What Color Is Your Parachute? (33 page)

You want to keep in mind also that some individual franchises are
terrible
—and that includes well-known names. They charge too much for you to
get on board
, and often they don’t do the advertising or other commitments that they promised they would.

There isn’t a franchising book that doesn’t warn you eighteen times to go talk to people who have
already
bought that same franchise, before you ever decide to go with them. And I mean
several
people, not just one. Most experts also warn you to go talk to
other
franchises in the same
field, not just the kind you’re thinking about signing up with. Maybe there’s something better, that such research will uncover.

If you are drawn to the idea of a franchise, because you are in a hurry, and you don’t want to do this homework first,
’cause it’s just too much trouble,
you will deserve what you get, believe me. That way lies madness.

Seventh, if you’ve invented something, weigh the possibility of doing something with it.
If you haven’t invented anything yet, but are inclined toward invention or tinkering, you might want to improve something that’s already
out there
. Start with something you like, such as bicycles. You might experiment with making—let us say—a folding bicycle. Or, if you like to go to the beach, and your skills run to sewing, you might think about making and selling beach towels with weights sewn in the corners, against windy days.

If you’ve already invented something, and it’s been sitting in your drawer, or the garage, but you’ve never attempted to duplicate or manufacture it before, now might be a good time to try. Think out very carefully just how you are going to get it manufactured, advertised, and marketed, etc.

There are also promoters out there (on and off the Internet) who claim to specialize in promoting inventions
such as yours
, if
you
will pay
them
a fee. However, there was an old study, done by the Federal Trade Commission, a study of 30,000 people who paid such promoters, and the FTC found that
not a single inventor
ever made a profit after giving their invention to such promoters or firms. Maybe things have changed since, but I’d think this out very carefully, if I were you.

You’re much better off if on the Internet you locate other inventors, and ask if they were successful in marketing their own invention. When you find those who were, pick their brains for everything they’re worth. (Of course one of the first things they’re going to tell you is to go get your invention copyrighted, trademarked, or patented.)

The previous seven steps are, of course, in case you don’t know what kind of business you’d like to start. But, it may be that you already know exactly
what
business you want to start, because you’ve been thinking
about it for
years
, and may even have been
doing
it for years—only, in the employ of someone else.

But now, you’re about to set out on your own. You’re thinking about doing this kind of work for yourself, whether it be business services, or consultancy, or repair work, or some kind of craft, or some kind of product, or teaching, or home services, such as childcare or home delivery.

Speaking of home, some jobs are just made for working out of one’s home, as when you are some kind of writer, artist, performer, business expert, lawyer, consultant, or the like. On the other hand, your present home may not be big enough for the kind of thing you’re dreaming of. For example, your dream may be:
I want a horse ranch, where I can raise and sell horses.
Or
I want to run a bed-and-breakfast place.
Stuff like that.

If it involves a possible move, be sure to go talk to other people who have already done that. Pick their brains for everything they’re worth. No need for you to step on the same
land mines
that they did.

As we have seen, the key to successfully starting your own business is:
find out what’s involved, before you hurl yourself into this new world.
Let’s talk about this in more detail.

Your
research
has two steps to it:

1. Finding out what skills it takes to make this kind of enterprise work.
   This involves figuring out what is “A – B = C.”
   

2. Then,
   going on the Internet, or reading some books.
   

   

Over the past forty years I have found it
mind-boggling
how many people start their own business, at home or elsewhere, without
ever
first going to talk to anybody who started that same kind of business before them.

One job-hunter told me she started a home-based soap business, without ever talking to anyone who had started a similar endeavor before her. Not surprisingly, her business went belly-up within a year and a half. She concluded: no one should go into such a business
.
Ah, but Paula Gibbons for many years ran “Paula’s Soaps” of Seattle, Washington.
¹
Someone is already doing the work you are dreaming of. The key to your success, is that you go talk to them.

Here’s how to research a potential business you’re thinking about:

1. First write out
   in as much detail as you can
   just exactly what kind of business you are thinking about starting. Do you want to be a freelance writer, or a craftsperson, or a consultant, independent screenwriter, copywriter, digital artist, songwriter, photographer, illustrator, interior designer, video person, film person, counselor, therapist, plumber, electrician, agent, filmmaker, soap maker, bicycle repairer, public speaker, or
   what?
   

2. Then identify towns or cities that are at least fifty to seventy-five miles away, and by using the Internet or the Yellow Pages or the chamber of commerce, try to identify three businesses in those towns, that are identical or similar to the business you are thinking of starting. Then, journey to that town or city, and talk to the founder or owner of each such business.
   

3. When you talk to them, you explain that you’re exploring the possibility of starting your own business, similar to theirs, but seventy-five miles away. You ask them if they would mind sharing what pitfalls or obstacles they ran into when they started their business. You ask them what skills or knowledge they think are necessary to running that kind of business successfully. Will they give you such information? Yes, most of the time. People love to help others get started in their same business,
   if
   they love it, although—let’s face it—occasionally you may run into owners who are of an ungenerous nature. In such a case, thank them politely for their time, and go on to the next name on your list. When you’ve found three people willing to help you by relating their own history, you interview each of them in turn, and make a list of the necessary skills and
   knowledge they all agree were necessary. Give this list a name. Let’s call it “
   A
   .”
   

4. Back home you sit down and inventory your own skills and knowledge, with the information you will draw from the exercises in
   chapter 11
   , in the Flower Exercise. Give this list a name, also. Let’s call it “
   B
   .”
   

5. Having done this, subtract “
   B
   ” from “
   A
   .” This gives you another new list, which you should name. Let’s call it “
   C
   .” “
   C
   ” is by definition a list of the skills or knowledge that you
   don’t
   have, but must find—either by taking courses yourself, or by hiring someone with those skills, or by getting a friend or family member (who has those skills) to volunteer.
   

Why fifty to seventy-five miles away?
Well, actually, that’s a minimum. You want to interview businesses that,
if they were in the same geographical area as you,
would be your rivals. And if they were in the same geographical area as you, they wouldn’t likely tell you how to get started. After all, they’re not going to train you just so you can then take business away from them.

But,
when a guy, a gal, or a business is fifty to seventy-five miles away—you’re not as likely to be perceived as a rival, unless you plan a rival website, and so they’re much more likely to tell you what you want to know about their own experience, and how
they
got started, and where the land mines are hidden.

If your investigation revealed that it takes good accounting practices in order to turn a profit, and you don’t know a thing about accounting, go out and hire a part-time accountant
immediately
—or, if you absolutely have no money, talk an accountant friend of yours into giving you some volunteer time, for a while.

It is up to you to do this research thoroughly, weigh the risks, count the cost, get counsel from those intimately involved with you, and then if you decide you want to do it (whatever it is), go ahead and try—no matter what your well-meaning but pessimistic friends or family may say.

You only have one life here on this earth, and that life is
yours
(under God) to say how it will be spent, or not spent. Parents, well-meaning friends, etc., get no vote. Just you, and God.