Happy Book Review Tuesday! Today is week 2 of talking about Alexandra Levit’s new book, “New Job, New You.“
What do you think is the biggest reason people want to change careers? Alexandra Levit found that it was independence.
But this path isn’t as easy as it sounds. The SBA says that two-thirds of new businesses survive at least two years, but only 33% survive four years. Being an independent business owner is, in my opinion, in your DNA.
Is Independence your Motivation for Change?
- Are you constantly thinking up ideas for new businesses, services, or products?
- Does having total control of your income appeal to you?
- Do you tell your friends who complain about their lives that “people have to make their own luck”?
- Do you find that you’re more productive when you don’t have to stay within the confines of a set schedule?
- Would your colleagues describe you as a “jack-of-all-trades”?
If you answered yes to most of these questions, you may be wired to work for yourself. Next steps?
Brainstorm
From what I can tell, this is where many of my peers get stuck. They know they want to work for themselves but they have no idea what business to go into. Then they get frustrated and start to think they will be stuck at a job they don’t like for the rest of their lives.
Before you do that…
- Go out and get a notebook that you can throw in your work bag. Bring it with you every day. Read this short post (one of my first blog posts!) to find out why. This notebook will help you constantly brainstorm, write down problems you’d like to solve through a product/service, and also serve as a way for you to monitor yourself.
- Once you gather some of these thoughts together (it could take a while), pick an industry, passion or issue then web out from there.
- Write down as many problems with each item as you can think of and create a new, prioritized list.
- Generate a list of solutions.
- Based on these solutions, come up with a list of potential business opportunities. Remember that they don’t have to be 100% original! No need to re-invent the wheel. You can make a successful business by taking an existing product or service and making it better, or presenting it in a new way.
Test your Concept
This part is SO important! I learned a lot about this from Ramit Sethi’s pre-earn1k course. If you don’t test your concept before you go live, you are wasting your time and resources. Here are some ideas on how to test your concept:
- Talk to prospects without selling them anything. Just get feedback.
- Consider freelancing for your potential customers for free/deeply discounted rates. Not only will you learn if you like doing that type of work, you will learn about issues that will come up and how to deal with them before you start charging the big bucks. You will also ultimately learn if people are willing to pay you for this type of work.
- Read a shit ton about the industry.
- Consider your competitors your equals. Go to lunch with them, chat with them about the industry (not about strategy or tactics) and see what problems they are facing. You never know what you can learn.*
- Trust instincts, but drop bad ideas fast.*
- Set up Google alerts to monitor what’s going on in the industry, who is saying what, and what companies are doing to serve the customers.
- Know what you’re good at.*
Share it
Have you thought about starting your own business? Want to get some feedback on your concept? Leave a comment and we’ll leave you feedback. Let us know: your business concept in 2 sentences, who your typical customer is and how you will get your first customer. We’ll give you some feedback.
Resources
The *’s under the Test Your Concept section of this post came from a little book written by “Serial Entrepreneur” G.L. Hoffman. Although he’s not publicizing it, he’s selling this little book of wisdom called “Start Up: Tips to Get Your Business Going” for $9.99. This book was worth every penny and I have no doubt that I will get thousands of dollars out of the advice I’m reading in here. The format is a list of 100 short blurbs + 10 things you can do now. I would get this book. Email G.L at glhoffman@mm.com or hit him up on Twitter for a copy.
Websites
- Entrepreneur.com
- Freelancers Union
- Ladies Who Launch (they have amazing incubator programs which take you from idea to implementation in 4 weeks- I did it and loved it.)
- NOLO (small business legal companion)
- Wall Street Journal Startup Journal
Books
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Nicole,
Without a doubt the desire for independence has been a driving force in why I have been so committed to my blog. I think that you make a great point about testing the waters. Your own blog provides such a great platform to do that because you have a captive audience. You really get valid proof of a concept when you see that. I think an unoriginal idea that is executed well can really start a fire. It’s all about execution.
I think the biggest myth young entrepreneurs need to get over is: you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Also, you don’t need a multi-miliondollar start up to do great. As @mattchevy has been telling me, “start small, think big.” Take one hobby, passion or concept and start with it.
I think of the empire @DanSchawbel’s has built in the past few years. He started by talking about Personal Branding on a blog. He now has Personal Branding Magazine, PB TV, he wrote Personal Branding 2.0, he is paid a lot of money to speak and lead social media events, he does TV apperances, he has expanded his website to different age groups, he has a Personal Branding award……you get the idea. All of these moving parts weren’t put into motion at the beginning. Nor were they all put into motion at the same time. One passion can grow into multiple revenue streams over time.
@Nicole – I think you’ve put together a tremendous resource here for people who are thinking about taking the leap to starting their own business, independent contractor/freelance status, etc. My own deterrent for young(er) people is to really make sure you’re ready. While some of us may have the skills to venture our on our own, your customers also have to perceive you to have those skills.
Do I think that I could sustain myself on my own? Absolutely.
Do I think that I need to be patient, try to keep working for intelligent people and explore the depths of industries that interest me for another 3-5 years so that I’m certain I have a great foundation when I take the leap? Yes.
Hey Ryan! Thanks for coming by.
I agree, that sometimes we aren’t ready. At the same time, I think some of us will always doubt that we will be ready and at that taking a leap of faith is in order.
I incorporated a business when I just turned 23. It was a virtual assistant service with some online marketing services. I realized quickly that I wasn’t totally ready for this leap and that I had a LOT to learn before taking on clients and handling my day job. A few years later, my online marketing skills have grown exponentially, my confidence and my negotiating skills have also grown tremendously. Will these skills grow exponentially from 25-27? Probably not. Therefore, I think starting somewhere is better than not starting at all, but I did need that initial learning period.
I also agree that our twenties is such an exploration period. You could rock at so many things, but picking one you want to do every day and charge for is a different story.