Surely we don’t want to reinvent the wheel in our home businesses and mentors and advice are the mainstay of any beginning entrepreneur trying to make a go at a home business. But, can imitation help or hurt us? Is there a happy medium between borrowing from others who have gone before and coming up with our own original business path?
I have written before about how much we can gain as new business owners and operators by finding people who we admire and businesses that are successful and learning from those who have gone before. If we try to make our businesses too much like someone else’s then we might be selling ourselves short, however, and making it tough for people to see our business as a unique, thriving enterprise.
There are some givens in the business world and imitation can be a good way to get a business off the ground–but we also have to individualize our approach. Imitation can be dull, lifeless and boring. There just isn’t anything like the original. Remembering this, finding ways to individualize our businesses, develop a unique reputation, and take ownership of our own business operation is an important step for a home business owner. We can only get so far by taking on the way other people have done things. What may have worked well for someone else, may get us started, but it might not be enough.
I think the most successful business people do both–they borrow from business practices that have worked for others and make the most of conventional wisdom, but they also learn how to individualize their businesses to not only fit their personal needs and dreams, but to also attempt to solve problems and meet the needs of clients and customers in a new and unique way too.
Also: Tell Your Story
Finding Examples of What You Want to Do