An Entrepreneur’s Origin Story (Part 2)

An Entrepreneur’s Origin Story (Part 2)
By Isaiah O’Connor

In my last post, I went over my life and how it led me to be working part-time, and minimum wage in Norway, with my wife pregnant with my firstborn. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired and desperately in need of a change.  So I now continue the story with the last paragraph I posted last week.

I have always been a reader, its the way I have educated myself. I started to listen to books at work to try to figure a way out. One of these books was "48 days to the work you Love" by Dan Miller. The book spoke to finding who you were and what your vocation really is. This book caused something inside me that had been simmering for years to boil over. I would start my own business again

Inspired by the book I started reflecting on my past. One thing that came to me is that one of the ways I had been trying to integrate into Norwegian culture was to do some balloon twisting for some charity events and not only the kids but the adults seemed to really appreciate it. I figured that all I needed was a pump (which I already had), a bag of balloons, and a website. With my past in management and sales, I figured I had a good grasp of what running a business and marketing was about.

I went to my wife and told her about it. She was unsurprisingly not to keen on the idea. She was working full-time to support us and she was also seven months pregnant with our firstborn! After some discussion, she reluctantly agreed for me to try, as long as my business was only a side job, and I would keep looking for a replacement for my part-time job. I kept looking for full-time work. She had, as often is the case, much more sense than me.

Well, as you might expect, it did not take off as quickly as I had imagined. I discovered that management and sales were much different than ownership and marketing. My first year I ended with less than a full months pay at a regular full-time job. Good thing I hadn't quit my day job!

About two years later, life decided to kick me out of the nest. The part-time job that I had gone bankrupt, and I had failed at landing a full-time job. All I had was my business and that was barely making any money. Even with all my books, I still struggled with finding clients, and my wife was wanting me to shut it down. Something needed to change, and change fast, and change did happen. First of all, I managed to land a major event company as a client. Secondly, I found out that balloon décor was highly marketable in Norway. I was able to take and pass this course, thus making me instantly more marketable.

About a year after that, I managed to gain a great mentor in the balloon business. He suggested a re-brand and I agreed with him. So I decided to re-brand my business and change my focus from balloon twisting to balloon décor. I have discovered that while I like balloon twisting, my real passion has become balloon décor. All this combined has helped accelerate my growth.

Flash forward today, I now have moved out of my house into an office, I have just hired my first employee, I have already beat last year's sales, and I have just started into my busiest time of year. I see my business grow as I grow as a person. As I have grown, my good friend Jason St.Clair has been along for the journey. He saw this and invited me to use my other two passions, that is writing and teaching. So now I am able to really use all my passions to not only take care of my family but to help others.

How do you find your true passion? Well, if my story is any indicator, look at what you enjoy, what you do for fun or as a hobby. Do not overlook the positive role models in your life, and do not be afraid to try things you think may work (because they just might). You may fail a few times, or you may find that one thing you like, leads to something you are passionate about - so try. Do not give up, push through the hard times and you will eventually find what you're looking for.

This brings me to the topic of my next post. In order to be a successful entrepreneur, you need more than just a great business idea; that is just the seed of your business. What you need to make it grow and work requires a few more character traits to support it. In the realm of superheroes, this is called "Required Secondary Powers." Which also happens to be the title of the next post.

Your friendly neighborhood entrepreneur,
Isaiah O'Connor

For the related podcast, you can listen here. Origin Story.

For more content, you can check out my Bootstrap Podcast Or Jason’s podcast. Or if you need more help you can reach out to me at Isaiah@ballongeventbyraa.com And finally If you like my content, please consider supporting me on Patreon