I’ve been called many things in my life. Most recently I have been called a “woman entrepreneur,” “mompreneur,” “social entrepreneur,” and a few other things I won’t repeat. Transitioning from freelancer to entrepreneur (not businesswoman—a distinction I will explain shortly) was an exhilarating, frightening, and freeing experience. Through that transition I became a master of my destiny, a creator of possibility in a world wrought with excess and destruction, and forever an advocate for a new way of life–a way to personal and ideological freedom.
You see, entrepreneurs are a special breed. We look at the unknown and say, “I can make something out of that.” We don’t run haphazardly toward the dark abyss of uncertainty as many assume. We see possibility. We calculate the risk, develop a strategy, and attack uncertainty with unrelenting stubbornness. Enticed by the reward only creation can bring, we mold new technologies, challenge paradigms, and build cultures of thought and living that startle the dreary corporate mentality.
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Since start-up funding and growth financing for small- and medium-sized businesses has been in such short supply these past couple years, I thought posting about this CNNMoney.com / Fortune Small Business article on finding novel local investment would be a welcome change.
The article, originally published earlier in September, is about owners of several types of small businesses which opened, recovered, or expanded during the current economic crunch because local patrons were willing to invest in their favorite local businesses. Several types of money raising programs are discussed, including VIP cards/treatment for shareholders, $600 store and restaurant certificates sold for $500 (20% is a pretty good ROI), as well as “shares”.
Businesses showcased include restaurants, bookstores, pub/bar, and a fair-trade retail gift store. The focus of these financing efforts is on encouraging customers to become patrons or shareholders. And shareholders are a loyal customer base. Local shareholders feel vested in the company and want you to succeed.
Look to your customer base and your community. Including them as participants in your business and fostering a buy-local awareness could bring you that shot-in-the-arm financial boost to success.
Read the entire Love a local business? Buy a share article.
Steve Lange
Palo Alto Software
This is a good story, Ask not… from Jeff Jarvis on BuzzMachine. It makes a very important business point.
“I was talking with a good news exec who’s trying to build a new kind of local news product but it was only hours after I got off the phone that I figured out how I should have told him what he’s really doing.
He talked about the community helping his company build a product. He should turn that around and ask instead how he can help the community build its network.
I’ve written about empathy as a driving force in good business. This is related.
When this thing is built–not a product, not a company, but perhaps a network or a looser ecosystem–it will work only when and if the community owns it. That’s why this news exec must help them build it. If he expects them to help him build his thing, they won’t–they’re building their own thing instead.
There’s something absolutely fundamental about that. Do what your users want, not what you want. Do it from the outside in.
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