More Help Deciding

Another way to think about the kinds of business ventures that might work for you is to think about what your family and friends ask them to do for you. Do you clean and organize your friends' houses as though it were play? Do you make 3 birthday cakes a month for friends, coworkers and family? Is someone always at your door looking for mechanical help for their car? These are clues that you are good at those things and that people will pay you to help them.

Write a list of things that people come to you for help with all the time. Once again, cull from your list all the things that you do not like to do, and the ones you do badly. What you have left is the best place to start.

But what if you have two things left on the list, and no particular preference? Simple: make a decision. If you are going to be in business, you are going to have to learn to make decisions and follow through. If you find out later that you have makde a mistake, you can always go back and do the other thing. So, flip a coin, choose alphabetically, or make a list of pros and cons. It doesn't matter how you choose, only that you do. Because choosing is what stands between you and being self-employed.

Frank Woolworth's first business venture, a five-cent store, failed within weeks. Two months later, he tried again, opening a second store, which was successful. Thirty-four years after that, he built
the Woolworth building in New York City, the tallest building in the world at that time. Woolworth knew how to make a decision.
© 2006