Adventures in Businessland
Well, I’ve just gotten back from my free business counseling appointment and I’m not sure whether I should be crying or laughing. Currently I’m still laughing. Let’s just say that the old adage “You get what you pay for” rings entirely true and in this particular case I was getting a free business mentor for my could be future technology start up.
From the beginning:
I got a little nervous when I initially walked in and saw a massive sign that read Small Business Administration and all the government official emblems, flags and so on considering the website that I registered for this meeting on was seemingly not at all this official. It turns out that the business I was there to see shares an office with the government. (Deep breath). I was greeted by a very friendly woman, who I was instantly glad to be working with, only to be led into a cubicle with a man closer to the age of 100 than 90... (Feeling rather deflated at this point).
Being that I’ve found “presenting” my idea to a few close friends and family that are at least familiar with various types of technology and mobile apps to be challenging enough, this kind-but way-older gentleman, Norman, didn’t own a smartphone, clearly wasn’t part of any social networks and definitely didn’t know what an App was. Determined to make the most of my free hour I plunged head first into a discussion of my vision, I whipped out my iPad to show off the fancy mock-up I’d made using the Blueprint UI Design App, and laid all my cards on the table. His first reaction was at least to say that he thinks I have a great idea! But it all went fairly downhill from there. One of the main reasons I made the appointment is because obviously I’m looking for more guidance in how to get everything started and one of the things I’m sure of is that I’ll be looking for investors early on. A major problem I’ve been having is that of finding out numbers/statistics of the modeling industry to make projections for investors and cash flow analysis. Norman, in an effort to be useful, got me a spreadsheet I could use to project the potential but had no ideas as to where I might find such information to plug into it. The discussion quickly turned into a back and forth about him telling me what I need to find out and me telling him I already know that those are the things I need to find out and that “how to find them out?” is the reason I was there. Obviously I didn’t expect him to know anything about the modeling industry but I suppose I was hoping he would have an idea I hadn’t already thought of. Needless to say, my free hour turned into a free 40 minutes. On the positive side, I left with a bunch of Business Plan how-tos and some information about Business Plan Workshops where hopefully a younger, more tech savvy crowd resides. I’ll now be implementing my Plan B, which will involve reaching out directly to the agencies I work with to see if they can give me any market feedback. Norman, if you’re out there, thanks again. I have no doubt that you’re incredibly intelligent and a wonderful business man. Sorry it didn’t work out between us.