la Matriarch

image from veganradio.com

I had lunch with my new business mentor, Michele, the other day.  I feel such a connection with her that it’s spooky.  Not an I-wanna-be-your-best-friend connection but our styles seem very similar so there is a comfort level in talking to her that makes things easier.  I was shocked and thrilled to learn that she has a MFA in Fiction Writing.  Like me, she wants to be a writer when she grows up.

We discussed starting a business and I left with homework including doing research to start to determine a price point (I don’t even know if my idea is profitable) and writing down my ideas rather than having them wondering aimlessly around in my head.  Michele suggested that, rather than start with a standard business plan template, that I start working on 3 documents

1. What will my business do for me.
2. What will my business do for my customers (hospitals)
3. What will my business do for the recipients of the service that my business will provide (patients)

The tuffest part of our discussion was about the level of personal risk that is involved with starting a business.  “After 9/11 I didn’t get paid for 3 months.  We didn’t buy Christmas gifts for each other and we ate a lot of macaroni & cheese - all the money went to pay the staff” Michele explained.  Yikes!  Am I really prepared for that?  I’m pretty much use to buying what I want when I want it. 

Here are my top concerns when it comes to the risk of starting a business

1. I’m afraid to not have health insurance.
2. I’m afraid to quit my job and lose the guaranteed paycheck. 
3. We need my income.  In fact, I’m not even sure we could go one pay period without my income.
4. If the business is not sustainable, I’m afraid I’d have a hard time getting back into a position making the money I make now.

The list goes on.  The bottom line is that there is a ton of personal risk in starting a new business.  And I’m realizing that I don’t have the balls I had 10 years ago.  Plus, my guy is much more level headed and practical than I am which means I’d not likely convince him that it’s worth the risk. 

Michele had some good ideas about reducing personal risk, one of them I’d already thought of myself.  Since the business I’d like to start is highly connected to my current career, I could try to convince my boss to allow me to move into a role just like my business would provide on a part-time basis and allow me the freedom to offer my service to other organizations like ours in the area.  This would allow me to keep my employee benefits (though they’d be more costly on a part-time basis) and it would give me credibility since I’d be performing the same service I’d be offering other clients and doing so for a very reputable organization.  The bad part of this idea is that it gives my boss way more control than I’d like her to have.  I’m not sure if this would translate into problems but the potential is certainly there.  Either way, I’m in the process of scheduling time with my boss to discuss the idea.

Anybody have an great advice on reducing the personal risk of starting a business?

image from hubpages.com

The more I agonize over the possibility of trying to have a baby, the more I think about ways to work from home like starting my own business.  My father made a living from his small business and is now retired so this kind of thing is in my blood.

I’ve got what I think is a pretty good business idea that would allow me to utilize my expertise and contacts from my current profession and I know that I have the drive, determination and “business sense” to be successful at it.  The things that concern me are mostly related to the “how-to’s” of certain parts of business planning and execution how to set a price point.  My business idea is for a service that would be provided to health-care facilities and since there is no business like it (yet) I have no idea how to determine a fair price so that I can figure out if I’d even be able to make a living at this.  The other scary thing is health insurance.  My parents raised us 3 kids with no health insurance what-so-ever.  They were lucky that none of us had much more than a couple of broken bones (I broke my right arm twice as a child).  In fact, I didn’t have proper health insurance until I was grown and working my first “real job”.  That scares the shit out of me, especially with my medical history.

I’m not the type to let all these fears stop me, though.  For me, it’s important to find a business mentor.  Having somebody to bounce ideas off of and somebody who can give me some guidance about business start-up fits my personality well.  So, I’m having lunch with a female entrepreneur that owns a business that provides a service to health-care facilities like mine.  In fact, my organization has a business relationship with her company so I’ve had the pleasure of working with her a lot since April 2008.  I love her personality and the way she handles her business and her customers.  When I first met her I didn’t like her all that much because she didn’t caudal my department like most people do.  She had this I-don’t-give-a-fuck-who-you-are-this-is-my-turf-and-I’m-the-expert-here sort of attitude and I wasn’t use to feeling like people know more than me (I’m arrogant!).  Michele freely shared her story of the history of her business including that she had bought it from her mother who she now mails all her money to.  I instantly felt that itch and even told Michele “you make me want to start my own business”, to which she replied “it’s not all roses, my mother had 3 failed businesses before this one.”  Talk about never giving up!  She had no hesitation in accepting my lunch invitation where I’ll share my idea with her and ask these burning questions that I haven’t been able to find good answers for on the Internet.

1. Is my business idea viable one?
2. How could I go about setting a price point for this type of service?
3. How do you get health insurance with a small business?
4. What should my first step be?
5. Will you be my business mentor (is this the kind of thing you out right ask or does it just happen, like falling in love?)

If you’ve got the answer to any of these questions, please share!

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