Your Window of Opportunity to Start a Business

Finding the window of opportunity to start a business isn’t what you think.  Most of our clients weren’t handed their window of opportunity.  They made it.

Here’s the fantasy:

• You inherit a big wad of start-up capital from a long-lost distant relative
• Your husband/wife gets that promotion so you feel financially secure AND gets more time off to take care of the kids (or their spoiled pet equivalents)
• Your dream business partner/mentor joins your side
• Your business plan is bullet-proof.  No risk – no reward.
• You only told a few buddies about your business idea and somehow clients are already calling for service.

And now for the reality.  Here are a few recent examples  of our REAL CLIENTS (names changed for anonymity):

• Mark recently lost his job and his wife Debbie suspected she was about to.  It wasn’t the first time they’d felt like the recession’s doormat.  They decided instead of looking for jobs, they’d do exactly the same work for themselves: they started their own trucking company.  They pooled their funds to form an LLC and purchase a single truck.
• Jason graduated with a PhD in Marine Biology into a job market that wouldn’t hire him.  He refused to be idle and wrote a high school earth science book.  Then he faced the surprise, annoyance, and shock of the publishing deals offered to him.  He asked similar authors for help and saw a trend.  So he started a micro-publishing company.
• Desiree lost her husband in Iran just as they were nearing retirement.  Originally they planned on travelling with their retirement savings, but she didn’t want to travel alone.  She filled her loss with a committment to serving veterans.  She used her retirement savings to start a nonprofit – a thrift store that accepts donated goods and distributes all profits to helping veterans in her community

These clients took their leap of faith when they were down on their luck.  If you’re looking for a window of opportunity to start your business, stop looking.    And if you’re waiting to start your business, stop waiting.   “It could be worse” — your window of opportunity might very well be Right Now.

Thank you to Funders and Founders for today’s infographic: