A 2012 Resolution Solution

Sunday was the official opening day of the 2012 New Year’s resolution season. As many of you know, the season continues through Valentine’s Day when all resolutions are either officially approved as new habits or disqualified as mere good intentions.

According to the official rules (which I made up): “… for any resolution to qualify as a New Year’s resolution, the resolver must declare said resolution no later than the first Friday following the first day of the new year, or no later than close of business on the first Monday following the first Friday in years where the first day of the new year falls on a Friday.”

This means you’ve got just a couple of days left to declare your New Year’s resolutions or spend the rest of 2012 compounding your nasty habits and shortcomings in preparation for the 2013 resolution season.

Here’s a suggestion. Resolve to make more money this year. If you already love your job or already own your own business, you might consider education or training that’s likely to make you more productive. If not, maybe this is the year to start your own part-time business or go full bore and become your own boss.

How? You could begin by consulting someone like Mickey Rechkemer. Rechkemer is a business coach but he also helps individuals explore potential franchise and business opportunities that they might not otherwise discover or think to consider.

I met him about a month ago at a networking event and decided to schedule an appointment partly because I think the exercise could make for some read-worthy posts and partly because I’d still jump at just the right chance to try my hand again as an entrepreneur.

I’ll let you know how it goes but, so far, I haven’t seen anything worth a hop much less a full-fledged jump. What I have seen, judging by multiple lists of franchises, is that the world can’t seem to find enough in-home care providers for seniors, janitors, or mosquito controllers. Not to sound snooty but I don't plan to help fill the void.

I've always believed that the best business opportunities involve products or services that almost everyone needs at a price most of them can afford. They feature multiple revenue streams and derive recurring revenue from existing customers. And they pose significant barriers to entry, which put new competitors at a natural disadvantage.

Somehow janitorial services don’t seem to fit that description. That’s no knock on janitors. I’m just saying I don’t see any plausible rationale for paying some outfit a $30,000 franchise fee to clean commercial offices under its brand name. I can do that under my own brand name, thank you.

The same goes for pet-crap removal, which seems to have become a semi-hot business idea. There may be fabulous riches in cleaning up after other people’s dogs but I don’t need to pay you a crapload of money to “train” me (I think my parents did that when I was about 10 years old), set me up in the business and operate under your brand name. I can set myself up in about three days, hire a good, local marketing outfit and make it on my own. And that's as good a reason as any not to do it. That and the thought of picking up pet turds all day sounds pretty crappy but that's just me.

Frankly, nothing I’ve seen so far is worth posting about, other than examples of what I wouldn’t recommend to anyone. But Rechkemer and I are just getting started. He’s still learning about my background, my personality and what sort of businesses might fit my natural strengths. So, I’m optimistic that we’re headed somewhere interesting, if not promising. Until then, I’m under his strict instructions to keep an open mind.

David is a commercial insurance specialist. He can be reached at 727.916.7429 or by email at FLInsurancenetwork@gmail.com. Read more at his personal blog.