Is it Time for You to Start and Make a Brand New End?

Today I was reading a stream of comments on Facebook concerning a friend’s announcement that she is changing jobs. A couple of quotes cited in her original post and the comments had great timing. After all, we are at the beginning of a new year and this woman has cast off the old and begun anew. There is a lot here for entrepreneurs and “would be” entrepreneurs and what better time to look at this than a new year.


The first quote is from Harvey Mackay and it goes like this; ...."Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new end". I do not know the source of the other quote but its message is similar to the first one; “….every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.....”

There are a number of people out there that would advise any and everyone to become an entrepreneur. I believe it takes a special personality and set of talents to be successful as an entrepreneur but for those considering it, there is no better time than a beginning of a new year to investigate if you have what it takes and if your idea stands up to some scrutiny. Talk to people who have already made the leap, there are some great articles and books out there about what it takes to be an entrepreneur – read them. If you think you have what it takes, talk to some people about your idea. Does it make sense are there any critical flaws in your plan. Then get out there and see how big the market is for your product or service. Can the business grow? How big? What is the competition? What is your advantage? Are you solving a big problem or is your business a “me too” business?

All of the things I have mentioned can be done before quitting your day job. There is nothing wrong going through this assessment and deciding that either your not right for the entrepreneurial life or that your idea won’t fly. You may find that in two, five or ten years from now with a new or revised idea you’re ready to make the move. At least run your idea to ground.

By the way this advice is not only for the twenty and thirty somethings. More people than ever are making the leap in their 40’s, 50’s and even 60’s. I left a 30 year government and corporate career in finance to begin a consulting practice at 55 years of age.

For those of us that have already taken the leap into entrepreneurship these quotes have applicability, as well. Many of us need to adjust and re-adjust are product offering, marketing or operations several times before we get it right. I started my consulting business 18 months and I am not where I want to be or where I thought I would be when I started. I have needed to change directions a couple times and now that I have, it is probably time to re-focus. Right now I see myself going in too many directions.

Look at where you are with your business. How do you recreate your business to make it more successful and what do you change to make it more personally fulfilling for you? Is it a change in personnel, a new marketing campaign, dropping some products or adding others?

Too often we don’t step back from where we are to take a fresh look at where we want to go and how we can get there. Whether it is a dead end job or a business that is not providing a living wage or fulfilling our personal needs we need to assess our situation periodically. Where are you in this process? I’d like to here what you are doing to assess your situation and where you wish to be a year from now.