Adventures in Entrepreneurship with Jeremy Hanks

Unique Service + Hard Work = Opportunity

A couple days ago, I got a knock on my door, and a guy that was wearing blue rubber gloves was there when I opened it. He said something like: “I lost my job a while back, and got sick of not working, so I’m out providing a service today. I’ll clean out your garbage cans for $10 each, or two for $15. I use a pressure washer and industrial strength bleach and I literally climb inside them and scrub them by hand.”

I hired him on the spot, for two reasons: 1. my garbage cans were nasty; 2. I’d have hired him anyway, because here’s a guy down on his luck making his own.

We got talking after he was done, and he said he’d been laid off from doing sales, and realized that if he could find a service that’s unique that people need, and then just work hard, he’d be able to make something happen. He says a lot of days, he makes $300-$400, and he even has an “employee” for times when lots of people are home.

Going door to door offering to scrub people’s garbage cans out in 100 degree UT end of summer heat (imagine the can he told me about with a full gallon of milk that had spilled out and sat for a LONG time or the one filled with what looked like months and months of dog poop) isn’t glamourous entrepreneurship ala Bill Gates and Richard Branson and Michael Dell and Donald Trump and Oprah Winfrey.

But this guy gets it. Opportunity is what you make it. Loosing his job wasn’t in his control. Rolling up his sleeves, getting dirty (literally in his case), and having the courage to act: all very much in his control. To me, he hits the core definition of an entrepreneur square on the head.

So find a product or service that’s unique that people need (and will pay for), get off your butt, get to work, and make your own opportunity!

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Comments Filed under Entrepreneurship

hard work, opportunity

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