Chapter 3: Creating Business from Opportunity

This chapter deals with the reasons why you may decide to start a business and questions to consider when you think you have a business idea. Before you start a business, you must know who the business will serve, what the business will offer, and how the business will provide a service or product. It's also very important to know who your target market is. If you have a great business that you know will provide the best service or product. but you have no idea as to who will use your business...then you have a big problem. Also, you need to be aware of your competitive advantage, or the "What" that makes you different from your competitors.

Our family construction business seemed ideal to talk about for this chapter. The company has grown very rapidly since we opened about 9 years ago. I believe it is because we have a competitive advantage that causes us to soar over competition. We are small and easy to get a hold of. When a customer has a problem it is very easy for them to get a hold of the owner of the company, my father. Other companies that have the volume that we do are set up like large corporations. Good luck getting a hold of the "President" or "CEO." We have a small staff, but that has worked to our advantage. Our project managers, superintendents, construction managers, and marketers have all been hand-picked by the owner because they are the best of the best. To put it all into perspective... On one hand, you have a large, mega-corp that has a massive office building with hundreds of employees, many of which are not adding much value. On the other hand, you have a small company with about 20 employees and a small building with about 5 cubicles and two offices. Now, they both have the ability and resources to take on a large, multi-building renovation on one of your properties. Who are you going to choose? While it may seem that a large corporation that has things like "employee of the month parking" is the way to go, consider this: If you have an emergency or problem of any scale, you can forget going "to the top" for help....the "top" is cruising in his yacht. This is where our customers recognize our value. We are fast, mobile, and easily accessible. The company, Restoration Systems, has been able to successfully compete and beat out the big guys all while staying a relatively small company.