Getting started
Going into business for yourself is not difficult even in California. It is more challenging in California to be sure. Many industries are regulated, from massage therapists to for-profit education, automotive repair shops to metal fabrication. But in a tourist haven like San Diego there are no shortage of small retailers and cafes as well. Just like the rest of the United States, small businesses are the major employer in San Diego County.
From a 2019 article, a survey of five hundred small businesses in San Diego with fewer than 100 employees, found that more than a third were women-owned and ten percent of the total were veteran-owned. In another local online journal, in 2017 there were 60,000 businesses employing fewer than ten people. By the numbers, it sounds like starting my business as a both veteran- and woman-owned should have room to grow.
Our business is among the fortunate start-ups that earned a profit in the first year (2019), but we had a market that needed our particular service and skills. But this market has limited growth potential, so we may find we want to develop other services. One such service – that fit naturally in the market we are already serving, is fingerprinting. In California, as in other states, to work in education, in healthcare, in finance, and other specific industries require employees to undergo a background check including taking fingerprints. The process to start a business required six months including applying, obtaining a background check, approval and obtaining specialized equipment. At this point, we needed to get more business savvy.
In 2020, my business partner and spouse went back to school. It was a suggestion of a friend to seek advice from the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) office in the East County. From that first meeting, we realized that we needed to become educated in how to efficiently run and grow our businesses. Training is offered for free. That office, like hundreds across the country are funded by grants from the US Small Business Administration. Mentoring though, puts the responsibility on the business owner to do research, form theories, and then test them. Our first tool he provided – that I had never seen before – is the Business Model Canvas (BMI).
homework
A first lesson is learning potential customer segments for my services. And the value proposition for each potential segment.
Truths, Half-truths, and Sea Stories 