Progress with Business

I've been thinking more and more about that business idea from my last post. I've been talking to a lot of people about it too. So far my husband supports it (although he's nervous at the idea, like he is about anything so risky and exciting), my Mom thinks I should give it a go, my siblings and friends are supportive and offering help and advice to help me get started, and the manager at my credit union is giving me all sorts of resources to go to for help.

I'm writing down the ideas that come to me in the middle of the night (using a little notepad on my nightstand in the dark so that when I look at it the next day I have to decipher what exactly I was thinking about). I'm making a thorough business plan. I'm looking at food handling classes/permits. I'm toying with store names and items to sell in the attached bakery I'm planning on doing along with the shop. I looked at a location on Tuesday evening with the leasing agent and really liked it. I'm thinking about quitting my job in May and working at a bakery over the summer for experience (thanks for the idea, Lauren!). I'm seeing crafty items I can make and thinking of ways to keep the store stocked. I'm thinking about marketing and advertising and getting my name out and people in.

I would love to get this thing going in the fall. Or even next spring. I'd hate to wait any longer because I'm scared my energy and excitement might fade or I'll just find something else to be too involved in and not give myself time to really do this. We'll be here for several years still with Bob's schooling, so why not do something like this now? As my mom put it, there's nothing keeping me from doing it. And even if I were to fail miserably, I'd definitely learn a lot of valuable lessons from it and I'd know what not to do.

I know it'll be stressful and the hours will be early and long. I'll have employees to hire and legal stuff to deal with. I'll have taxes to figure out and finances to learn about. There will be stocking and inventory lists. There will be permits to acquire and regulations to follow. There will be some big expensive purchases and some remodeling to take place.

But among all of that, there will be tons of opportunities to be creative. I'll be my own boss and work out my own hours and pay (which could turn out good or bad). There will be people to serve and customers to gain, not to mention experiences and chances to learn and grow.

Overall, I think those benefits will be better and more fun for me than if I just stayed stuck here with what I'm doing now. I feel stagnant right now, which is only really at work but it seems to affect me elsewhere. It carries over to how I feel about my school work, and how I feel about myself in general. I feel like me as a person cannot progress any further or improve my potential by staying where I'm currently employed.

The reason I feel that way is probably just a result of being employed as an RSM for so long. I've been employed my DAP since October 2004 (with a break for a mission for 18 months). Everyone I started working here with is long gone. So why am I still here? I'll be 24 in April. I probably won't graduate until I'm 27ish, but I don't want to wait until then to let my life go somewhere or do something productive and exciting. Maybe it's just a mental block I'm putting on myself. Whatever it is, I need something different than what I'm doing now.

Way different.

I think owning a small business will be plenty different.