Do You Dream to be Your Own Boss?

As I finalize arrangements to facilitate entrepreneurship classes for “Ladies Who Launch” in the area, I have been thinking a lot about the topic.  Being your own boss can bring tremendous freedom and flexibility to your life.  Entrepreneurs often experience a great sense of pride building or buying a business while focusing on what truly drives them.  There are also some challenging aspects of owning your own business such as being responsible for personal and possibly employee incomes, expected and unexpected risks involved, and initial investments to get your business off the ground.

For some of my former clients, starting their own business sounded appealing, but they didn’t have a particular idea in mind for their new venture.  Once you determine that this is the right time to start a business, here are some questions you can ask yourself:

•    Do you have a product idea that would fill an unmet need or make life more convenient for consumers?
•    Are there potential enhancements or complimentary products for a product that already exists?
•    Is there a product that exists in another location that you could introduce to the local area?
•    Is there a marketable service you can provide based on skills you’ve developed in your career?
•    Is there a way to package services that is more attractive to potential customers?

There are many decisions to make when launching a new business including how it will be legally-structured, adding a partner(s) if it makes sense, developing a financing strategy and business plan, finding an office location or creating a home office, etc.  One critical step is to design a marketing strategy for your new business with options such as:

•    Generating and marketing a company website
•    Advertising in local publications
•    Selling on eBay and other on-line marketplaces (eBay recently reported that 750,000 people are making a living selling items through their on-line marketplace)
•    Building alliances and/or partnerships through networking
•    Participating in direct mail solicitations or catalogs

If you are interested in participating in the classes I will be conducting to test or launch a business idea, please contact me for further details at flexcareersconsulting@yahoo.com or thefrues@comcast.net.  Also, please contact me if you have any comments about this article, an entrepreneurial experience to share or are interested in different career topics for future newsletters.

Christine Fruehwirth has an MBA from the University of Virginia, Darden School of Business and is a certified career and life coach through the Life Purpose Institute.  She has lived in River Falls for two years with her husband, John, and three children, Ryan, Anna and Logan.