Saturday, November 20, 2010

Taking a Leap

I recently started an at home business called PanOptic PC I design web pages, web hosting, fix computers, do tutoring, pretty much everything to do with consumer electronics, I can work with. Problem is that even though I am very good at what I do, the market is flooded with people doing what I do. So my hope was that this would be a small business that would earn me enough for a down payment to own a business that would always put food on the table.

For the last few weeks I have been talking to a friend about starting a business. We bounced ideas around like, sharing a store space where I could work computers and she could sell all natural body products, to opening a sports bar in this small clothing store that just went belly up. We even did a recon mission last week. She picked me up and we went to the nearest big city and checked out sports clubs. We even found one that would go with our vision.

But alas, it is just a dream. Neither one of us knows anything about getting loans, starting and running a bar, paying employees, or a whole multitude of things.

Wednesday night, I had a really good night at full contact training. Sempai Ben was there and I hardly ever see him anymore. Shihan had to run home so we practiced kick that would work and open our hips. Soto mawashi keagi (outside cresent kick), uchi mawashi keagi (inside cresent kick), and finally mawashi geri (roundhouse kick).

I posted on Facebook that I had a great night at the dojo and that I learned something new about myself. Jason gets on Facebook and starts a chat with me asking what I had learned. I told him that I was told that I am telegraphing my roundhouse kicks. I throw my left arm out when I am about to throw my kick. So now that I know that I will be particularly careful to not do that. Then we got to talking about other things. 

Just to know how much shop rents are in town, I asked him about a small shop in his building that was recently vacated. He told me how much it would cost and he asked me why i was wondering. Instead of telling him about Michelle, I told him about my at-home business, web design and computer repair, and then I tossed in that it would also be an eBay drop off store. He thought it was an amazing idea.

Once upon a time, I did eBay. I went to real auctions buying crap I thought might go for money. I would spend $100 to $200 a night and usually make $400 to $600. I tired of it. As eBay got popular, the auctions got fuller. In places where there were often empty seats, were now standing room only. Then you had the eBay audience itself that was changing. Trends would change. As soon as you understand a collectibles market, it would fall out of fashion, or it would get flooded.

So I said that I really wasn't ready for having a business. I had no money to lose or invest, I had no time, blah, blah, blah. 

I couldn't sleep that night. I kept thinking about what a wimp I was for not chasing my dream. What was I waiting for. Even if I failed, I tried. There is nothing stopping my success but me. So the next morning I shot Jason an email that I would love to rent the shop come the beginning of the year. I haven't heard back from him yet, but I am going to make it happen.