Resources are not your enemy, they are your ally.
Resources are vital when it comes to starting your own business and you may look around yourself and think, I have nothing but an idea, now what? I am going to bet you have more than you think you do! I remember when all I had was an idea and although this idea in its foundation is the same, how I thought I was going to execute said idea is constantly changing.
The idea, a flower farm where I can grow flowers and make pretty bouquets and someday have workshops and garden events, “oh it will be so beautiful and fun” I tell myself! I could see myself surrounded my flowers and happy customers that I am sharing and spreading love and happiness everywhere I go.
This idea was more than a daydream, it was a promise of hope. I light at a time of very heavy mental health darkness. The idea was more than making money or giving myself a hobby, it was a big idea for me because it was about healing myself and spreading the idea of recovery to other veterans like myself who needed a hand reached out to them in the dark.
When I had this idea, I also felt like I didn’t have anything.
My home sits on 15 acres of untamed land and being fortunate enough to have access to land did give me hand in the game, but it is overall unnecessary for most depending on what you want to do. I had little when it came to shelter, garden beds, equipment, and manpower.
I didn’t know how to take my idea and turn it into something tangible. I read a lot of books, classically googled how to start a flower farm, and even started changing the people I followed on social media. It can be overwhelming the amount of information you will find.
The answers are everywhere if you look for them but taking the first steps are terrifying. Especially when you are the only one that can see the dream in your mind.
So, let’s talk about resources.
I feel the best resources you have are the people around you. This doesn’t mean the people you have around you now are the right people, only you can know that. And you know based on the feedback given to you when you share your ideas with others, how it’s received if they are someone you should continue to share with.
As an example, if you are telling someone about your plan to start a business and the feedback you received is negative, downplayed and you are told you cannot achieve such a goal, this person is NOT the right person to be in your life during this transition. You may need to reevaluate some of the people who you surround yourself with because there are right people and there are wrong people to have around you when you want to start something new.
As an example, when I informed my partner at the time that I wanted to start my own small business, he simple said no. I remember I tried to convince him for months about how my idea is such a good idea and how I plan to make it work and how I want it to be this great thing to help myself and others, and even to this day, he is not on board and feel I am overall wasting my time.
And that’s ok, because it is not his business, it is not his idea and I cannot force something that is part of me onto another person, that is not fair. But as you probably feel or can feel, it can be challenging to feel unsupported, and it can be easy to stop at this point if you don’t have the discipline to push for your dreams.
I found others to help and support me. I am no longer with the man I was when I started this journey, many things have attributed to that change, and I will state that my idea of Freedom Acres SD LLC is apart of it. I have accepted that.
The main thing I have found that helped me find the right resources was as simple as creating brain map. This will help you look at the areas you need to get started and you will find how fast the ideas come for other areas of need.
When I started Freedom Acres SD, the idea, the center of my brain map was flower farm of healing. What did I need? My main topic of areas where small business startup information, turning my land in an LLC, logo/branding, garden planning and marketing. From each of the main topics I was able to make smaller branches.
As an example, logo/branding. I needed to name my Farm, what was my overall vision of the farm, website, Instagram, what are my needs. I then started looking into website design. Do I want to make my own website, do I have time for that, can I afford a design team? This led me to find UpFrame Creative in Brookings SD, that was running competition at the time where you can submit your idea into a contest and if selected you will receive a year of website design, and I won!!
If you are like me at all, you may think you can do it all on your own. I am not awesome at asking others for help or assistance and I tend to think I can do it all on my own. But trust me, you have resources available to you. The people you surround yourself with make a huge impact on your life. The businesses you reach out to will make a difference. They all may not be able to help you and its ok to say no to their services if they don’t fit.
Remember you’re the creator of your life. You are the one that must decide to make it happen.