ATTITUDE

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

From schooldays I had always been praised for my writing ability, but because it seemed I had to write and conform to other people’s rules, writing was always a struggle, What could I write about, anyway? I genuinely believed that nothing very interesting ever happened to me, and, as the writing process gave me a headache anyway, I chose not to write anything at all.

I spent the better part of my youth and young adulthood stifling my true feelings and kept hidden any trauma I had experienced while growing up. Now thanks to the Internet and the mass of material available, I slowly began a journey to find my own writing voice and began to realize I might have something to say after all.

It wasn't until I was well into my fifties I began to accept that perhaps my real life experience was worth writing about. It was then that I finally acquired the maturity to admit to myself, that, as a person who was always pretending to be perfect and without a care in the world was completely imperfect with a mass of hang-ups just like everyone else.

Now, thinking up my own stories, with my own voice and with my own rules enables me to connect with others in ways I could never have imagined.

When we decide to let it all hang out and show our flaws, we often risk offending some of the more sensitive creatures. The bottom line is, no matter how hard we try, not everyone is going to like us, so why waste time worrying about it and just get on with our own lives.

It follows that being the same person, with the same values and standards in both life and business, makes your day-to-day living much saner and with less possibility of major internal conflicts when you hit the down spots.

And it goes without saying that it's only by showing your foibles, your humour, and your life lessons that you can begin to establish true relationships. It won’t happen overnight and just like in real life, it takes time to nurture virtual relationships.

Bloggedmay1809

#Worried about the credit crunch?
Sometimes markets surge for no apparent reason; masses of people suddenly "want" something, and the resulting demand can't be immediately met. For example, the current Swine Flu scare has created an insatiable demand for facial masks in several countries - and many entrepreneurs have capitalized on this as a business idea.

Are you brimming with ideas for starting a business now? Look at existing businesses and the products and services they offer and determine if there's a need for more of those products or services. If there is, why not develop business ideas to fit the market gap.

A "bandwagon effect" is also created by larger social trends. There is much more of a demand for home-care services for the elderly than is currently being supplied.
Don’t forget the trend for pets to be treated as family members continues, creating demand for all kinds of pet-related services that didn't exist five or ten years ago.

Write your business ideas down. Keep an open mind and continue to assess everything you read and hear from an entrepreneurial point of view. Let them swirl around in your head - you don't want to run with the first business idea you think of. Discover the idea that's best suited to your skills and desires.

Dream, think, plan - and who knows, you'll be ready to transform that idea into the business you've always wanted.