Tag: starting a new business

Support Your Neighbors

If you’re starting
a new business
in a neighborhood,
buy as much as you can
from local businesses.

Get your coffee
from the coffee shop
on the corner.

Buy your morning bagel
from a different restaurant
in the neighborhood.

Ask a neighbor
which electrician
she uses.

Buy your printer paper
from the local office supply place.

Yes, it will cost
a little bit more
but it should pay off
in connections.

Communities tend
to support their own.

Become ‘their own’
as soon as possible
by being seen
supporting the places
THEY support.

Neighborhood Relations

If you’re starting
a business
with a physical location,
whether that business
is a taco truck,
an Airbnb
or something else,
having a good relationship
with your neighbors
is important.

It can mean
the difference
between your business
succeeding
or failing.

Because neighbors
can make your life
absolute he77.

They can call the city
about perceived or real
coding violations.

They can call the police
about noise issues.

They can bad talk
your business
to potential customers.

They can block your driveway.

And do a thousand
other things
that will take your time
to resolve
and cost you money
and customers.

Introduce yourself
to your neighbors.

Give them something
as an apology
in advance for any inconveniences.

Of course,
offer them a ‘special’ discount
with your business.

And keep them informed.

You NEED your neighbors
to be
on your side.

Or, at the very least,
you want them to be
neutral.

This will
make or break
your business.

The End Of One Business Is The Beginning Of Another

I plan to stop writing
Romance Novels
in two years.
That business
will be placed
on maintenance mode only.

It’s the end
of that business.
And that IS sad
in many ways.

I’m grieving it.

But it also means
I’ll have that time
to do something different.

I’ll likely start
another business.
And that is VERY exciting.

Business builders
build businesses.
That’s what we do.

The end of one business
is often the start
of another business.

The Start Up Is The Hardest Part

A neighbor put in a garden
last year
for the first time.

He removed the grass,
tilled the soil,
added soil,
edged the garden
and completed hundreds
of other tasks.

This year,
he decided not to garden
because he didn’t have time.

He already invested
most of the time!
A second year garden
is easy in comparison.

This is true of any start ups,
including businesses.

The first year
is usually the most labor intensive.
It takes the most time.

You’re already doing
or have done
the hardest part.

Don’t give up!

Do Your Advisors Want You To Be Successful?

The number one qualification
for an advisor or mentor
is…

They want you
to be successful.

You might think
well…
that’s a no-brainer.

IS it?

Over the past few years,
we’ve learned
that most people
won’t wear a piece of fabric
over their faces
to save our lives.

They are certainly
not exerting themselves
to give people
quality advice.

Not everyone who mentors
wants you to be successful.

Find yourself
a mentor or advisor
who wishes the best for you.

There Are Endless Opportunities

These are admittedly dark times.

We’re still in the middle
of the COVID pandemic.
There are possible
new pandemics (Bird Flu, Marlburg, etc)
on the horizon.
Nuclear war is becoming
increasingly possible.
Climate change is kicking
our a$$es.
Fascism is on the rise.
There are countless other issues.

But the opportunities
are also endless.

Heck, some of the darkness
brings with it
opportunities.

A buddy is an event planner
specializing in
accessible and pandemic-safe
events.
She is hiring more staff.

Another buddy
sources now-hard-to-find supplies.
She is considering hiring
more staff also.

There are opportunities
EVERYWHERE.
Look for them.

The Assets You Don’t Realize You Have

One of my friends
sells compost.

She makes the compost
in old pots
on her balcony.

The compost she sells
is derived from
her kitchen scraps
plus the leaves
and grass clippings
she collects
from the apartment
yard maintenance crew.

Yes, she considers
her kitchen scraps
to be valuable assets.

We all have assets
we don’t realize
we have.

It might be the story
haunting your dreams
or
the sports equipment
in your closet
or
your Grandma’s salsa recipe
or
something else.

Consider using what you already have
to start a new business.

Plan For The Worst, Hope For The Best

When I craft projections
for a new business,
I craft three of them
– a best case, a worst case
and
a most likely case.

I’ve NEVER seen
the best case
happen.

I rarely see
the most likely case
happen.

The actuals usually
fall between
the most likely case
and
the worst case.

For example,
worst case climate change predictions
for 2050
made a mere decade ago
are coming true
right now.

When you start a business
or launch a product,
ensure you are content
with the worst case scenario.
It will likely become reality.

The Market Share Your Business Needs To Be Successful

The market share
our businesses need
to be successful
is MUCH smaller
than we think it is.

As Seth Godin
shares

“If you write a book
and it sells a million copies,
it will be one of
the bestselling books
of the year.
It will also reach
far fewer than 1%
of the country’s population,
never mind the world.”

Those big market share numbers
that large companies
express
are usually calculated
using smaller markets.

The market they use
isn’t everyone
in the world.

The market is usually.
for example,
something like
American males aged 18 to 24
who have gone to at least 3 movies
over the past 12 months.

We don’t need
to sell to everyone
to be a success.
Small shares of large markets
are significant.

An Opportunity To Start New

Every year,
on January 1st,
we are given a reminder
– it is possible to start
something new.

We are starting a new year.
We can go one step further
and start a new business,
a new habit,
a new relationship,
a new outlook on life.

We might have been solely employees,
for example,
in 2021
but this is 2022.
In 2022, we are different people.
We’re business builders.

In 2022, we work on our dreams,
we strive to achieve
the goals we have always wanted
to accomplish.
We take action.
We make a bigger difference
in the world.

This is a new year.
Do something new during it.