Every new year, a lot of us reflect on the successes and drawbacks of the past year and what our resolutions for the upcoming year will be.  For my list, I like to include both short-term and long-term goals.  The short-term goals are easily achievable within the span of one year and ensure that I will accomplish something.  For example, a short-term goal might be to cut living expenses by 10 percent, to save another three months of expenses in the emergency fund, or to increase net worth by 15 percent.  The long-term goals are more of a work-in-progress, such as starting and growing your own business.  Being an entrepreneur is a years-long process, of which I am at the initial stage.  Coming up with viable business ideas that you are passionate about may take the entire year or more.  Now I am not saying that one should procrastinate over these long-term goals.  But as long as you are working actively and deliberately towards your goal, you should not feel frustrated when January 1, 2009, rolls around, and you feel that you haven’t gotten as close as you have towards achieving what you wanted.  You are already ahead of the game.   

Channel surfing, I switched to CNBC’s The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch the other night.  Donny was interviewing a femal guest and the word “sassybax” was emblazoned on the bottom of the screen.  Intrigued, I continued watching and learned that “sassybax” was the guest’s name for her lingerie product, a knitted bra-like item that serves as kind of a upperbody control top pantyhose for less than smooth backs. The guest said that she came up with the idea after donning a tight cashmere sweater and seeing the unsightly rolls on her back.  With a little persistence, including calling about four dozen hosiery factories and doing a lot of research on the internet, she ended up getting her sassybax into production and eventually landing Neiman-Marcus as a customer.  These are the kind of stories that I love.  Who can’t think of some lingerie or other female product to make our lives a little easier.  Hey, we probably already have come up with the idea, but haven’t gotten off our duff to do anything.  When I mentioned to a friend that someone had come up with an idea for a bra strap clip to secure bra straps under sleeveless shirts and was producing it commercially, the friend said that it was an old idea, and that her mother, a seamstress, had been putting something similar on her clothes for years.  But, she was missing the point.  Even though the idea was old, the difference was that this lady had commercialized the bra strap “tamer” and was taking orders from Target and other huge retailers for the product.  An idea is just an idea.  Bringing that idea to life is a far different matter, and it takes serious motivation, perservance, and vision, along with a little luck.   

We were having dinner with friends last night at a Japanese place. The conversation soon turned towards the topic of real estate investing. We have done some investing in commercial properties and are always on the lookout for new opportunities. Our friends also were interested in getting into real estate investing, but complained about how tough it was. They recounted a recent visit to the local courthouse to observe a real estate auction. However, they were intimidated by the cash upfront requirement and the dozens of people at the auction that were aggressively bidding on the properties.

We then talked about residential verses commercial real estate investing. Our friends told us that they were getting some leads from relatives on residential real estate. They felt that they wanted to focus on commercial real estate because of the hassle of residential units. However, they also lamented the fact that most commercial properties were over $1 million, out of their price range. They also commented about the lack of time they had to look for potential properties.

The message that I took from this conversation was ROADBLOCKS. How many obstacles are there to investing and starting your own business or purchasing your own assets? If we let ourselves get stopped by roadblocks all the time, no one would ever move in any direction. As I grow older (and. hopefully, a little wiser), I realize that things are not as easy as going to school, passing tests, and moving from grade to grade. Particularly for your own projects, away from your jobs and other guided processes, there is no roadmap. There certainly will be obstacles, and the thing that will separate you from your non-entrepreneurial peers is that you will define the roadmap and LEARN to get around those obstacles. That is what this website is about. It is designed to give that little kick in the behind and that little bit of inspiration when you are feeling frustrated or discouraged. It is also a bit of community in an endeavor where everyone needs some support.