Yesterday I had a great conversation with a dear friend about how she is ready to step out on faith and move towards opening her business. I was so excited to hear that she was ready to start because she has shared that she has had this passion since grade school. However, as we began to discuss what her next steps were she was giving herself a deadline to the end of summer for brainstorming. I feel like this is a lot of time to squander for brainstorming. Well, let me put it this way, if I were passionate about something like starting a business, it wouldn’t take me 3 months for the initial brainstorming. So, I shared with her how to break it down and brainstorm in a timely manner and get moving on her business:

1. Get a trusty notebook

… and highlighter. Here is a picture of ONE of my brainstorming notebooks. I take it EVERYWHERE (as you can tell) because I never know when I am going to get a brilliant idea. I have an Ipad as well, but there’s something about the good ol’ fashioned pen to paper that is convenient and gets a lot of creative juices flowing. Now, that works for me. Find what works for best for you and USE IT! You may have a better memory than me and can remember things easier. You may enjoy typing or using a stylus better. But whatever it is, use it and have it with you at all times. EVEN when you sleep! You never know, you may come up with great ideas while you are dreaming! Have that notebook/Ipad/journal handy to record those things immediately. You can ask my husband how many times I wake up in the middle of the night to write stuff down (of course he doesn’t like it) but it’s what I have to do to get the information down fresh.  So get a trusty notebook.

2. Research your target market

This may take you a little more time than jotting ideas down but it’s very key to your success. The web defines a target market as a group of customers that the business has decided to aim its marketing efforts and ultimately its merchandise.  If you research and discover there isn’t much need for your business, you may have to revamp your services or think of some other ideas. However, you may find that there’s at tremendous need for your business in a certain market or industry. Therefore, you will know to move forward with your plans. Research by calling certain businesses or people you know and conducting surveys that will give you direct answers.

3. Find out what others are doing

After you find out who needs your services research companies that are in the same industry look at their pricing, website setup, which market they are trying to capture and make yourself a competitor. You want to be better than everyone else so how can you set your business up to be better? Feel free to even call companies and ask them questions as a “potential client”. Check out their customer service and what they offer and strive to be better.

4. Plan as far as your mind will take you

If the industry you plan on going into has potential for franchising or to become a corporation make your plan up to that point. Come up with your company name, your corporation name, and your franchise name. Come up with how the company would operate as you expand. Are you starting with partners or will they come later? Are you going to start with a blog and move to a website? Are you going to eventually have employees, etc? All of these things need to be a factor in your brainstorming. Always have a plan so you know where your business is heading.

5. FINALLY, Answer these 2 questions:

Why are you going into business?

Why would someone want to do business with you?

I consider myself a go- getter. When I am passionate about something, I cannot rest until it is in fruition. That is what I expect from the people I work with. No need to give yourself a year or two to get your business off the ground if you are working day and night. No, everything won’t be figured out by the time you open your doors but life is about learning lessons. Pricing, customer service, invoicing, etc. may be trial and error. The key is to start getting customers through the door. Otherwise, who knows if you’ll ever start your business? If you wait too long you may lose your steam and your business idea may fade away. So, start brainstorming today and get started tomorrow!

Tamara Garrison-Thomas

www.garrisonprosperitysolutions.com

www.busy925.com

Introducing our PWP feature of this week: Tina Hines. Tina is an inspiring life coach and president of For My Sister Friends™. For My Sister Friends™ inspires women to seek an understanding of the deeper meaning of their life as they journey towards inner peace, wholeness and balance. Tina has gone from blog writer, book club facilitator, to lifestyle coach in the last few years and has inspired many women with her one-on-one and group sessions. Tina’s passion for the well-being of women exudes in all that she does. One of Tina’s favorite quotes is “When you feel good on the inside it exudes on the outside (no make-up required)”.  I hope you are as inspired by her story as I was. Enjoy!

1. Tell me your story. What were you doing before you started your own business?

Actually, I am a busy woman because in addition to being a lifestyle coach, I manage the executive office of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted solely to the public health. My professional career began at the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies where I spent 18 years in various high level administrative roles.  After departing J&J, I was the executive/personal assistant to the chairman and publisher of Black Enterprise Magazine. These positions provided me with an opportunity to enhance my knowledge in various areas, interact with individuals from across the world and provided me with the stepping stone to take a leap of faith and make an investment in my passion.

2.  What made you want to start a business and what is your mission?

Although I no longer worked for Johnson & Johnson, I often would reconnect with prior supervisors. It was during a lunch when my first boss from 1986 told me that he could see me running a business that groomed administrative assistants. I tossed around the idea and although I loved my role as an administrative professional, somehow I knew my calling was a little different, something bigger.

In 2008, I launched a blog about my experiences with products, businesses, and activities I sampled and used the creative space to provide words of encouragement for women. A year later, I formed a book club where more times than not, the topic of discussion transitioned from the book of the month to the challenges women face as they wear many hats in their professional and personal lives.

Fast forward to 2011; the same group of women (with a few additions) came together for a meeting in my home to discuss finding their passion. As each person shared their desire to find or enhance their passion or make changes in their life, I shared with the group my desire to identify my purpose in life. It was a friend who declared that I should become a motivational speaker or coach of some sort because I was always inspiring them. When I allowed the ladies to take a peek at my journal that is exactly what I had written. It was at that moment that For My Sister Friends^TM emerged. This is my bigger calling.

My mission is to assist women (through one-on-one and group sessions) in reconnecting with their inner self and making a transformation. Women do so much for others and often reach a place there they have become drained and don’t have anything left for themselves. They are forgetting to take a little ‘me time’ and rejuvenate.

Between M.A.C., Mary Kay and Clinique, women are able to mask a lot on the outside, but inside is something different. There is no make-up to cover-up the emotions they are feeling on the inside. That is why I encourage women to work towards reconnecting with their happy self. One of my favorite quotes, “When you feel good on the inside it exudes on the outside (no make-up required).”  I created the quote after a colleague told me I was glowing and then declared it must be attributed to the man in my life. They were quickly corrected by using the quote and I consistently share it with women during my workshops.

3. What inspires you? What keeps you motivated daily to keep growing your business?

I am inspired when I see sister friends uplifting one another. We all are on a journey and though we may have traveled different roads, there is a chance we share some of the same bruises.

I have a childhood friend who often tells me that my heart is in the right place but I cannot fix everyone; and I know she is correct. However, when I entered this business it was never my mission to fix anyone. My mission was to provide them with a listening ear, a little food for thought and have them fix themselves. When I receive an email, text or phone call from a client and they share what they have implemented to make a transformation in their life; that is what motivates me to continue growing my business.

4. Do you have a mentor? Who is it and why? Do you believe it’s important to have one?

I have several mentors from a variety of professions. Each of them provides me with food for thought that challenges me in a various ways. For instance, there was a very brief moment when I challenged myself about my passion of helping other women get to their happy, healthy place. The challenge was that there were so many coaches what did I have to offer? In addition, I didn’t want to coach women to do something for themselves; they needed to be inspired to make a transformation for themselves. My mentor sternly said, “Yes, there are a lot of coaches but there is only one Tina C. Hines inspiring women with her words of wisdom.”

Having a mentor is important and valuable resource. As your ideas may be scribbled notes on a pad, a mentor can assist you in putting them in perspective. They have the wisdom, knowledge, and experience to guide you towards the greatest that is within. Regardless of where I have been in my career, there has always been a mentor on speed dial.

5. What would you tell someone who wants to get involved in your line of business but doesn’t know how to get started?

This is a tough question. For me, being a lifestyle coach was derived from my career of choice, past experiences and the people I surrounded myself with throughout my life. It was a passion that lay dormant; slowly this passion began to reveal itself in many facets of my life and is now my purpose.

However, I would encourage them to connect with other coaches to obtain a clear understanding of the roles of various coaches and then identify their niche. Participate in coaching sessions as a client to see first-hand the techniques that are used to achieve the results the client is seeking. Finally, read, read, read; and when you are done reading, read some more.  Knowledge is power and having book knowledge coupled with your University of Life knowledge is important.

6. What advice would you give to someone with an entrepreneurial spirit?

If someone has an entrepreneurial spirit, they should be encouraged to do everything in their power to feed that spirit. Feed it with the wisdom of those who have taken this journey; feed it with the knowledge of a good mentor; and feed it with dedication. Most importantly, they should remember this is their journey not their friends or family members. It is their time so take it, hold on tight and get ready for an interesting ride.

I want to thank Tina for stepping up to the challenge and taking time to “brag” about herself.  You can visit Tina’s website at www.formysisterfriends.org and contact her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ForMySisterFriends.

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Be someone’s motivation and tell us your story! To be featured on PeopleWhoProsper.com email Tamara@garrisonprosperitysolutions.com. Put PEOPLEWHOPROSPER in the subject line and share a little about yourself.