Hi,


I've been interested in starting, and living off of, my own small business for a while, but, right now, it doesn't seem that feasible. I'm a recent college graduate with a degree in Secondary Education in a state that is laying off teachers. I've been working as a substitute teacher and not even making enough to stop receiving student loans, and although I do feel like I have marketable skills, I don't feel like I know how to market myself or turn those skills into a profitable business.

I did attempt to consult the small business development center at my local university, but I feel like they did not take me seriously. I've also consulted the career center at my college and the employment office, but I guess I didn't know what kinds of questions to ask.

Am I in any shape to attempt to start a business?

Here is my skill set:

Writing
Tutoring
Cooking
Cleaning
Landscaping

What should this young woman do?

First welcome to the forums!

Second you should approach this potential solution (small business) with eyes wide open. Owning and working your own small business is not as glamerous as it may sound. I have friends who are doing this and basically they live for their small business. Small business owners work really hard (and sometimes harder), in my opinion, than people who end up working for a company. Keep in mind that 50% of small business startups fail in the first four or five years. Also keep in mind that most small businesses do not see a profit for the first year or two. (My cousin owns his own small business as a web designer and graphics design consultant. It's tough work. When business is good things are great and he can pay his bills. When business is bad things are really horrible and they struggle.)

Third it takes a certain personality to own your business. Are you self-motivated? Are you self-disciplined? Can you endure under pressure? See this article for Common Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs.

Fourth what kind of business capital (assets) do you have? How much $$ do you have? Who would be the investors (family? friends? a bank?) for the small business startup? Do you live with family or on your own?

Fifth you say that your particular degree is in Secondary Education in a state that is laying off teachers. Have you considered moving to another state? I realize this would mean re-certification but relocation could possibly be just the solution for you.

Sixth here are some other alternatives:

A) Have you considered writting a book? eBooks are rather easy to write and easy to self-publish.

B) Have you considered opening up your own bake shop?

C) Have you considered opening up your own cleaning business?

D) Have you considered opening up your own lawn car service? (This can be great part-time weekend work especially now in the summer while your looking for something else.)

F) Have you considered going back to school and pursing a masters in education to become more marketable?

Hope this get's you at least pointed in the right direction. Chin up everyone had to start somewhere!

There are really two options in finances: Make more money (income) or spend less (cut expenses).

Consider reading this article on how to lower your expenses and save money. Sorry the forum only allows one link per post.

I don't get how you "don't make enough to stop receiving student loans"? If you have student loan debt and are eating cat food, you should file for hardship or low income and you can have your student loan payments reduced based on your income. Do this for 20 years, and your loans disappear.

On to the business side of things. Everyone, as Eagle said, thinks if they own their own business they will be ballin' in an escalade on 24's. Then they go into the office in the morning, shoot the breeze, kick the walls, read the paper, sip on coffee and then head out for the rest of the day to fish at the lake. While a bit extreme, owning a business is always MORE work and LESS pay than we originally imagine. A few examples:

-I have owned a small side business where we net about $30k/year. We no longer market it to that degree as between that and my joe job, it almost ran me into the loony bin. The $30k/year is NOT worth it in my eyes. Of course, I'm not eating cat food and live very comfortably with out the extra money.
-I have a coworker who's spouse owns their dream business. This coworker's spouse has never in the 5 or so years they have owned the business brought home a penny. Not to mention, they don't really get to do the things they consider to be "dreamy" either, they are dealing with all the other crap. So, they are in the hole $10's of thousands.
-I have an uncle who owns a very successful business (revenues in the millions of dollars per year). My uncle feels he can never leave for a vacation. He works long hours (but enjoys it). Successful, yes. free time, certainly not.

There are many states which have OK pay for teachers and some job prospects. Texas comes to mind. Have you thought about relocating? No offense is intended, but usually you either have a knack for the entrepreneurial endeavors or you don't. And if you had said knack, you wouldn't be on the interwebz asking random people for advice on how to start a business and ideas on what you should do.

Another option is to, as my coworker's spouse did, find someone who has a good job and marry them.

Do you mow your own lawn? See what the neighbors are paying to have theirs mowed, and offer to mow theirs for them for a decent rate. You may not make the big bucks, but you won't have to worry about getting a trailer to haul your lawn equipment all over the city. Just mow yours, then push (or ride) the mower to your neighbors, then to the next, etc.

Cleaning...again, check with neighbors first. See if anyone could use just a little extra help. But be sure you are upfront that this is to be paid for...else that new mother may just think you're being an awesome neighbor to offer to clean her house for her!

Cooking...I dunno. Hey, maybe a job caring for an elderly person/couple for part of the day? Cleaning and cooking are definitely things needed for such a job (mowing, not so much...but hey you could check into that).

Tutoring. If you get to meet any of the parents you substitute teach for, you could mention that you do tutoring in certain subjects on the side.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I think the main problem is that I don't really know how to market my skills. I've put free ads online, but I haven't done any advertising in the community. For one thing, I'm not really sure what kind of business I should start, and I don't really know how to get information on what kinds of services are needed here. Secondly, I don't know how to effectively market the services I plan to offer. Also, I'm not really sure how well a new unknown sole proprietorship will be received by the community; people usually want to try out companies with strong reputations, don't they?


By the way, about the lawncare, I live in an apartment, so even though I have lawncare experience, I currently do not have the equipment.

Well,

I guess no one has anything to say.

It sounds to me like you need to either a) learn more about what it does take to market and maintain a full time business, then determine if it's something you really want to pursue or b) start a smaller side business to supplement the income you are earning now and expand it as you're able.

I'd also suggest focusing on what it is that YOU really want to do, then explore the market for it. A full time business requires a lot of time and effort so unless you're very money motivated doing something that isn't interesting/enjoyable will really wear on you (especially with all the other business stuff that'll probably wear on you first). Also look into what sort of regulations govern the service/product you plan to provide and other requirements. For example if you do in home cleaning, will you need to be bonded?

As for someone trusting an established company over a sole proprietorship, the idea is that they trust you as a person, not your business. This is especially true for personal services like tutoring or cleaning.

I think we suggested side jobs. So you don't have the equipment for lawn care... Have you tried www.craigslist.com for the cooking, tutoring, clearning, or other options?

Example: I know a man, let's call him Mr. X, who was recently voted most successful small business owner in our city... He is a multi-millionaire who owns a lawn care service. He does nothing but high end homes in our area. He's been doing his business for over 30 years. He originally started working construction and doing the lawn service thing on the side to keep food on the table for his family. Today Mr. X still works 12+ hours a day until the job get's done right. He pays very well and expects his employees to have the same work eithc.

Starting your own business will be tough. You may not succeed at the first thing you do. But that shouldn't stop you if it really is a dream you're worth fighting for.

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” – Thomas Edison, Inventor

Do you live at home with family? Otherwise if you're just paying rent and subbing might be a good time to consider a change of scenery... Have you considered moving to another state (Texas?) as suggested by another person?


Bottom line I see three options for you:

1. Continue doing what you’re doing and hope things will get better.

2. Read some material about self-motivation, small business startups, talk to some successful small business owners, and choose something to sell whether a service or a product. Then go for it!

3. Move somewhere else to try to find a job in your area of expertise - Teaching. How much money did you (or others) spend on your education?

Time to evaluate and make some choices. Good luck!

Thank you again for the advice. I think I will read up on starting a small business in this area and try to market myself. Yes, my small business needs to be something that I do on the side; There is no way I can imagine it becoming my sole source of income in its initial stages.

I just paid somebody $250 to create a resume/cover letter/recommendation letters for me. Ninety percent of resumes our there just suck. Offer some sort of resume writing service to people, I bet you can make good money.

Would you find it ironic that someone who can't find a fulltime job is helping others seeking employment with their resumes?

I agree; it would be ironic, and there might not be much of market for it, since there are places in the area that help with resume writing for free. I would be happy to help with other forms of writing, though. I really am a very good tutor, or at least I think so; I just need to find a way to convince others in my area of the same.

You can do the online tutor thing. People make ok money at it (usually very little during the summer).

There are a lot of good ideas here, unfortunately, I've found setting up a business is not a simple task. Take the cooking ideas people have provided. You'll most likely need to get a food handler's permit, you'll have to have your kitchen inspected (and most likely upgraded in some areas), you may have to go to all your neighbors and get them to sign off on the idea, you'll need a dba, you'll need a business license, you'll need to file with the state tax division to collect and remit sales tax (if applicable in your area). These are just SOME of the hurdles you need to overcome to become a LEGAL business.

Then, you'll need a bookeeper and an accountant (these are two different services) or you'll need to spend time doing it yourself. If you're a nervous nelly like me, you'll pay these people to do it and because 99% of the people out there are idiots, you'll spend a significant amount of time reviewing their work. Trust me, we are in the middle of an audit from years ago (I just learned this lesson) where our CPA screwed up on our taxes. Our CPA has gone radio silent and I'm stuck dealing with all this crap (and paying the penalties).

Then, again, because I am a nervous nelly, you'll need heaps of insurance. Then a marketing campaign etc.

Or, you can try and fly under the radar and hope you don't get caught. Many get away with this, but the penalties are stiff if you get caught. Good luck.

It sounds like you dont really seem to know what you want to do. Its hard to give advice to someone who doesnt know what they want.

You need to decide if you want to be a teacher, or a small business owner, or a teacher with a small business on the side.

If you want to be a teacher, then I can give plenty of good advice. Look into rural areas, they are almost always in need of teachers. Look to relocate to an area with a better economy. Target the district you want and be persistent until you get the job(sub there, network with the principals and HR, write a killer resume, ace the interview process).
My wife is a teacher in a state with poor educational funding. She got her first job working in a rural area about an hour outside of town and commuted there for 4 years. Recently she just got hired 15 minutes down the street. If this is what you want, there is a way to make it happen.

If you want to own a small business, you have to decide what kind of business you want to run. Be realistic. It has to be profitiable and something you can do. Look at the competition in the area you are targetting. Write up a business plan. If the idea looks feasible, then gather up the capital to make it happen(try the small business administration, local support groups, family, and then maybe even a bank).

If you want to be a teacher with just some side work to make extra money, then see the above about getting a teaching job. You could tutor, work in afterschool programs, before school programs, be an athletic coach, etc...

You need to figure out what you want to do first. I know thats hard. I havent totally figured it out yet.