0 The Power of Routine

Last Wednesday, I wrote about work life balance and suggested the problem most self-employed face is poor accountability.  It is difficult enough if you have only a partner who demands accountability but just imagine how bad it is if no-one does!

After my mother died, my father, who suffered from MS, had to structure his life around the home.  He was on his own and his movements restricted.  He appreciated routine.  Routine is actually a powerful tool for anyone, especially if self-employed.

Here are some of the advantages of routine:

The point is the more you do routinely, the better you can focus on the time dedicated to your business.

Allocating Time for Your Business

There are probably 4 or so hours in the day when you are at your best.  You can work at other times but your mind is sharpest during those hours.

So, when you’re at your best, do the creative work you need to do: preparation for clients, package design, blog posts, etc.

At other times you can answer emails, edit blog posts, monitor your marketing.  These important tasks need your attention but they do not need you at your peak.

The other things you need to do, such as housework, need to be scheduled into the day as breaks or when you’re tired.  Sometimes a break, doing something else can refresh you.  So, tired after a working day, you may find cooking tea a refreshing break!

Housework

Look it’s probably not that important.  If you have a room for meeting clients, it must appear clean and welcoming but your family and friends are not that bothered.  Indeed your shabby home may reassure them about theirs!

Obviously there are things you must do daily and weekly and these should be part of your routine.  Things that should be kept clean include you, your clothes and pots and pans.  Most other things can be cleaned when necessary, that is when you can’t bear it any longer!

Another thing to remember is when you move to another room, what can you take with you?  The term I use, from chess, is en passant, in passing.  Things circulate around the house and whilst you can organise hunting parties from time to time, it is more efficient to make sure you have something in your hands.  If you have something in your hand, it harder to forget about it!

Finally, as soon as you can afford it consider paying someone to do cleaning, decorating, etc.  This is a service you can provide for the local economy!

Have you any suggestions to how to work more efficiently whilst developing your business?

0 What If You Do Not Address Your Customers’ Problem?

In my last post, I discussed the costs of your customers’ problem.  This post considers your long-term business prospects and consequences, if you do not address your customers’ problem.  This applies equally to your own business and your customer’s, if your customer is a business that needs to  understand its customer’s problem.

Local Marketing – Worked Example

A cost is something that can be directly assessed, such as income or membership.  In my last post I looked at the impact of poor marketing on organisations.  I considered some indirect consequences such as stress and bureaucracy.  Poor marketing matters because it implies you do not understand your customers’ problem.

The long-term consequences of bad practice is likely to be failure.  For a business, this is likely to mean closure at some stage.

Can You Manage Without Marketing?

However, many organisations continue for years without worrying about marketing.  This is common in community and voluntary sectors, where activity is not so cash dependent.  Many organisations keep going on membership fees and annual fund-raisers because volunteers run them.  It can also be true of businesses that have a proven product or service that maintains income.

So, let’s assume cash flow is not a problem and your organisation is financially secure although not marketing.  It may have established customers that spread the word by word of mouth.  A shop-front or a few ads in Yellow Pages may be enough for some businesses.

This can be a stable state of affairs.  Everyone needs plumbers from time to time and so it may not be necessary to market plumbing.  Most people know they need to call one if water is coming through the ceiling.  They are also likely to be very much aware of prospects and consequences of not calling a plumber.

But are they fully aware of all the services a plumber can offer?  Are they aware of the benefits of calling in a professional and not trying to do it yourself?  Or perhaps of some basic tips if you do attempt something yourself?

For a business such as a plumber, it may be possible to do well with minimal marketing.  So, it is important to understand not all prospects and consequences apply equally to all businesses or organisations.

Likely Prospects and Consequences When You Ignore Marketing

You will note most of these are community prospects and consequences.  This is why all organisations should prioritise marketing for the benefit of the community and not solely to protect their future.  The benefits of marketing are not solely to the business; lose the business and you lose the benefits it brings to the community.

The General Challenge

This question challenges all businesses to think beyond their immediate interests and consider the prospects and consequences of having a business actively solve the problem it has identified.

If you can name the benefits you bring to the wider community, then you can use this in your marketing.  Just as selling double-glazing or solar panels reduced carbon consumption, your business will bring benefits to the wider community.

These benefits are part of your marketing strategy.  After all many people will purchase double-glazing because it reduces fuel bills and keeps their house warmer.  However, they may tell their friends that it reduced carbon consumption and this may encourage some of their friends to consider buying them too.

Marketing is not an exact science.  Something that sells to many people may turn a few people off.  But understanding your customer’s problem, the benefits you bring and a commitment to educating the public about them, is the aim of any considered marketing campaign.

Can you think of examples of prospects and consequences from your marketing campaign?

0 Why Coaches Must Love Marketing

Coaching and running a business are not the same thing.  To do the former you need to be a good coach and enjoy the work.  To market you need other skills that may not be nearly so attractive.  The problem is without those skills you don’t have a business and don’t get to do any coaching!  Is it possible you could love marketing as much as coaching?

Here are a couple of thoughts you might find helpful when facing the challenges of marketing your coaching or consultancy business.

Marketing can Enhance Your Coaching

Many coaches are wary of marketing because they see it as selling.  Selling is a part of marketing and obviously essential to your business.  It is not the entirety of marketing.

Marketing is essentially educational.  It is an opportunity to spread your message, to explain what you offer and why it is of value to your market.  Remember, even though you may not be addressing your market direct; an engaging and entertaining talk, for example, may help people understand your offer and think of contacts who may be interested.

And don’t forget, if you are good at educating your audience, it will raise your profile.

Marketing is Your Priority

The trap many coaches fall into is their pursuit of brilliance.  The concept of imperfect action is lost on them.

Let me illustrate with a keynote talk.  You develop your keynote talk and set aside 5 days to perfect it.  You already have an adequate talk; you know the type of talk that says what it needs to say but is not terribly compelling.

The temptation is to spend your time developing the talk.  But the big question is, who is going to hear it?  Would it not be better spending the time promoting the talk, ensuring you have opportunities to deliver it to a viable audience?  The biggest reason talks fail is because no-one turns up!

And if you know 30 – 100 people are going to turn up, you’ll find time to improve that talk!

How have you found congruence between your coaching and your marketing?

1 Relationships and Your Work Life Balance

Perhaps I’m the last person to ask about relationships and work life balance.  I’m single and have rarely been in relationships.  It’s a lifestyle that suits me and I’ll write about its advantages towards the end of this post.

It is possible though for people who are not in long-term relationships to contribute.  Not always of course, because there’s no guarantee that our take on the world is relevant to people who live entirely different lifestyles.  But here are a few pointers you may find helpful.

Balancing Your Relationships and Your Work

Self-employment is an attractive option for people with childcare responsibilities.  The implications for your business are there are times in the day when you are not available.  This is usually early morning (which rules out breakfast meetings) and late afternoons onwards.

As children age, these times become more flexible.  Also, as children age, they may be able to co-operate to some degree with your business.  So, long as you keep your word, turn up when expected and can explain your absences it may generally work for you, your family and your business.

You are not dependent on the whims of an employer and that can mean you are able to control the times when you are present to your family.

This does depend on co-operation from your spouse and a good routine that includes regular communication is essential.

You need to create space for spontaneous activities and the best way to do this is to schedule them.  This may sound bizarre but actually it is what many couples do in practice.  If employed, it means certain times are ring-fenced and so your employer determines your spontaneous times.  So, why should it be a problem for you to plan the times when you do stuff together, when you’re self-employed?

Real problems can arise when one partner has a demanding job that is resilient to alteration.  A manager of a business or organisation may have to be there at certain times.  This means the other partner has to fit in as best they can.  If one partner is the main bread-winner, the arguments to fit in with their schedule can become over-whelming.  Your business may be under your control and so can in theory fit in with your partner’s employer’s requirements but on the other hand the employer’s requirements can overrule yours.

There can be other advantages.  If you are building your own business and can rely on income from your partner while you are building it, this can be an opportunity.  But even with the partners consent and active support, it is easy to feel beholden to them as the junior partner.  This can become frustrating where you know you are good at what you do but need more space to do it.

It is hard to suggest what to do under these circumstances because every family is different.  Certainly communicate and explain to your partner, what you need and the extent to which you are encountering barriers to success.

Partners can be towers of strength.  Some couples run their business together, combining their strengths in creative ways.  This can have its own disadvantages.  A couple can be domineering and difficult to negotiate with for other businesses.  It can be confusing if it is not clear the person you’re talking to is able to decide.  So, agree who makes decisions and how you make it clear, if you do need to consult.  For some business people, if you both need to decide, they would rather meet you together and pitch to you together.

Work Life Balance in Isolation

Contrary to popular fantasies, people on their own do not have to be sad losers.  There are many advantages to working alone and it can be a good place from which to run a business.

The obvious advantage is you are in charge of your own time.  You can make decisions, good and bad, on your own without needing to consult.

If you’re used to living and working on your own, it can work very well.  However, be aware you may have difficulties working with business partners or staff if you normally make your own decisions.  It is easy to forget the obligations you have to others if you usually make your own decisions.

The big problem for the solo worker is accountability.  This may seem odd, given I’ve just explained the freedom the lone worker experiences.  However, the issue is accountability to yourself.  If you plan a day off work on Friday, do you actually take it?  If you’ve promised your partner, you have to run your reason for back-tracking past them.  A promise to yourself may be harder to keep.

Accountability is not solely a problem for singles.  Everyone has the problem of knowing what they should do and then actually doing it.

So, in my next post, I’ll outline a concept that will help anyone who is self-employed and needs to manage their life as well as their business.

What issues do you encounter as a lone worker?

0 What Does Your Customer’s Problem Cost?

Remember the problem in this element of the Circuit Questionnaire is your customer’s problem. I invite you to ask: what does your customer’s problem cost?  In this post I use my business as a worked example.

What problem does my customer face?

They are organisations and businesses who have found they need to do more and better marketing.  They are good at what they do but fail to find new customers, members or supporters.  The nature of their problem is their need to move from working in their business, ie doing what they enjoy, to working on their business, ie focusing on what they need to do to generate support.

The short-term costs are failure of business. This can happen very quickly, where the business owner does not have enough resources while building their business.  The big issue for any business is cash flow.  Note this is not the same as annual profit.  Cash flow is money in hand at any time.  If finance is not available, a business can fail even if its books over a 12-month period balance.

Many smaller businesses fail the cash flow test because they neglect marketing.  A few customers who pay up-front can consume a lot time, reducing the time available to market the business for the next tranche of clients.

Long-Term Costs for Community Organisations

I’ve based this list on one I wrote some months ago.  It shows how community organisations with secure income and outgoings can be poor at marketing.  No marketing strategy can work if it can’t find and address these problems.

Conclusion

This shows the costs of the problem my business addresses.  Not all organisations with poor marketing encounter all these issues.  These problems can be addressed if the business focuses on marketing.  Usually a focus on market draws attention away from internal conflict.

I chose community organisations because too much bureaucracy can be a real issue for them.  Businesses can find themselves in similar difficulties.  Granted businesses are often much clearer in terms of governance but a permission culture is always a possibility.

I can say in my marketing “if you are having these problems, the chances are your marketing needs attention”.  I can go on to argue that if you are new to marketing, you need my services to get orientated, understand the basics and plan a coherent marketing strategy.  Sometimes you need to resolve internal conflict by looking outwards!

What are the main costs of your customers’ problem?

1 Investment: an Ethical Revolution?

You can read Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” as a morality tale.  Remember the cartoon angel and devil sat on the hero’s shoulders?  Poor Dad works hard for money and spends it all on things like mortgages and food.  Rich Dad invests and builds income sources to fund his lifestyle and his family’s.  So, what are the ethics of investment?

We’re left in no doubt which is on the side of the angels and yet, the author repeatedly alludes to his Poor Dad and how his moral approach to money was important too.  I part company with Kiyosaki to the extent he implies the wealthy are somehow superior to the rest of us.

Revolting Against the System

I suspect many people contemplate revolting against the system that expects us to work from 9-5 most days of our lives.  If not, we can languish on the dole, excoriated for being welfare scroungers.

There is a degree of common ground between right and left, where right means support for those who build their own sources of income.  The right in UK politics looks after the interests of  investors; the left cares for those in employment.

Many people on the left make a similar break from the system.  I did way back in the early eighties, when I left research science and took up community development.  Whilst I was in employment for most of my working life, I believed I’d made a radical break with the system.

There’s more than one path

Many people break away from the road they start out on and find their own path.  Others don’t and perhaps suffer for it as they find life is not rewarding, even though they put everything into their chosen career.

But others find great satisfaction in their careers.  They may be artists or creatives, scientists, carers of various types, even teachers!  Many remain in the system, as I did but that does not mean their choice was futile.

I can see why Kiyosaki’s approach is attractive.  It combines learning to play an exciting game and the security at the end of it.  His approach is actually based on his privileged education, with his Rich Dad.  That gave him an advantage and has led him through many cherished experiences.

But this does not make him better than all the others who have found ways to accommodate with the system, some more successful than others.  What inadvertently undermines his argument is his relationship with Donald Trump.  Trump is an unfortunate standard-bearer for the right.  He comes over as a blustering toddler with an overweening sense of entitlement.  His contempt for anyone he disapproves of, such as women, is well-known and he makes no secret of it during his current political campaign.

Should Investors be Taxed?

The right do not like being taxed because they have worked hard for their money and don’t see why they should pay it to governments who do not spend it as wisely as they would.

Even the Conservative Prime Minister in the UK, in her speech to the Tory Conference this week, was highly sceptical of their arguments against taxes.  She pointed out taxes pay for the infrastructure everyone uses to support their businesses and investments.  Someone who makes a lot of money does so through investments many people have made before them.

OK it may be clever and brave to spot a potential bargain, eg a house that might sell for below its real value.  It may be a risk to buy it outright (not always how they do it), put in tenants and wait for the price to go up.

Is the Prime Minister Right?

Let’s say you buy a house for £10K and its price goes up to £100K.  It may have been under-priced when you bought it and it may be overpriced now but you’ve made £90K.

I don’t have much of a problem with this but I do believe the transaction should be taxed.  The house didn’t pop up out of nowhere.  Someone built it, perhaps several decades ago; there would be nothing to invest in without their work.  It will be on a road and receive the usual services.  The fact is this sort of investment exists because of  the work of hosts of other people, perhaps over decades.

The investor speculates on its value.  I don’t object to them doing this but I do not agree their profit is solely the result of their enterprise.  Of course, it is impossible to estimate the contributions made by others that enable someone to make a large profit.  But the state is entitled to tax such transactions.

A Game of Cat and Mouse

I can see it is something of a game of cat and mouse.  There are many ways to protect funds from  tax authorities, by reinvesting them in various ways.  If we plan to maintain the freedoms we all take advantage of as we choose our life paths, we do to some degree need to compromise.

However, the world I want to see is one where entrepreneurs see their role as primarily their contribution to building their local economies.  Stable businesses, supported by investment may be ideally how we can build sustainable communities.

If an entrepreneur cannot point to how the world benefits from their success, perhaps there is something wrong?  Paying taxes is only one way they can do this but why not expect investors to contribute to the general good?  Remember many others make their contribution from within the system. For one reason or another they do not build up personal assets but that is no reason to treat them with contempt for not being clever enough.

It is worth reading Kiyosaki’s book because it will transform the way you hear news bulletins.  This sense of entitlement pervades modern politics and it helps to understand what politicians actually mean.  We need desperately a left or Green take on investment.  I’m sure some have tried.

Let me know what you think.

0 Your Personal Work Life Balance

This post is about your personal work life balance; keeping yourself together. The next will explore work life balance and relationships.

Your Body

Keeping fit is essential for any self-employed business owner and you have many options.  If you have a sport or exercise regimen, use it.  You may need to cut overheads and so gym membership may be a luxury for the first few years, so think about how you can keep fit.

One simple way to keep fit is to lose your car.  Cars are very expensive and if your business does not depend on carrying huge amounts of stuff around, you may find you can manage without.  This saves money but also opens up opportunities to walk.  Walking is good basic exercise and easily taken into your daily routine.

Walking is not empty time, it is an opportunity to work on problems away from your desk and often brilliant insights will occur while walking.

When employed full-time I did not take opportunities to exercise and this made me ill.  If you use self-employment as an excuse to sit in front of a screen all day, your health will suffer and ultimately, so will your business.

So, schedule physical exercise into your day.

Your Mind

It is important to understand how your mind works and it doesn’t work to its capacity whilst in front of a screen, day in and day out.

Your subconscious works on problems even during times you are not aware of it.  Taking a break can make a big difference.  Exercise allows the conscious mind to rest and if you are alert, new ideas will pop into your head.

So, get to know how your mind works and what it feels like to come up with a solution.  Many people get stuck because they don’t know how to listen to their own mind!  Create spaces during the day for your mind to work on problems and then listen to it.

Most people find they know a lot more than they are aware of and the aim should be to cultivate confidence in your personal knowledge and insights.  You may feel stuck this evening but in the morning the solution may present itself modestly and without fanfare.

How do you keep body and mind fit?

0 Understanding Urgent Problems

It is interesting the Circuit Questionnaire suggests pain increases urgency (question 4.3).  Doubtless sometimes it does.  For example, where the pain is new and the person experiencing it wishes to return to the status quo ante.  Urgent problems are often new problems.

However, take care claiming pain always leads to urgency.  Where people or organisations live with pain for long periods, they may prefer the pain to the risks attendant on doing something about it.  They develop work arounds that lessen the pain without addressing the root problem.  These may become as much a problem as the original cause.

So, if you approach an organisation for the first time, it is possible its problems are symptoms of deeper issues, unaddressed for fear of the pain they would uncover.  For example, the staff may avoid bullying through elaborate strategies to keep out of the bully’s way.  Over time these strategies may become enshrined in organisational practice.  Anything is better than unleashing the wrath of the bully.

What Makes a Problem Urgent?

So, whilst pain can be a reason for urgency, there are others.  You may wish to argue all these reasons cause pain. This illustrates why pain is perhaps not always the clearest indicator of urgency.

What Difference Does Urgency Make?

If your customers have urgent problems they are most probably seeking an immediate solution.  It then depends on your solution.  If someone’s website stops working, it’s likely to be urgent and need a technical fix.  There may be some issue within the organisation, eg someone has messed around with something but that can be addressed.

However, some urgent problems are symptoms of something deeper and some businesses offer support to diagnose deeper problems.  A series of crises may mean something is going on under the surface that needs to be addressed.  It may not be urgent and to focus solely on urgent problems may overlook deeper issues.

It helps to be clear about the sort of problem you handle.  No-one expects a website designer to tackle deep-seated organisational conflict.  The website will never work properly while conflict persists. No-one expects the designer to raise it, let alone help resolve it.

A coach or consultant, working on deep-seated issues, may help resolve several urgent issues, as they address their causes.  The point is both approaches are valid and it helps to be clear about which approach you use.

Can you think of other causes of urgent problems?

2 Wealth and Riches? What’s the Difference?

Last Friday, I explored the implications of Pareto for the local economy.  This principle suggests inequalities between neighbourhoods are inevitable.  What are the implications for a thriving marketplace in every neighbourhood?  In this post, I want to question this from a different angle by exploring differences between wealth and riches.

[amazon_link asins=’1612680194′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’markettogether’ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’3c36efca-0035-11e8-8854-ab6da33d912b’]To do this I shall review the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the rich teach their kids about money – that the poor and middle class do not!” by Robert T Kiyosaki.  This week I shall explore some positive insights from the book.  Next week I’ll explain where I disagree with it.

The author tells the story of what he learned about wealth from his own father and the father of a friend. The story is well-told and I have found since reading it, I hear what the wealthy say in a different way.  This worldview is new to me although not entirely unfamiliar.

Here are two important insights from the book; I encourage you to read it because there are many more.

The Importance of Learning

One welcome and not unfamiliar insight is learning is important.  The author suggests working to learn is far more important than working to earn.  The wealthy understand learning about how the world actually operates is important.  The more they know, the more likely they are to recognise financial opportunities when they encounter them.  And of course they know what to do to invest in them.

This immediately resonates with the observation marketing is essentially educational.  Most business people seek investment in their businesses, most often through their customers.  This may be particularly true for B2B customers, although I can think of non-business transactions that are also investments.

The point is most of us do not learn how money works at school or in our families.  Even accountants don’t understand it the same way as the wealthy do.  Once you understand the strategies wealthy people use, you can hear them talking about them in radio and TV interviews.

They see themselves as free spirits who do not subscribe to the rules the poor and middle classes follow.  There is a lot in this and I can empathise because I made a similar decision to abandon the rat race 30 years ago when I left my work as a research scientist for community development.

The problem for people who make similar decisions to mine is we do not usually buy into building our wealth.  Most are altruistic and then find later they have to abandon community development and opt back into the mainstream to fund their family.

There is a good deal of common ground between the radicals who opt for alternative employment and the wealthy who opt to build financial independence.  I’ll highlight where we part company in my next post.

Wealth or Riches?

We all know stories of people who win the lottery and in a few years have nothing left.  They were rich but not wealthy.  The wealthy person may not have a lot of money in their current account but can pay their bills.  The rich pay their bills but every time they do so, make themselves poorer.

Of course, the wealthy do this by building their investment portfolio.  They understand and trade in things like shares, real estate or intellectual property.  The wealthy spend time building and maintaining that portfolio.  They may not have a lot of ready cash but once their income from investments pays their bills, they are financially independent and therefore wealthy.

This is an important insight because it gives the lie to those who promise massive riches through some marketing scheme.  It is not the volume of income you receive from work so much as what you do with it.  The people who make large sums of money from their business may be rich but are they wealthy?  What would happen if their business failed?

But note it also means wise investment of funds means you actually don’t need to turn over vast sums of money.

This is what I meant last week when I suggested perhaps we’re asking the wrong question when we discuss inequality between neighbourhoods.  Of course some neighbourhoods will do very well and others less well.  But investment in our neighbourhoods is also important.

Wealth in the Local Economy

But how do we build investments for our neighbourhoods?  Do we rely on wealthy people to increase their own wealth and use it to invest locally?  Or do we create organisations that build assets, they can invest in their neighbourhood?

The last was the original purpose of development trusts, now often called social enterprises.  Their problem is they are not usually run by entrepreneurs and so fall back on what they know, namely dependence on grants.  When they own assets, it is usually a building in which they’re based.  Usually that building is a liability.

This suggests business people are crucial to local regeneration.  It is a pity they have been and continue to be marginalised.  Next time I’ll explain why I think that is, when I look at where I part company from Kiyosaki.

So, this is my question: is it possible to build an asset base in support of our neighbourhoods and the local economy?  If so, how?

0 Self-Employment as Lifestyle or Business

There are two reasons people choose to become self-employed; lifestyle or business.  People are complex and the reasons they make decisions can be ambiguous.  But let’s pull apart these two approaches and see what they offer.

Lifestyle

The lifestyle option is perhaps surprising and yet it appeals to many self-employed people.  Many people no longer want to work for someone else and so choose their own business.

There is something attractive being in charge of your own time, able to fit your business around your life.  This might appeal to parents of young children who have a few hours a day of spare time. Also to people who have their own hobbies or pursuits and want to schedule their business around them.

Now, you would be right in thinking this is not necessarily a wise decision.  Unless you have some other source of income or savings to live upon, this can be a long road with little financial reward.  I know this because it is the road I have taken.

My Experience

After I became redundant, I attended talks about self-employment and found the business lifestyle attractive.  It allowed me to find time to walk every day, which is something I value.  I have a rhythm to each day that I enjoy and would never be able to maintain in employment.

However, even a brilliant business idea can take years to develop. Starting with my community development experience, it has taken me several years to identify viable offers.  I’ve invested lots in time and financial investment in training and coaching to get to where I am.

However, there are advantages.  It has pushed me into thinking very carefully about my market and the problems they have.  If I had a sure-fire business solution from day one, perhaps I would not have taken it so far.  Patience and persistence are the key to this and if you can make it financially, it is a viable approach.

The point is life should be enjoyable and the lifestyle approach potentially places life before work.

Business

But most people take up self-employment to make money.  If they have a good idea and they can plan it and market it, it is possible to make a living.

There are alternatives and these are government schemes and zero hour contracts.  The government wants to get people off benefits and so schemes that provide some financial support during the early months is one way they do this.  These grants are not massive and soon run out, long before the average business is up and running.  This is why so many self-employed businesses do not work out.

Zero hours contracts use self-employment to support the fiction that working as a taxi driver or deliverer of hot dinners is self-employment.  Often these fictions pay less than or equal to the minimum wage and allow business owners an escape clause to the demand they take on responsibility for their employees.

But if you have an idea, the time and the insight to make it work, self-employment can lead to a successful business.  Each self-employed person has their own unique tool box and has something to offer.  They need to package it and build a reputation.  They need to be able to show they have the unique insights required to make something of their business idea.

The reality is, someone with a good business idea may have an initial advantage over the person who chooses self-employment for lifestyle reasons but in a couple of years that advantage may disappear.

Investing in Lifestyle or Business

The power of self-employment comes not from having a good first idea so much as a person’s ability to market their idea, understand how their market responds to the opportunities out there.  To be self-employed means you are uniquely placed to respond to market demand and it is this that develops opportunities that can develop into viable businesses.

It is important to consider how you invest money to build an asset base to support you and your business over the long haul.  A good idea that brings in money is rare as it is; rarer still is the business person who knows how to invest their income so they and their business survive.  The incentive to do this is lifestyle.  You can fund your lifestyle if you work consistently towards it but this is difficult if you don’t know what you want!

So, whether you make the first decision for lifestyle or business reasons, the chances are you will soon need to develop strategies to keep going.  I’ll make a start on those next time.