Opening your own auto repair shop isn’t about finding the right wrench — it’s about finding the right rhythm. Between greased palms and bank loans, there’s a whole system to crack. Not just the technicals, but the timing, the tone, the tension of working for yourself. You’ll need more than a love for engines. You’ll need a clear-eyed look at what’s ahead, a name that cuts through noise, and a plan that doesn’t buckle when the first slow month hits. It’s not a fantasy job. It’s a friction business. And if you’re still reading? You might be the right kind of stubborn for it.

What It Really Costs to Start Wrenching

Before you order your first lift or clear out a space in that industrial zone, you need numbers. Real ones. A concrete floor won’t pour itself, and good equipment isn’t cheap. The financial benchmarks for new garage owners stretch from modest to massive depending on size, location, and scope — and that’s before you touch payroll. Those numbers don’t even touch the soft costs: your time, your missed weekends, your upfront patience while the phones are still quiet. Too many mechanics underestimate runway. You’re not building a job. You’re building a burn rate. And the shop won’t pay you back until you’ve fed it first.

Put Your Plan in Gear Before You Turn the Key

You can’t torque your way through zoning laws or marketing gaps. That’s where your business plan earns its keep. A strong plan doesn’t just list services or guess at customer demand. It shows how you’ll move through seasons, set rates that don’t cannibalize profit, and hire people who can handle both wrenches and weird customers. Every section counts — especially when you’re structuring your operational and growth goals with real-world friction in mind. Think of it like your shop manual. If you don’t have one, you’re winging every repair with crossed fingers.

What’s in a Name? Everything.

You’re not just a mechanic. You’re a brand now. That means your shop’s name needs to carry weight — and not just with your friends. The right name signals reliability, tone, and the type of customers you’re built for. A great one sticks in the ear and survives a Google search. Whether you’re brainstorming from scratch or scanning auto repair name ideas to get unstuck, don’t settle for the obvious. A name isn’t paint on the door. It’s the opening note to a customer’s trust. Make it clear. Make it honest. Make it easy to spell at the DMV.

Don’t Underequip Yourself Into the Red

It’s tempting to go lean at the beginning. A jack, a dream, and maybe some borrowed sockets. But skimping here costs you later — in time, in labor, in callbacks that stain your name. The difference between a budget setup and a functioning bay isn’t fancy branding; it’s workflow and reliability. You can’t shortcut the non-negotiables when outfitting your service bay — not if you want to hit quota, keep pace, or stay sane. Good tools make your hours count. Bad tools bleed them out. There’s pride in making do, sure. But there’s profit in being ready.

Get Legal Before You Get Busy

Before you start fixing other people’s cars, you need to fix your paperwork. You’d be surprised how fast a missed permit or an insurance hiccup can freeze your grand opening. Legal requirements vary, but there’s common ground: business registration, liability coverage, certifications, and local inspection signoffs. Skipping even one of these common compliance checks before opening day can throw you into a tangle of delays and fines. Don’t make paperwork an afterthought. It’s not glamorous, but it’s the part that makes you legit.

Marketing Isn’t Optional — It’s Oxygen

Fixing cars keeps you busy. But getting cars in the bay? That’s the real work. Marketing isn’t about coupons or social spam. It’s about visibility, rhythm, and long-game trust. That includes digital presence, customer experience, and the ways to stay top-of-mind with drivers that don’t feel fake. Most customers aren’t comparing torque specs. They’re looking for places that remember their name and return their calls. Start with that. Show up online. Show up in person. And whatever you do, don’t disappear after the oil change.

Opening a shop means signing up for more than repairs. You’re stepping into logistics, leadership, and the layered math of margin and loyalty. You’ll need capital, courage, clear messaging, and a rhythm that can weather feast and famine. You’re betting on yourself in a business that breaks down as often as it runs smoothly. But if you love the work and you’re ready to learn beyond the bay, there’s space for you. One lift. One name. One well-earned reputation at a time.
 

This October, in honor of Women's Small Business Month, it's essential to acknowledge the cutting-edge tools that enable women entrepreneurs to optimize their workflows and fuel growth. Adobe Acrobat provides a robust set of features aimed at boosting efficiency, simplifying document management, enhancing team collaboration, and streamlining crucial business processes. For women entrepreneurs eager to save time and concentrate on expanding their businesses, these solutions can be transformative in the fast-paced landscape of entrepreneurship.

Acrobat AI Assistant: With Acrobat AI Assistant, this option empowers entrepreneurs with smart document tools designed to boost efficiency and clarity. Its ability to generate summaries instantly highlights the most critical points of any document, turning dense information into actionable insights. Plus, by answering user questions directly, it streamlines decision-making and optimizes daily workflows, helping small business owners stay focused on growth and innovation.

Edit: Adobe Acrobat's Edit tool allows entrepreneurs to modify text and images directly within PDFs, ensuring quick adjustments without losing formatting. It offers a practical solution for small business owners who often need to update contracts, proposals, or marketing materials. This feature keeps document editing seamless, saving time and enhancing professionalism.

Share Feedback: Share Feedback in Adobe Acrobat fosters collaboration by allowing team members, clients, or stakeholders to provide input on documents in real time. Entrepreneurs benefit from this feature by streamlining communication and consolidating feedback from multiple sources. It’s a valuable tool for refining proposals or product documents to align with client expectations.

Request e-signatures: The Request e-signatures feature accelerates the signing process for entrepreneurs who need to finalize agreements quickly and securely. It enables business owners to send, track, and manage digital signatures, ensuring contracts are legally binding and efficient. This tool reduces the need for manual paperwork, helping entrepreneurs close deals faster and keep their businesses moving forward.

At Bon Bon Bon, founder and chocolatier Alexandra Clark and her team have leveraged the diverse suite of tools Adobe Acrobat offers to elevate their business operations and drive success.

For small business owners, mastering the art of public speaking is not a mere accessory; it’s a game-changer. It’s the secret weapon that fuels confidence, drives compelling communication, and fosters authentic connections. Learn more about how elevating your public speaking prowess can unlock unprecedented growth and success for your business.

Boosting Leadership

Honing your public speaking skills can significantly enhance your confidence, a crucial trait for effective leadership. As you develop the ability to articulate your thoughts clearly and persuasively, you naturally become more self-assured in your interactions with others, whether addressing a small team or a large audience. This confidence extends beyond the podium, empowering you to inspire and unite your team behind a shared vision, which is essential for driving change and achieving business goals. Leadership training programs often emphasize public speaking because it helps you command respect and communicate your message with conviction. 

Securing Clients and Investors

Developing strong public speaking skills is crucial for small business owners aiming to deliver persuasive pitches that captivate potential clients and investors. By effectively communicating your business’s value proposition, you can highlight the unique benefits and solutions your products or services offer. This ability to articulate your vision clearly and confidently helps build trust and rapport, essential for securing investment and customer loyalty. Moreover, being adept at public speaking positions you as an expert in your field, enhancing your brand’s credibility. 

Engaging and Retaining Customers with Storytelling

Leveraging storytelling in your small business can significantly boost customer engagement and loyalty. By transforming dry facts and figures into captivating narratives, you create a personal connection that resonates with your audience, making information more memorable and impactful. Authentic stories aligned with your brand’s values not only engage customers but also inspire them to act, such as making a purchase or sharing their positive experiences. Additionally, incorporating visual elements like images and videos can enhance the emotional appeal and retention of your message. 

Streamlining Your Presentation Materials

Managing and organizing your presentation documents is crucial for a seamless and impactful presentation. Start by outlining your main ideas and key supporting details, then use annotated notes to help coordinate different sections and keep track of your timing. Saving your documents as PDFs ensures they are accessible, secure, and maintain their formatting across all devices. Additionally, converting a PNG to PDF is simplified by using an online conversion tool.

Networking More Effectively

Mastering public speaking significantly boosts your effectiveness at networking events and meetups by enabling clearer and more engaging communication. This skill allows you to articulate your ideas persuasively and make memorable impressions, which is essential when connecting with potential clients or collaborators. For instance, integrating storytelling techniques can make your conversations more impactful and relatable, fostering genuine connections. Moreover, being an active listener and asking insightful questions increases your likability and engagement. 

Building Trust and Credibility with Clear Communication

To build trust and credibility with potential clients, it is crucial to effectively communicate your brand’s values and mission. By consistently aligning your marketing messages with your core values, you not only reflect authenticity but also foster a deeper connection with your audience. Transparency and honesty are key; openly sharing your goals, challenges, and behind-the-scenes stories can make clients feel more involved and connected to your brand. Additionally, showcasing social proof such as testimonials and reviews can further bolster your credibility. 

Communicating Your Vision for Team Success

By honing your public speaking skills, you significantly boost your capacity to convey your company’s vision and goals in a clear and compelling manner to your team. A well-articulated vision fosters a deeper understanding and stronger commitment among employees, which can drive remarkable organizational success. Additionally, adopting various communication strategies, such as visual aids and consistent updates, keeps team members aligned and informed about the progress toward these goals. 

Start refining your public speaking abilities today and witness the transformative power it holds for your small business. By mastering this vital skill, you’re not only opening doors to new opportunities but also fortifying the very essence of your enterprise. Elevate your communication, inspire confidence in your leadership, and forge lasting connections that propel your business into a realm of limitless potential. 

Designing engaging employee training sessions is essential in a fast-paced work setting. Using creative approaches and modern tools helps tailor programs to current demands while fostering adaptability for future challenges. Practical methods enhance learning experiences and make concepts easier to apply. Encouraging active participation promotes retention and creates a more dynamic learning atmosphere. Consistently evolving training methods keeps employees equipped for changing professional landscapes.

Staying Ahead: Aligning Training with Future Industry Needs

Keeping training programs aligned with emerging industry trends ensures they remain effective and future-focused. As technology advances, incorporating tools like artificial intelligence and automation into learning initiatives helps employees adapt to evolving roles. Continuous learning becomes crucial as automated systems handle more routine tasks, emphasizing the importance of critical thinking and problem-solving. Developing emotional intelligence and leadership skills equips teams to navigate workplace complexities with greater adaptability. Prioritizing collaboration fosters stronger connections and enhances the ability to tackle dynamic challenges.

Streamlining Training Sessions with AI-Powered Tools

This one’s interesting: Leveraging AI-powered tools can significantly simplify the process of capturing and summarizing key takeaways from training sessions. These tools automate documentation, saving time and ensuring that notes are clear and concise. This technology helps employees retain essential information and stay aligned on action items. By enhancing productivity, these tools allow employees to focus on strategic tasks rather than manual note-taking. Additionally, the ability to quickly access and review summarized content makes post-training follow-ups more efficient.

Adapting Training Objectives for a Dynamic Workforce

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, integrating flexibility into your training objectives is crucial. By aligning training programs with your company’s strategic goals, you ensure that your workforce remains skilled and adaptable to new challenges. This approach allows for swift adjustments based on real-time feedback, enhancing both employee performance and overall business outcomes. As organizations strive to balance employee autonomy with operational efficiency, flexible training becomes a key driver of success. Investing in continuous learning and agile talent models can effectively bridge the gap between current capabilities and future needs.

Keep Up with New and Emerging Training Formats

To keep training sessions effective and engaging, staying updated on the latest trends and practices is essential. Advancements like AI-driven personalization and gamification are transforming how employees learn, creating interactive and tailored experiences. Incorporating these innovations can enhance knowledge retention while aligning training with organizational goals. A thorough skills assessment can pinpoint the best tools to meet your unique objectives. Leveraging these approaches improves employee performance and strengthens engagement across the workforce.

Incorporate Collaborative Tools for Interactive Training

To create engaging and effective training sessions, leveraging digital tools like collaborative whiteboards and shared documents is essential. These platforms offer infinite canvases that allow teams to brainstorm and solve problems collectively, regardless of their physical location. By integrating these tools, you can transform traditional training into dynamic sessions that encourage participation and creativity. Moreover, the use of AI-powered learning assistants can further personalize the experience, ensuring that each employee progresses at their own pace, even when trainers are not present. 

Use Peer Reviews for Enhanced Team Dynamics

Incorporating peer reviews and collaborative assessments into your training sessions can significantly enhance team dynamics by fostering accountability and professional growth. When participants know that their feedback will influence not only their peers but also their own evaluations, they become more engaged and responsible in the learning process. This approach encourages individuals to critically reflect on their behaviors and make necessary adjustments, ultimately creating a more cohesive and productive team environment. It’s important to ensure that the feedback process is transparent and monitored to maintain its reliability and effectiveness.

Harnessing Reflection and Feedback for Enhanced Employee Learning

Integrating reflection and feedback into training helps employees better absorb and apply new knowledge. Encouraging self-reflection allows them to connect learning with their values and career aspirations, sustaining motivation and reducing burnout. Sharing insights with mentors or peers enhances performance and highlights areas for growth. A culture of continuous learning emerges as employees explore new ideas and approaches without fear of judgment. This openness fosters innovation in their work.

Invest In Virtual Reality for Inclusive Employee Training

Incorporating technology like virtual reality (VR) into training programs can significantly enhance engagement and understanding among employees from diverse backgrounds. VR creates immersive environments that allow participants to experience scenarios firsthand, fostering empathy and retention of key concepts. For example, studies have shown that VR simulations can increase empathetic responses significantly compared to traditional methods. By leveraging such advanced technologies, organizations can not only meet compliance requirements but also cultivate a more inclusive and innovative workforce.

Incorporating these advanced strategies and tools into your training programs can transform them into dynamic experiences that not only enhance employee skills but also contribute to organizational success. By staying informed about industry trends and integrating innovative technologies, you ensure that your training remains relevant and effective, equipping your workforce to meet future challenges with confidence.

Every brand is scrambling to catch the consumer’s eye, but attention is a scarce currency. Promotional images sit at the heart of every campaign, yet far too many miss the mark—either by blending into the noise or feeling tone-deaf to their audience. Enter artificial intelligence, not as a gimmick, but as a tool that sharpens instinct with data and automates the dull parts of design. For businesses looking to push beyond templates and stock image fatigue, AI offers something better: the ability to create visuals that don’t just look good, but speak directly to the right people at the right time.

Understanding Your Audience Before Touching a Design Tool

No image should be made in a vacuum. AI tools that analyze consumer behavior, such as sentiment analysis platforms and visual heatmaps, can help you decode what your audience responds to before you sketch a single idea. These systems break down emotional triggers, preferred color schemes, and even the types of faces people linger on—data points that can all be fed back into the creative process. By starting with insights instead of guesswork, your promotional materials gain an edge that’s subtle, but powerful.

Training the AI on Your Brand Language

The best AI-generated image still falls flat if it doesn’t sound like you—visually speaking. AI can only be as brand-consistent as the material it learns from, so uploading a catalog of your past content, preferred styles, and mood boards trains the system to “see” like your business does. This isn’t about boxing creativity in, but about anchoring it in something real. When AI understands your design DNA, what comes out feels less like a generic suggestion and more like an evolution of your brand story.

Prompt Engineering Is the New Art Direction

Most AI image tools rely on prompts—the instructions you give to describe what you want. But vague prompts like “make a cool ad for our sale” won’t cut it. Instead, treat your prompt like a creative brief: include color tone, mood, subject matter, and intended emotion. Learning how to articulate vision with precision turns anyone into a capable art director, even without formal training. The result is imagery that’s not just algorithmically generated, but creatively intentional.

Painting a Better Picture

AI painting generators offer an incredibly efficient way to produce high-quality, brand-aligned visuals without needing a full creative department. Whether you're building a carousel for Instagram, refreshing banner ads, or creating assets for a new product launch, these tools can generate customized artwork in just minutes—take a look here and you'll see how quickly polished content comes together. By slashing design time, cutting costs, and elevating visual consistency, businesses can streamline their marketing workflows without sacrificing creativity. For teams without in-house designers, this technology levels the playing field, making it possible to compete visually with much larger brands.

Design Iteration at the Speed of Thought

What once took days of back-and-forth with a designer can now be handled in minutes. AI tools allow you to generate ten visual directions in the time it used to take to finish one—and that means testing what works becomes easier and cheaper. This doesn’t replace the need for taste; it just gives you more room to explore before committing. When time isn’t the enemy, creative risk-taking suddenly becomes less... risky.

Mixing AI With Human Touch for Better Results

Purely AI-generated images sometimes carry a synthetic feel—perfect lighting, flawless symmetry, and a lack of emotional weight. That’s where human refinement comes in. The smartest businesses use AI to generate drafts and then hand them off to designers or editors for finishing touches. It's less about replacing creatives and more about arming them with superpowers: freeing them from grunt work so they can focus on what actually moves people.

Don't Overuse the Magic—Know When to Pull Back

For all its strengths, AI has a weakness: it can’t feel. Leaning too hard into automation can lead to visuals that are technically perfect but emotionally cold. That’s why businesses need to know when to stop tweaking and start listening—to feedback, to gut instinct, and to what the campaign is really trying to say. AI should never replace the soul of a brand. Instead, it should work like an amplifier: making your voice louder, not replacing it with static.

Great promotional imagery isn’t just about looking good—it’s about making people feel something in a split second. AI isn’t a magic wand, but it is a tool that, when used with care and strategy, lets businesses design visuals that aren’t just efficient, but expressive. The brands that will win in the next decade won’t be the ones who crank out the most content. They’ll be the ones who know how to combine machine intelligence with human intuition to create imagery that actually means something.

You don’t need to run a perfect business to run a welcoming one. What matters most is this: the signals you send—intentionally or not—when someone walks through your door, scrolls your site, or listens to what you’ve shared. Customers pick up on inclusion not from declarations, but from the way you design, speak, and make space. And for small businesses, that space can be literal or symbolic. Build that kind of welcome: piece by piece, gesture by gesture, infrastructure by infrastructure.

Accessible Entrances That Say “You Belong Here”

The door is never just a door. It’s either a gateway or a gatekeeping device. Businesses that ignore physical accessibility end up creating invisible walls. Start with the basics: if your entrance has steps, someone’s already turned away. That’s why installing ramps and wide doorways isn’t just about legal compliance—it’s about telling every person, walker or wheeler, that they’re part of your design plan, not an afterthought. That same thinking extends to counter heights, restroom access, and paths between furniture—every inch counts when you’re building for dignity, not default.

Digital Displays That Speak Everyone’s Language

You can’t welcome someone in if they can’t understand you. And in diverse neighborhoods—or digital spaces—that starts with language. Adding digital displays with multiple languages isn’t a tech gimmick; it’s a customer care strategy. A menu in English, Spanish, and Mandarin means one less person feels like a stranger in your space. The more languages you show, the more doors you open. But it goes deeper than translation—it’s about cultural fluency. Images, tone, and references matter. Your digital content shouldn’t just be readable. It should resonate.

Accessible Audio for Multilingual Understanding

Sometimes it's not about what's written, but what’s said—and whether everyone can hear it clearly. If you’re sharing content, events, or tours, don’t assume a one-language-fits-all approach will work. Embedding an audio translator tool gives every customer a shot at real-time understanding. It doesn’t just improve communication—it shows you care enough to speak their language, literally. And that care translates louder than anything else. Consider integrating audio content into your FAQ sections, product pages, or signage kiosks. Spoken clarity builds trust. And trust builds repeat visits.

Staff Who Know How to Welcome Everyone

The physical space might be flawless, but what about the people in it? If your team doesn’t know how to serve someone with a mobility device or how to respectfully address someone with a speech difference, you’ve got a people gap. It starts with disability inclusion training programs that go beyond surface-level awareness. These aren’t just check-the-box exercises—they’re how your staff learns to see and serve the full spectrum of humanity that walks in. Roleplay-based training and real stories stick better than slide decks. When a customer feels respected—not pitied, not ignored, not spotlighted—they remember that.

Micro-Inclusions That Accumulate Into Culture

Inclusion isn’t always about massive overhauls. It’s the consistent repetition of small signals: the chair you move without being asked, the eye contact you make, the assumption that everyone deserves clarity and respect. These add up—and over time, they define your brand more than any policy statement ever could. Culture isn’t what you say it is. It’s what your customer feels. From the font on your receipts to the way you answer the phone, every touchpoint either reinforces your welcome or undermines it. The difference is rarely dramatic, but always felt.

Building a Feedback Loop That Works

Finally, it’s not enough to install, announce, and move on. You have to keep listening. The act of asking customers what you’ve missed—and doing something with their answers—cements a sense of belonging. That means setting up an ongoing feedback loop that makes updates feel normal, not like apologies. Progress is permanent only if you keep the channel open. Comment boxes, QR code surveys, or in-person check-ins all work if you follow through. Don’t make your customers repeat themselves. Instead, make them feel heard the first time.

Being welcoming isn’t a one-time gesture—it’s a system. It’s the ramp at your door, the voice in someone’s language, the calm way a cashier listens when someone stumbles over words. Small businesses don’t need to have all the answers. They just need to show they’re paying attention, ready to adjust, and willing to meet people where they are. Because the most inclusive businesses aren’t just compliant. They’re conscious. They’re alert to friction, open to feedback, and committed to being better next month than they were last week. That’s not branding. That’s hospitality—at its deepest, most human level.
 

If you’re running a business and you don’t have a media kit, then you’re basically showing up to a press conference without a microphone. You’re asking journalists, podcasters, influencers, and potential partners to piece together your story themselves. And let’s be honest, they won’t. They’ll skim, guess, or move on. A media kit isn’t about puffing your chest out with stats and awards, it’s about making someone else's job easier while still controlling your narrative in a way that feels confident, clean, and worth their time.

A Shortcut for Busy Journalists

Media kits are often billed as branding tools, but really, they’re favors to people with deadlines. When a journalist or editor is sorting through dozens of pitches or researching a company for a feature, they’re not digging through six pages of your website looking for your founding story or your latest numbers. If you’ve done it right, your media kit hands them the essentials in one click. Background, leadership bios, high-res photos, recent press, social handles, maybe a quote that doesn’t sound like a press release. The faster they get the info, the more likely you are to get coverage that actually reflects what you’re doing.

Keep It Clean and Portable

Saving all your press kit materials as a single PDF makes life easier for everyone who has to open, download, or forward your information. Journalists don’t want to dig through folders of scattered files or get hit with broken links—what they need is one clean document that opens without fuss and works across any device. If you’ve got high-res images in other formats, you can simplify things by handling the PNG to PDF file transformation using a free online tool that lets you drag and drop without downloading any software. It’s a small step that signals professionalism and shows you actually thought about the person on the receiving end.

Framing the Story Before Someone Else Does

There’s a lot of noise out there, and if you don’t tell your story the way you want it told, someone else will do it for you. Probably badly. A good media kit doesn’t just hand out data, it subtly guides the tone and shape of how people talk about your brand. You’re putting your voice on record, which helps prevent misquotes, misunderstandings, or weird assumptions. If you’re trying to shape public perception or fix it after a stumble, this little file becomes a quiet kind of power.

Public Relations Without a PR Agency

If you're not at the stage where you can justify a pricey PR retainer, your media kit becomes the pitch. It lets you reach out to editors, podcast hosts, or conference organizers with something that doesn’t just say “please cover us” but actually gives them a reason to say yes. You're handing them your credibility in a zip file, instead of trying to fake it through a cold email that opens with “hope this finds you well.” And even if you do have a PR team, they’ll be the first to tell you how helpful it is to have a consistent package of assets ready to go for any opportunity.

Clarity Over Hype

There's something refreshing about a brand that can talk about itself without sounding like it's trying to win Shark Tank. A media kit doesn’t need to be flashy or bloated with jargon. In fact, the best ones are weirdly boring in all the right ways. They stick to the facts, the timelines, the milestones that show real traction. You don’t need to “revolutionize an industry” or “disrupt” anything. You just need to make it easy for someone to see that you’ve built something that works, and that you understand what parts of it are worth sharing.

A Quiet Flex for Potential Partners

Here’s something most people miss about media kits. They aren’t just for reporters. Vendors, collaborators, potential hires, even investors who aren’t quite ready for a pitch deck will use them to get a sense of your polish and professionalism. A sloppy or outdated kit suggests a business that doesn’t know how to present itself. A sharp, well-maintained one says you’re organized and confident enough to own your story. It’s a small thing, but it can tip a decision in your favor more often than you’d think.

Digital Visibility With a Human Touch

Slapping a media kit on your website isn’t enough. You’ve got to actually update it. Think of it like a press room, not a brochure. New hire? Add their bio. Recent award? Swap in that logo. Did a podcast interview that went well? Link it in. These updates don’t just show momentum, they tell the press and your audience that you’re active and relevant, not a ghost brand with a pretty logo. And if you’re smart about how you phrase things, even a small update can turn into a reason for someone to reach out.

You don’t need to be a media darling to justify a good media kit. You just need to take your own story seriously enough to make it easy for others to tell. It’s not about spin or style points, it’s about clarity, respect, and preparation. Journalists, editors, and podcast hosts aren’t your marketers, but they are your megaphones. Hand them the right tools, and they might just amplify you in ways you never could on your own.