Entrepreneur? | Pad Patter 1.24.16

[scrapsandsass]

Every once in awhile, I think I'd like to run my own business. When I was first in college, I was working toward starting a community center where seniors and childcare would be in the same building and everyone would benefit. I still get ideas for businesses I'd like to start, but since my husband is a credit underwriter (aka always-raining-on-my-inspiration-parade), that isn't in the cards for me.

What about you? Have you ever wanted to start your own business? Or have you started your own business? If you could start any business now (in imagination land), what would it be?

 

[chloe_digiscrap]

I'm seriously considering starting a photo biz. I have a full time job but I'd like to have the value of my work recognised when I take pix for friends and collegues during the weekend. There is so much bureaucracy and administrative obstacles that I'm not sure I'll really get started, though!

 

[lorryfach]

Nope. I can't be my own boss. I don't function that way.

 

[Tronesia]

I want to... have and had ideas...but I have commitment issues..lol. Each time I think I have something I could work with, I change my mind or my interest changes.

 

[michelepixels]

I started considering having a photography business around 2012 and studied photography and business obsessively. The last business class I took, in 2014, really discouraged me and I put the idea of business on the back burner. I haven't entirely disregarded the idea, but really haven't worked toward it for over a year now. In fact, last summer I even took a break from photography. (Kind of. I never totally stopped making pictures. It wasn't planned but turned out to be a good thing because it proved how compelled I am to record life in pictures. Always have, always will. Just not sure it will ever be a business.) For now at least, my photography goal is just to be a fabulous photographer.

I've considered other businesses too. Long, long ago I wanted to be a doula. Pregnancy and childbirth is one of my most favorite things in life. Funny story. I thought I invented the idea of birth photographer in 2010, until I met one who was already operating.

I've also got a great dream of a homeschool resource center -- I've written out plans for it and thought a lot about it -- a place where homeschoolers can meet and share tools and materials, like a combination library and college, with a workshop, theater, meetings rooms.... That's probably what I'd pick in your imagination land scenario. I'm feeling pretty sure now that I'm not going to be able to get it started myself though.

One thing MOC has made me start thinking about again is scrapping for hire, which I tried to start doing in 2011 and got distracted by working on creative teams instead. I've scrapped every day this month except maybe two, some days more than one page, and even a few pages that aren't for MOC, and I'm not sick of it yet!

Has anyone here scrapped for hire? How did you find your customers?

 

[scrappyjedi]

I do own my own business, and I love it! I also still work full-time, though the business has grown to the point now that I can seriously consider leaving my "day job" (I write computer software) and just run it. It helps that I LOVE my business! I laser cut embellishments for scrapbooking kit clubs and a few manufacturers- wood veneer, cork, acrylic, etc.- and actually end up using a lot of the same skills for it as I do when writing software (designers who've ever had to "debug" a piece of vector artwork will know what I mean!).

My husband and I also have a little pie-in-the sky dream of owning either a free-standing emergency room or a walk-in clinic. He has two years of medical school left and is hoping for an Emergency Medicine residency, and either of those would fit nicely with his career plans.

I love the idea of being my own boss, of not having set hours, of being completely in charge of everything and also completely responsible for everything. It's crazy fun and rewarding and demanding and exhausting all at the same time, but so much better for me than a 9-5.

 

[carrie1977]

Nah....I'm too much of a procrastinator to own my own business.

 

[jesskab]

I've always wanted to own a candy store at Princeton. It's a little seaside place here in California. It's just a dream though. I'm not inclined to actually to do it. There's just too much uncertainty, too much at stake. I'm a good worker bee with good benefits. I'm happy to be where I am.

 

[bcnatty]

There was a time when I was very close to trying to start a business with my in-laws. It was going to be in Goodyear, AZ before the area exploded with all of the professional sports stuff. And it was going to be a place where people could come and play sports. We intended to have basketball and volleyball courts, a beach volleyball court racquetball courts, softball/baseball diamonds and some others that I can't remember right now. There was going to be a sports pub inside the complex and and physiotherapy clinic for me. We did all the research, found the land that would work for us and were just waiting for our FIL to come on board to help financially - and he decided that he didn't want to do a sports complex with us...so it never happened.
Now I am looking more and more towards owning my own physiotherapy clinic. I am just looking forward to setting hours that work better for my family and making money for myself, rather than my boss.

 

[Tree City]

Technically I am an entrepreneur: I'm a freelance proofreader (I'm contracted out with a university but when the prof I work for doesn't have a grant she pays me directly, plus I take one-off jobs from friends or friends-of-friends) and I sell on eBay. Would I actually consider myself an entrepreneur? Nope. My day job is raising my two hellions. But I make money based solely on my capabilities and how I promote them and I get to decide when I take on a job and how much to charge. That feels nice but it sure as heck doesn't compensate for DH's job! The good thing is, I get to spend my eBay money however I want cuz it goes into my PP. I don't make much but it's enough to fund my DS habit. *laughs maniacally*

For the second question: I wish companies would hire me to proofread their websites! My dream job is to proofread for Yahoo! because they really need someone to read their articles before posting live for the world to see. But I'd be happy working for any site, so long as it meant I was making a difference via the written (English) word.

 

[Karen]

Nope. It's not in my personality. I love working 8-5 (or 6:30-3:00) and getting my paycheck and leaving all the worries to someone else. Let's me focus on my job.

 

[klee73010]

I started considering having a photography business around 2012 and studied photography and business obsessively. The last business class I took, in 2014, really discouraged me and I put the idea of business on the back burner. I haven't entirely disregarded the idea, but really haven't worked toward it for over a year now. In fact, last summer I even took a break from photography. (Kind of. I never totally stopped making pictures. It wasn't planned but turned out to be a good thing because it proved how compelled I am to record life in pictures. Always have, always will. Just not sure it will ever be a business.) For now at least, my photography goal is just to be a fabulous photographer.

I've considered other businesses too. Long, long ago I wanted to be a doula. Pregnancy and childbirth is one of my most favorite things in life. Funny story. I thought I invented the idea of birth photographer in 2010, until I met one who was already operating.

I've also got a great dream of a homeschool resource center -- I've written out plans for it and thought a lot about it -- a place where homeschoolers can meet and share tools and materials, like a combination library and college, with a workshop, theater, meetings rooms.... That's probably what I'd pick in your imagination land scenario. I'm feeling pretty sure now that I'm not going to be able to get it started myself though.

One thing MOC has made me start thinking about again is scrapping for hire, which I tried to start doing in 2011 and got distracted by working on creative teams instead. I've scrapped every day this month except maybe two, some days more than one page, and even a few pages that aren't for MOC, and I'm not sick of it yet!

Has anyone here scrapped for hire? How did you find your customers?

Teachers pay teachers is a site I've run into a few times when looking for activities for my kids. I don't homeschool, but I bet a lot of that material is usable for homeschooling.

There was a time when I was very close to trying to start a business with my in-laws. It was going to be in Goodyear, AZ before the area exploded with all of the professional sports stuff. And it was going to be a place where people could come and play sports. We intended to have basketball and volleyball courts, a beach volleyball court racquetball courts, softball/baseball diamonds and some others that I can't remember right now. There was going to be a sports pub inside the complex and and physiotherapy clinic for me. We did all the research, found the land that would work for us and were just waiting for our FIL to come on board to help financially - and he decided that he didn't want to do a sports complex with us...so it never happened.
Now I am looking more and more towards owning my own physiotherapy clinic. I am just looking forward to setting hours that work better for my family and making money for myself, rather than my boss.

Thread hijack: Are you in Arizona?! I love to find out about AZ folks. I live in Apache Junction!

I have done the MLM type things in the past (Avon and Mary Kay) but seem to lack the perseverance to make that work long term. I do okay for a few months...
I would like to design scrappy stuff some day, I think, if I can think about what it is I can offer to the world that isn't being done already.... and again, I lack the perseverance, so not sure how that'd go. But making money scrapbooking would be ideal.

 

[bcnatty]

@klee73010 I don't live in AZ...there was I time when I was really close to moving there from California. But things happened, and I am now back in my hometown in Northern British Columbia.