Have you thought what to do when you grow up ? Invent or re-vent home business

Part 1. A twisted tale of a blossoming

entrepreneur Blossoming Entrepreneur

Fisrt ask yourself that do you always wanted your business? No. When I was younger, I held to the ideal that my UAW-founding grandparents had instilled in me. Work hard for a good company and you will have a job for life along with retirement benefits when you get older. Then, at 40, I changed. People with years of experience fall aside as the workplace transformed.

With time I lost that faith and I parted ways. I had been with a major automotive supplier for almost 20 years and I wanted something different and personally fulfilling. I had good salary, job and was even working in my area of interest too. Hence I did think and found out many related things. Hence below you will find some crucial points of my early days .

Each of these bulleted items is worthy of a post of their own!
1. What really motivated the spirit within me? What would I not only enjoy, but also gain personal satisfaction doing that would pay me adequately? I had in mind to engage in some small industry. My target initially were Mom and Pops with 3-4 other employees .

2. In which ways I can be useful for these businesses ? The easy answer was to start with web development and design as I had done work in this area and so many small businesses at that time didn't even have a web site.


3. Now another query was how to form the structure of company? I also decided that inorder to form corporation I had to keep my personal and business finances separate An "S-corp" to be more precise. It may not be the best model but still research is needed to progress further.

4. I also knew that to start with I would need to do the bulk of the accounting work. Rather bothering about my financial software, I hired analyst to help me initially. My 2 years college experience was enough to help me start accounting well . This was money well spent.

5. Later I even hired attorney. The lady drafted some documents for me and coorected some minor details for me , here money was spend, hence I had to develop skills here. I also took time to hire the best I could afford and make sure that she did not require a retainer.

6. What should have been my cost? My rate would need to be affordable to these small businesses. Though I also wanted to make money of my time. I came up with client necessities and decided the cost about $15 per hour, this made me realise that I should deliver product well without undercharging.

7. Branding. I came up with a logo design and then had some inexpensive business cards printed and I made some tri-fold handouts. I even added my brand on my portfolio too.

8. Did I need an outside office? The work I was going to be doing could easily be done from my home office - which was very well equipped even back then so there was no reason to burden my new company with office and equipment leases.

9. Should I quit my job and just run with it? I was clear in mind to say NO. In fact, I was able to keep working for almost a year into my startup, and I have to say prevented me from failing miserably!

But that is a tale for next time in Part 2 of our series.

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