Good Morning America story = more clueless entrepreneurs-to-be
As someone with a degree (and work experience) in journalism, it really upsets me when news stories aren't very well researched, and "Good Morning America" has done it again.
This morning (01/05/09) they ran a story on how to start a business for $100. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/JobClub/st...6574472&page=1
The woman they interviewed bought baking supplies in bulk, along with business cards and labels for cake boxes, and started a business where she sells her "signature pound cakes" for $35 each.
She said it costs about $5 each to bake them, so she's anticipating a profit of $30 each.
So what is it about this news story that upsets me and makes me think it will inspire a bunch of ill-informed would-be entrepreneurs?
You can't just make food at home and sell it.
At least, not in a lot of areas.
Most health departments have very strict rules about this sort of thing in order to protect the consumer.
GMA didn't mention a single word about checking with your local health department.
They didn't even mention that you should check on the possibility of needing a city business license, county business license, sales tax ID #, or zoning regarding running a business from home.
Wow!
I went over to GMA's web site and several people have posted notes to GMA addressing the very issues that I was concerned about, plus more.
I hadn't thought about this, but people have mentioned the fact that some areas require you to work out of a totally separate kitchen. Like where I live, you'd have to build a separate, brand new kitchen in another building on your property (or rent a kitchen that's already been inspected by the health department).
Definitely can't build a commercial kitchen for $100!
Also, there's insurance in case someone gets sick eating something you made.
Good. Maybe GMA will realize what they've done. They even introduced this story on their home page by saying, "Tory Johnson started her own business with very little money and no contacts. You can do the same."
You can do the same? Yeah. Right.
At least all of these new entrepreneurs will be busy baking from home instead of competing with us for IM customers.
This morning (01/05/09) they ran a story on how to start a business for $100. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/JobClub/st...6574472&page=1
The woman they interviewed bought baking supplies in bulk, along with business cards and labels for cake boxes, and started a business where she sells her "signature pound cakes" for $35 each.
She said it costs about $5 each to bake them, so she's anticipating a profit of $30 each.
So what is it about this news story that upsets me and makes me think it will inspire a bunch of ill-informed would-be entrepreneurs?
You can't just make food at home and sell it.
At least, not in a lot of areas.
Most health departments have very strict rules about this sort of thing in order to protect the consumer.
GMA didn't mention a single word about checking with your local health department.
They didn't even mention that you should check on the possibility of needing a city business license, county business license, sales tax ID #, or zoning regarding running a business from home.
Wow!
I went over to GMA's web site and several people have posted notes to GMA addressing the very issues that I was concerned about, plus more.
I hadn't thought about this, but people have mentioned the fact that some areas require you to work out of a totally separate kitchen. Like where I live, you'd have to build a separate, brand new kitchen in another building on your property (or rent a kitchen that's already been inspected by the health department).
Definitely can't build a commercial kitchen for $100!
Also, there's insurance in case someone gets sick eating something you made.
Good. Maybe GMA will realize what they've done. They even introduced this story on their home page by saying, "Tory Johnson started her own business with very little money and no contacts. You can do the same."
You can do the same? Yeah. Right.
At least all of these new entrepreneurs will be busy baking from home instead of competing with us for IM customers.
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Killer Joe -
Thanks
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dbarnum -
Thanks
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