by: Stephanie Gonzalez photo by: Jillian Lenser Some day in the not so distant past, you realized that you were an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are people who have an idea for a new product or service offering, who take action to breathe life to this idea, and reap both the risk and reward this idea bears in our commerce-based marketplace. You chose to be this person, to take on this beautiful responsibility. By making this “I am an entrepreneur” declaration you have chosen to govern your time, your resources, and your outcomes. This business, like a fetus in a womb, cannot live and breathe on its own. It requires that you act upon the idea and bring it to life. With you as its guide, you must dream, create, design, build, organize, execute, and manage the basic principles of owning a business. Any business starts with an idea – but without action and implementation it remains just that, an idea. Regardless of what stage you find yourself and your business in right now – however you would describe your current state: start-up, established, expanding, or a shifting business model – you must keep moving and breathing life into your ideas. Start-up…established…shifting? The evolution of your original business idea can be distilled down to a few of these fundamentals: • Clearly define your product or service-offering idea. • Identify your ideal customer(s) – the “who-what-when-where-why-how” avatar. • Describe who they are. • What they wish for you (your idea) to achieve. • When they engage with you, use you, and refer other like-minded people to you. • Where they can be found. • Why they work with you. • How they appreciate and value you. • Determine a goal for this idea. • Set a timeframe. • Gross revenue. • Net income. • Closed units. • Geographic farm. • Demographic target. • Possess a database – a tool or document filled with people who you know, people who you don’t know, or both. • If you don't have one, you must begin to build one. • Define how you will engage, connect, and grow this customer base. • Sales and marketing plan. • Strategy + activity + frequency = outcome. • Create a consistent process for how every person will experience the life cycle of your business idea: from first impression, discovery process, initial inquiry, and generated lead to contact, conversion, first-time customer, all the way to satisfied client who has become a raving fan providing repeat and referral business. This business is simple, not easy. Some day, in the not-so-distant past you realized you were an entrepreneur. Remember that includes both the risk and the reward. Find gratitude in what you’ve built. Take a minute to stop, recognize, and reward yourself for what it has become. And, wake up the next day to relentlessly pursue your original idea (if it still lights your heart on fire). Some day…is today.