When a man from a local heating and plumbing business came out to my house to do an estimate for putting in a heat pump, we got talking about beans.
What do heat pumps and beans have in common? Nothing. Except that this man, who works in plumbing and heating by day, is a coffee roaster by night. It turns out that he's been roasting beans for over a decade now and just took delivery of a spanking new roaster imported from Turkey (the best place to buy them, he says).
These coffee roasters apparently are fairly sizable, so getting one meant that he had to find or build a building to house it. So he did. But instead of just building something like a large garage just to have a place to set up and use his coffee roaster, he built a carriage house type of outbuilding with a fully self-contained suite upstairs that he'll be able to rent out.
Now that's entrepreneurial. Not only did he see one opportunity, the chance to take advantage of the increasing demand for locally roasted coffee beans, but in solving the problem of physically expanding that business, he created another business opportunity!
Many people want to start a small business but don't know what they could or want to do. My belief is that there are business ideas all around us all the time. It's just that you have to have the right kind of mindset to see and develop them.
Starting a Business: Finding Business Ideas will help you discover the small business idea that's perfect for your new venture. Learn the best ways for coming up with your own original small business idea or browse through collections of ideas and see what tweaks your fancy.
For more on what it means to be entrepreneurial, see:
(I feel obliged to point out that this fellow does not live on a city lot but on a rural property close to the ocean. Before you start any kind of business that involves building something on your property or running any kind of machinery, check with your local municipality. There will be bylaws regulating these kinds of activity.)
Image (c) 2008 Getty Images
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These coffee roasters apparently are fairly sizable, so getting one meant that he had to find or build a building to house it. So he did. But instead of just building something like a large garage just to have a place to set up and use his coffee roaster, he built a carriage house type of outbuilding with a fully self-contained suite upstairs that he'll be able to rent out.
Now that's entrepreneurial. Not only did he see one opportunity, the chance to take advantage of the increasing demand for locally roasted coffee beans, but in solving the problem of physically expanding that business, he created another business opportunity!
Many people want to start a small business but don't know what they could or want to do. My belief is that there are business ideas all around us all the time. It's just that you have to have the right kind of mindset to see and develop them.
Starting a Business: Finding Business Ideas will help you discover the small business idea that's perfect for your new venture. Learn the best ways for coming up with your own original small business idea or browse through collections of ideas and see what tweaks your fancy.
For more on what it means to be entrepreneurial, see:
(I feel obliged to point out that this fellow does not live on a city lot but on a rural property close to the ocean. Before you start any kind of business that involves building something on your property or running any kind of machinery, check with your local municipality. There will be bylaws regulating these kinds of activity.)
Image (c) 2008 Getty Images
Follow Me on Twitter.
Seeing opportunities and having the moxie to give it a try.
I’ve met a lot of people who have great ideas, but don’t have the ability to put the puzzle together, the personality to lead a company or the will power to push through the inevitable obstacles.
Being an entrepreneur is exciting, heart breaking, stressful… the ultimate roller coaster ride… Disney World should come up with a new roller coaster called entrepreneur and take people on such huge highs and lows with any of 4 potential finishes to the ride because there are no guarantees in business other than it will take a lot of smart and hard work.
I really like your idea of being a entrepreneur as being like riding a roller coaster, David. It’s definitely not for people looking for the boring and uneventful.