Achieving your dream has never been more accessible and reasonable than it is today. The motivation for achievement is ever-present on the minds of entrepreneurs, but a new and growing population of displaced workers is now entering the market.
Cottage industry, an industry where the creation of products and services is home-based, rather than factory-based, is rapidly growing across the United States. The advent of social media and networking is making their transition affordable as many networks and tools are free or low cost to engage.
New millennial entrepreneurs are learning business skills at light speed as they devour information and resources to grow their business. However, the storytellers (marketers) in the mix are challenged with understanding branding as they endeavor to create profiles and websites for their product and/or service launch.
Social media has quite the buzz going for it, but in many situations the cottage business owners are overwhelmed by the perception of the diversity and understanding necessary to integrate these platforms into a useful business and marketing proposition. Establishing their USP (Unique Selling Proposition) can be a daunting task as well, let alone writing a business plan that offers a road map for their success.
Along with this growth in the entrepreneurial spirit is the appearance of business coaches. The difference between coaches and consultants is a coach is trained to ask you questions to draw out your knowledge and wisdom while a consultant usually tells you how or what to do, but uses their own expertise to guide and direct the business owner.
One who has the combination of coaching and consulting is a valuable commodity. Research and locate them through searching the Web using your favorite search engine. You can find them locally by putting in your city along with the search terms of 'business coach' or even 'life coach' in some cases. Trust your intuition when hiring one; you will be glad you did.
About the author:
Zen Benefiel, MA, MBA, is the principal of and 'Possibilities Coagulator' for Be The Dream, LLC. He has worked with women and minority business owners as a coach/consultant for developing business plans and launching businesses in the Phoenix area for nearly a decade. He offers personal training and workshops on a variety of business and personal development topics, from business plan creation to social media integration. Zen's career has spanned multiple industries including aerospace, education, print publication, radio/television, special events and web development. He is currently a Board Member of the Valley of the Sun Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development as well as serving on several steering committees for other non-profit organizations. You can visit Zen's coaching website at www.BeTheDream-LifeCoach.com