Okay, first - no I haven’t abandoned this website. One of the great pleasures of owning your own business is the spontaneous trip. In this case, my family and I went to Florida to visit some friends and family - FYI … August in Florida - if you didn’t know it’s not the best time of year to visit.  I’m still melting…

Have you ever seen a commercial on TV about something that seemed like a great idea? Perhaps you acted on that impulse, and now, you’re the proud owner of a “Flowbee” and six “Swivel Sweepers”. Yes you can admit it, we’ve all done it.

The more interesting twist to me comes when people make more important decisions - like how you make a living.

The obvious thing to watch for is the infomercial. I’ve seen many and attended plenty of seminars that proclaim to have the formula for immense wealth. “Make $100,000 a Day Stuffing Envelopes”, “Trade Stocks Like the Pros Do and Clear $1,000,000 a year”. Somebody who has a desire to make more money says, “I’ve always been interested in that, I’ll go ahead and do it”

Have you ever been interviewed before for a paper or on the news? I have. When you sit down with somebody for an hour explaining something that is fairly elaborate or there are many elements that make up something, the reporter rarely gets it completely right. Why? Because the news is comprised of small segments that get news out in little chunks. So to a reporter’s credit, they have to summarize your product/service/announcement into a story or soundbite that the average person can digest - without the added fluff.

So, herein lies the problem, if you decide to change your life for something that you casually heard or your act on partial information - you could be heading for disaster.

For example, if you wanted to start your own business and maybe you know a friend of a friend who’s making their living selling stuff on eBay. You surf the net, find out a bit of information and start buying products to resell on eBay. What you might find out down the road is that it’s not the free and easy gig you were hoping for. You realize that there is inventory control, damaged products, customers who are unrealistic in dealing with you, a hefty percentage deducted from your profits from eBay, it goes on and on.

What you learn is that you CAN make money from eBay, and that with some products you can do well, in your chosen field, you’ve screwed up - and you hate the business.

So you’ve invested time and money into a project you hate, what do you do now? Rewind to the beginning and take a look at your decision to start a business. Was it for the right reasons or just for money? Did you really take a hard look at your opportunity or just blind yourself with the upside only?

I was once told by a friend that she would love to open a “Bed and Breakfast Inn”, she was absolutely convinced that she would be great at it. She is a very friendly and outgoing person with a “free-wheeling spirit” many people find compelling. However, I know this person very well, and here’s what I saw: She hates getting up early, she is horrible at cleaning her own house, she can be brash and emotional at times and she is severely undercapitalized. I told her not to do it, she didn’t see my point.

Fortunately for her, she had an experience while staying at a bed and breakfast that opened her eyes. Let’s say that she held a party at an inn and the guests were unruly and broke a number of things. The end result was that is was her responsibility - I say that it was a gift and she got off cheap.

Wait a second, you’re telling me to do more research and learn before I start my business? Isn’t that contrary to the last post you did (see Ready, Fire, Aim). Nope. Partly where I’m telling you to focus is on the “Ready” part. Learn what you can before getting involved, when you’re convinced that you’re on the right track then you can move forward, this isn’t about moving forward with your idea - this is about researching your business first, don’t shortcut here, if there was anything I can advise more it’s to concentrate here first.

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