profitable

Continuing on from where we left off from our previous entry, let’s say that you’ve decided to do the job of your dreams.  You really enjoy baking things at home. You think you would make a great baker.  Maybe you love to fix things around the house.  You’ve sat down and you have worked out that you think you could make a pretty good living doing this.  The next question you need to ask yourself is, how easy is for me to get started in the business?  This is called the ease of entry into the business or initial starting requirements.

You need to know or be able to research what the requirements are for doing business in the particular field that you want to work in.  A good place to start is to strike up conversations with people who are doing what you are doing and don’t live near your geographical location.  If you want to be a plumber, for example, you may want to talk to one that isn’t close to you so the person won’t feel threatened.  In the case of being a plumber, he (or she) probably won’t feel threatened because there is a specific path of entry into being a plumber – you need to apprentice with an experienced plumber, take classes, etc.

This is the type of information you need to figure out before getting into your business.  Do you have to have any specific licensing requirements for the city, county, state or national level in order to demonstrate competency for what you are planning on doing?  You don’t want a doctor who has had one year of junior college making a diagnosis on you and it is to be expected that different careers or businesses have different requirements.

If you don’t have the requirements now, your mission is to determine what do you need to do to get the skills,how long will it take and will it be worth my while to go through the process to learn the skill or trade or get the street credentials that you might need. 

That dovetails nicely into the next factor for consideration:

Is there a maket demand for what you want to do?

You very well may want to be a plumber but if there are already ten plumbers in your area and there aren’t a lot of people, there may not be a lot of work to go around.  On the other hand in a large city like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston or Miami, you may not have to worry about finding work since there are enough people with broken sinks, toilets and water pipes to go around.

Here is where you take stock of your existing skill sets.  If you have always been handy since you were a kid and have read up on how to change pipes, love working with pvc, and already have connections in the industry – you are on your way.  The remaining aspect to this would be to demonstrate reliable work habits – are you on time for your jobs, are you honest, do you go the extra mile for your customers, things like that. 

If on the other hand you hate working with your hands, hate getting dirty and have a fear of dirty water, maybe plumbing isn’t the career choice for you.

More to come!

Kim Greenblatt

Questions?  Comments?  Please post your thoughts and thanks for reading!