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The following is the third in a series on starting your own venture by Fairfield County Venture Mom Holly Hurd. Submit articles for The Daily Darien to cdonahue@mainstreetconnect.us.
By week three you should have some areas that interest you. This week is about research and exploration. But you must come up with a venture this week, even if it's not right. Keep notes on all of your research in your Venture Mom notebook. Here are three places to begin.
The Internet: Search for and read everything you can about your area of interest. See who offers the service or product you want to provide. Who is doing exactly what you want to do or something close? Who is selling what you want to sell? How do they structure their service? Keep Web addresses for use in later weeks and notes on ideas you like.
Classes: Is there a local school where you can take classes? If you are interested in computer assistance, find a training class in a particular program. Look for classes online as well. You can teach yourself how to use Excel, Power Point, Constant Contact, I Contact, Go Daddy, Network Solutions and many more online services and software packages at no charge. One venture mom developed a venture around helping others with basic web services. Become an expert on a particular photo program and offer to make photo books. Take some simple landscape, photography or yoga classes or teach yourself. Many classes are offered at night, sometimes free at local libraries and can be just three hours. If you choose something that you love, you probably already have a base of knowledge on which to build a venture.
Internships: Is there someone who is doing what you want to do and needs an intern? If you want to be an event planner, offer your assistance on a particular job at no charge to garner experience. If you can't find an internship, do an informational interview with someone doing what you want to do. If you want to be a photographer of children, offer to help a local photographer with a shoot to see how it's done and ask them what cameras and film they use. If you want to be a dog walker, ask them how they like it and offer to go along for a morning of walking. Whatever your area of interest, find an internship or do an informational interview that gives you some exposure to what you would actually be doing.
The other important thing to get out of this week is whether or not you like the structure and work that you think you are interested in. You must come up with something this week to move forward. Look at what other venture moms have done on the VentureMom.com site to get ideas. Choose a venture by the end of the week. Next week: How to name your venture.
Holly Hurd VentureMom.com
Are you planning a venture? What research have you done? Let us know by commenting below!
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