Are you doing what you love?

(Editor's Note:  Today's post is a guest post about the struggle to between entrepreneurship and stability.  Between doing what you think you have to do and doing what you love.  About the drive to become an entrepreneur.  Submitted by a Just1Group Member, who has asked to remain nameless.  If you would like to submit a guest post, you can send it through the contact email at www.just1group.com)

The Straw

I've often wondered,  what was the straw that broke the camel's back? 

What was the one idea, the one "thing", the one epiphany... that gave someone the courage to say, "I've got this great idea.  And I know I can make money at it, and I know I can do it right.  I'm going for it."  And just like that, the brave he or she quit the 9-5 grind, gave up the subway, parkway, interstate or gridlock, to buckle down and see their idea come to fruition. 

Hey, sometimes it's a fortune cookie that
gets you moving... Whatever it takes...

At what point - in the midst of uncertainty - was there that nudge, that said "it's now or never."?

Just a few days ago, I attended the funeral of a friend.  In her early 40's, and mom of two boys, she was always (in some form or fashion) a librarian.  As an adult, she was a children's librarian, and to anyone who knew her, that was her calling.  Parents and children alike sang her praises of creativity, fun, education, and a genuine love of what she woke up to do, every single day.



Sadly, I lost touch with her over the past few years.  I reconnected with her just recently.  It was a short conversation, but I was surprised to hear she had recently taken a new career path.  She had left the world of libraries and the children in them, to work for a mortgage company.  Upon her passing, it was shocking to all of us who knew her, to hear she'd left what she dearly loved - what we all believed she was born to do - to take a job that gave her more "stability".

Conquering the Fog of Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship – and the ability to find opportunity and success – isn’t without its significant hurdles. 

Can you see your way through?

Developing and growing a business idea is often like moving through a fog.  Creating and following a path along something you can see, feel and sense but cannot physically control, can easily make you second guess whether or not you can navigate your way through successfully.

Come to think of it, in a lot of ways, it's very similar to moving through a fog....

Moving through a fog can hinder your vision, cause you to lose your sense of direction, or generally give you an uneasy feeling about what may lie ahead.  If you understand it – if you realize you CAN be in control and have the ability to not only navigate through difficulties, but also pave your way above them, you and your business will survive. 

But how do you pave  your way through the fog? Just remember that you're looking for  "PAVED FOG"......

Passion          If you don’t have a burning desire to see your business idea succeed, who else will?

Attitude        If you don’t wake every morning with the mindset that this is going to be the day great things happen for your business, chances are great things aren’t going to happen.

Vision             Do you have a clear vision of where you see your business growing to?  If you don’t have a vision of your successful business in the future, chances are it’s never going to get there.

Excitement  When you talk about your business and your goals to others, can they sense the excitement you feel about your product or service?  If you don’t have excitement about what you have to offer, others won’t either.

Drive              Does your business idea drive you towards your desired end result?  Are you always thinking about ways to make your business better?  Do you see how much better your life can be, once you get your business off of the ground?  Drive.  We all need it.

Fear                Every entrepreneur needs a taste of fear.  Fear of the unknown, fear of failure.  Whatever your fear may be, you need a bit of it to induce the fight or flight reaction within.  If you fight, you’re overcoming your fears….if you choose flight, your business idea isn’t quite the right one for you.

Opportunity Opportunities are everywhere.  From your local mom and pop diner, to your son’s orthodontist, opportunities present themselves to you every day, all day.  Do you recognize and capitalize on them, or do they pass you by?  Think about it.

Goals               Where to you want to be?  Where do you want your business to be?  If you don’t have SOME understanding of your desired end result – which can absolutely change and evolve over time – you’re spinning your wheels.  How can you reach your destination, if you never leave the starting point?

Understanding and accepting that you cannot control every step of the path to your successful future is certainly a part of your pathway to success.  Things are bound to happen.  If you make a mistake, learn from it.  If you lose a sale, go get the next one.  But that doesn't mean that the process is entirely out of your control, even when it seems like it is.

When navigating through the fog of small business ownership, understand that you cannot control the surroundings, but you can control the way YOU deal with them.  Do what you love, and love what you do.  We wish you all of the success you can handle!

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Is the Cost of Health Insurance Holding You Back?

Incurring the high costs of health insurance - especially when you are an entrepreneur or small business owner - can often present challenges and hesitations that reach far beyond they day-to-day operation of your business.

Are you letting the good potential employees
walk out the door?

Perhaps the inability to offer heathcare coverage is preventing you from hiring much needed employees.  Maybe your business is ready to take off, if only you could leave your 9 to 5 job that is currently providing you with health insurance. Whatever the reason, many entrepreneurs and small business owners are stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to growing their business. 

On one hand, you have grown and cultivated a business that is generating interest and income.  On the other hand, health benefits for you and your employees seems out of reach, due to high costs. 

What is the alternative? 

The High Cost of No Insurance

Many entrepreneurs and small business owners believe they cannot afford to purchase health insurance for themselves or their employees. However, taking into consideration the greater costs of not having health insurance, it may be worth rethinking that position

Lost Employee Time



Often, people who do not have health insurance defer doctor visits until they are having major health problems. As a result, illnesses and conditions that can be addressed when they are minor concerns often become extremely expensive to treat. Instead of missing one or two days of work, the employee ends up missing more than a week or longer due to illness.

Employees who do not have health insurance for their families also lose work time if they need to stay home taking care of their children. Again, instead of being able to easily take their child to the doctor to get needed medications and treatment early in an illness, minor health conditions turn into major illnesses, requiring longer and more expensive recovery times.

The rewards for helping your employees is
immesurable

Employee Financial Distress



Whether you are considering insurance options for yourself or for your employees, one of the major factors to think about is the financial impact of not having health insurance. Unfortunately, medical care is expensive, especially for chronic or major health problems. Health care expenses are often one of the major factors behind bankruptcy, and can cause substantial distress for you and your employees.

Small business owners need employees to be focused on work priorities, and solopreneurs can rarely afford to lose valuable time growing their business. However, for those without health insurance options, the cost of routine checkups and doctor visits can become a major worry. Self-employed business owners may be challenged with the cost of medical care if they find themselves facing a major or chronic illness. Health care expenses are not limited to doctor visits. Other costs that can quickly escalate include medications, physical therapy, hospital stays and other needed medical treatment.

Data retention policy? What data retention policy?

How many of you have a data retention policy? 

How do you know when to
throw stuff away?

Raise your hand if you have one.

That's what I thought...

If your first question when reading the headline is, "What's a data retention policy?", you really need to pay attention. No, really.

A data retention policy is an internal written policy that sets forth how long you keep each type of personally identifiable client information. How long you really want to keep the information is going to depend on your type of business.

Things you'll want to think about when crafting your policy are:

- The types of information you collect
- How long it is reasonable for you to need each type of information
- How often you're going to purge your records (monthly, quarterly, yearly)
- How you're planning to destroy the information so that it doesn't fall into other people's hands

The rest of it.

Ok, it's not a gazillion
dollars, but you get the idea...

You've got it. 

You know you do. 

The BIG IDEA! 

You're gonna be a gazillionaire.... No.  Really.

You're ready to go.  You've got your product or service all lined up.  You've given notice to your boss that you're leaving. 

I'm telling you, you've got all your i's dotted and t's crossed.  You're golden.

Right?

Well, maybe. 

Someone puts a bee in your bonnet about insurance.  And you're like, "Eh, no big deal.  I've got COBRA from work.  That'll hold me until I have enough money to buy more insurance."

Hey, that may be true.  You CAN keep your work insurance through COBRA.  At least for a little while (though, in even the short run, it may be cheaper to find other insurance...).

But what about the rest of it?

Ok, if you're now looking at the screen with that blank look on your face that says, "What rest of it?", you might want to pay attention....

You're taking the plunge... Do you have a safety net?

Some challenges that face entrepreneurs are greater than others. 

Getting ready to dive head first off of the high dive into the deep end of the pool is scary.  And what makes it scarier is the fact that you may find (usually about halfway down, in my experience) that there's no water at the bottom.

Ready to dive in?

It's every entrepreneur's nightmare.

Worse than that, we dive without a safety net. 

Here's what I've discovered in my years of entrepreneurship....

It's great being able to be your own boss.  It's great to work in your PJs if you want to (though, for some mysterious reason, not as effective as actually getting dressed before you work).  It's great not to have to ask someone else if you want to take a vacation day or take time off to pick up a sick kid from school.

But there are a lot of things that I miss about being in the corporate world.