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Fifty years ago, it was common practice to take an internship at a business with the expectation of spending your entire working career there. By the time I had reached employment age, however, this practice had passed into the twilight of American history. The old tradition of lifelong employer-employee loyalty had fallen away, and a more profit driven form of business took shape.
After working with my father, a "master tradesman," until he retired, I decided to make my own footprint in the world of entrepreneurship. It is a scary feeling to step out from under the umbrella of familiar security and strike out on your own. For that reason, every new business owner experiences the same emotion once they realize what they have done ... fear!
In spite of the uncertain future that lay ahead, I resolved to make it work. I knew it would take dedication, determination, and a common sense attitude to be successful. Failure was not an option and even though the economy in northern Michigan was faltering, I knew that a better business, a business that would offer higher quality at a comparable value, was sure to be patronized.
I knew that to get business, people had to know I existed, and that meant marketing. Having a frugal advertising budget, the creation and distribution of promotional materials was left to me. With a little trial and error, I put together a flyer that was good enough to present to the public, and off to the printer I went.
Two days later, my flyers were ready and I raced to the office supply store and picked them up before the ink was dry. For six hours, I went from parking lot to parking lot, depositing 5,000 pieces of my handiwork under the windshield wipers of potential consumers then went home and waited for the phone to ring. I waited all that day, the next day, and the next.
Two weeks went by and not a single call came in. Impatiently pacing the floor, I began to wonder how I could be so stupid as to try to start a business. The economy was bad, money was short, and people were not spending.
Then a sudden noise made me jump. It was the phone! The man one the other end of the line wanted me to come over. It seemed my dad had done business with him in the past, and he had a job he wanted me to look at. In the end, I got the job. By the time it was completed other projects were waiting. Within a year, I had an office, four employees, and an entire list of repeating clients.
Those that are inclined to be independent can obtain the same results today, in spite of our weak economy. The need for a good product still exists, and there is a segment of the population that is willing and able to pay.
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