When it comes to starting your own small business, there are a lot of options. So what questions should you ask yourself first?
What Is My Passion?
Most successful small business owners will tell you to find something that you’re passionate about—after all, if you’re going to be spending your time and attention on it, you want it to be something you can get excited about. Especially if you’re going to be selling a product or service. If you’re not passionate about it, your potential customers will certainly sense that and they won’t have a reason to get excited about it either!
Amy, an independent Style Dots Boutique Partner (i.e., sales representative), says, “The best part of Style Dots is that it truly sells itself; you just have to wear our beautiful jewelry, and your look will turn heads. We are our own billboards!” This is a woman who is passionate about what she is selling! She loves the product, wears the product, and, in turn, lets the product sell itself!
Diana didn’t even want to start a small business when she discovered her passion: “I met a Style Dots Boutique Partner at a local vendor event. I thought it was cool and unique interchangeable jewelry, so I bought a snap jewelry necklace for my mom and a snap jewelry bracelet for my daughter. Once I had bought jewelry for my mom and my daughter, I wanted some. Then I wanted to join Dot Club [a monthly subscription]. THEN, Style Dots offered their Boutique Partner Birthday Showcase, and I wanted ALL the jewelry! HOWEVER, I had NO intention of doing anything with the business. My life was already TOO busy!”
But she became so passionate about the product that she quickly built a successful small business selling jewelry based on her own passion for it. That is what passion about your small business and your product can do for you.
How Much Income Do I Want to Earn?
When starting a small business, you may just want to supplement your income, or you may have larger goals. It’s important to research the earning potential of any small business to get a realistic idea of what is possible. Most small businesses take time to build, so you can’t expect to support a family in just a few months! That’s why it’s so important to DO YOUR RESEARCH.
However, many small businesses can and will provide exceptional supplemental incomes, as well as opportunities for travel. Deb says, “Direct sales was the answer I was looking for! I jumped at the opportunity….My new career provided everything I could have ever imagined—and then some! No overdue notices arriving in the mailbox, no one telling me what I could earn, or what I had to do to earn it.”
As Deb continued in Direct Sales and eventually became an independent Style Dots Boutique Partner, she had this to say, “My Style Dots career allows me the flexibility and financial freedom to pursue my other passions—especially my love of adventure and nature photography, which I share with my husband and biggest cheerleader, Saul.”
Pam, another independent Style Dots Boutique Partner says, “Style Dots has provided an income that allows my husband and me to help out with our grandchildren’s education. Plus, we bought a brand-new car for the first time ever! We have been able to vacation with the family, as well as the trips I have earned through Style Dots! Travel has been my passion.”
How Much Time Do I Want to Devote to My Small Business?
Often, when it comes to owning your own business, your income is directly related to how much time you can and want to spend on it. Many people want their own business because it gives them much more flexibility and time freedom.
That’s why Deb became an independent Boutique Partner for Style Dots: “I was working in health care at the time and knew I didn’t want to miss out on all the fun of raising [my kids] while working a full-time job outside of the home. I wanted out. I wanted flexibility and freedom. I wanted control.”
Diana noted that “the best part [about being a Style Dots Boutique Partner] is that I decide when I want to work! I can work after the kids are in bed, and I even make money while I’m not even working!”
In this era of ecommerce, having a business with a website where customers can visit and shop anytime of the day or night is a huge advantage. You’re not committed to being at a storefront from 9 to 5 anymore; you can earn money 24 hours/day, 7 days/week.
Instead, you focus on marketing your product and your passion; how and when you do that are completely up to you!
Are There Opportunities for Personal Growth in My Small Business?
Opening your own small business will force opportunities for personal growth on you whether you want them or not! But having others to lean on and learn from is important, as well.
Of Style Dots opportunities, Pam says, “I have to say the training that Style Dots offers is beyond all training I had ever had. I did what I was taught in trainings, even though I was not sure why I was doing them. I just kept at it, and WOW! This was levels above any training I had ever had. As I used these techniques, I started to understand why I was doing what I was doing. It works if you work it!”
Diana notes, “Gina and Karen, the Style Dots cofounders, have created a community of supportive and empowering women that are enacting change in so many lives, and now I’m a part of that too.”
“I quickly realized I’d been missing this feeling of inclusion and belonging in my life,” Wanda adds. “Everywhere I turned, there was love, encouragement, and support from so many amazing women who I am now honored to call my friends.”
Is This Small Business Opportunity Credible? Do the People Associated with It Have Integrity?
If you’re thinking of starting a small business that is associated with another company or with products that are made by another company, do your research (there’s that word again!). It’s imperative that the opportunity you’re considering is credible, and that the people you’re thinking of working with are credible. You do not want to tarnish your good name and reputation by getting mixed up with less-than-savory businesses and people.
When Deb found Style Dots, she says, “The heart-centered leadership of the founders and the Dot Central Dream Team [HQ] drew me in, and the inclusive culture of the sales field offered me the home I was looking for. We care for and about each other.”
Pam agrees: “I began Style Dots with great hope and expectation on the first day the company started, and I am still blown away every day with the integrity, sisterhood, and support we offer. I have personally grown in all areas of my life, because we don’t just train on how to be successful in business. We train on how to be debt free, leadership skills, and personal growth that permeates to every area of our lives. I’m proud to say that I can stand behind the quality product Style Dots offers, as well as the integrity of the company, with confidence.”
Style Dots was started by two friends who found amazing success in direct sales; they often talked about what their ideal direct sales company would look like. They wanted to start a company that could benefit other women’s lives just as direct sales had benefited theirs. And from that, Style Dots was born. All of Style Dots’ products are made with premium metal alloys. Plus, they have an unprecedented 1-year manufacturer’s warranty, so you know the product is high-quality and the people behind it are honorable.
If you’re interested in learning more about starting your own Style Dots business, talk to your Boutique Partner today or visit StyleDots.com.