Do you hate your coporate job and want to embrace the freedom lifestyle? Here are our 5 tips to becoming an entrepreneur. If you seriously are looking to unhitch yourself from your corporate career, don’t just randomly quit your job because you are at odds with your boss! It’s best to have a good plan set up so you can take the plunge into entrepreneurship.
5 Tips to Becoming an Entrepreneur
1. Take Inventory of Your Skillset
What skills do you have that could translate into becoming an entrepreneur? Sometimes that skillset can be derived from your hobbies and interests. For example a math teach might be interested in photography and painting, two skills that can easily be transferred into an entreprepreneurial life.
If you love organizing then perhaps you could start an outsourcing company or an event management company. At the moment, virtual events are very popular but they still need organizing and co-ordinating and a great robust hosting platform. If you are a tech wizard then you can segue into this space quite quickly.
2. Save Enough Cash for Year One
Despite what the headlines scream about making pots of money each month with very little effort, that simply isn’t true unless you completely luck into instant cash flow. Just ask the average entrepreneur and they will tell you the first year wihtout any savings is completely stressful. Pile that up on to the hard work it takes to launch, then you could be relying on your friends, family or credit cards during year one.
3. Try Starting Your Business as a Sidegig
A sidegig is a great way to start a business. You can spend a year or two testing the market to make sure you can find your ideal clients. If you are a service business, what can you teach online? Start with Udemy as your teaching platform and then think about putting your courses on platforms such as Thinkific. Teachable, is another good platform and you can research these sites to see if your knowledge can be translated into a course.
If you prefer to put your courses on your own website, then there is a great WordPress plugin called Learn Dash. This plugin can be used with any theme and there are many Youtube videos to help you get started.
An on line store might also be a great idea if you can source items to sell or if you have a craft that you make that can be sold online. Many people use the very popular e-commerce site, Shopify, but another alternative is Woo Commerce on a WordPress site. All e-commerce sites natively link with online payment processors to capture the sale and put the funds into your business bank account.
4. Make a Plan
Yes, a plan for your life and a plan for your business! Being an entrepreneur doesn’t always mean you are working fewer hours than you are in a Corporate job! But you do have the freedom to choose your hours and often choose when you work. So if you are a night hawk you might work until midnight and then sleep in during the morning.
If you need funding for your business adventure then you will need a business plan to take to the bank if you require a bank loan, but even before you start a business PLAN you might want to take a look at a great tool called a business model canvas, that is your roadmap for pre-planning,
5. Network and Get Mentors in Place
There is nothing like a supportive group of people from your network who can be your sounding board as you launch your business. Pick people who you can relate to that will be your guide in that hard first year. Don’t try to do it all on your own, make sure you have a few key people you can lean on.
How did I get started? Here’s how in this video interview with Rachel Smets.
Elaine Slatter is the founder of XL Consulting Group, helping businesses launch online with marketing strategy, website design and social media management. Contact us for a free 30 minute consultation to see how we can launch your business online.
Elaine is also author of Fabulous Fempreneurship a book to help women start businesses (and men too!). Lots of practical tips on how to get your business off the ground and advice from 30 entrepreneurs who have taken the leap to own their own businesses.
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