5 Things To Know Before Starting A Business
I’m a good listener, a bit stubborn and sticking to my own, but still a good listener. Ever since I decided to have my own company I get asked a lot of questions. From people who want to do the same, from people who’ve been there, out of curiosity, out of personal interest. Some have no value, not for me, not for anyone. Some are good for reflection or for freaking you out (that’s provoking reflection as well so I suppose it’s a good thing) and some are never asked.
So just before publishing my very own new stardom interview as self-employed (what were the odds, right?) here are a few things I’d like to share with you if you're thinking about starting your own business:
1. You need to love doing different things. You need to be able to do many things to reach one goal. That was a complete self-awareness moment for me. I had to brush off all the skills I haven’t used for years, acquire new ones, and create that space for my idea to grow. It’s very important to connect with many aspects of your “job”. It’s important to get curious about every process, it’s important not to limit your interest in the things that you know. I think that’s our time and that’s how things work. Of course, you can’t do everything and you should delegate and let people who know better to do the things you don’t. But you need to be involved. Your mind needs to be involved.
2. Get your skills aligned with your passion. Skills are easier to acquire as ever before. It’s not meant to be who you were till now if that’s not what you want. We are whom we choose to be. And maybe it’s too late and you can’t be a ballet dancer (or maybe you can) but you can study to become a dance teacher, a Pilates teacher, a dance studio owner. You can shape, narrow down, and carve out a niche. Absolutely, you can.
It all depends on the time you have to invest in acquiring new skills and the passion you have to make it work. Needless to say, passion is the main prerequisite. Without it, you won’t be able to bear the “pain”. Acquiring new skills is a painful process.
3. Don’t listen to anyone but hear what people have to say. That’s a no-brainer but we all get it wrong most of the times. Realisations can be painful and upsetting but if you know what you want and who you are, reflect, correct, go back into the game. You should know when you are right and when you need to change. Flexibility.
And if someone didn’t make it doesn't mean you won’t. Be part of the perspective but know who you are. Your success is passion. Your passion feeds into your skills. Your skills are acquirable. It’s all about you first. And then about your products, services, ideas.
4. You need the experience you built up throughout the years. Every single thing you learned can have a purpose, don’t discard it. I believe it takes a bit of a working past to be able to see clearly what it is you’d like to do. Or perhaps this is a generation thing and younger professionals have it all clear from early on. Maybe their passions are already aligned with their skills. In my case, every single previous work experience and study build up to what I do today. You don’t need to love what you do/did but you need to own it, to understand it.
5. Don’t go with the flow because you’ll miss it all, including deadlines. I’ve been ever-passionate about what I wanted to do, I laid out ambitions for myself, I worked hard. Yet there was one thing I learned the hard way. Don’t mess with the time you have because you’ll lose. And no matter how good and how enthusiastic you are, it’s never going to work. Especially if you’re a creative it takes an effort to tame your energy and structure your working day. So work on it. Work on your mindset, it's not a hobby anymore, the time is not yours to allocate the way you want. The time is your investment. You do that wrong you lose money of course. And you lose your enthusiasm as well.
All here, I could write so much more but I'll leave something for next time. If you want to ask me anything, or you feel we can talk over this article or anything self-employment, drop me an email. Always interested in connecting with you.
