Showing posts with label Entrepreneurship. Show all posts

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Entrepreneur Journal: How to get organized and stay sane while starting a new venture.

Sane & Satisfied is a lot about empowering yourself with knowledge and skills to make your life work better and move forward toward whatever goals you have. The ultimate empowerment is being able to make a living by starting your own business. I have started 4 businesses in my life and I'm currently working on 3 at once. (It gets a little crazy but that's just how I roll.)

A couple years ago I started an Entrepreneur Journal to chronicle my journey, ideas, concerns and worries, tips, tutorials and anything else that I came across in order to help me be a better Entrepreneur. Even if you don't have any aspirations of starting your own business keeping a journal for projects or just for your Sane & Satisfied Journey will help your productivity and organization (and sanity).

The Entrepreneur Journal

Obviously Entrepreneur means someone who starts a business and takes on the risk involved. I also tend to classify people who are self starters and who start projects as pseudo-entrepreneurs because they share a lot of the same characteristics even though they may not become a business owner.

Entrepreneur Torture & Vulnerability

My friend, Jake and I have shared a few booths at local craft fairs and Farmer's Markets. On a particularly slow day I looked at him and said, "Why do we put ourselves through this torture?"

I mean, we make all our products, we setup our booth (sometimes in the rain or extreme heat), we have to deal with all the customers and many times we don't make back what we put in.

Yet we keep going back.

Even though the last couple weeks in Midwest Illinois have been ungodly humid and in the 90s to 100s I keep setting up my booth at the Farmer's Market.After all the no's and false hope I still offer my homemade Tea Tree Lotion to every women (and sometimes man) who walks by.

So, why do we do it? A smarter person would just stay home or get a 9-5 job. But not Entrepreneurs. Oh no, we like to feel the hope when someone says, "Ooo, that's cute. How much is it? Not bad, my daughter would love that." And then the crushing defeat when they add, "Well, I'm just looking around at what everyone has." Or that woman who can't quite just tell you No. She has to string you along for a few weeks saying, "Will you be here next week? Ok, I'll buy some then." (This is a true story. The woman said this to me for 4 weeks in a row. Thankfully, she stopped.)

"Secrets to success" aren't really secrets.

I get so annoyed when I see an article or book that has the phrase "Secrets to success" in the title. Please, don't get suckered in by one of these books. They aren't secrets! They are either things that people have been saying for years or they are the personal journey of ONE man or woman.

I've read a lot of self help books and I can categorically say that none of them have really shared anything life-alteringly different. Yes, they may have a unique flavor or the book may be organized in a more pleasing manner but the substance stays the same.

The "secrets" that keep popping up tend to be the following:
Be consistent.
Keep your eyes open for opportunity.
Don't be scared to make mistakes.

Tea, Opening Days & How to make a Million

Wow, I've been away for while, haven't I?

Oh, well...let's pick back up, shall we...

So, I'm reading this book called The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly. I usually read sci-fi and fantasy but I was drawn into this book because the main character moves from 19th Century London to America and starts a tea shop. I'm in love with starting new businesses (I've started 4 myself). I was also intrigued by the historical backdrop (Jack the Ripper makes a cameo).