Most women consider starting a business at some time or other. When my husband opted for early retirement from teaching to become a pastor, we moved to Atlanta, Georgia. He became a student instead of the professor, and I seriously considered starting a business.

Owning a business requires certain personal characteristics, prime among these is self-discipline. There is no boss directing you. However, you should realize that being a homemaker requires this same self-starting mechanism.

You will need to have the ability to multitask. Again, being a homemaker prepares you for this. If you are a mother, think how much multitasking you already do.

A certain amount of boldness helps. You have to be brave enough to try out your ideas. You also need to fearlessly market your product wherever and whenever you can.

Self-confidence is a must. Try it---you can do it! You have to believe in yourself while being aware and willing to accept that some of your ideas will fail---but you will never know if you don’t try. Be selective in what you try. If you stand to lose all your investment trying one idea, it might be better to wait until later to try it when you have more money to risk.

You need to be able to listen to others and evaluate their ideas, gleaning the good advice, discarding the rest.

A major advantage of a home business is that it allows families to work together on a common project. There is something for everyone to do that matches their time and ability. Kids are needed, and that’s a definite change from their being in the way.

My friend Shirl and I decided to start a business. She’d moved to Atlanta several years previously. As a newcomer I wanted to do something that would get me out to meet people, but I didn’t have the money to socialize. Having a small business offered a way to know the Atlanta that would be impossible if I just went to an office every day.

We decided to market herbs and spices. Not everyone needs many, but everyone uses at least one of the products we’d carry. And everyone wants a bargain. We could offer our customers a bargain while fulfilling our goal of succeeding in business. From working in food co-ops for eight years in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, I knew that herbs and spices are one of the highest marked-up items in the grocery store. The food co-op experience also provided me some knowledge of resources, how to order, what to order, how to package, etc. It would also take only a small investment to get started.

We decided to distribute our products on a private basis rather than commercially. This was an opportunity to provide the homemaker with a bargain.

I knew that by working with small amounts and having a large turnover we could offer an attractive feature other than price: freshness. We could also offer the buyer the sizes they needed. How many spices sit on a shelf, wasted, because they were purchased to use a half a teaspoon and not needed again? Convenient, competitive sizes would be a selling point.

There are down sides to starting a business. Government regulations seem to constrain rather than support small businesses with their paper work and requirements.

Another disadvantage was that was that herbs and spices were small price items. We’d have to sell a lot to make any kind of money.

Now for a question: What was the most expensive spice we sold?

Thank you for visiting  www.ProBlogs.com/CarolynCHolland  Visit us again tomorrow night when the answer to the question will be answered at the end of part two of WOMEN IN SMALL BUSINESS.