Make Your Move: Entrepreneurship

In this new world economy, there are many well founded businesses, which are laying off many employees, due to a decline in sales, customers and revenue. Some of these will not survive, some of them will, but with a new model. Some will pare down and regroup, put on a new face and come back strong. Meanwhile, those who have been given pink slips, and who are unable to find another job earning close to or the same salary will be hard pressed to do so. So what would be the next best thing?

My thought, although it might seem strange, would be to start your own business. If there is something in the back of your mind that you have been toying with, but just been too busy to take action, why not write up a business plan, lay out the steps to get to where you want to go, and take the bull by the horns. The following are a few ideas that we have shared with a friend, who was laid off from his job. Perhaps they will stimulate you into making a move toward establishing your own business, or you might want to start off doing it as a hobby, and grow into a more defined business. There are factories still producing and putting out products for main street, there are banks that are still operating, also many white collar companies, still doing accounting, sales and other functioning operations. Within the walls of these businesses are people who eat breakfast and lunch everyday. Suppose instead of leaving their buildings each day, especially in the winter time, a creative , thinking person would bring in a variety of sandwiches and side items for them to purchase, without leaving their desks. Find a company, make an appointment with management, get their permission, and leave a menu for choices.

To really make an impression, you might create a sample of your sandwiches, slice them in small portions, and give them out free to your potential customers. You decide what types of sandwiches you will offer, make sure you have an objective friend taste test before you offer them to the public. Slices of cake would be a winner as an addition to your menu, small bags of potato chips purchased in bulk and resold works as well. Naturally everything should be wrapped in cellophane so the customer can see what they are buying. Prices should be competitive and perhaps just a little lower than what is on the street.

Dress should be appropriate. With food wrapped, there should not be a problem with hands and money changing. Food, if it is supposed to be cold, should be cold, purchase the appropriate containers from a food equipment service distributor, always be sure your food is fresh and appealing. No brown lettuce,  soggy tomatoes, or stale bread.

A very good business to start, would be lawnscaping, where you can establish a customer base, only because of price consideration. That is to say, if your price is somewhat lower than the next guy, you may just get the contract. First design a flyer, “Lawn Cutting by Trevor”, “ Let me Beautify Your Lawn” , or whatever catchy phrase you come up with, to get people to read your message. Bright colors should work well, do not make the flyer too busy, attention spans are short, time is of the essence. Power points as they call them, “I can do the job, call me!” No dollar amount should be on the flyers, the cost factor should be left to the time of your discussion with the homeowner. Lawns are different sizes and you should make evaluate and develop a price range well before any discussion with the homeowners. After you distribute the flyers to the particular neighborhood you have chosen, you must follow up with telephone calls, to secure appointments. A well running lawnmower and clippers will be needed, as well as a leaf blower and possibly plastic bags for collection, if needed. The major items can be depreciated over a period of time. Set up your records for dates and times of your weekly and monthly appointments.

Those of you who are great bakers, might want to start a brand new cookie business. You might just have the best tasting new cookie in the neighborhood. Order your newly designed bags for your cookies or fudge or perhaps brownies, how about vanilla cashew brownies. Sounds like a winner to me. “Kitchen Kookies”, or some newly minted name could turn into a lucrative business. To start, after you have everything ready to go, find a large Supermarket, or a smaller store perhaps not related to food, and request permission to set up a table outside their store. If there is a large flea market in your town, get a table, and start selling. Your cookies will sell themselves, samples on the table is a very good idea. As an offshoot, you could start printing a mail order catalogue for mail order business, once you have a variety of things to offer.

There was a news report, that told of a woman who had lost her job, rather than brooding, she called up a few banks, asked them about their foreclosed properties, and whether or not they could use a cleaning person to get the properties ready for sale. That woman reportedly is now making sixty-thousand dollars a year. As someone said, one door closes, another one opens. If you are going to pursue your new venture as a real business and not a hobby from the start, call your nearest Treasury Department or I.R.S., for a form to file for an employer identification number, and a form to file for a fictitious name for your business. With the food products, investigate obtaining a license to sell food.  Set up your record keeping books for expenses and income and grow, baby grow. Good luck and may God bless.