As a busy mother, wife and an entrepreneur rolled into one, I often have to work out schedules, improvise routines and review short cuts. This is with particular reference to everyday things like cooking, making plans for meals, chores and household work – checking with the children and attending to their school work, etc.
Along the way, I can often think of many opportunities for entrepreneurship – from ready-made healthy dinner options to taking care of everyday chores. Not to mention special lifestyle-related opportunities for women who are hoping to get married, expecting children, looking to get back to work after a gap, etc.
Welcome to the world of lifestyle entrepreneurship.
Before the Internet became the super highway, there was a woman who built a successful business in maternity wear for working women in the US. Her motivation was the fact that she couldn’t find any elegant maternity clothes when she was pregnant. There were others, many in fact, cited by the marketing experts for their exceptional insights into entrepreneurship, that resulted in mega business opportunities being worked out. A lifestyle-related opportunity that is present for the right entrepreneur to come along and grab it is always something that could very well be waiting in the wings. I see so many young women going into various entrepreneurial ventures on social media – kudos to them and their spirit of pioneering but there are many things to keep in mind here. Firstly, no matter how powerful your entrepreneurial venture related to a lifestyle option maybe, you have got to work out the financials. You cannot and must not venture out boldly spending all your savings. You have to work out a viable plan that is also conscious of costs and profits. And you need to be able to form a partnership with a financial institution that would empower the journey.
Secondly you have to have a long-term vision. Too many would-be entrepreneurs languish for want of better planning. Just because someone else is running a business well enough, doesn’t mean you can too. Just because the idea sounds great, you cannot just go along with it. You have to be able to develop strategies that will sustain your business in the next five years. Unless and until you have that figured out, do not venture out, at all. Sometimes, it is not our own lifestyle but that of others that may inspire us to develop great entrepreneurial ventures. It might be time related, children and family related, hobby related or simply providing a much-needed everyday service that can be undertaken efficiently at a reasonable cost.
In some countries, running errands for busy people has become a great entrepreneurial enterprise. Walking dogs, providing fellowship to seniors who are yearning for company, collecting laundry, paying bills – these are all everyday simple tasks yet those challenged for time and effort would gladly pay someone else to get these services done.
There are other options too. All roads must be reviewed through the lens of running a viable business – not just to feel good. Too many ambitious business owners wreck the ship early on simply because they thought they had a light bulb moment – only to discover that the light bulb moment holds no steam when it has to be worked out as
a business.
There are great options such as empowering a healthy lifestyle through various areas such as working out, sports, outdoor activity, healthy meals, motivating exercise, fitness-related clothing and food, entertainment, etc. It is always a great idea to explore options in fitness-related pursuits since fitness is a growing and a dynamic industry.
Pregnancy and child care-related areas are also good and very relevant for start-up ventures. Often start-up ventures are mistakenly thought of as limited to tech pursuits. There are many other aspects to look at and lifestyle entrepreneurship is always a superb area to consider. Given the fact that technology drives a lot of business today by making the connections and enabling processes to be automated and managed, pursuing a lifestyle-related business is definitely easier today than ever before.
May have a start-up idea but need customers? Use social media platforms and create engaging content which you yourself might be able to do. A need is always best filled when it is undertaken by someone who has experienced it. When you have experienced a set of needs, you are always well positioned to drive solutions to those needs for others, which is why personal lifestyle-related opportunities often work best.
So, don’t fret about a lack of opportunities if you are considering your moment in the sun. Watch out and keep reviewing who might need what. You never know when your actual light bulb moment maybe coming along.
(Nayomini Weerasooriya, a senior journalist, writer and a PR professional, can be contacted at nayominiweerasooriya
@gmail.com)
