With summer fast approaching flowers blossom everywhere.  And with these new blooms, my budding ideas and creative side also develop. How about you?  

Summer and Fall tend to be the most freeing times to discover more from life, start a new venture or just sail away in our minds to a new world of, "wouldn't that be fun, profitable and/or exciting!"

The season of divorce

DMK confirms fall as the "season of divorce" in our article, "Is Autumn the Season of Divorce?".  The other three months may struggle with their own identity crisis of which we only started to define in the same article. 

However, summer has a unique quality even more freeing than fall.  A real bust loose kinda' time when we leave our everyday life behind in order to experience, more.

Then...

From an early age when we had summer break to do so many things we loved to do, there was an opportunity for our minds and bodies to mature, not through education but through wild exploration.  Reading, running, swimming include a few things that fostered imagination, exploration and real world experience.  Those summers provided more mind development in those three months than the entire school year, at least for me.

..and Now

Speed up to Summer 2024, we have vacations and celebrations of independence.  We relax, shop, memorialize and hike.  

Once we empty nest and/or go through a major life changing event, like divorce, leaving us with a lot of downtime during the long, hot summer days, we may find it a perfect opportunity to start, buy, invest in something new.  But is it?

Help is on the way!

In fact, we received some correspondence from our readers regarding this topic.  It's a great opportunity to answer a question around a common theme,

"How do you know if this is the right time to start something new, especially after ending something big like a marriage and/or long-term relationship?"

Summer is a perfect time to consider your new ideas, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's the right time to take a trip down the Grand Rapids of idea development .  Instead, let's take a slow, relaxing trip down the subtle streams that lace a partial tree covered countryside.  Then, if you really think you're ready, you can jump off the deep end into a fast moving river of possibility!

Dreamers, listen up! 

If you have had dreams of owning your own business and/or venturing out into a new hobby that you never had time, money and/or courage to start, then listen up!  There are a good deal of things to consider before getting started.  If you can satisfy most everything on this list, than it's prolly' a good time to 

I decided to narrow it down to three big topics, 

Knowledge, Health and Wellness, Financial Considerations

1. Get to know your craft, and/or potential business better than you do now.
   • Up until now, the venture or hobby has only been a dream, regardless how much you think you know about it.  You have been looking through dream goggles.  It looks like the perfect opportunity or hobby for you.  But, now you need to get serious.  Read, investigate and research until you know what almost every new book, site and/or expert has to say on the subject.  
   • Learn more than about what you love or what has interested you enough to get into the new activity.  You should learn about the stuff you should know before you start.
     • e.g. If you are learning about starting a new business, you should learn about marketing and advertising, types of corporations - LLC - sole proprietor and other stuff like federal tax id numbers and state sales tax registration, local business licenses, etc.  "In my 20 years as a business consultant and/or owner, I observed three things that killed small businesses 99% of the time.  The third was insufficient cash flow, operating capital and cash reserves, the second was poor planning and marketing (which likely contributed to the third problem) and the number one problem was insufficient knowledge of business operations like accounting, technology, vendor relations and marketing (which obviously contributed to both the second and third problems)."

       ---

2. Ensure you are healthy enough to start any endeavor that requires a good deal of physical fitness and/or endurance.
   • Consult a health expert and let them know what you would like to get into and any concerns you may have about present conditions or problems.  Make sure you address any problems early so that you don't invest in something only to be stopped prematurely due to health problems.  Even a short delay due to illness can destroy a business, group travel events and hobbies.
   • Don't let a health problem that is under control stop you from doing what you are otherwise sure you are capable.  Make sure your health problem is managed and that you have game plan if it should worsen.  Talk to a friend about stepping in during times you are unable.  Speak with your doctor about worse case scenario and what can be done then and everywhere in between how feeling good and terrible.
   • Don't confuse the energy from exhileration, excitement and adrenaline of starting something new as the real thing.  Once the newness of the beginning stages wears off, long days of planning and dreaming will turn into long days of doing half of what you love and one hundred percent of what you need to run or participate in a successful venture or activity.  That's 150% that goes into everyday!
   • Get strong.  Regardless if your new activity requires you to lift 50 lbs. or more, get into the gym and improve your lifting power and cardiovascular health with strength training and cardio.  Not only does it give you the energy you'll need, it helps you feel and look great which gives you added pep in your step and higher self-esteem (something that helps you believe in yourself and the risks you take to be more successful, at anything).   
   • Ensure your familial wellness will not suffer from your new endeavor.  This does not mean the "pangs" of 
3. There are some important monetary guidelines for your new hobby or venture that are essential to your financial wellness and the success of the activity and/or business.

• Money making ventures,
  • Make sure it doesn't get in the way of your job performance (e.g. tired, late, poor performance reviews, etc)
  • Refrain from taking unpaid time off from your day job and never quit your current employment until you have steady, reliable income from it.
  • It shouldn't be something that you immediately rely upon to support you or itself.  This being said, if your venture requires a source of ongoing funds, you should have more than enough to support it until 6 months or more longer than you anticipate it will take to start earning enough for it to support itself and/or have enough in your current budget to support indefinitely. 
  • Whatever you expect to earn, expect less.  Whatever you expect to invest, invest more.  Whatever budgeted for monthly expenses, budget more.  Whatever time you have scheduled to spend on the venture, plan for more.  Whatever problems you anticipate, anticipate at least twice as many, or more.  
• Hobbies (with no anticipated earnings)
  • Make sure it doesn't get in the way of necessary, monthly earnings or get in the way of your job performance (e.g. tired, late, poor performance reviews, etc)
  • Don't start it if it is something that requires a large output of cash based solely on the reviews from the person selling it.
  • Be cautious of businesses that focus more on recruitment than the service or product they sell.
  • Never start a hobby that could be or lead to addictive, unsafe and/or unhealthy activities beyond the scope of reasonable risk.
  • Choose something that inspires you and never let someone else affect how you feel about it.

    ---

Now, if all three factors seem like things you can handle, then all you need is an idea of something you love and a desire to put in the hard work to see it through.  And if you are waiting for my blessing, wait no longer because all of us at DMK are in full support of hobbies and activities, so get going!  You have a lot to plan and life is short!