Dawn Bonner

Growing up in a small town where ninety-eight percent of the parents were self-employed makes one understand the mechanics of being self-employed and to know it is a family-affair. My entrepreneurial efforts began at the young age of 11-years-old when we (bro & sis) got the idea to sell night-crawlers and baby-sitting services to the resorts near us.

Creating an income with our ingénue was a sweet success and addictive. It opened a whole new world of opportunities where it was easy to think none existed. We learned how to tear down blown-out motors and recycle them, how to care for elderly and disabled people who needed fill-in assistance, how to bail hay, pick rocks from fields, work behind the counters at the resort stores, and how to clean cabins, as well as a few things that didn't work.

After high-school it became time to get a 'real job.' Being raised in a farming and resort area gave me a good work ethic and the ability to be resourceful, curious, and not afraid to do something that wasn't in the job description. My employers would tell me my skills were invaluable--they would praise my performance, attitude, and willingness; yet, the raises were always disappointing. After leaving one job, the company literally had to hire two people to replace me.

One day my boss taught me a valuable lesson. We had gone over my review and everything was fabulous, yet my raise was only a quarter. Asked my manager, "John, why is it I relieve the receptionist when she goes to lunch, have learned the switchboard, did Sue's job and kept up my own duties, yet my raise is only a quarter?"

John said, "You know how you enter the data for each departments budgets each year? Everyone's raises are already accounted for in that budget. The only thing you would do, is if you did a terrible job, you would save us money."

It was at that moment, it came to me, no company would ever pay me for my worth.

It was then, my entrepreneurial skills came back out and have been a self-employed business woman ever since. From owning several full-service salons, business consulting, marketing health and nutritional products, to developing websites for online sales it has been a dream come true. The ability to use my creativeness, to work in areas that hold my interest, to learn new things, and to dictate my hours, when, and where my work will be and who surrounds me, being a self-employed business woman is fulfilling, a great joy and a blessing.

Being a single mom, my entrepreneurship allowed my children greater access to being with me. They earned money by helping my clients, bringing them drinks, food, helping them to their cars so they wouldn't ruin their new manicures. After moving to a new state decided to work out of the home, which allowed me to be home when the children were sick, out of school for the summer, and when they got home from school. It also afforded me the benefit of going on school field trips, to go to lunch and spend afte oons with my parents, and to carve out time with friends that normally wouldn't have worked.

My passion for business, family, learning and teaching others how to do what they love never tires. Life is good.

Business is fascinating, whether it is consulting with a floral shop or auto shop, selling products online, or working with women in the beauty industry; to me there is one thing that drives business and makes it a stand out business and that is excellent customer care, offering superior products (whether it is a service or a product), under promising and over delivering. When businesses use these simple strategies, everything else falls into place. This is what takes the confusion of what to do, where to spend your time, and what to invest in.

This philosophy was true in the 80s when the economy was strong and is even more important today when the economy is weak. If you carry these very philisophies, then you can in today's market develop a thriving business doing something you love with people you enjoy.

Ask yourself this question--how many businesses do you deal with today that make you feel like you are important? How many businesses do you deal with today that give superlative customer service? How many businesses do you deal with that remember who you are?

Probably not many...and if you are a business owner, how do your customers rate you?