This article will help you branch out and become an entrepreneur marketing your own speciality.
If you are looking for an article that will tell you how to become a millionaire overnight look elsewhere.
The steps below are steps that I and many of my friends took to launch our businesses
PRACTICE
It is not necessary to leave your job to begin selling your hobby. I recommend keeping your current job for at least several months and maybe even a few years as you develop your skills and client base. As you enhance your knowledge in your field people will begin to take notice and ask to purchase your skills. Doing some practice gigs is the best way to learn and network.
DEVELOP YOUR SKILLS
I recommend that you talk to several trusted friends and ask them to give you genuine analysis of your skills and ask them to give you a reasonable assessment of your business and people skills. The hardest part: don��t argue. Take their advice and take some classes at a local college to help you improve in the areas your friends see weakness. Your objective is to become the local expert in the area of your hobby.
CLIENTS
You can��t make money without people. Sales pitching to your friends and family is the fastest way to loose people. You need your friends and family to recommend your skills around. If a friend or family member needs your service, give them premium customer service and an impressive product to talk about. When working for a friend or family member, I strongly recommend doing the job for free and having them buy materials unless they insist on paying. If you feel they are trying to take advantage of you, briefly mention the normal price and then offer them a friend discount. Don��t sacrifice your relationships with your friends for money.
The best way to grow your client base is to create raving fans. Word-of-mouth advertising goes much farther than media campaigns. Give each client the best service possible and the best product possible even if you are loose money on their job. Don��t sacrifice clients for money.
FIND YOUR AREA OF SPECIALTY
If you are looking for a business that is satisfying, consider developing one of your existing hobbies into a business venture. I, and many people I know, have found tremendous satisfaction in turning a hobby into money. Perhaps your hobby is customizing motorcycles. Maybe it is creating culinary delights. Many people delight in fine wood working. Photography is also a very lucrative hobby. You can take your existing expertise to the next level and make a satisfying income.
INSURANCE/LICENSING/OVERHEAD
I recommend investing some of the money you earn doing some practice gigs in licensing and equipment. There is no end of salesmen who will try to sell you overhead. Overhead is not all bad. Licensing, insurance, visa machines, advertisements, equipment maintenance, business cards/paraphernalia, etc, are all useful and sometimes necessary to operate a business. Practice gigs will give you a feel for what overhead is actually useful to you before going full time.
OPERATING CAPITAL
As I have mentioned, develop your hobby while staying with your current employer. Generally you cannot expect your hobby to make enough money to support you at first. Pay off all your debts and become financially stable. Personal debts will become complicated with the erratic income that entrepreneurs often face their first few years. Dave Ramsey��s plan is an excellent way to become debt free and financially secure.
Once you are debt free and financially secure, consider setting aside 20-30% of your current income to be later used as startup/operating capital. That will help you get used to the pay cut you may experience initially and prevent you from taking a large business (personal) loan. Since every industry is different, it is hard to say how much money you will need initially to become independent. Make a list of the insurance, licensing, equipment, the material, and the personnel you think you will need to hire initiall y to launch your business as your full time occupation.
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