Many people dream about starting their own businesses, but they haven’t started planning for theses dreams to become a reality. Others are stuck in the planning stage. They keep waiting for the right situation or hoping for the right person(s) to come along and help them. My son, Tarik, and his friend, Daniel decided not to wait on others or for the perfect situation.
Instead they started from where they are with what they have. Tarik and Daniel met at the University at Miami during freshmen year. They bonded right away. Tarik attended school for acting, but he also loves writing and directing. Daniel went to school for film production and editing. They are now living in LA working hard to get into the entertainment business.
As most of us know, it is a very difficult industry to break into. The competition is very strong. Here is the interesting thing. Daniel and Tarik isn’t waiting to be discovered. They are not sitting around hoping that someone will give them an opportunity to act or to produce movies. They started their own business on a shoestring budget. They enlist the assistance of their friends who are fellow budding actors.
This cuts down on the need to spend large sums of money for actors. This gives the others opportunities to showcase their skills in these mini-videos that Daniel and Tarik create. Working with their small budget, Tarik and Daniel also learned to film in areas such as their apartment, public places, etc. I’m happy to see that these young entrepreneurs are creating their own opportunities. They are not waiting for the right circumstance, they are creating their own.
Do you dream of starting your own business? Learn from my son and his friend. Don’t get stuck on dreaming or planning. Create your own circumstances. Give it a try. Here are some suggestions to get started:
1) Create a Business Plan – Yes. Although it is not a most, it is recommended that you put together a business plan. It doesn’t have to be complicated. The business plan should help you
- figure out what it is you will be offering
- what are your costs
- what will you charge for your product or service
- how you want to market your product or service
- who is your target audience
- who are your competitors
2) Create a name for you business. Purchase the URL for the business name. The fee is low of this. You don’t have to establish a website right away. Yet there are lots of free sights such as WordPress that you can utilize to establish a website.
3) Marketing Materials – You can have someone create marketing materials for you on websites such as fiverr.com or elance.com for relatively low cost.
4) Network with Complementary Businesses – In my speaking business I reach out to event planners or organizers as a part of my networking circles. They are a great lead source for my speaking business. I also provide them with names of speakers for their events. Always work to have it become a win-win relationship. If you are constantly taking and not giving you will lose your contacts.
5) Tell everyone (not necessarily your boss; if you are still working a full-time job) what you are doing. Word of mouth is still one of the greatest way to get the news out about your new endeavor. My friends and family are my biggest advocates. I get referrals from them. They also send me leads and give me great suggestions for making improvements in my business.
Starting a business can be scary and exciting at the same time. Yet as I observe my son and his friend in their pursuit of building their business, I’m proud of their efforts. Although they are both working jobs to fund their business, they continue to work at making their dream a success. My son called me the other day to tell me he is working three jobs. I said: “Great! Now you are a true Jamaican! Your grandmother will be proud of you.”
Both he and Daniel wants to succeed and they are doing the things that will bring them closer to achieving this. Here is the latest video they made. I hope you enjoy it.
The Girl:
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