Tag Archives: entrepreneur

Slowpreneur: The Patient Startup Idea

Slowpreneur <noun>:

  1. A person who organizes and operates a new business or businesses with a patient approach to profits and growth while taking a measured financial risk.
  2. A person who begins a new business or businesses as a side project until it becomes established, thus before operating the business in a full time capacity.

I stumbled upon this word by accident. I was sitting on the plane from Charlotte, NC to Orlando, FL and found myself sitting next to a psychologist, Tracy, reading some startup book on her tablet. We had been talking for the first third of the flight, but were currently on a break to do some reading. She nudges me and points to a word in the book: solopreneur. She says, “Ha, slowpreneur, that’s kind of like you!” I smile, read the word on the digital page, and reply kindly, “That says solopreneur.” Her embarrassment was palpable, so I quickly interjected, “But I do like the idea of a slowpreneur! I’m writing it down.”

I checked Google when we landed and, as of writing this article, when you search for slowpreneur Google suggests (and displays) the results for solopreneur. If you force it to use slowpreneur, there are a total of 3 results!
slowpreneur google search results 2012-08-30

Mind. Blown.

Is this really a phrase I could coin? Alright, I’m doing it (I’ve already bought the domain)! In this startup world of big money, explosive growth, the quick buck, and the desire to make a million dollars in a year (165,000,000 results), I want to do something different.

Slowpreneur Creed

I want to be patient. I want to grow within my means. I don’t want to incur debt. I will hold back the charging bull. I will continue to live my life. I will learn every day. I will let go of the reins when it’s ready. I will not be greedy. I will succeed.

So here’s to the slowpreneurs [raises glass in the air], who adventure into business with a slower pace, a balanced life, and the patience to see it through. Cheers.

Until You Ask For Money, You Don’t Know How Serious They Are

The title of this post is from a conversation this week at a Reddit Denver Business Owners meetup/meeting. When I first heard it, I nodded my head in agreement, but today when I was speaking with my accountant about my failed business, Survival Gift Shop, she said, “Did you make any money from it?” The sad answer to that was no.

I’m not terribly proud of this fact, especially since I sunk $700 in product, fees (PayPal and Shopify), and advertising, not even counting my time (because really, what startup actually places a price on their time in the beginning). Results? Not a single person clicked BUY over the 6 month period where it was heavily marketed and even got some organic search traffic. At the very end, I even tried unloading them at cost on ebay and still no takers over two 7 day auctions. Now I grant you, a wise woman who loved the idea and built a Lady’s Personal Survival Kit of her own once exclaimed that it was more of an impulse buy, so the method of delivery was possibly wrong (not the idea), but I didn’t have the capital or the faith to try it again.
Continue reading

Getting Started Requires a Working Motor

This isn’t a story of building all the parts before you have a working product. No, that would be obvious. This is about needing a working motor before you can even get started on the trip. After years of going into an office, accomplishing tasks from 9-5, and trying to fit in the other priorities of my life around that timeframe, it’s tricky to build out a day and a schedule where you can balance all those priorities in your own way. Continue reading

The Adventure Begins: Level 1 Entrepreneur

I thought I would let everyone know that after just shy of 3 years with SurveyGizmo as a customer support rep, sales engineer, technical training manager, and business development manager, I’ve decided to pursue my own interests and become a self-employed, poor for a little while, entrepreneur. I tried this three and a half years ago with limited success, but thanks to personal learning efforts and the wealth of knowledge I’ve gained from my coworkers at SurveyGizmo, I’m 5x’s as knowledgeable and capable as I was back then.
Continue reading