Introduction
This is the 21st Century and guess what? Everyone wants to own a business in one way or the other and if possible derive a livelihood from that without working for someone else.
We are in a difficult time and more and more people are looking at venturing into their own businesses as employees are being laid off as a result of the economic downtime in most parts of the world caused by COVID-19.
Come to think of it, it is far fulfilling to go about your duty as someone who needs to be up and doing to put food on your own table without anyone being on your neck to sign your paycheck at the end of the month. I want to guess that is why lately, professional courses, technical, and vocational schools have increased around us.
To be very frank with you, the quest or importance placed on university Degree certificate is diminishing or fading out of our societies gradually with much importance placed on the big question – ‘WHAT CAN YOU DO?’. Remember it is no more ‘What Have You Learnt?’.
In trying to become your own boss, the following should serve as a guide.
1. Be Resolute About Your Decision
This will be the first of many decisions you’ll have to make on your own. And it may feel strange at first, especially if you’re used to getting direction from your current boss, colleagues, or teachers. All that goes away when you’re self-employed, and you suddenly realize that you’re the person who has the final say on just about everything.
So the first step to becoming self-employed is to decide to do it. To quote Aaron Sorkin’s HBO drama Newsroom: “In the old days, we did the news well. You know how? We just decided to.“
Do you know what separates all the people who won’t be self-employed from the ones who actually do it? Deciding to. So make the decision to make the leap. It sounds simple, but there’s nobody else who can do this for you.
2. Identify What You Are Good At
Remember when it comes to establishing your own ventures or business or anything that fetches the money regularly without waiting on someone for a paycheck, the question you need to ask yourself is, what can I do? If you’ve developed so much passion for what you have learned in school and already walking into the career path, that’s very good. The bottom line to find that one practical thing in which you are really good that can turn your passion into money for you.
3. Learn About The General Target Market
Who are the people you will serve with your product or service? This is where a lot of self-employed people go wrong: they’ll say something like, “Well, I will serve anyone who would benefit from a product/service like mine!” That’s not a helpful answer, because it doesn’t give you any actionable insight into your target market.
Being successfully self-employed isn’t about putting your business out there and then waiting to see who it attracts. It’s about building a very specific solution for a very specific set of people.
So who are they? If you say “women between the ages of 25-35,” that may feel specific but is actually very broad. Dig deeper. What do they care about? Are they stay-at-home moms who want a little free time to themselves? Are they women pursuing a new career after taking time off? The more specific you can be, the better you can serve this market.
4. Build Your Clientelle
It takes years of practice in a particular endeavor to grow clientele, but it has to start from somewhere anyways. After you have discovered what you are good at, get all the branding stuff up and start selling yourself. Thank God for social media and friends who are ever ready to help share your services and product flyers to their friends.
Sometimes you don’t need to go far, start with the people in your house, community, or geography location.
Let’s consider someone who studied architecture and had not landed a job for 3 years. Imagine while looking for a job all these years, this fellow is also being productive looking for local customers around him and offering architectural services? I am very sure it will get to a point, the idea of getting paid by someone else would have vanished from his thought.
5. Read, Read and Read more:
There is no direct way to success but we can predict a close route by emulating others who have made it and now reaping the benefit of their about a few years back. Most of these successful people recorded their challenges, fears, failures, wins, and successes in books.
You must be willing to consume the thoughts, ideas, and principles from this self-help, entrepreneurial books. Something related to your specific area is a very good idea. Apply as many principles that are applicable in your geographical location and target market.
