October 14th, 2008 3:00 am

"That is a ridiculous idea"! I had startled myself from slumber with that phrase on my lips. What had I been dreaming about? What idea? Who was I talking to and why was the idea ridiculous? As I lay there, bits and pieces began to emerge . . . a collectibles shop, something small and quaint where I could sell all of the boxes of stuff that hadn't been unpacked after downsizing. A home for my treasures! And books, I could sell books and serve tea and . . . my mind was racing! Forget going back to sleep now, I had to plan. Somewhere between putting on my slippers and putting on the kettle two perspectives began a debate in my head:

Pessimist: You can't start a business, you work fulltime.
Optimist: But I work for an organization that supports women through business start-up. I have access to the assistance that I need to make this work.

Pessimist: The community is too small, you won't have any customers.
Optimist: But my target market is in my backyard so to speak, in the Big City just 20 minutes away.

Pessimist: Antique shops are junk shops, nobody will come.
Optimist: I'll have something different, it won't be junky and I'll have books and cookbooks. Everyone buys cookbooks.

Pessimist: What do you know about retail? I thought the plan was to open a bed & breakfast someday.
Optimist: I love treasure hunting - garage sales, second hand stores. It will be something I can do with my girlfriends, we'll be the Junk Girls!

Pessimist: But what do you know about retail?
Optimist: I'll learn, I'll be a shop keeper and people will come to visit my shop just to chat with me and have a cup of tea.

Pessimist: What about sales?
Optimist: If I have a really cute place I'll sell stuff.

Pessimist: It is a recession!
Optimist: So!

Forms of this conversation went on for days but it served a very important purpose. I was tuned in! Over the next several weeks I paid attention to what business owners were saying, how they talked about their lifestyle and their businesses. I started to jot down business resources that other people mentioned and ones that I discovered myself. I listened to how the members of the community talked about the community. I talked to the local business owners about their experience operating a business in a small town, I asked about their customers and about the potential of the community to become a destination experience. I wandered the antique shops of the Big City and thought about how my shop would be different. I started to compile a list of what types of advertising they were doing - where and at what cost. I started to research the industry and more specifically what impact the recession was having on the industry. RECESSION had become my stop button word - whenever I heard it I stopped what I was doing to listen. What was being said? Who was saying it? Were they credible?

If you are thinking about starting a business, before you "bounce" your idea off of someone else, take the time to LISTEN. Once you start to tell people about your idea they will offer their own opinions about whether they think you should or should not. We all want to hear, "that's a great idea" but we rarely question whether that individual has any idea about our industry of interest or about what it takes to run a business.

TIP: Before you tell anyone about your idea, before you start to research your business idea in a formal way, get a journal and work through the following on your own:

1. Listen to both the Pessimist and the Optimist. Write down all the personal benefits of starting a business and all the obstacles that you think you might encounter. Write down all the financial benefits and obstacles that you can think of. Write down the reasons why you think your business will succeed and what factors you think could affect your chances of success.

2. Write a paragraph or two that describes your lifestyle TODAY. When you are done, make a list of how you think your lifestyle will be different after your business is started (we will talk about the period of start-up in future posts - this is the calm before the storm so enjoy it).

3. Write down your personal priorities (not your business goals). You must ask yourself the question, "what am I unwilling to sacrifice for my business"? For example, my husband and I had moved to a smaller community seeking a lifestyle change - a slow down in the pace of our everyday lives. Our vision was one of walks with our dogs in the hills, sunsets and quiet. I was unwilling to sacrifice the "pace" of our lives if I started a business.

4. Take a strengths and weaknesses inventory. Are you suited to the type of business that you want to run? The Optimist in me danced around the "retail experience" issue for months.

A word of caution about strengths - just because you can do something doesn't mean that it is a strength. I can dust but I hate dusting so, like most people, I tend to put off the things that I don't like to do. I would be fooling myself if I thought that just because I owned a business I would suddenly enjoy dusting because I was dusting in my shop. I knew that in reality dusting was a task that I would likely put it off in my business just like I do at home.

When you take the time to identify obstacles and weaknesses you give yourself an opportunity to think about the problems you may face. The solution to those problems may be more than you can solve on your own but at least you have identified an area that needs to be addressed. In the "dusting" example above, my solution was to find out if my mother would work for me. I knew, that although she may not love dusting, I could trust her to do a good job. I didn't approach her at the time, I simply noted in my journal that she may be the solution to my problem or obstacle. You have to write these things down because your brain simply cannot retain all the things that you will have to think about during the start-up process and there is so much to remember - people, telephone numbers, websites, and so much more.

Useful Links:

Women Entrepreneurs of Saskatchewan (or a similar organization)
BDC Entrepreneurial Self Assessment

Upcoming posts: Tell Somebody; Rough Numbers or Numbers in the Rough; Finding That One Thing; Can I Make This Work?; Skin in the Game