If you are dreaming of starting your own business, whether it is to escape the rat race or if you are just so fed up with what you are currently doing, there are some things that you may wish to consider before setting your heart on it and taking the plunge.
The basics – having space to work in
You will have to make sure that you have a quiet space to work in with plenty of room where you will be comfortable. If you have a spare bedroom, this could be perfect. However, a converted garage, basement, or even loft will still be adequate. If you do not have any of these available and cannot have a purpose-built office, put it in your outdoor area, then at a push, a corner in your living room could very well suffice.
Keep your options open – have a couple of ideas on the go
It is important that you do not put all of your eggs in one basket and that you have a variety of different businesses ticking alongside each other. This way, if you have difficulties with one business, you are still going to have a form of income coming in from the others. For instance, you could have a:
- buying and selling a business as your main business model.
- running an affiliate program alongside as a more passive income.
- maybe a freelancing business as well, writing content or ad-hoc delivery driver.
This way, if the bottom drops out of one, it will not or should not affect the others, giving you plenty of time to rebuild or re-juggle your options.
Sourcing work – work will not necessarily come to you
Obviously, when it comes to sourcing work, it is the freelancing model that is being addressed. You mustn’t beat around the bush, as time is money, and if you have no work to do, then it won’t be long before you are panicking.
However, on the upside, if you have done your research, you will be comfortable that there is plenty of work for you to do within the sector that you have chosen for yourself. For instance, if you have settled on your freelancing work being that of a delivery driver, then there are websites that will help you out when it comes to getting shipping work. These sites list driving work that you can bid on in order to fill your time and get paid for your efforts, the jobs are generally ad-hoc, and you can dip in and out of them as and when you have the time to spare.
Remember the important things – no work, no money
Many people dream of changing their career so that they are finally ‘in charge’ of themselves. Indeed, this dream is often with the misconception that working for yourself is easier and a lot less stressful than working for an employer, but this is not necessarily true.
Although there are a lot of upsides to working for yourself, being able to choose your own hours, your own pay rate, not having to ask for vacation time, and taking breaks when you want, to name a few, there are downsides too, such as if you do not get the work in, there is no work, no work – no pay, and occasionally a lot of stress too.
