THIS VERY MOMENT Right now - even as we read this short line - a new business is coming into being here in the land in which we live. It's "brand new" in many way, but you can be sure that if it is to be a success it has a typically American quality of curiosity.
So many of the attention-getting dot.com business firms were touched with a large portion of plain, old nosy-oriented curiosity because some individual,willing to buck trends and prejudice of many kinds, wanted to see if his idea was possible, or plausible, perhaps even profitable. We all take chances more than we realize, but would we bet our all on an idea for a new business?
The one new idea which so often seems to work well, is a quite often not new at all. It has to do with quality. One simply starts an old idea of a business but does it all better than it has been done to that time. A thriving example of that sort of "new" business is being demonstrated locally by a young man who decided he was going into the business of renting films to at-home viewers - discs, tapes or whatever. That's "big time" business pretty much ruled by several monsters shops with gobs of glitter and glamor galore. His was a small shop in a small town but today he owns and operates six such stores in this area and employs thirty-five persons to help meet the demand. A recent interview revealed a point which may be the real key to his success. When a new store turns profitable, he starts another. With six locations going and who know how many more on the way, his positive plan seems to work well.
We have to admire any man who sets up a new business in faced of difficult conditions, but there is seldom an all-clear being sounded these days. I have a strong feeling which tells that he or she is taking on a far greater burden than did their counterparts just a few years ago. It is still a good feeling to see a young person and I always wish for them the very best good fortune. It takes much more nerve than it did not too long ago. The financial arrangements are still there is some form or another and any enterprising youth can take a stab at it. My fear is usually in the area of marketing potential.
Too often I see a project which is boutique oriented in line with other types of shops. A second thing which bothers me is when I see someone opening a shop which has a limited appeal at best. I might stand a chance in a metro area where it could draw from a million or so potential customers for their special, arty item. I suspect a fast-talking real-estate agent in the background at such start-ups.
A.L.M. June 24,2005 [c501wds]
