Have you ever thought about opening you own business? Self-employment is thriving, and the most obvious reason for this is the emergence of new technologies, and of course, the advent of the internet, that has dramatically reduced the cost of doing business.
If you are thinking about becoming a self-employed, what are some of the recommendations you should follow, that will enable you to put your dreams into practice? In this article, I have assembled 8 great tips that will help you if you are thinking about becoming a self-employed.
1. What are the other business activities, besides the core activity of your business, you could expand to?
When one has an idea for opening a business it is very common to just focus on the core activity of your business idea. This can be useful as it avoids the risk of losing oneself trying to catch several foxes at the same time. I would here take the opportunity to demonstrate that it is possible to act differently and expand on your initial idea, independently of the activity and size of your entrepreneurship initiative.
Once you lay down your idea on a piece of paper, try to develop any possible branches of the universe you want to develop. Don’t restrain your imagination. Give your “tree of thinking” a chance to reach the sky. It is important to give yourself a little time to go through this process. The simple question to answer is:
“How to expand?””
This simple question will enlarge drastically the world you are building. Enlarging your perspectives will increase the number of opportunities available to you. In addition, it will help you as well to draw a good business plan. You may discover that opening a bakery shop, for example, will give you the opportunities to sell mugs, cups, bread, bread knives, bread bags, all kinds of lifestyle objects connected with bread and the art of baking. You can sell as well books on that topic, or photos made by yourself. You can add a small tea-room in you bakery. The tea room can eventually give you the opportunities to sell other products as well. Plus you can even develop services, like home delivery of delicatessen.
Of course you must stop at a certain point, depending on many factors, the first being, what is your core interest. Nevertheless, it is a good way to overcome the risk of a mono activity, as well as to diversify your sources of income. You will eventually come to terms to what part of your activities is both more suitable to your aspirations and more profitable. Through this approach, you give yourself the opportunity to explore others businesses around your core idea and later on, like a tree, you can prune the unnecessary branches.
2. How to avoid complexity?
If you don’t have a lot of resources to start your own business it is important to avoid complexity. I give you an example: you want to create in addition to your activities, a website that will help you sell your products; however, you don’t have the money, the time or even the know-how to create your e-shop. Simply, just forget this option, at least for now. You can rather offer your customers your email/contacts. Make it simple to start with, and find a way to facilitate the purchase process. Nowadays, there are very easy ways to sell products e.g. sending an invoice with your smartphone. It is not a priority at all to adopt a costly complex operational setup. You can rather concentrate on getting paid and deliver. That’s it.
3. How to deal with your competitors?
People will always ask you about how you will deal with the competition. There is no need to be afraid of your competitors. Be aware that probably you are not the first one to have that brilliant “idea” that no one has ever thought about. This is not a problem at all and it can be transformed into an opportunity. By studying your competitors you can explore what others have done in your domain, to learn and correct your plan, to evaluate and to see the role that you could play in your activities differently or identically. It is probably better for a business to have a street full of Chinese restaurants, instead of being the only Chinese restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Also think that your competitors can become your business partners. There are chances that you can be a resource for them or vice versa. It is important to stay open minded as you never know what opportunities the future have on hold for you.
4. How to become global?
Our world today can be seen as a global village, and you can research your global village to buy, sell, to find information and to get new ideas. With a fast internet connection, you have no excuses to find the appropriate information that answers your queries. There are a couple of questions that you can ask “Mister web” besides the simple keywords of your request. These are:
- How to …..?
- Where can I find….?
You should be careful when evaluating the answers to your questions, and look for reliable and in-depth resources. This should be a normal procedure whether you are self-employed or not.
8 great tips to the self employed5. How to save your investment money?
A regular trap for the self-employed is the need to “decorate the box” instead of getting people coming in and making business. Decorating your office is cool and exciting, when you start, in case you really need one. But this is not maybe the first thing to do. There are probably better investments to do. Making a sound planning of your investments is vital for a new business. Don’t underestimate what are the priorities.
6. How to obtain things in a sustainable way?
Now you are almost done, but you still need to obtain what you want from the real world. Don’t forget that you are an interdependent human being. Networking is therefore where a self-employed must put his attention and value. Especially when you are “Mister Nobody”, it is very important to establish good and long-term relations with your counterparts, whether with the administration, your future business partner or with your future clients. Don’t underestimate the courtesy impact. Saying good morning, using the word please and finalizing a trade by a thank you very much, could open you some doors that you would never had thought about. It is also important to be clear and truthful when you are talking to someone. Don’t worry about communication skills and things like that. The most important is to be true with your intention. It simply works.
7. Why should you talk to your direct network of friends and family about your choice?
Your direct network must be implicated and informed by your enterprise. Becoming self-employed is a big step, even if you have nothing to lose or no other choice. Therefore, you must present and sell your idea to your closest friends and family. It is also a good exercise to be able to convince the one that you are living with to follow or accept your endeavors. When things get clear for everybody, your mind will not be obscured by any clouds. To ask for approval is important, but not a no-go. Ultimately, it is up to you to decide.
8. How to train oneself to become a self-employed?
The last, but not the least of these small tips is… “You”. Believe it or not, freedom is very hard to manage. In the self-employed world, the one who succeeds will have to face a lot of difficult emotional challenges, which are not necessarily right. You will have to fight liars, fear, discouragement, deception, and negative input and failure. On the other hand, you will feel euphoria, self-indulgence and the exhilarating feeling of having power over your life. But don’t worry, you can manage and overcome such feelings. I would encourage you to consider the practice of a martial art, yoga, meditation or a least an activity that gives you the chance to develop your physical and emotional resilience. It can be helpful as well, to study a bit of logic. It is quite easy to make some mistakes when you are not able to identify the core arguments and determine if they are valid or not. Think about complexity and incertitude, this also will assist you in this new role.
The important thing is to think about you as the main resource, before you will expand your business to the world.
Nothing is easy on this brave world, but developing an entrepreneurship attitude can be, whatever the commercial result, one of the most interesting and fulfilling experiences a human being can have.
Good luck!
Romuald Reber is an author of science-fiction. He takes present questions of society and places it in a future context through the media of fantastic stories with a visionary approach. He also writes on demand and on his blog, where he develops some questions with a more rational approach than in these books. He is the editor of these own publications. Aside her work as author, editor and blogger, Romuald Reber is a manager of enterprises and gives advices on the rising of new ideas from the society and their probable implications and or their applications on a long terms base. He likes to challenge himself and is a great subscriber of Mooc’s. Romuald Reber is finally and simply a great observer of our world.
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