjoyed so I have a different compasion for my hobby and business, and also I noticed that that there was not a lot of websites that carried many of the same hobby as I do so we had to go to many different websites to get different model rockets so my ninche was to be able to provide all these model rockets services in one place.

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Fly`em High Rockets
www.flyemhighrockets.com
Office: 678-382-1366
Email: flyemhighrockets@aol.com

Steve,
I have downloaded one of your Ebooks. I am still in the process of finding the perfect business for me.  My problem is that I have passion for many things because I do feel we all have god given talents. But I love too many things. And the things I am most passionate about:
1. might not make that much money for me to justify going through the trouble
2. require a whole other degree, not for credibility, but legally.

I am still chipping away and trying to find the unique business angle I might have and how I can make money doing it.

Getting kind of tired of the dreaming though.

Sandra

Sandra,
One thing you might try is to put down on paper all the things you like....the things you`re passionate about. Make a list.

The next step is to begin pondering what they all have in common. For example, you might be passionate about jigsaw puzzles, cooking, working on car engines, and computerized sewing. Each of them could possibly become a business, but they also seem unrelated.

On the other hand, each of those things comes together under a larger heading of problem-solving, or puzzles, or logic. To that end, you could work backward and look at a career in crime-scene investigation, being a detective, or going to school to be an attorney. Those too, work in terms of details and problem-solving.

It may turn out that your common thread isn`t a thought or concept, but actually something physical or specific. The thing is to start with a list. Be sure to winnow it down, removing things that you "like," and keeping things that you would still do even if you were in jail and had access to the resources.

A passion is something that drives you...you`re driven. What you like is rather something that`s generally fun. To build a business and face the ups and downs, you need to be a bit obsessive about it. There`ll be so many times when you`re frustrated and depressed, you won`t "like" what you`re doing so much.

That`s when being driven by a passion will keep you going. So are you really passionate about so many things? Or is it that you like doing those things to pass the time?

thanks for your interesting ideas and experience. I just started a new online business which is people wanted according our survey, but how to make more people really use it, is the big challenge, it is not a new idea, but trying to do it differently...

monte at
www.cislinked.com