The Nature of Business Startups and Kick Starting Your Idea

By: Natalia Sandor

Share your idea with others! (Photo Credit: @sand.bars on Instagram)

Starting a business is comparable to having a child or maybe like getting a really high maintenance dog. Yeah, like one of those poodles that have to wear booties when it rains.

It is messy and fun, filled with a lot of trial and even more errors. But the best thing about starting your own thing is the feeling you get when someone likes your product or service.

Sure, it is beyond fun to insert yourself into a different brand that is not all you and to experience levels of success, but seeing how people react to the thing that you worked so incredibly hard on is rewarding, to say the very least.

I began my business making ice cream sandwiches in June of 2017 and it has been a rollercoaster. I compare it to Nitro of Six Flags as it has created this long-lasting stomach dropping thrill as a result of a jam-packed ride filled with ups and downs that leaves me happy, scared, and wanting more.

What is cool about the whole entrepreneurship thing is the fact that your idea is its own separate entity. It is a small piece of your mind, your creativity and your hard work, but it has been released into the world, set free from the space that was once your dream or your thought. It is now in a place where people may react to it.

In any company, an employee must feel like their work is influencing the greatest part of the whole. It is important to be able to see yourself in the product or service in order to feel like you have been worth something, or at least to feel like you are not easily replaced.

Sometimes other companies are unable to fulfill this need and as a result, it is best to create your own opportunities.

Being an entrepreneur is being able to give yourself the room to experiment with new ideas while being free from the fear of getting shot down. When you work for yourself, it is your vision that you are bringing to life and that means that you are not constantly trying to do things the way that someone else would want them to be done.

Individuality is something that deserves to be celebrated. Each person has a voice that deserves to be heard and ideas that deserve to be spread. For me, I am able to express so much more about myself in my brand, as well as experiment with my company in order to figure out how things work.

If you are someone who feels like they need to share some creativity with the world, someone who is inventive, self-motivated, determined, open-minded and not afraid of risk, you might just be the perfect person to begin something on your own.

That being said, I believe anyone can start their own business if they are willing to accept the challenges and put in the work required to keep their new “child” healthy. The new entity is really only as successful as what is put into it, especially during its impressionable years.

So, if you have an idea—go for it! Problems are all around us and they are begging to be solved. Ideas are meant to be spoken about, not pushed aside and kept in the prison of our thoughts.

Sometimes it is scary putting yourself out there and vulnerability is often something that most people tend to avoid, but taking the risk is part of what makes you feel so alive. There are so many talented and innovative people who allow their ideas to die because they waited too long to take to a shot at it.

It is incredibly important to try. Even if it doesn’t work out, the experiences and lessons learned from starting your own business exceed far beyond any classroom.

In the short time that I have had the privilege of running Sand Bars Handcrafted I have learned about accounting, production, distribution, customer relations/service, marketing, advertising, business management, delegation of work, graphic design and so much more.

For those who are looking to start their own thing keep in mind a few things: it is okay to make mistakes, as you will do a lot of that, tell everyone and anyone about your idea, and enjoy the journey for all that it is!

For those who are scared to take the first steps to make this happen, we all need a kick-start when rolling out our ideas but many times the real start is with you. So, take the leap.