I am working on a business plan for a retail store concept. I am also a freelance marketer and social entrepreneur, which essentially means I must wait for clients to pay me. This leads me to perusing the Internet to look for jobs, which is something I really do not want to do but may have to, to earn money to live. I would rather be creating and getting the knowledge I need to complete my business plan.
–S. Williams
Via E-mail
Are you determined to see your business dream become an entrepreneurial reality? Do you understand getting there may be via an unconventional and perhaps long path?
You can do both, but it requires finding balance. It’s going to be a juggle of your time and your budget. Tap into your resources and be strategic about the jobs you take on. Payment from these jobs will provide revenue that can go toward, say, hiring a certified public accountant to prepare and review your business plan financials; or the fee to attend an industry trade show in your area.
In the book Make the Impossible Possible: One Man’s Crusade to Inspire Others to Dream Bigger and Achieve the Extraordinary by Bill Strickland and Vince Rause (Crown Publishing Group; $14) the authors write that passion is the fuel sustaining one’s vision in the midst of challenge. In the story “Building Paradise†(see Motivation, March 2010), we detail the inspiring story of Ethiopian serial entrepreneur Tadiwos Belete who worked in the United States as a hair salon owner for several years to save the startup capital for a resort and spa he dreamed of opening in his native country. Today, the owner of Boston Day Spa in Addis Ababa, Belete noted three timeless strategies to maintain resolve during this infancy period of your entrepreneurial pursuits: Be flexible, be prepared, and be principled.