Passion + Planning = Momentum – Part 2

May 28, 2009

I want to share a story with you about an associate of mine who achieved momentum with their business plan.  This story definitely applies to anyone in the real estate business (new or experienced) who is looking for momentum with their business.

“A few years ago, I found myself unemployed. When I started my new job, I had been living at home with my parents. I took that job (largely due to pressure from my parents). It was a job that utilized my skills, but was in a new area for me: corporate computer networks. Though I’ve been into computers since I was a kid, I wasn’t really interested in how they worked. At this job I had to learn lots of boring information about how PCs, networks, servers and other equipment worked. I just couldn’t get interested in this sort of knowledge.

Once I’d left this job, I was living on my own and had 9 months of Unemployment Insurance to pay the bills while I looked for a new job.  For several years I’d had a dream of starting a magazine at the University of Toronto. I’ve always loved writing. I’m a real perfectionist when it comes to writing things and I admire great writing. I go over and over something I’ve written (even if it’s an email) until its letter perfect. I did my BA degree at U of T, worked as a writer/editor for several campus publications and took several writing classes. Most of my classes required much essay writing. Now that I was living on my own, I could make my own decisions. I decided to quit looking for a job in the computer industry (an industry I didn’t even like) and start my own business with the magazine.

I began doing some research on starting a magazine. But it wasn’t a very serious or consistent effort at that point. Since I had lots of time on my hands then, I found I was spending much more time doing whatever. At this point it was kind of a drag to work on this business plan, especially since it was the summer time then and I had a steady income coming in without having to work.

Things changed joined a self employment class for new entreprenuers. This program would help me with my business plan with full time classes for 3 months and a year of grant money. The program application was quite lengthy and asked very tough and pointed questions about my business ideas and plans. They were interested in people who had done a lot of work already on their business plan, not people who merely had an idea for a business.   The first time I applied for the
program my plan was rejected.

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