I’m not very particular when it comes to having my hair cut. Maybe I should be, but it’s long and usually comes with it’s share of split ends. When I was in the 6th grade my dad took me to have my hair cut in a salon in Denver. It was long then too, but the stylist secretly felt it should be shorter than what I requested. She was busy chatting with the other stylists there and wasn’t paying close attention to my hairdo. When she was done, it was not only crooked but my hair was about five inches shorter. I went home, cried and asked my parents if I could stay home from school the next day. I think I was hoping it would grow back to its original length by the time I had to see my friends again.
I had my hair cut today and visions of that day long ago filled my head. The stylist, Terry, had asked me what I did for a living and when I told him about Biz in a Boxx, I became his instant entrepreneurial therapist (which meant he was about to talk a lot.)
Terry was in his 50s and originally from Kentucky. He had come up with a great idea to form a sort of co-op salon, but was still mulling over the idea. He ran his idea by me and gave his thoughts on pricing out his services.
I got to thinking why some people seem to have an easier time taking the entrepreneurial leap over others. After all, Terry had a viable idea but something was holding him back from developing it.
Terry is a salon employee and has been at the same place for about eight years. He has some security in his work; a rather steady flow of income. That itself wasn’t holding him back, but more that he didn’t seem to have as much time as he would like to work on turning his idea into something real.
Terry’s problem is that he assumes he has to wear all of the hats. It’s just him alone developing his idea. Instead of finding a partner to go into business with, he keeps his idea to himself and shares his ideas with transient customers like myself.
Doing it all alone can become overwhelming. And we don’t have to hold ourselves accountable to get things done. If we don’t try to develop our ideas, they simply become “shoulda, woulda, coulda” moments in our lives. We all have those moments.
Yet, if Terry found a business partner who was als0 motivated to develop his idea, they could actually have a chance of moving forward towards that entrepreneurial leap.
Personally, I don’t know of many solo entrepreneurs. Chrissi Sharkey, owner of www.aMillionJobsToDo.com may be one of the few. She’s a textiles teacher in the UK who has set out to buy her dream home by doing various jobs for people. She’s an incredibly talented and resourceful entrepreneur who seems to be able to tackle multiple tasks well. She’s likely one of the few to carry it off alone, but inspirational nonetheless.
Success to you!
Melissa
