September 2023 Blog Topic: What inspired you to start your own business? If you do not own a business, what inspires you when you see a business functioning and functioning well or meet an owner?
By Jamie Allen Bishop with Jamie Allen Bishop Coaching
I have an entrepreneurial spirit and a service-oriented heart. I have run lemonade stands, sold my art, and cleaned houses since I was old enough to ask the neighbors to pay me for services rendered. I started being my own boss at 8 years old, and my mom might tell you my business mindset started before that. I have always made a good living as a side hustle mage. But the nagging question was always, “When was I going to grow up and get a real job?”
Working an 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. job bores me – the mundane schedule, the routine tasks, and the clock-punching. YUCK! Office work in Corporate America is my personal version of hell on earth. At my first officially full-time, benefits-paid, post-college job when I took three personality profile tests that all said I was 99% likely to be successful as an entrepreneur, the career counselor on staff pulled me aside and said, “You know you won’t ever be satisfied working in an office, right?” I agreed. So, I started my first business.
The year was 1996, and faux painting was very popular in the South (of the United States – I lived in Georgia at the time). I applied for a business license and started working evenings and weekends as a faux painter. In my spare time, I painted floorcloths (front door/kitchen sink mats) to sell at local festivals. I found myself excited to meet with clients, come up with sample boards of their ideas, and then paint a floorcloth or a whole wall in the style they chose. It was exciting and unique, and it was definitely outside the boundaries of a normal job. It was just my cup of tea!
After almost a decade of painting, my business venture changed, then changed again. In the last 40 years of my life, I have run several businesses, and all have brought me knowledge about what I like, what I do not like, and how best to serve my clients and community. Whether I am providing art designs, personal or professional guidance, or teaching something valuable, my mantra has been and will remain, “How may I be of service?”
