If you are thinking about going into business for yourself, you probably are some sort of expert. An expert at making cookies, an expert at writing software, or an expert on selling widgets.
Whatever it is, you are a technician, skilled in the technical aspects of doing whatever it is you do. So, your cookies are the best tasting, your software is the most creative, or your widget sales technique is the most persuasive.
You get the picture: you’re the best at something – or at least very good. This is competence motivation. You are motivated to go into business because you are skilled in your work area. It feels good to be competent, and you want to show that to the world. You want the satisfaction of hearing people say, “Yes that is the best cookie, software, widget … (fill in the blank)”.
You also think that putting your best professional foot forward is of some benefit to the world.
People will walk around with an extra spring to their step after the pleasure of eating your cookies, using your software will help other companies, or that widget is just what everyone needs to make their lives easier and more productive.
That’s the more or less altruistic aspect of your business idea. Yes, you do what you do well, but doing it well also adds to the overall public good in some way. It may only apply to a small niche of the population, but there is something there of value, and it is only you (arguably) who can provide it.
Now to that “aha” moment.
This is the moment that comes when the idea you’ve had about your business prospect pops out of the back of your mind where it’s been percolating for a while and into the part of your brain involved in conscious planning. It’s usually the result of some stressor that takes you over the edge of what has been your everyday life and projecting “what ifs” onto your future.
It starts when you’ve pretty much had as much as you can take with that nowhere job without a future, or when you’ve had your boss make unreasonable demands for the nth time.
It happens when you look around at what’s available in your field and say to yourself, “you know what, I can do a better job of that,” or when you try to make that paycheck you’ve been stretching stretch just a little bit more and finally realize that this is just not cutting it for you.
The “aha” moment plus the technical expertise plus the desire to do something that makes a positive difference are all factors in your growing entrepreneurship.
But put them all together and really, so what? All of this plus a couple of bucks (we used to say a quarter, but those days are long past) will buy you a cup of coffee.
The expert, the technician, knows how to make or do a thing, but that doesn’t mean he or she knows how to run the business of doing that. The altruist wants to make the world a better place, but that’s a goal, not a process he or she knows anything about. And the frustrated worker bee is just that, a worker bee, until he or she becomes a queen bee. (That probably stretches the possibilities of biology, but I like the analogy).
What all these budding entrepreneurs need are business systems to help them manage turning their aspirations into reality and some education about how these systems work and how to apply them in ways that make sense in their particular situations. These are tools in the business toolbox and those tools and the instruction manuals on how to use them are available to you here in West Hawaii.
There are an array of professionals in the community who can help you realize your business aspirations. These include bookkeepers and accountants, insurance agents, bankers, real estate professionals, the US Small Business Administration and state agencies such as the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, which provides business registration services.
A key resource for business startups is the West Hawaii Small Business Development Center.
We are here to help you navigate the startup universe. We can help you develop a plan for your business, both in your head and on paper.
And we work with you and financial institutions to fund your business, doing cash flow projections and preparing the materials banks will want to see before they will consider financing your business.
We help you fill your business toolbox with all the gadgets you will need.
Start that process with our next class: “How to Start a Business in Hawaii,” from 9-11:30 a.m. Thursday. Visit www.hisbdc.org for more details and registration.
