Locally Grown, Locally Known
Entrepreneurship is different for everyone; it’s all about finding what is right and what works best.
Both Command Service and Blu Rain have been apart of the Antioch community for years.
Business is a part of everyone’s life almost everyday whether it is realized or not. Business has many different aspects, and for local businesses entrepreneurship could be the most crucial part. In Antioch there are many businesses that have been started through entrepreneurship, for example, Command Service and Blu-Rain Massage.
People throughout the community and further don’t know most of the aspects to starting a business, although they are exposed to them a lot of the time. The first steps in starting a business are the most challenging for many people. Some of those steps could include saving money, finding workers, finding space and much more. Along with the first steps being the most challenging, that also comes with a complete different experience for most people because of the many different problems that can be faced.
Founder of Command Service, Robert Milliken, and founder and owner of Blu-Rain Massage, Sheila Loos, answered a few questions about their business and the process of starting and maintaining it.
“Some of the starting steps are gaining the proper training in the field, saving enough money to have a cushion for the first six months [and] advertise to acquire clientele,’’ Milliken said. “Then mustering up the courage to quit your job and plunge into it.”
Different industries most likely require different materials and will have to meet different standards throughout the process. Through this it will cause different people to prioritize different steps in their process. The starting steps can be different as needed but it is all about what it turns out to be in the end.
“Rent the space, build out the space, figure out a name and go about the process of making your name legal,” Loos said. “Then notifying the clients of a new location [and] buying the items needed to have a business.”
The owners of each business show how they have had different experiences and what they prioritized in starting a business. Starting a business is about what the face of the business is supposed to look like and the necessary steps taken to get to that goal. Marketing is by far the most important part of a business. Without marketing there is no income, which means the business could fall through the ground. Marketing can be thought of from many different standpoints. Some examples of that would be your focus, what is popular and what will benefit the business the most.
“All marketing was to be done honestly with no hidden caches or gimmicks,” Milliken said. “If it doesn’t work, try something different.”
According to Econlib, marketing is defined as the study and management of exchange relationships. It is the business process of creating relationships with and satisfying customers. Marketing is used to attract customers because it can draw someone in based on how you advertise or propose a service to them.
“I always do my best,” Loos said. “My industry is a little different than a retail store. I sell a service so my interaction with my clients is the most important. If I give my clients my best and help them with their pain or stress, then they will automatically tell their friends and family about me.”
Clientele plays a major role in marketing. Client interaction is the most important part of some people’s businesses because with a good relationship the customers continue to return and that’s how their marketing works. On the other hand, for some people, marketing is focused on the services and making them popular among the customers. Both ways show a different approach to marketing that create success.
Entrepreneurship can show the rights, wrongs, positives and negatives of a business, but it is all about where it turns out in the end and what benefits it most for the future. The process teaches what will and won’t work for a business and how to take advantage of every opportunity that arises.
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