Societal conditioning, lack of opportunities, unfair division of labor in the home and motherhood, leave most women ill-prepared to fully support themselves and their families after divorce. It’s time we change that.
Are you ready to become self-sufficient by starting your own service-based business? Today we talk about the Sweet Spot, where quality and demand meets profitability, resulting in success. You’ll learn the 4 qualities of a successful business and how to choose your type of service-based business to get you started down the road to self-sufficiency!
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Episode Transcript
Welcome back I’m Traci Simkins and you’re listening to Refined By Divorce.
Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone! I know this can be a tough day when you’re going through a divorce. In last week’s interview, if you haven’t listened to it, please go back and do, but Michele Bates talked about how we put a lot of emphasis in this life on romance and romantic relationships, but that they’re not the only edifying relationships we have. So I would recommend on this day of hearts to focus on the other beautiful relationships you have.
Refined Rebel - Sheila Michaels
Speaking of relationships, before today’s Refined Rebel came along, the women in her day were defined almost exclusively by their relationships. They were either Miss, belonging to their father, or Mrs., belonging to their husband. Men are and have always been addressed as Mr. whether single, married, divorced or widowed.
Always the independent, Sheila Michaels wanted an honorific to fill the gap between Miss and Mrs., a way to address an independent woman who did not belong to a man.
Sheila and her roommate, Mary Hamilton, spent years traveling, protesting, and registering voters. Mary was subscribed to a left-wing political magazine and when Sheila saw that it was addressed to her friend as Ms. Hamilton, she knew it was the perfect solution for a woman who was neither married nor dependent on her father, or anyone else. It was the inspiration behind her crusade to bring the term into the spotlight.
Despite her efforts, it wasn’t until 8 years later that it got traction, when she suggested the use of the term in a radio Interview. Ms. finally caught on, and in 1970, Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes chose to title their new feminist magazine Ms. The magazine debuted in January of 1972 and the term became a feminist calling card.
You can read much more about Sheila Michaels and the other rebels on refinedbydivorce.com/refinedrebels, all one word.
Adding a new honorific may seem relatively unimportant when compared to other rights, but it’s about so much more than a title. Language can reveal power dynamics, belief systems, political ideologies, and perceived social order. Language reflects and directly influences perception, and it’s important to make changes that will directly impact how women are seen and treated.
Embracing the change from Mrs. to Ms., will help you embrace all of the other changes that go along with divorce. The road from partnership to independence is difficult, but one of the ways you can help move it along is by becoming self-sufficient. And starting a service-based business can be a great way to accomplish it and that’s why I help women get there in my consulting business, and it’s one of the goals of this podcast. To teach women to become self-sufficient following a divorce by starting a successful business.
Qualities of a Successful Business
So far we’ve talked about the process to determine if starting a business is right for you, and how to use the entrepreneurship discovery packet I created to help you get there. If you haven’t done so, please go back and listen to episode 5 and you can get the packet on the website. refinedbydivorce.com/podcast. Just provide your email address and I will send you the link to download the pdf and financial spreadsheets.
The process I recommend is going through your finances, resources available, your strengths and your deep interests.
So for example, if your deep interests include cultivating relationships and environmental conservation, you could start a cloth diaper pickup and delivery service, or a recycling pick up service.
Or if your interests include being outdoors and caring for animals, you could start a dog walking or dog-washing business.
If you’re with me so far, you’re going to take a look at all that information you’ve uncovered and determine the Sweet Spot.
So what do I mean?
A successful business needs to have 4 qualities:
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- Be Well-Delivered
- Have Staying Power
- Be Profitable
- Provide Enough to Support Your Specific Needs
The Sweet Spot is at the intersection of these 4 things. So let’s go through the 4 qualities, and then how to find your sweet spot.
1. Your Service Needs to be Well-Delivered
A well-delivered service is one that meets or exceeds the customer’s expectations. You want to:
Deliver consistently, on time and under budget.
Ensure your service fits your customer’s unique needs and preferences.
You can also offer customized solutions or individualized attention at a premium.
Be responsive – being available to answer questions, address issues, and provide support before, during, and after the service is delivered.
Be a good value. This doesn’t mean cheap, it means providing a service that is worth what they paid.
Getting in touch and staying in contact with your clients is the best way to ensure you’re meeting their needs, and that their expectations are fully understood and met.
So you want to make sure that whatever service you choose to offer, you’re confident in your ability to deliver a high quality service that exceeds expectations.
2. Your Business Needs to have Staying Power
A business with staying power is one that can survive and thrive over the long term, and there are several ways you can build a business to ensure it has staying power, but before you get there, you need to make sure it’s a service that you can see yourself doing for at least a few years.
I’m sure you’ve heard people say do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life, but I’ve seen many women take their passion or hobby, build a business around it and then it’s no longer enjoyable. They quickly burn out and end up closing down a profitable business and lose their hobby. And having hobbies you enjoy is important for your mental health. I’m not saying to avoid it altogether, there are plenty of people who are successful going this route, especially if it’s a passion they’ve had from birth, I just to carefully consider before diving in.
My advice is to instead focus on what I call deep interests. Which are the themes in life that light you up and give you energy, as opposed to a specific hobby, that way your business is built on a more stable foundation so it has staying power.
3. Your Business Needs to be Profitable
If you’re not being paid, it’s not a business. So you want to make sure your idea is something that people are willing to pay for, or better yet, already paying for.
Some people will tell you that you need to find a new idea that nobody else is offering, but that’s riskier than doing something that people are already paying for. So save that for your second business venture and instead take a look around and see what other types of businesses are successful, and build your own version instead.
You’ll want to do some market research, and it doesn’t have to be complicated, but you want to find out:
Demand: Is there a desire for your product or service?
Market size: How many people would be interested in your offering?
Economic indicators: What is the income range and employment rate?
Location: Where do your customers live and where can your business reach?
Market saturation: How many similar options are already available to consumers?
Pricing: What do potential customers pay for these alternatives?
You can do research online – is someone currently doing the same thing or something similar, and are they making money?
You can also find and reach out to your potential customer base and survey them on what they’re happy with, what they would like done differently, and so on.
Getting a firm grip on the profitability of your idea is crucial, but that’s only part of it.
4. Your Business Needs to Make Enough Profit
I included financial worksheets with instructions for you to analyze your own situation, so you should know what your income needs are. So when you’re doing your market research you want to not only find out if it’s profitable, but is it profitable enough to support you.
Teaching piano lessons may have the first 3 qualities, but can you make enough money to support yourself?
If not and it’s still something you want to do, how can you make it work?
Can you teach group lessons to increase your hourly pay?
Can you hire another teacher to increase the number of lessons taught using your piano in your home?
Can you develop a course you can sell online?
At the end of the day, you want to go into it with as much information as you can to ensure success.
So if you’ve filled out your discovery packet and have a list of ideas, you should be able to take the 4 qualities into consideration, and determine if any of your ideas fit the Sweet Spot
If you’re still struggling just to come up with ideas, in the show notes you’ll find my favorite links with ideas for service based businesses.
Or sit down and brainstorm the different tasks and responsibilities you would pay someone to do for you to free up your time.
And it doesn’t need to be something you personally are able to do, if you’re willing to hire out the work, you can just start and run the business.
With that in mind, here are some of the most profitable businesses.
Personal and home services: home cleaning, pet care, and personal training, are in demand. Busy schedules make it challenging for them to find time for these tasks.
Digital marketing services: With more and more businesses moving online, there is a growing demand for digital marketing services such as SEO, social media management, and PPC advertising.
IT services: As technology continues to evolve, there is a growing demand for IT services such as website development, software development, and network security.
Consulting services: Businesses and individuals are often willing to pay for expert advice in areas such as finance, management, and technology.
Healthcare services: Healthcare services, such as physical therapy, chiropractic, and mental health services, are in high demand due to an aging population and increased awareness of the importance of personal health and wellness.
Education and training services – tutoring, coaching, and language classes are in demand. You only need to be 10 to 15% ahead of someone in order to be a teacher. You can teach a beginners course and your students will move on to other teachers as they progress, or you can start with beginner classes and as they move on, so do you, staying ahead of them every step of the way.
Whatever you decide to do, if you do your research and make sure your business has the qualities we talked about, you should be successful.
Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope this information was helpful and if it was, can you please rate and review and share the podcast for me? It will help to reach more people who need it.
Next week we’ll be talking about the steps to start your business.
Enjoy the rest of your holiday, we’ll talk soon.
Love In, Peace Out.
Bye.
