I want to introduce you to the success story of MamaSezz.com. But first I have to get something off my chest.
I am at a loss when it comes to explaining why there are so many healthy, capable, intelligent people still unemployed when there are so MANY OPPORTUNITIES out there to either get a job, even if part-time, or to go one better, to start one’s own business.
This site has tons of suggestions for landing a job, writing resumes, and handling interviews. And…the internet is full of even more tips if one were to do a search for the subject. So, if you are unemployed and reading this, but are not using this valuable advice, then it ought to be because you are building your own entrepreneurial business. And that brings me to today’s Nugget.
I was inspired to write today’s Nugget because of the wonderful story of MamaSezz.com. It is magical. It exemplifies everything I’ve written about in my other Nuggets about creating your own business. I’ve also mentioned a book I’ve found very valuable and that helped shape my psyche in preparation for a long, successful, innovation-filled career. That book is among one of my most favoured and treasured: Acres of Diamonds by Russell H. Conwell.
It was life-changing for me. If you read it, it may be life-changing for you, too.
It taught me to keep my eyes open for opportunities almost everywhere, from within my own behaviour, needs and habits; to that of my neighbourhood; to that of the world at large.
Throughout my career I encouraged innovative thinking and pursued the study of innovation as if I was on course towards my own PhD in innovation. One very firm belief emerged: opportunity of every sort is everywhere, if only we know how to observe and can focus sufficiently to pay closer attention, than others, when we are observing.
But there is one problem most people face. They’ve never been trained in the art of “observation”, so, don’t know how to look for that magical diamond in their own backyard! Let me help with that.
The simple test is something we can label as the “sparkle test”. When you share your SOLUTION to a problem with other people, provided those people don’t want to just take you to bed, if you see a sparkle in their eye that tells of “What a great idea!”, then you may have discovered the diamond in your backyard that may be applicable to other people, too. Usually that sparkle appears the moment a listener learns that the idea will be highly satisfying to his-, or herself, too, in some measurable, important way.
There are plenty of ideas. Plenty of inventions. Most of them, 999 of every 1,000, are NOT really needed by other people. Everybody who thinks of ideas also thinks, “Build it and people will come”. That’s not how entrepreneurship works. Instead, it’s “How can I solve an IMPORTANT problem that many people have?”
I can’t emphasize strongly enough that a solution or idea may start with you, but, it’s really not at all about you! It’s all about THEM. Do others have that need and do they think it is pressing enough to do something about it, such as paying hard cash for it?:
If YOUR WAY/IDEA is instantly PERCEIVED BY OTHERS to be a valued, better way to fill THEIR need they will pay you for it.
ACRES OF DIAMONDS, teaches us to recognize that an opportunity may spring up close to home.
But experts in innovation caution us that good ideas are a dime a dozen. An idea to be sufficiently good enough to become an entrepreneurial business must instantly fit a larger audience.
Let me share a quote from Diamandis:
“…the best way to become a billionaire is to solve a [pressing] billion-person problem.”See End Note 1
I inserted “[pressing]” to clarify that Diamandis assumes that you understand the problem must be worthy of a solution, worthy of taking a person’s time and money, and that MANY, MANY people must have that perception.
I must add: you don’t have to reach for a billion people.
In your case, maybe a million may suffice? Or, a hundred thousand? Or, maybe a few thousand? Or, maybe just a few hundred?
Many small businesses can be quite satisfying even as a boutique.
Almost every business starts SMALL and GROWS slowly, carefully, by conscientious nurturing; control of expenses, (outflows of cash); and hard work to get the word out. Small businesses often prosper quickly by word of mouth if the solution is a real “gem” and if the need is a pressing one for a reasonably large market audience.
Read the story about MamaSezz.com, [link below], and compare that TRUE STORY to this short list of key steps to an entrepreneurial business:
- A need can start as a personal need, a discovery of a solution built around one person.
- But the need must be discovered to exist among MANY people.
- The need/solution must be compelling enough to make people want to change their spending priorities.
- Start small.
- Watch the reaction. If people pile on, you likely have a good idea.
- Add a large dose of passion, but don’t be blind to the facts.
- Control the rate of spending/outflows. Be frugal.
- Educate, advertise, and do so as economically and cleverly as possible.
- As the business grows, control your rate of expansion. Stay lean and mean…YOU must do the hard work until there is so much PROFITABLE work that, without adding helpers, your business will otherwise choke and die.
Learn more about MAMASEZZ.com:
Lisa and Meg challenged western medical opinion regarding the dire outcome of a loved one who, given further adherence to the American diet, was doomed to die in short course from congestive heart failure. Instead of accepting the inevitable, they researched the topic of nutrition to discover the many dangers of eating foods made of animal, dairy, and oils. From that sprang their solution that worked to help restore health to their loved one. Then sprang their new business. They launched in the fall of 2016.
It all started when Meg decided to try to do something to prolong her mother’s life. Meg explains in a recent article, “…Out of desperation, I Googled, ‘Surviving late state congestive heart failure’…But could it change the course of heart disease in a very sick, old heart?” See End Note 3
MamaSezz.com started from the diamond in their own backyard, (their own problem and successful solution), and carefully expanded to meeting the need of many more people who also had the same problem. [Close to 5 million Americans are doomed to live with congestive heart failure (CHF) with more than half a million new cases diagnosed each year, just in America.See End Note 4]
Conclusion: ANOTHER new business is born because of clever, OBSERVING people, who discovered a large, important need and became entrepreneurs out of necessity. Their goal and passion started with finding a solution to their own need. They also discovered that many more people had a similar need.
Meg Donahue took the hassle out of eating plant-based foods and evolved her solution into a service that is now a new business. By solving a problem that was “close to home” she became aware of a need widely shared by other people. Congratulations to Meg and we hope our readers will take the time to stop by her Facebook page, MamaSezz, to give her a thumbs up of encouragement: click here: facebook.com/MamaSezz
Or visit the website itself to learn more: MamaSezz.com.
END NOTE
- BOLD: How to go BIG, Create WEALTH, and IMPACT the world. By Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler. Simon & Schuster, New York, 2015. p. xii.
- Acres of Diamonds by Russell H. Conwell.
- “From Hospice to Healthy: How a Plant-Based Diet Saved Mom’s Life and Inspired a Business”, By Meg Donahue, CNS. July 24, 2017. Newsletter, T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies.
- “Heart Failure Statistics” by Emory Healthcare. Emory Woodruff Health Science Center. 2017.
