If you dream of clocking out of your nine-to-five job for the last time and becoming your own boss, you’ve probably considered a variety of small business ideas. But, while you have plenty of passion, direction can be hard to find.
1. Handyman
Are you always fixing things around the house? Often on call when friends need small projects completed? Put together a website, figure out what your time and expertise is worth, and start asking those thankful friends for referrals.
2. Woodworker
Similarly, if you have a passion for crafting beautiful furniture or other home goods out of wood -- there’s demand for that. List a few of your pieces on sites like Etsy, eBay, or Craigslist. Once you build a following, consider starting a website, accepting custom orders, or expanding to refinishing work and upholstery.
3. Online dating consultant
Dating consultants usually charge for their time. They help people create successful online dating profiles, source possible matches from outside normal online channels, and offer a level of...
As small business owners, we sometimes have days in which we run short of time, money, patience, or expertise. Resources seem to be stretched thin or gone altogether. I recently watched a fascinating documentary which reminded me that we always have one unique resource on tap. We need only decide to use it.
In the beginning of the Werner Herzog film, Little Dieter Wants to Fly, Dieter Dengler is shown habitually opening, closing, and re-opening doors—his car door, the front door to his house, interior doors. An ex-prisoner of war, he does this as an intentional reminder to be grateful for the fact that he can open a door. His house is full of paintings of open doors and the exterior walls are mostly made of windows. No one is ever again going to lock him up or keep him in the dark.
The film speaks volumes about the man’s life that can’t be conveyed in a short article. What I can relay however, is...
Marketing might help you make a sale, but authenticity is how you earn loyalty… and that doesn’t come from data or slogans. It comes from personal stories, and a whole lot of soul.
Just the other day, a friend complained that the tote bag she’d had her eye on for weeks was completely sold out. When I asked if she could find something similar from another manufacturer, she conceded that she probably could, but, in her words “I really like this particular company. I like their story.”
It reinforced a message that I deliver time and again to my business coaching clients: Whether we are service providers, entrepreneurs, or job seekers, our personal stories matter. They connect us to the people we are selling to, the people who are hiring us, the people who are choosing our products and services instead of the competition’s.
The significance of incorporating personal stories in your marketing and your elevator pitch is huge, but unfortunately many of my clients...
