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4 Tips to Help Your Self Employed Dream Come True

What’s your personal passion?

What drives you crazy each and every time?

If you could change one thing in your immediate community, what would it be?

These are just some of the questions you should ask your self in order to start thinking about your entrepreneurship dreams.

If you are like me then you have been working in the corporate world or for the same employer for a very long time.In my case I’ve been with my employer for over six years, yet it seems like it was only yesterday that I started.

Despite being gainfully employed for over six years with the same employer, numerous promotions, more money and greater perks – I still dream of being fully self employed one day.

I actually really like working in Marketing,  but I equally enjoy being my own boss.  I hope to one day become a successful full time entrepreneur. Despite having two mini side businesses on the go – office cleaning company and a successful online blog – I’ve yet to take the leap to fully work for my self.

If you’re dreaming of becoming self employed and starting your own business you may want consider these four tips:

1. Target a Niche Market

In my early days schooling days in Marketing, there was heavy talk about focusing on niche marketing. Find that niche, and run with it.You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but rather find a need that would appeal to your niche market – whoever they might be. Robert Deluce started Porter Airlines, based out of Toronto’s island airport. His visions was simple – offer effective, short-haul, hassle free flying experience for travelers. Rather than going to the airport, and dealing with all the busyness, you can fly out of the island airport for a fraction of the price and avoid all the typical airport hassle.

2. Persistance is Key

It can take years before a business becomes profitable. Most businesses don’t make it past the first year – most throw in the towel and head back to the corporate world and the security of a guaranteed paycheck.

Starting a business, running one, and driving forward isn’t easy, and if anyone told you it was….well they lied.

The key to being successful is to never give up; there will be obstacles, setbacks and in some cases you’ll be on the brink of falling off the edge, but start up business owners will never have success if they give up.

3. Have a Vision

Many people want to open a business but opening just another business on the corner or just another location in a shopping mall won’t get people’s attention.  Having a solid vision is much more important, because let’s be honest – this world doesn’t need another business that already exists, and probably has been around for generations.

How will your business be different from the rest?

Devon Brooks (from Vancouver) opened a new concept of hair salons that offer blow dry’s only.  There are no haircuts and no hair coloring, just washes and blow dry’s. There are now 25 locations of her blow dry only concept hair salon (Blo Blow Dry Only) throughout Canada and the US.

4. Start Small – Think Big

Focus one day at a time. Starting a business is like a puzzle, you start at one end with a few pieces, and slowly over time you build the puzzle, and it keeps getting bigger and bigger. Think of the steps you need to take to get your small business to where you want it to be? Where do you see your business headed in the future?  Think realistically about the growth of your small business, do you need employees? Where will you work from? Who are your target clients?

As a wise man once said to me: “Slow and steady wins the race”

Readers, are you still dreaming of starting your own business? What’s holding you back?

Cheers!

Eddie

 Photo Credit (caribb)

Earning a Side Income While Working Full Time

You don’t have to quit your job to start earning a side income. In fact, I wouldn’t advise of it all. Instead you can start out slow, and keep it small while keeping the security and income of your full-time job at the same time. If earning a side income isn’t for you (and it’s not for everyone!) then you can easily stop and go back to your normal routine with little or no loss and regret.

Over the years I’ve been fortunate enough to meet a lot of great entrepreneurs, and the majority either had full-time jobs while earning a side income or had a full-time job at the time they started their side hustle.

Ensure that you do your research, make smart decisions, and be patient – you will ultimately be much wealthier in life than the rest of the 9-5ers.

Here’s my story on how I started making earning a side income all while I was still working full-time.

Your Passion

In order to enjoy doing something, and do it well, you need to be passionate about it. The extra money earned will not be enough to keep you going for a long period of time.

Determine why you want to earn a side income. Do you want to help others? Are you looking for a side income? or maybe you want to be your own boss one day. These are just of the thoughts that I asked my self when I started out. Soon enough I realized, even though I like the money, the biggest driving force for me starting a side hustle is that one day I hoped to turn it into a full-time gig and become my own boss.

How To Find Extra Time

You wake up early, go to work on time, and come home late. How the heck are you supposed to find time to earn an extra income? If you’re single, maybe you can spare a couple hours each night to work on a project. If you’re married and/or have children, finding even a glimpse of free time can be near impossible.

Here are a few helpful tips I learned over time. Most of these will help you find some extra time:

1. Join Activities

We often don’t realize how we can prudently use our time. We spend a lot of time thinking, rather than doing. When I first started out, I would drive to a friends house, out on a date or to my parents, and I would make a point of taking some flyer’s or business cards to drop off to potential prospects en route. This has worked for me and paid dividends many times over, and all because I planned ahead, gave my self some time, and combined two activities.

Let’s look at it another way.

You drive to work and you’re listening to tunes in the car. Later you may go for a workout and you’ll be listening to tunes again. Why not combine your activities or driving with some business learning. Rather than listening to tunes and boring repetitive commercials on the radio, you can listen to pod-casts about entrepreneurship, small businesses or other inspirational pod-casts.

2. Pay Attention To Your Time

Working full-time you’re bound to have long days, but even throughout long days, you’ll have some free time that you can use to your advantage. Maybe a few hours before bed or after the kids are asleep. I make very good use of 1.5 hours (twice per week) that I have after I get home from work, and the time I head to the gym. Usually I’m answering emails, doing research or creating invoices to be mailed out.

3. Cut Down On Your TV Time

If you’re a sports junkie like me, you probably watch a lot of TV throughout the week. Why not just cut down on your TV time? I haven’t cut out TV out totally, but I’ve worked hard to effectively use my free time to do work, research, and develop without watching TV. Thus far it’s worked very well for me.

Final Thoughts

The nice thing about not having to quit your full-time day job is that you put less pressure on your self. You’re not in scramble mode of, “I need to make money” or more importantly you don’t feel desperate. And when you feel desperate, you tend to take the shortest routes, rather than truly creating value in your product or service.

Readers, how much TV do you watch? Do you have a side income with a full-time job? How are you handling it?

Cheers!

Eddie

Photo Credit (listentothemountains)

How To Know If Your Business Will Succeed?

When first contemplating a business idea, what is the best way to evaluate its feasibility? Will it be successful, and what do you need to do in order to make your business a success from the get go. I’m sure you’ve seen (or heard) of entrepreneurs who are successful at launching businesses that reek of feasibility. Are they simply lucky or simply brilliant?

Great business owners are both – luck and brilliant. As a potential small business owner, when you are evaluating what type of business to start, there are dozens of variables to consider, but to keep it simple here, let’s look at 3 basic steps to creating a business that will succeed:

1. Stick To What You Know

One of the biggest mistakes new entrepreneurs make is getting into a business that they have limited knowledge about. For example, I’ve heard many stories of an entrepreneur opening up an eatery (restaurant), only to fold up the business six months later, and be out thousands of dollars in debt.One proven fact is that entrepreneurs thrive in businesses when they are emotionally committed to their business. It’s the reason they don’t give up when there are challenges or bumps in the road. A lot of money can be made from one’s passion.

2. Crunch Numbers

You may not be a numbers guy, but crunching numbers before you start is essential. I’m certain that you wouldn’t purchase a new car without crunching the numbers, and knowing what you can afford.There’s no excuse to not do research on other businesses that are similar, and that have been around for years. Use their pricing as an example to establish your own pricing. Take their marketing ideas, and fine tune them for your business. You don’t need to re-invent the wheel, everything is already out there.

You should also figure out your fixed costs—such as rent or utilities like your cell phone—and variable expenses such as inventory and marketing costs.

3. Spread The Word

Spread the word anyway you can. Being a marketing person, I think its very important to market your small business effectively, but marketing does not have to cost a lot of money. Talk to people about your business by showing your passion for your business. Hand our business cards at will, and create an online presence. Identify your target market, determine how you will reach them, and test your marketing messages over and over until you nail down the one that gets them to respond and buy.

Final Thoughts

All of the above three are important, but knowing the type of business/industry you’re getting into is a very important key point. Far too many entrepreneurs pick the wrong industry to start their business, and therefore end up on the wrong side.

Readers, can you suggest any other important variables to consider when evaluating a businesses feasibility?

Eddie

Photo Credit – Artnoose