{"id":12828,"date":"2012-10-13T10:22:53","date_gmt":"2012-10-13T14:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/herculiz.com\/dev\/?p=4069"},"modified":"2018-10-18T20:13:58","modified_gmt":"2018-10-18T20:13:58","slug":"3-alarm-bells-its-time-to-make-your-hobby-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/brand-implementation\/3-alarm-bells-its-time-to-make-your-hobby-your-business\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Alarm Bells: It\u2019s Time To Make Your Hobby Your Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How do you know when it’s time to stand out of your own way, dive in and become an entrepreneur to start your own business? Here are three surefire signs that your time is NOW:<\/p>\n

1.You can\u2019t stop obsessing about a better way<\/strong><\/p>\n

We often underestimate our own value as consumers.\u00a0Many successful businesses, including Virgin (started by my former boss and mentor Richard Branson), get their start by one person being frustrated about the lack of quality options and doing something about it.<\/p>\n

If you are constantly moaning that there has to be a better way, maybe it\u2019s time to listen to yourself and do something about it.\u00a0For example, I know a couple in Brooklyn, originally from Norway, who decided to raise their children here in the US. However, when they went to find quality alpaca and merino wool baby and children\u2019s clothes (the kind they grew up with in Norway), they realized they couldn\u2019t find any.<\/p>\n

After some informal market research they realized there was indeed a market need, but no readily available supplier. So they contacted some manufacturers of these clothes back in Norway and struck some distribution deals.\u00a0The result? Ellaswool.com<\/a><\/strong> recently opened online and is developing partnerships with stores up and down the east coast.<\/p>\n

Do you find yourself spending more and more time trying to solve your \u201cpet peeve\u201d? Do your friends and family joke that it\u2019s become a bit of an obsession? Maybe it\u2019s time you took the leap (like my Norwegian friends) and followed through to see if your obsession has legs as a business idea.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/strong>2. Friends, family (even strangers) constantly encourage you to take the leap<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maybe you\u2019ve already taken the first step to starting a new business, but have limited its scope to smaller, safer \u201cfriends and family\u201d markets.\u00a0Many times we are afraid to make the leap to becoming a broader scale entrepreneur because we are afraid there is not enough demand for our products and services \u2013 so we keep our passion as more of a hobby. And despite the overwhelmingly positive response to what we have to offer, we still find excuses not to go forward on a larger scale.<\/p>\n

For example, my husband and his friend have been selling organic French crepes out of a makeshift stand at our local farmer\u2019s market for over a year. Every Saturday they are the hit of the market, often they sell out of crepes before the official 1 pm closing time. And if I had a dollar for every time one of their customers asked whether they had a more permanent restaurant near by\u2026\u00a0 Well, I\u2019d have a lot of cash.<\/p>\n

Recently, they finally decided to take the leap and open Grenadine Creperie<\/a><\/strong> in our Westchester town. The response has been phenomenal. They are now asking themselves, “why did we wait so long?”.<\/p>\n

Are you getting similar positive feedback and dismissing it as people \u201cjust being nice\u201d? Maybe it\u2019s time to start paying attention to that praise and looking at it more like market research.<\/p>\n

[sc:optin]<\/p>\n

3.Your day job has become a drain on your reputation, energy and health<\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the real cost of delaying your dream?\u00a0Often it can be your reputation, energy \u2026 and sometimes even your health. Many entrepreneurs come out when the sun goes down. They work 9 to 5 at a job they are no longer passionate about, but really come alive at night or on the weekends when they can spend time tending to their hobby or their sideline \u201cpassion\u201d business.<\/p>\n

This is understandable. After all there are bills to pay, college tuitions to save for, the necessary health care benefits that many day jobs cover.\u00a0But for many entrepreneurs the downside of clocking in every day (for a significant part of your day), working for someone else when you\u2019d rather be starting your own company, can have some tangible, negative consequences.<\/p>\n

No matter how good an actor or actress you think you are, chances are your boss notices this dip in enthusiasm, and may even be secretly recording the office time you are using to make phone calls or search the web as research for your passion project.\u00a0Over time this lack of commitment can lead to a damaged reputation, career stalls or even dismissal\u2026 and chances are it won\u2019t be on your own terms.<\/p>\n

Also, we all know someone who finally made the move to pursue their passion after a life-changing event brought on by stress (like a heart attack or cancer or someone close to them dying). Do you really want to wait until that happens to you? Or do you want to start something on a positive foot, when you still have your health and energy?<\/p>\n

Sound familiar?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do these examples hit a nerve? Is this year finally going to be the year that you invest in yourself and your dreams?\u00a0I know it\u2019s a very personal decision. But having started my own business this past year, I can say that my philosophy is that life really is<\/em> too short and there really is no downside to failure. It\u2019s just a dress rehearsal for ultimate success.<\/p>\n

What do you do first?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>So what if you have taken the important first step and acknowledged you are ready to turn your passion into a business\u2026 What do you do first?\u00a0Well, that\u2019s tricky. But what you do during the period to tee up your new business can make a huge difference between success and failure.<\/p>\n

For example, spending some time upfront developing your bulls eye target and your core brand promise, can help you crystallize your idea and help all the decisions that entrepreneurs need to make, that<\/em> much easier and focused.\u00a0Also, creating an identity and a name for your business can help make it more tangible and help others (potential partners, investors, employees) get more excited and want to help out.\u00a0Whatever the path you take: The time to act is now. You need to invest in yourself, your future and your happiness.<\/p>\n

How do you do that on limited time and budgets?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brand School by BrandTwist is the premier program specifically designed for entrepreneurs and small businesses to help them build their brands.\u00a0Brand School takes best practices of beloved brands such as Virgin, Apple, and Zappos and brings them to life in engaging videos, interactive homework exercises and access to a private community of other entrepreneurs. Learn more about the next semester of Brand School HERE<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The time to act on your dreams is now.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“I received huge value from Brand School. You can’t put a price on that experience.\u00a0I loved the integrated learning experience and \u00a0that we walked out of the series with a working brand strategy.”<\/em> – Rachel W., Brand School Participant<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do you know when it’s time to stand out of your own way, dive in and become an entrepreneur to start your own business? Here are three surefire signs that your time is NOW: 1.You can\u2019t stop obsessing about a better way We often underestimate our own value as consumers.\u00a0Many successful businesses, including Virgin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,92,50,63,107,110,96],"tags":[40,41,60,42,45,74,80,266,267,268,76,269,52,270],"class_list":{"0":"post-12828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-brand-implementation","7":"category-creativity","8":"category-entrepreneurs","9":"category-innovation","10":"category-overcoming-obstacles","11":"category-personal-branding","12":"category-problem-solving","13":"tag-brand","14":"tag-brand-building","15":"tag-brand-school","16":"tag-branding","17":"tag-brandtwist","18":"tag-business","19":"tag-business-building","20":"tag-business-launch","21":"tag-create","22":"tag-dreams","23":"tag-entrepreneur","24":"tag-hobby","25":"tag-julie-cottineau","26":"tag-start-up"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12828"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16427,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12828\/revisions\/16427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}