Tag Archives: entrepreneur

Business Opportunities Through Family and Friends

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When I was younger, I use to work at my grandparent’s furniture store occasionally for a small amount of money.  I was just a small boy, so I didn’t work for long periods of time.  Most of the task I got paid for was dusting off merchandise on shelves and other trivial activities.

Later when I was sixteen, a close family member got me into a union controlled grocery store.  The store was managed by a cruel older man who had worked in the grocery business since he was 13-year-old.  The seasoned store manager treated everybody like dirt, so the work environment was horrible.  At this store location, there always seemed to be a lot of backstabbing negative and often illegal activities, so this was a very negative experience for the young worker that I was.

After such a bad experience, I didn’t want anything to do with family or friends getting me a job!  Now looking back, I realized that I missed many opportunities from family and friends that presented potentially great employment options to me!  The business opportunities were both direct and indirect ones! 

The direct business opportunities are pretty obvious.  A direct opportunity is when work is offered to you via a job offer.  That said, you may be wondering what I am talking about when I say “indirect business opportunities”.

Indirect business opportunities through family or friends are those opportunities that we are able to create or find ourselves.  While not obvious, if you keep your eyes and mind open, such opportunities exists or can be created!

I thought I would conclude this post with an example that I recently learned about:

A cousin of a co-worker is well on his way to becoming a rich entrepreneur by fully taking advantage of indirect business opportunities through family and friends.  Rich (the cousin) was smart enough start a business that was a sure bet. 

What was this incredible business?  Rich created a dumpster business.  You see many of Rich’s family and friends are successful homebuilders.  Instead of competing directly with them, he decided to create a business that could benefit off of their success.  This was a win-win because they have enough competition already and they use his business for their dumpster needs.

I’d also like to mention that Rich has other business too.  For example, I know that he is also a landlord.

So look around, do you see any side or full business that you could create?

-MR

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Encouraging Kids To Be Entrepreneurs

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Encouraging Kids to Be Entrepreneurs

My son came up with another clever business idea, where he decided to create a comic club that would sell comic strips.  He decided that he would recruit his friends, and they would all draw comics and sell comic strips.  So they created a series of 8 episodes and were able to sell them to few of the surrounding neighborhood kids.

My 6-year-old daughter saw what was happening, so she and one of her friends started another comic club too.  My daughter has been writing books (8 pages long) since she was 4, so she could really crank these out fast!  But instead of trying to sell the comic strips to kids, my daughter went after the market segment called “my wife and I” (and the grandparents) as potential buyers.  Now there is no way I could turn down my daughter so I bought 6 comic for a quarter a piece.  My wife bought some too.  All said and done, sa far she has made $4.00 on selling comic strips that she creates.  not to bad for a 6-year-old!

I felt bad about my son because he wasn’t make as much, and they put a lot of effort into the comic strips.  I was going to ask him if I could buy some, but he beat me to the punch and asked me if I would be interested in buying some.  I happily said “yes”.

The beauty of my son’s sales proposition, is that he realized that he was missing a potential market and adjusted his sales techniques.  I’m happy because he came to that conclusion by his own thought process instead of me twisting him into thinking that way.

What Did My Son Learn

I’m not sure if he realized it or not, but he learned quite a bit about marketing!  If you don’t ask, nobody’s going to come to you for it.  He also learn to adjust this sales tactics to reach a broader market.

What Did I Learn From My Daughter

Some times people are just naturals.  My daughter knew that her mom and dad were excellent candidates for buying the comics, so she jumped on the opportunity with enthusiasm and determination.  She really sounded like a sales person!  I was floored again!

Maybe I over-analyze my kids, but they are awesome to watch! 

Do you have kids (or have similar relatives) where you have seen the lightbulb go on, extra bright? 

-MR