Seize the Day. Things Don’t Always Happen as You Plan Them.

April 27th, 2006 by John Herman, under A New You on Mix 97.1, Succeeding Steps. No Comments

I hadn’t planned to start this website, blog, or company till two weeks from now. Instead, things are starting right here, right now. A major business lesson happened today – Seize the Day. Things don’t always happen as you plan them.

For the last 5 months I have been planning the start of a consulting company just for small businesses. For the last 10 years I have been working for small companies helping them build websites, marketing and running the operations. Now was the time for me to finally have a real business of my own. I started with my business plan, analyzing as much as I could to see if I could really do this. I started saving my money and early this month I made the giant leap and quit my job at the small internet company I was working for. My plan was to have everything ready including my marketing plan for a launch of next week.

I have been working for small businesses since the 7^th grade when my first job was delivering papers for our small town daily newspaper. I then went on to work at my best friend’s parent’s small town family style restaurant. Then our small town’s Internet Service Provider designing websites and providing technical support. After that I worked for our small town’s printing and graphics company.

Living in a small town kept me in contact with the small business spirit every day. We were technically a city, but small enough that it was hard to attract large businesses, big-box stores, or chain restaurants other than McDonalds, Taco Bell, etc. Out of necessity, the residents of my town had to make their own businesses. I have always loved that spirit. Through this business I will be able to surround myself with entrepreneurs with great ideas and help them make it happen.

This morning I woke up to start my day like I always have this month, planning and writing. I happened to be listening to the Alan, Kate and Matt show on Mix 97.1 here in Columbus, Ohio. They always do this great segment on Thursday called A New You. I got hooked on it when they were able to find this woman a company that would redo her roof for free.

Today, they were talking about a woman who was starting a new business and couldn’t afford to create a website for it. This was such a great match for me. I love that she was in the process of starting her own business bootstrapping. I immediately called and offered to help. After getting off the phone, I realized what had just happened. My new consulting company was launched for better or worse and this was not a part of my plan. This amazing opportunity for any company was the kick in the pants I needed.

So as of today, its not more planning. I am open for business!

I was able to talk with the owner of the gourmet dog treats business and we are meeting next week to get started. I will be tracking the progress of this project and detail exactly what steps we made to get her started in this blog. Comments will be open and we will be sharing the process with you.

Get more information about A New You on the Mix 97.1 Website http://www.971moremusic.com/promotions/promotions.php.