Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello Community,

 

I am an aspiring entrepreneur that has wanted to open a business for the last 4 years (wow that’s a long time); I usually read tons of articles on many different websites; motivational testimonies, steps to open for business, how to be successful in business, success stories, you name it; I’ve read it. And it’s helped me a lot, however; what I have not gotten yet is opinions and suggestion from real people who have started a business successfully and that have gone through the dilemmas that I am currently going through. This is what I’m asking the Startup Nation community to help me with.

 

I am really confident that when I discover the right business and something that I’m passionate about, I will become a very successful entrepreneur. I definitely want to be financially independent and don’t want to work for nobody.

 

The Dilemma is:

Should I start a Telecomm business or should I open a company that fulfills my ideal business.

 

Here’s the scoop,

The Telecomm business is a B2B business that has a minimal startup investment, I know how to do the work well (I’ve been doing this type of work for the last 8 years), and it’s a service and product that almost every business needs, such as telephone systems, telephone and data cabling, etc. but I don’t see myself doing this for the rest of my life. I’m just not passionate about it. I have a company name, a logo, and have registered a fictitious business name with the County, and once in a while I do Telecom related side jobs.

 

On the other hand the ideal business that I have in mind (which I have not discovered yet) is a business focused in the Hispanic Community that surrounds me. I want to have the ability to interact face to face with customers, and the consumers of the product or service that I provide. However, I still don’t know what type of product or service I should offer. It just seems like there are tons of businesses providing all the services; real estate, income taxes services, insurance, mortgage brokers, etc. I think that I am just not creative enough to think of a good niche or spot a need in my community.

 

Your suggestions would be really appreciated in regards to either; starting up a business on a product or service that I am familiar and have experience with, OR to start up a business that I would enjoy but that I haven’t discovered yet.

About the telecom business. Nothing says that the business you start today has to be your occupation the rest of your life. In fact, I`ve heard it said that unless you can walk away and the business keeps on going, you don`t really have a business, you just have a job. As soon as you`re able, hire someone who you can train to also do the work. Hire only people you can trust. As you keep hiring people watch out for someone to emerge as a natural leader. Train them to run the show. When the  business is able to run without you, you`ll have the residual income that will free you to pursue a passion. By then, you`ll likely have figured out what that is.

As for the business in the community. Have you considered asking your potential customers what they see as a need in the community? They probably know what it is.

I subscribe to what I call the corridor theory of opportunity. Imagine that you`re standing at one end of a long corridor. At various points along this corridor there are doors that lead to the right and the left. The problem is, as long as you stand still at the end of the corridor you can`t see where those doors are and where they might lead. Only when you start walking forward can you see opportunities that were there all along.

I never would have found the facility I`m leasing had I not been looking for equipment. I started moving down the corridor and I`m amazed at the opportunity I found.


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I`m advocating an approach to life I`m calling opportunism. Yes, there`s a word like that already, but this is about taking advantage of opportunities that arise when you`re making a directed attempt to find what you really want out of life.

My friend Kathy and I started with an idea to build artistic, one-of-a-kind slipcovers for office chairs. It was great fun, an adventure, and got us into the whole concept of starting a business. But it wasn`t going well financially. So we pondered what could we do "in the mean time," that would be somewhat like the original idea, but that was easy to make, inexpensive to manufacture, and easier to sell.

We came up with signal flag messages. It`s still creative, unusual, involves sewing, and gets into learning about fabric; all the same things needed for the slipcover business. But it`s bringing in money.

No, we don`t want to make signal flags for the rest of our lives. But when we got stuck going along one path, we tried a different one, still moving in the same general direction.

Right now you say you want to own your own business. You already know you can do the telcom thing. You know you can likely make it successful. But if you do, it won`t be working as an employee, it`ll be managing and running things yourself. That`s the key...the main idea.

I`m proposing that as you begin walking along that path, diverging from being an employee, distancing yourself from the entire mindset of working for someone else, things in life will begin to show up as opportunities. You`ll start getting ideas about all sorts of things, one of which most assuredly is going to key into your as-yet undetermined passion.

Go with what you know, just a writer should write what they know. Along the way, you`ll encounter whole new areas of life, away from the "rut" of being an employee. It isn`t about doing the same or similar business; it`s about starting your own company. That`s very different from "same ol` same ol`" installing phones!

Steve, I really appreciate your suggestions and thank you for giving me your encouraging yet realistic advice. As far as asking my potential customers what is needed in the community, do you mean like doing a survey? or what do you think is the best way to ask a whole community what product or service is currently needed?

CraigL, thank you for your wisdom and for sharing your experiences with us. This helps me a lot, especially from you guys here at SUN that have the same mindset and the same goals as I do, which is to be succesful business owners. I feel at home when I`m reading posts from everyone. This is a big eye opener for me. Sometimes, I just get overwhelmed with information, and comments that I hear from people that are just not in the same mindset as I am. Most of the people that I know, are happy employees that are happy that way (at least for now), and the few business owners that I do know, are not willing to share information because they are also in the telecom field, which means that I can very easily become their competition.

Steve and CraigL, your suggestions make a lot of sense.

I totally agree with Craig. Starting out, you don`t know what you don`t know. So how in the world can you learn what you need to know until you begin. I`m not an advocate of closing your eyes and jumping in the deep end. But at least stick a toe in. Do something, learn, grow, repeat. The journey of a thousand miles...

As for asking the community what it needs, I wouldn`t be so formal. Start to interact with the community now. As you do, look for people of vision. Sounds like you already know how to spot people who have no vision. Ask them one on one, what they think the community needs. You`re not looking for business plans, just ideas. Seeds. Solomon said wise counsel is like deep water; you have to draw it out. It takes time.

If you haven`t read Robert Kiyosaki`s books do so. Some people take issue that parts of it are fictional. I wouldn`t care if Hawaii was a figment of his imagination. He opened my eyes and my wife`s as to what`s possible. We`re moving down the runway, picking up speed, and we`re almost airborne. It`s going to be one heck of a ride.


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Almost all entrepreneurs are also "schmoozers," talking with everyone, gabbing it up with strangers, and just generally talking all the time. :-) Not me, of course, I never know WHAT to say! LOL!

The point is that if you just go out shopping, talking with folks about phone systems, telcom concepts, and so forth, you`ll likely find all kinds of things relative to what`s going on in your area.

Notice that you`re not "selling" your services, "selling" your idea, "selling" your business! Instead, you`re talking about what people want, what they need, and most importantly, what they WISH they had!

Talk with the checkout person at the supermarket; "So...do you like how your phone works?" That`s an interesting and unusual question to ask, right? But in the response, you`ll find out what`s really going on in the neighborhood, and that`ll give you some ideas.

To find a passion, understand that it`s an idea. It`s not a "thing." We can love our car, cat, grill, or watch. But we don`t have a passion for it. Instead, we have a passion for justice, honor, freedom, numbers, music, language, communication, and all manner of other abstract ideas.

Look back over your life, particularly from around 5-15, and remember what it is you`ve been doing all that time, over and over again, and having just plain fun! Then, extract the underlying Idea behind those actions. That`s your passion.