In the face of job insecurity, many are considering the path of self-employment. This article provides a comprehensive guide on how to evaluate your skills, overcome the fear of the unknown, and successfully transition into self-employment.
An email from a subscriber, Cecily, who is being bought out by her employer, the County Health and Welfare System, in April 2002, highlights the reality of job insecurity. This is not an isolated case. Major companies like Ford are laying off thousands of employees. The question is, what happens to these displaced workers?
Many find another job and re-enter the rat race, constantly worrying about the financial stability of their new employer. However, there is an alternative - self-employment. This article explores how to determine if self-employment is right for you and how to make this dream a reality.
The first step towards self-employment is conducting a personal inventory. This involves assessing your skills, strengths, weaknesses, interests, resources, attitude, and other personal qualities.
Identify your skills and consider if they align with your interests. If you're good at something but don't enjoy it, it's not a good basis for your business. However, if you're good at something and enjoy it, that's a strong indication of what your business should be about.
Consider also the skills you could acquire with reasonable training. If a new skill could help you succeed in a business, it's worth acquiring.
To identify your skills, review your past job roles and list the skills required to perform them effectively. Some broad categories to consider include communication, human relations, leadership, planning, and effectiveness.
Identify your strengths and weaknesses, both tangible and intangible. Strengths could include personal qualities like determination and commitment, educational qualifications, and financial reserves. Weaknesses could include lack of financial resources, lack of personal discipline, and poor health.
Values are divided into intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic values relate to the day-to-day activities of your business and how valuable you perceive them to be. Extrinsic values refer to the external features of your business, such as your physical environment and profit potential. Identifying the types of businesses that satisfy these values is crucial in deciding if self-employment is right for you.
Various personality tests based on Jung's Personality Theory can help determine your personality type and the types of occupations and businesses suited to each type. However, the results of such tests should only be one of several factors considered in your decision-making process.
Try to create a business around something you're interested in. You tend to perform better at what you enjoy and enjoy what you're good at. Also, consider what you're not interested in. Knowing what you don't want to do can help clarify what you do want to do.
Consider not only your financial resources but also your personal relationship network, office equipment, and other facilities.
Do you have a "can do", optimistic attitude? Are you determined to succeed whatever it takes? Do you believe you control your own destiny or is life a series of random events that happen to you no matter what you may have planned?
Consider the personal qualities that make you unique. Are you energetic and motivated, resourceful, resilient, realistic and practical, a hard worker?
Once you've completed your personal inventory, rank your positives and negatives. This will provide a framework within which any prospective business idea must fit.
There are several approaches to starting a business. You may provide a service, manufacture a product, or distribute a product manufactured by someone else.
Consider the following combinations:
Options 2 and 3 are often the most viable.
To generate business ideas, consider what you know and enjoy the most. What do people buy? What do people want but can't buy? What do people buy but don't like? What are people buying more of? Where do they buy and when and how?
Look at how you can change existing products or services to meet an unmet need, to meet a need in a different, more convenient way, or to improve the quality or service. Be observant of emerging trends and expanding market niches.
Once you have a shortlist of business ideas, start assessing them as viable business opportunities. This involves research, development, and planning.
Talk about your product or service with prospective customers, research your target market and competition, strategize your business launch, and prepare financial projections.
Once you've identified a viable business idea, conduct a more detailed assessment and create a solid business plan. This plan should cover all aspects of your business and serve as a roadmap for your venture.
The process from personal inventory to launch may take several months, but the returns on your investment can be substantial. Self-employment is not an easy road, but it rewards the risk-takers and the resilient. If you are truly determined to create your own security, nothing compares to putting your destiny back where it belongs - in your own hands.
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