By Montserrat

I love to hear stories about people who beat all the odds to achieve their dream. Somehow, it puts my dream within reach of me. For example last week while driving to work I heard an interview on National Public Radio about this woman who volunteered to work for the Peace Corps. She was sent to an island near Portugal where she met with local women: mothers, daughters, wives.

These women, due to a weak local economy, lack of jobs, education found themselves destitute, alone, and powerless. This woman made it her mission to change that. With little to no knowledge of the language she helped these women find out their niche to start a small business. Starting with what the local women knew, she found out many of them were master seamstresses who made beautiful clothes. By starting small enterprises in a few years they all went from poor and powerless, to powerful, professional women who owned their own cooperative and educated themselves in the language of the business.

Here, in this country, we all have dreams of being self-sufficient and of doing something that makes us proud. However, when choosing to go the entrepreneurial route, sometimes the hard part is to find that niche. In other words, meet a consumer need nobody else is. When trying to identify what kind of business to start many experts suggest going with what you know. Define your vision and from there develop how your idea will be implemented. For this there are multiple community resources available and the best part … they’re free!

One of my favorite websites is www.sba.gov, not only is it user friendly but it guides you through the process of what really goes into starting your own business. From services to local resources, it’s all easy access. If your dream is to be a small business owner, reach out to your local agency for help and keep checking in with Mujeres camino al éxito where you will find topics in Entrepreneurs Corner regularly as well as collaborations from the experts and the stories of the Mujeres that are making their dream a reality.