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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Part-Time Entrepreneur

I'm discovering that my posts on running my business seem to get more hits than the ones on crochet itself!  Hey, that's ok, if I can provide helpful information, whatever it is, I'm glad to do it.  So, I think the next couple of posts will be about trying to run a small business.  A few disclaimers though:  I am fortunate enough to have a day job, so this business of mine is done on the side.  I also have not done a business plan or had to seek outside financing.  In fact, it's not like I'm raking in a ton of $$ or anything, but for me, it's not about that (well, not totally :-)

So, if you are thinking about starting your own business, I think you should consider a few things:

1)  Do you really have the interest and commitment to do this? 

You've got to have an idea for your business that you really are going to enjoy doing, day after day, week after week, etc.  And, you've got to be committed to putting more time into it than you probably think you're going to need to.  I'm sure you've seen plenty of internet advertisements for "Work a Couple of Hours, Earn Millions" programs.  I'm not saying that some of those programs aren't of value, but really, as they say, "if it sounds too good to be true...."  I probably spend about 2 hours each day and even more each weekend day working on some aspect of the business.  Ironically, my day job involves sitting in front of a computer all day, and I chose crochet as a way to use a different part of my brain and different skills to get away from the computer.  But, in this day and age, I'd say that I probably spend 50-70 percent of my time in front of the computer for my small business!  But, more on that in another post.

Another danger -- you might really love doing something right now as a hobby, but think about whether you will still enjoy it as much if it becomes a business.  Why do I keep emphasizing the enjoyment aspect of this?  Because I believe it's the only way that you will achieve the commitment level and be willing to put the time into it that is necessary to even give your business a chance to be successful.  I don't want to discourage anyone, and I'm not a risk taker by nature, so I guess I am trying to offer a different perspective on this topic than you might be getting from other sources.

Ok, there's some food for thought.  Next post, we'll explore some ways to get started if you're on the bandwagon.

1 comment:

DeAnn Malone said...

Great post! I don't think you overemphasized the enjoyment aspect.
Think about it, if you work all day at a full-time job and you go home
to work on your part-time business, if there is not an enjoyment
aspect to it, you will burn out very quickly. I can't believe I've
managed to keep working on something that pays so little for six
months now. It honestly feels like it has been a matter of weeks!