A couple of hours after discussing the idea of doing something entrepreneurial, Lorena came up with the idea of making a tube based cat scratch post. Lorena and the kids both believe they will sell well at local pet stores and on the internet. I can think of some ways we might be able to give ourselves a competitive advantage, too. Now we need to figure out how we are going to extend our entrepreneurial effort to include individual service to family, church, and community the profitability required to stay in business.
There is an order to our responsibility. Our business plan must consider individual service to others as part of our service to God. This business is not about the business itself providing service to family, church, and community. It is about providing the owners and employees the resources they need to render that service.
So where do we go from here. I think I need to sit down with the kids and work up a plan on how we are going to investigate whether this new idea might work. We need to determine how we will measure success, then systematically gather and evaluate the market, ideas for how to sell into the market, etc. All this with a thorough evaluation after each step to decide whether we want to take the next step or pick a new product or service.