Passion to Profits. Alice LaPlante

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      You have a dream. And that dream involves more than just following others, punching a time clock, or showing up at a cubicle on a schedule created by someone else. Even if you’re doing that now to earn a living, you know that your long-term goals involve satisfying a much more important need: following your passions, talents, skills, and desires. Your dream is to someday—maybe today—start and run your own business.

      You have a passion. Perhaps you’re a snowboarder and spend all spring, summer, and fall waiting for that glorious moment when you can buckle your board on your boots and really begin living. Or you’re a craftsperson devoted to designing and building custom cabinetry from recycled or sustainable sources. Or maybe you’re an avid fashion designer with an eye for predicting which styles are going to become the Next Big Thing. You want to make your avocation your vocation. But you’re not sure how to begin.

      You have training and talent. You’re a highly skilled pastry chef. Or you’ve just graduated from engineering school with top honors. You’re good at what you do, but that won’t be enough out there in the marketplace. Most professions require you to do more than simply practice your skill or craft well. You need business skills to back up your flair for design, your knack for software programming, or your talent as a musician. But how do you acquire those skills?

      You want more than what conventional employment options will provide. You may have—or be planning to start—a family, and a nine-to-five job isn’t compatible with your parenting ideals. Or you’re a free spirit who would feel hampered by a traditional employer-employee relationship. Or you want to earn the kind of money that just wouldn’t be possible on a salary, perhaps even become truly wealthy. Yet when you search the Internet job boards, all you see are ads for the usual. You want to take control of your own destiny. But how do you proceed?

      You want to move your business forward, but you’re being held back by your lack of business knowledge. Or you may have jumped feet first into a business before realizing you don’t quite have all the know-how you need to make a go of it. Whether you’re one of the scores of freelance technical writers struggling to differentiate and market themselves to potential clients, or a software engineer with a brilliant idea but no clue how to turn that into an actual business, you need to acquire the business skills to support your vision.

      In all these cases, you have a passion—and a talent—for something that would place you beyond the boundaries of most traditional employment situations. And you are either dreaming of being able to turn that passion into a sustainable living, or have already started down that path. Most importantly, you want to take control of your own destiny. This book is designed to help.

       Think Like an Entrepreneur

      What you are dreaming about is called entrepreneurship. The origin of the word is entreprendre, French for “to undertake.” Notice that this word emphasizes an attempt to act, and not the outcome of that action: you undertake something, and the implication is that what matters is that you have started on a journey and accepted that it’s an open-ended one. Someone who needs an extremely high level of security might be challenged by an entrepreneurial lifestyle, yet a lot of people who don’t think of themselves as embracing risk become entrepreneurs. The key is that although a successful entrepreneur takes risks, those risks are measured. Though entrepreneurs frequently go out on limbs, the ones that make it generally test that limb first to make sure it has a good chance of bearing their weight.

      Entrepreneurship can be applied to virtually any field or profession. No matter what products and services are currently on the market in your area of expertise, there are always opportunities to improve them and to better serve the customers who buy them. That said, if you’re a true entrepreneur, you likely possess the following key characteristics:

      ■ You are driven to succeed. You’re so motivated to achieve your goals that you are prepared to overcome obstacles that would likely discourage or stop others.

      ■ You are a self-starter and go-getter. Rather than waiting for someone to issue instructions, you take initiative. And you can be innovative—you constantly think “out of the box” when attempting to meet challenges.

      ■ You routinely see opportunities where others see problems. Rather than feeling defeated when you encounter roadblocks to your goals, you feel energized. Challenges spur rather than deter you.

      ■ You take control of your own destiny and bear responsibility for your own actions. The buck truly stops with you when it comes to dealing with the results—both positive and negative—of decisions you make or actions you take.

      ■ You are willing to give up the security blanket of corporate life. You don’t mind working without the safety net of a regular paycheck or the benefits and social structure that an established employer provides.

      ■ You thrive on change. In the entrepreneurial world, change is a given. But rather than fearing it, you welcome it and enjoy the excitement of the ride.

      ■ You understand the importance of making a profit. You know that all of your best intentions and actions are for naught if you aren’t actually making a profit—that is, bringing in more money by selling a product or service than it costs you to provide it.

       The Economic Importance of Entrepreneurship

       Entrepreneurs make enormous economic contributions to societies around the globe. In the U.S., for example, according to the Small Business Administration (SBA), small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms, employ half of all private-sector employees, and are responsible for more than 45 percent of the total private payroll. Moreover, they generate between 60 percent and 80 percent of new jobs annually. In terms of innovation, they also lead the pack: small firms produce 13 times more patents per employee than large businesses, and their patents are twice as likely to be among the top 1 percent cited by other inventors submitting new patents.

       Most importantly, entrepreneurship is a road to financial freedom. The U.S. Federal Reserve reports that equity in unincorporated businesses made up the second largest share of total household wealth, second only to home equity.

      CASE STUDY

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