A turning point moment comes for almost every artistic person with
a serious hobby and an admiring set of family and friends who say something
like, "These are so good, why don't you charge for them?"
The seed has been planted and that hobby will never feel the same
again. What started out as something to do for pure enjoyment and to provide
personalized loving gifts for special occasions becomes a potential
moneymaker.
Lost is the ability to spend hours on an embroidery, or a specially
designed lampshade, or anything that requires a good deal of time and skill
without asking yourself the question, "Why am I giving this away?" Perhaps
I can turn this into a part-time business, or even a full-time one. Maybe
I can quit that job I don't like so much and do what I love all day long.
Maybe I could even become famous!"
The following email is typical of one I usually receive at least
once a month:
"I want to know if you think that I could have a successful home
based business selling crafts that I have made with seashells? Do you have
any advice on how to get it offthe ground? All I have at this point are the
crafts."
Chances are, this woman started collecting seashells when she was
a small child. Maybe she lived near the ocean, or visited her grandparents
in the summertime.
She brought her artistic talents together with a love for the shore
and started playing around with creating her own personal rembrants from
seashells. Gradually she got pretty good at it, and she even started to make
some pieces for her family and friends.
She attended arts and crafts fairs and saw people selling crafts
she didn't think were nearly as good as what she can create. In fact, she's
never really seen anyone put together an artistic piece with seashells in
quite the same way that she does.
Maybe she's taking care of young children at home and she is wondering
if this could be the ideal way to bring in some income and still be her
children's caregiver.
Perhaps she's decided to work from home for any number of reasons,
and she's shopping around for a good idea. Suddenly it dawns on her, "Why
not try to sell my seashells?"
I don't know her particular circumstances, but here's some general
advice for her and others like her.
* Why is it that years 5-7 are the highest risk years for divorce?
Because about then, most of the passion and romance has worn away by all
of the stress of daily living and getting along with another human being
so different than yourself.
Marriage starts feeling like a trap sometimes instead of a joy.
And it surely is a lot of work.
You thought that your marriage would be different than others, that
you'd escape the normal passage that most married couples move through. Your
love for each other is strong enough to withstand the kinds of difficulties
you hear most married couples go through.
Or, so you think... until you reach year 4, 5, 6, or whatever, and
for the first time, you scare the heck out of yourself by thinking, "Maybe
we shouldn't have gotten married at all. I don't even like my spouse anymore.
This isn't fun. I want to get out."
If you are lucky, the mood passes, or you don't act on it even if
you stay in that funk for awhile, and your marriage pulls through to survive,
maybe even thrive.
What does all of this have to do with seashells? You asked me if
you could create a successful home-based business with seashells. I don't
know, because I don't know anything about the quality of your product, where
you live and whether there would be a paying market for such a
thing.
I don't know if you have the business skills to sell your product
and yourself, or if you have the self discipline that a home-based business
requires.
I don't know if you have money to invest in supplies and marketing
communications, as well as entrance fees for art shows and other means to
sell your work.
I don't know if you've got young children at home and if you'd need
to find care for them in order to focus on your craft.
I don't know if you have a supportive husband who encourages your
craft, or one who would resent the hours it would take.
I don't know if you can handle the rejection you'll experience when
you stop giving away your product to admiring friends and family, and start
asking people to pay for it.
I don't know if you have what it takes to be self-employed, for
seashells or any other endeavor. Here's what I do know:
The very first question you want to answer is this: Do I want to
risk taking something that I love to do and turn it into a business
venture?
Am I willing to stop enjoying this art for the pure pleasure of
doing it?
Do I want to make my love for seashells a commodity?
Because, you see, even if your answer to all of the other questions
I asked you above was a resounding yes, I wouldn't consider you a successful
business woman if you gave up something you loved and then were miserable
in your business.
Ask yourself the question in two parts. Do I have what it takes
to start a successful home-based business? And if the answer is yes, do I
want to start selling my seashells?
If the answer to both of those questions is yes, then the place
to start is to determine whether people are willing to pay you for your
hobby.
Books Available By Azriela Jaffe:
* Honey, I Want to Start My Own Business: A Planning Guide for Couples
by Azriela Jaffe.
To
order click here.
* Let's Go Into Business Together: 8 Secrets To Successful Business
Partnering by Azriela Jaffe.
To
order click here.
About the author: Azriela is founder of "Anchored Dreams®,"
a coaching firm supporting individuals, couples, and partners in business,
a professional speaker, editor of three online newsletters for entrepreneurs
and entrepreneurial couples, "Entrepreneurial Couples Success Letter," "Best
Ideas in Business," "Keeping in Touch," and is a syndicated columnist, "Advice
from A-Z." To contact, call (717) 872-1890, or write P.O. Box 209, Bausman,
PA 17504.. Website for Anchored Dreams® is
http//www.isquare.com/crlink.htm
Visit there for a complete description of each newsletter and an index of
available columns.
Azriela Jaffe is the author of "Honey, I Want To Start My Own Business,
A Planning Guide For Couples" and "Let's Go Into Business Together, Eight
Secrets for Successful Business Partnering".
Send your questions to
az@azriela.com.
e-mail az@azriela.com for free
online newsletter for Entrepreneurial Couples Index for available syndicated
column topics available ( Advice from A-Z).
Azriela Jaffe, copyright 1998 |
