Turn Your Passion Into A Business
   By Terri M. Blair

For entrepreneurs, the Great American Dream often means turning a hobby or a passion into a thriving business.

Indeed a 2004 survey by credit card company Capital One and Consumer Action found that 40 percent of Americans dream of starting their own business. But the same survey also revealed that almost 55 percent of those dreamers don’t understand how to get a small business started.

The dream of launching your own business isn’t impossible to achieve. In fact, by knowing and taking just a few preliminary steps, you can chart a successful course to entrepreneurship.

The following ideas and actions should help you get started:

Decide what you want to do
Be specific. For instance, maybe you’ve always dreamed of being a writer. Do you want to write suspense novels or do celebrity interviews for major magazines?

Maybe you want to take your hobby of building wooden toys for kids and turn it into a business. Do you want to create one-of-kind toys that can be passed down through the generations of families? Or do you want to manufacture toys that international retail chains might buy in mass?

You’ll notice that by identifying exactly what you want to do, you begin to identify the market for your services or products. And identifying a market is the first step in creating a successful business.

Evaluate your existing skills
You know what you want to do. But do you have the experience and skills to do it?

Maybe you’ve made a living for 20 years by selling printing, but your passion is cooking. So you decide you really want to start a catering business. Which of the skills you developed as a printing salesperson will aid you in your quest to become a five-star caterer? And what skills are you missing?

Start matching your existing knowledge to the knowledge that will be needed to run your dream business. Think about what you know and what you’ll need to learn. The time to get prepared for new challenges is before you open your doors.

Look at the market
Whether you want to launch a writing, catering or toy-building business, you have to know about the competition and the customer base.

Start by looking at what other people are doing. Identify businesses that would compete with yours. How would your new business compare – in prices, services, products and quality? How would your business be different and unique? Which customers could you target? What would be your sales pitch to those customers?

Talk to others
Go to trade shows, conferences workshops and seminars where you can talk to people in your industry. Ask questions and listen to answers. Find out what they’re doing that works for their businesses … and learn about the mistakes they’ve made.

Join trade organizations and business associations. Get involved. Go to meetings. Find other business owners who might be willing to mentor you or at least share their expertise.

Get training
Running a business takes more than know-how about your trade. You also need to at least grasp the basics of profit margins and cash flow as well as tax obligations.

To polish your business smarts, check out the U.S. Small Business Administration. At the Web site, www.sba.gov, you can find hundreds of resources to help you master basic business tasks.

Make a plan
Think of the plan for your business in chunks. Create individual plans for:

• How you will market and promote your business

• How you will finance the startup of your business

• How you will pay for ongoing expenses

• How you will price your products and services

• Where you will locate your business

As you create each of these plans, be as specific as you can. The big picture will start coming into focus, and your new business will start looking like a reality.

Don’t quit your day job
Don’t put yourself in a financial jam when starting your business. No matter how well you plan, things can go wrong – the economy tanks; a new trend emerges in your industry; your cash stops flowing.

Start slow and build. Tiptoe into the business by starting part time. Be careful with your money. Don’t load up on inventory until you’re sure what will sell. Buy only the supplies you absolutely must have to launch your business.

(Posted January 2005)

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