The other day I was driving down a street in a commercial district and noticed a moving van. Two "blue collar workers" were busy loading office furniture in a company-owned vehicle. It was obvious that they were employees of this major company and I surmised they were making about $12 per hour. I then thought about the normal lives these men probably lived. They had to punch a time-clock every day. If they were sick, they had to report to a boss and get permission to stay home. They had to depend on the company to pay them a weekly salary. They got paid the same amount of money every week and were lucky to get a raise every year or so. Because of being controlled by a time clock at work, they naturally arranged their lives in the same fashion. They came home at the same time, ate dinner at the same time, looked forward to Friday for 2 days of rest but ended up cramming all their neglected responsibilities from the previous week into those 2 days.

The entire human race consists of two major groups of people: (1) Leaders and (2) Followers. Leaders have a built-in knack to not be happy with the normal flow of existence. Leaders are continually striving for a way out of this rat-race because they have a human characteristic of wanting to lead instead of follow. But a good many of these leaders don't have a lot of money because they have been working for an employer all their lives. They recognize that they will never achieve the level of success they desire working for someone else. But they can't just leave their job and survive on their own. How could they pay the rent? Put their children through college? Buy the groceries? Pay Visa and Mastercard?

With all these fears sitting in the leader will often exist as a follower because he or she doesn't believe they have a choice. But they do! In fact, the answer is right under their noses. Allow me to explain . . . Let's take the guy working for the moving company that I saw when I was driving down the street. He could offer the same service on weekends through word-of-mouth advertising.

By placing a simple classified ad under Services Offered in the local newspaper, he could pick up a couple jobs a month and bring in an extra income. Or how about the lady that just had a baby and wants to stay at home with it. Her maternity leave from her employer, only allows her 6 weeks. If she doesn't go back to work then she will either lose her job, her income or both. If her husband doesn't bring in enough money to support her and the baby she doesn't think she has a choice. The new mother will sacrifice money for her child. But if this lady wants to stay at home with her child, why doesn't she start a home day-care center? That way, she would still make money and be able to be with her new child at the same time. Good for the child. Good for the mother. Good for the family unit. Good for other working mothers who can trust a "mother-run" day care center versus a commercial one.

Plus since the day care center is in this mother's home, she can charge 40% to 50% less than commercial day care centers and probably make more money compared to her old job. Too often, people who want to break out of the mold and start their own business will seek for products and services they know absolutely nothing about. Someone told them they could make a lot of money doing this and doing that. But the truth is that it will take anyone longer to make money with a product or service that they have to learn. In fact, this learning period could take a year or more. The person could easily be discouraged about a small business if it doesn't make any money by then. So, if you are considering starting a small business; entertain the possibility of starting one based on the skills you already possess.

Copyright 2006 M Paglia