Going into business on your own

 

 

I believe that America is still that land of opportunity.  It’s a place where people can not only dream of starting their own business and create upward mobility for their family and themselves through ingenuity and hard work, but is a place where that dream can become reality.

 

As a matter of fact, the idea of America itself somewhat rests with the fact that back in the 1770’s a young man named John Hancock found a way to import tea at a lower cost than the established English could. . . .and when the English slapped a tax on Hancock’s tea to keep their own tea competitive it led to events including the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution.  So, it may be fair to say that business and entrepreneurship and controlling your own destiny is a fabric that has been woven into the cloth of the country from its beginning.

 

A couple of weeks ago I was asked by two young ladies when I thought the opportune time – age wise – to go from funeral home employee to the idea of funeral home owner was.  I’ve thought about that a lot since  — and I think, like buying a house, the time is never right and you will never be ready, but preparation and strategy must be thought out ahead of time.

 

I’ve learned it is almost never the right time to buy a house — if the interest rate is right it seems like the prices are high and if the price seems right, maybe the down payment is more than you would like.  I’ve learned over time, that with the proper preparation and strategy, if you make a good decision on a house purchase, no time is really wrong. . . . . Time seems to have a way of evening things out.

 

The same with going into a business.  If your preparation and strategy is correct and you are willing to make the sacrifice to work long hours, I think that business, as long as it fits a consumer need or want,  will work out for you.

 

And, it’s interesting, I think that there may be more opportunities at this time in the Death Care realm than their was 40 years ago.  Forty years ago, young funeral directors either bought a funeral home or they worked for someone at a funeral home.  Today, with society’s changing mores about death and funerals, I think there are many opportunities in the Death Care space that didn’t exist a while back.

 

Watch the trends. . . see what is happening.  Forty years ago some funeral directors did very well by installing a crematory and becoming a centralized trade business crematory for funeral homes that didn’t want to make that investment in crematory equipment. . . . Those original “cremation entrepreneurs” did very well.  Is that opportunity out there in the world of alkaline hydrolysis or natural organic reduction?

 

Don’t like being on call?  What about the idea of being a Funeral Planner and having conncections with more than one funeral home where you can arrange services for your planning clientele and make an income in the insurance realm?

 

And, there is of course, the traditional funeral home business.  Is there a building in your community that could be re-fitted to house a funeral home?  Maybe it won’t be just like a traditional funeral home and you can design a functional building that would work and be more cost efficient. . . . This young couple in Bennington, Vermont, is doing just that.

 

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

If you are a young person wanting to go into business make sure you know your strengths, but more importantly, make sure you know your weaknesses. . . . .and then find a mentor to help you with those weaknesses.  For instance, if you know you are a good funeral director and are willing to work long and hard, but don’t really understand how the money is made or bank financing is done, then find yourself a mentor who can work with you on those details.

 

A lot of business expertise comes through experience.  I’ve learned that young people have great ideas, but by the very nature of being young, don’t have great experiential learning, at least in business.  Don’t be afraid to ask an experienced person for help with that. . . . they may have already made the mistake of spending too much on advertising or locating on a wrong corner.  Their old mistakes and the experience they gained from that is “tuition” expense you might be able to save by having a trusted mentor.

 

I think it is pretty clear that long-held death traditions across America are waning and the consumer is looking for options when addressing a death in the family.  It’s also pretty clear that traditional funerals continue to trend lower percentage wise and within the next decade or two we will reach maximum flame cremation penetration.  New solutions for death dispositions are knocking on the doors of consumers. . . . .

 

. . . .amid this change, opportunity may come to those willing to embrace it.

 

Related Article —  “Entrepreneurship, Startups, and Business Formation are booming across the USA” — The Center for American Progress

 

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