Home: Message List - Who are you? And why are you here?

Re: Who are you? And why are you here?

akgold — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:16:25 GMT

Iwrite wrote:

I guess what I am asking is:

1. How important is it that your business is something you enjoy?

Incredibly. You have to do something that you really love in order to succeed. When times are tough, if you love it, you'll get through.

2. Could you open and run a business that you didn't enjoy?

No. Life is too short to follow someone else's dreams or path. Each of us in life is given each day a new possibility to grow. If the tree is planted in soil that is not healthy, how can the tree can strong?

Once again, I want to state that I am not attacking anyone's belief, but I am trying to better understand someting I had not considered.

Great question.

Re: Who are you? And why are you here?

Iwrite — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:49:10 GMT

Monica,

Welcome and thanks for your response!

If "ultimately it would not work," then is it really successful? I ask because I wonder if some of us are dooming ourselves by opening businesses that we are not going to be happy running? Why leave a job you don't like that pays, has benefits and everything else, to work for yourself and not be happy without all the benefits?

Lighthouse, I marked your response as "answered" because I meant to mark the longer response but hit the wrong button. There is a lot of good insight showing up here, I'm not sure if this will ever be fully answered but I like questions like that.

Re: Who are you? And why are you here?

designer — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:25:57 GMT

Who am I?
I am Kenneth Fron...Jewelry Designer.

Why am I here?
To network, to learn a little bit, to promote my site: www.kennethfron.com

I know someday I will be famous and a household name...in a few years, you will all say - - -yeah, I remember that guy...he use to particpate in the SBOC...now, he doesn't even have time to sneeze!

Re: Who are you? And why are you here?

mbenitez19 — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:02:51 GMT

*especially

darn typos.

Re: Who are you? And why are you here?

LUCKIEST — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:20:24 GMT

Who are you, Welcome Monica to this web site,

Tell us more. Go to members page and add a few words about yourself.

How soon do you plan on opening your business??
Do you have a Business name?? Where are you located?? (like city and state)
Have you developed a Business and Marketing Plan?? VERY IMPORTANT.
Do you know about SCORE?? SCORE is FREE

Good luck, LUCKIEST

Re: Who are you? And why are you here?

mbenitez19 — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:54:09 GMT

Hello!
My name is Monica and I joined because I am very interested in opening my own small business so I am just reading and learning as much as I can.

1. How important is it that your business is something you enjoy?

It is super important to me to have a business that I enjoy.

2. Could you open and run a business that you didn't enjoy?

I could definitely open it and run it successfully but I would not be happy and ultimately it would not work.

Re: Who are you? And why are you here?

Lighthouse24 — Wed, 28 May 2008 15:48:07 GMT

You're right . . . the primary purpose of USMC basic training (boot camp) is to teach discipline, and they have 12 weeks (24 hours a day, every day) to accomplish that -- and 230+ years of experience and tradition to draw on in the process. It isn't reasonable to expect that a manager in private industry is somehow going to create a peak performing workforce faster.

Re: Who are you? And why are you here?

Iwrite — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:36:08 GMT

That doesn't count! LOL

The military has more control over your life and can lock you up for not doing your job.

The funniest thing in the world was watching an ex-military drill instructor trying to get teenagers to perform their jobs at a fast food restaraunt - talk about an unstoppable force vs. an immovable object. I thought all their heads were going to explode!

The private sector can't even get workers to wear their uniforms correctly.

Re: Who are you? And why are you here?

Lighthouse24 — Tue, 27 May 2008 23:16:27 GMT

Well, I can tell you from personal (military) experience that it is absolutely possible to be 100 percent miserable and 100 percent committed at the same time. There's a limit to how long you can keep that up, however.

Re: Who are you? And why are you here?

Iwrite — Tue, 27 May 2008 22:29:19 GMT

I don't why I asked this other than I never really thought about it beyond my reasoning for opening a business. I love what I do and want to be able to do it the way I believe it should be done. I guess I am in group one. But I wonder what happens to the person who is just interested in making money but doesn't really care for the business they are in?

Luckiest, I wish I could find a client that had the budget to let me help build their business! LOL

Lighthouse, I agree there are tasks associated with running my agency that I am not going to be thrilled to do but I will do them because they allow me to do what I do enjoy.

I was just wondering how committed can a person be to something they really don't enjoy?
Can they really grow a successful business?
Are they locking themselves into a marriage that down the road they may grow to hate or despise because it was a marriage of convenience?

One of my freelance clients is like this, he doesn't believe in the product he is selling, it is a way to make money. He is struggling with issues that if he was passionate about his business would be no big deal. His employees know he doesn't like it and they aren't motivated to do their best. Morale is low and turnover is high. His clients sense something and refuse to engage in a long term business relationship with him which only makes things even more stressful and difficult. I couldn't put my finger on what was what is going on until I started asking him why he started his business. His answer was "I realized I could make lots of money. I really don't like this but the pay is great." His business is struggling and it might be because of he isn't happy doing this.

I was just curious.