My first stock purchase

About a month ago I finally made my first stock purchase. BNS, which I had been watching, dropped down to $35 and I got in. Since then it has fluctuated and it was kind of fun to see how much money I’ve “made”. But today for the first time I noticed I “lost”. That’s ok though because I’m in for the long haul. It almost makes me wonder if I should buy more!

Another stock I am watching is SC.

But I have also once again been toying with the idea of starting my own business, on a smaller scale than I was thinking before just to make it more doable. So I’m hesitant to tie up all my money in stocks, I’d like to keep some extra for starting-up expenses.

Career direction

I enjoy my job (for the most part) and I’m really interested in the sector the company is in (technology/finance). So much that lately I’ve actually been thinking that this is a career path I’d like to pursue and trying to figure out how to go about it and wondering if I should consider going back to school to get the skill set I need to progress.

That said, I just completed this Passion Puzzle activity I stumbled across and surprisingly enough the results are pointing me back towards my original plan of starting my own business. I’m actually quite surprised because just earlier today I wrote a long journal entry about how I might be giving up on that dream and trying to pursue this new career direction. But the passion puzzle has made me realize that I shouldn’t give up on my original plan.

I need to take some steps to make that happen.

Finding success as an entrepreneur

I love reading bios of successful entrepreneurs, especially young ones, because I always hope that somehow finding out about where they came from will give me some clue or hint on how I can be successful as well.

But I’ve come to the realization that often those bios focus on what worked out and gloss over what didn’t. Supposedly over 50% of small businesses fail, and we only hear about the ones that make it and are successful. However, a lot of those businesses that fail are driven into the ground by serial entrepreneurs who may have failed at a number of business attempts but eventually go on to start a business that actually becomes wildly successful. I’ve recently met a local successful entrepreneur who started a company in their mid 20s that now has profits in the seven figures. That’s pretty impressive, but they did try a lot of other things that didn’t work out before finding success (and of course that isn’t mentioned in their bio piece). I guess more than anything it’s important to remember that failures are just part of the learning process and it’s important to keep trying.

Here’s an interview Ramit did that talks about having lots of failures before finding success.

Getting organized

Ok. I’ve been doing my research, getting organized to try and start putting together a business plan, and trying to find resources available to people wanting to start a small business. Unfortunately it’s becoming apparent to me that it will be pretty tough trying to access some of these resources while working full time, since most of these services are offered during regular business hours. For example, Small Business BC seems to have a ton of great resources, but they’re basically open M-F 9-5.

My business idea will definitely be part-time to start, so I’m going to have to be working another job to support myself. I could just try to look for a part-time job, but thinking about how little I would make pains me. I know starting a business should be all about following my dreams but the thought only making enough to live on for the next few years (?) while the business hopefully grows into something lucrative does not appeal to me. I still want to earn enough income to be able to put money aside to invest and save.

The problem with working part-time is twofold. The part-time jobs I can think of and would qualify for are in service or retail and therefore don’t pay much at all, and the low hourly wage combined with part-time hours just isn’t going to provide much of an income.

The ideal situation would be to find a full-time job that offers flex-time. But it doesn’t seem straightforward to find that kind of situation. Last week I had an interview and it was only at the interview they told me they would like the job to have flex hours, this wasn’t mentioned in the job posting at all. Needless to say, I’d be thrilled if I was offered that position, but until that happens I have to rethink my job hunting strategy if I want to focus on positions that offer flex-time.

Starting a business

I’ve been wanting to start my own business for a long time. It’s a slow process for me because it’s scary. Kind of like jumping into the stock market. I just spent $50 on educational materials specific to the type of business I want to start, bringing my total spending so far to about $100. It seems like a lot of money for me to spend, but when I type it out and see that’s it’s $100 invested into a business idea, then it doesn’t seem like much at all.

I really want to do this, but I’m dragging my feet about it because part of me thinks I should wait until I’m more settled, have a job and a steady income. But part of me feels like there’s no better time to start than the present.

The next step would be for me to write a business plan. That’s actually where some of these educational materials will come in handy. I also need to do some research about resources available to me, apparently there are tons of underutilized resources out there for young people and women wanting to start their own businesses. I need to find the local ones!

I guess I’ll be doing all of this in the evenings after work. Yup, I’m back at work after having a blissful week off. Now I’m kicking myself for not having done more of this when I had the week off, but that’s the way it always is I guess. It’s easier to get stuff done when you’re busy.