Global Entrepreneurship Week (18-23 Nov 2013)
More and more of us are becoming self-employed or starting our own businesses. Sometimes by desire of taking charge of your destiny. Sometimes through the necessity of job uncertainty, redundancy. But what does it take to succeed?
1) Passion: without the desire / drive to start something you love/care about it won’t happen
2) Product: You need to develop a good, quality product/ service that customers want / need
3) Plan: research, knowledge, data – and a clear, flexible strategy and plan of action to follow
4) Professionalism: the skills, expertise, credibility and quality (you/your product) to deliver
5) Pricing, promotion, placement, pitching: the visibility and strategy to show and sell
6) People: from expert support to help you provide through to customers willing to buy
7) Perseverance: along a road that often long, challenging, uncertain and ever-changing
Here’s a video with some tips (read on below video)
Making a start
As I mention in the video above, if your are making a start then research and planning is a good place to start and there is lots of help out there. There are great business books, websites, organisations and research available. Depending on where you live in the world checking out the relevant government and public websites on the practicalities, rules, regulations about being self employed/running a business can be a great place to start – as is looking out trade organisations in your chosen sector who can give you lots of information / support and many run all sorts of services from legal and marketing advice through to networking events.
Free online talk: check out my special live online seminar here on Evolved Heart Starting & Marketing Your Own Venture (live/archived) to help you on your way.
Join me at the British Library
One of the places that can help you start and grow is the British Library’s Business & IP Centre. The centre is packed full of books, databases, research reports and resources that can help you – worth millions of pounds – yours to access free of charge. On top of that there’s a huge suite of low cost/ no cost workshops, and one to one sessions to help you with advice. www.bl.uk/bipc – also that plus space for you to meet and network too.
One of the workshops is my Soul Trader: your life, your business workshop. Based on my book Soul Trader – Putting the Heart Back into your business, the workshop (and the book) help you to follow your passions and talents and to gain/build the clarity, customers, courage, co-operation, conversations, creativity, compassion needed to survive and thrive and also to adapt to change.
Take a tour of the British Library’s Business & IP Centre
I recently caught up with Neil Infield centre Manager to take a tour of the centre to give you a flavour of how it can help you.
I think the key message that I’d like to leave you with is to give yourself the time and space to really consider where you’re at, what you’re good at/passionate about and to research the area that you want to to into. Once you’ve done that – or whilst you’re doing it see if you can dip your toe in the water. Get out and about networking and look into and consider joining an apt industry organisation for your sector and perhaps one of the organisations such as the Chamber of Commerce of Federation of Small Businesses that are there to help. Some of the things that you’re going to do / need to do will cost, some resources are free of charge. Start to also build a network of skilled talented people with differing skills and styles to you but who you appreciate their values and vice-versa and who are supportive.
You may also find that Soul Trader – my book may be very useful to you. You can check it out via the links above.I wrote it especially for those of you who are walking this path.
Wishing you every success on your journey.
Recent Comments