Working for yourself: how to start + without investments + ways

On Oct 6, 2022

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For some reason, working for oneself seems to many people an unattainable dream, the lot of the elite, too difficult. However, every day in this world someone starts their own business. And although not everyone gets to the desired goal, many succeed!

If you are thinking about how to start working for yourself, we offer a few recommendations from those who have already taken this step and no longer work for their uncle.

Is it worth it to work for yourself?

The first question to ask yourself before taking the first steps is “Why do I need this?" Everyone will have their own list of answers, but there are some arguments that are more common.

Own business allows you not to depend on the employer, manager. You can make decisions about how much to work and with whom to collaborate.
You can independently adjust the work schedule, and not sit in the office "from call to call", do not ask for time off from the authorities on personal matters and do not listen to reprimands for being late.
Efforts, thoughts, time, ideas can be invested in your own business, and not waste time creating and strengthening someone else's company or organization. When you direct your energy to building your own business, then even with an unfavorable development of events, at least you are doing what you like.
No one will be able to fire, while from a hired job they can always “ask”. Moreover, even the most successful employees are not immune from surprises. It is enough to change leadership, and you may be objectionable.
Finally, you can start doing exactly what you have long wanted. And over time, when the work gets better, it will be possible to pay more attention to hobbies or training.
Your income will depend on you. If you manage to build a business competently, and the economic situation on the market is favorable, you will be able to make good money, form a cash reserve and even invest if you wish. As practice shows, the income of an entrepreneur in most cases is higher than that of an employee who is engaged in similar activities.
New useful links. As soon as you start doing something new for yourself, as soon as your circle of acquaintances expands. Connecting with people who are interested in the same things that you are inspires and makes life more fulfilling.

Self-employment – What to do?

The phrase “I want to work for myself. Things to do? “ asks almost everyone who dreams of their own business. Experts are unanimous: choose a direction in which you have at least some experience, and the more, the better.

So, if you have never worked in retail before, opening your own store can be a very difficult task. And if you don't know how to sew, a sewing workshop, even with hired seamstresses, is unlikely to be successful.

Psychologists and HR managers have their own opinion about which business to choose. Doing, they believe, is only worth doing what you really like. Then there will be both strength and inspiration to overcome difficulties, work seven days a week, which often happens at the initial stage. As practice shows, people who are passionate about what they love most often succeed. In addition, you will have a pleasant time in any case, even if the result is not as expected.

But sometimes a person does not know what he likes. To find out, you can write down on a piece of paper everything that you enjoy doing. And then choose the most attractive things from this list. Perhaps by combining, for example, a love of dancing and an interest in children, you decide to open a dance studio. A psychologist or psychotherapist can help you find your "like".

Working for yourself: options

Let's talk about some popular options for working for yourself.

Score. Trade is considered the most profitable type of business. Especially wholesale. Buying goods cheaper, they sell them more expensive, earning on the difference.
Tutoring. It may not even require an initial investment. If you know English well, for example, you can conduct classes via Skype or other video communication systems.
Online consultations. This option is suitable for people with solid experience in some profession. Then there is something to share and something to interest the audience. The main thing is that you can give people really valuable information for them.
Walk the dogs. Easy and affordable to start your own business. Such an activity will help to accumulate a certain amount for further steps. Perhaps, over time, you will organize a whole company for walking four-legged human friends. It is important, of course, to love animals and be able to get along with them.
Copywriting. Writing texts to order is a demanded service in the modern market. The demand for quality content is dictated by the rapid development of the Internet. Today, the main promotion of goods and services occurs precisely on the World Wide Web. And for this, it is necessary not only to have a website or a page on a social network, but also to fill them with interesting texts. The best option at the moment is to master the art of writing SEO texts that “know how” to sell a product or service. Then you will gradually form your own pool of customers, and you will be able to make good money. Of the investments, you will need a computer and Internet access, you can also invest in a couple of online copywriting courses.

Self-employment – other options

Marriage agency or online dating service. If you come up with an interesting website and a unique strategy, offer customers exclusive services, they will be ready to pay for registration on your resource, viewing photos, profiles, correspondence.
Farm. This path is suitable for villagers. Products will always be needed by people. It's a hassle, but if you enjoy working the land or raising pets, the idea can grow into something big. Of course, you will need start-up capital. You can apply for support from the state to receive financial assistance for small businesses.
Handmade. You can turn your hobby into a business. Handmade things are in fashion today. It can be hats and sweaters, baskets and souvenirs, toys and so on.
Promotion of services and goods. A specialist in SEO promotion, SMM marketing, targeting and other online tools are in-demand professions. If you are attracted to this area, you can receive appropriate training – and offer your services to those who wish. At first, you will have to work almost for free, but with experience, you can become a successful professional.

Working for Yourself – Airbag

Ideally, before you start working for yourself, it's a good idea to "lay straws." For example, set aside some amount of money for the first time, while there will be few customers. The stash will also come in handy in case of financial failures, which is not so rare with novice entrepreneurs.

You can consider possible insurance options in the form of help from friends / relatives, a loan, a side job. In any case, if I want to work for myself, I know what to do, there will be no superfluous support from the outside.

Perhaps at first you will be more comfortable acting not alone, but together with a business partner.

Work for yourself – On the job

The insurance option is to continue to work for hire and at the same time do your own business. There are pros and cons here.

On the one hand, it’s calmer, because money for life comes regularly. You can not risk being in a financial hole.

On the other hand, there is little time left to develop your business. Yes, and strength too. After a busy day at work as an employee, it's hard to do anything else. Yes, and on weekends I want to relax, spend time with family and friends.

As a result, such "joint" projects either do not lead to the desired goal, or stretch out for a long time. The process seems to be going on, but very slowly. There is little chance that you will have your own stable business in the coming year.

As practice shows, until you completely immerse yourself in a new activity, do not give it maximum time and effort, no cardinal changes happen.

If you do not risk leaving a warm place, you can leave gradually. In many companies, management is ready to consider the possibility of remote work of employees, especially when they are competent responsible specialists.

Details of a successful launch

To get somewhere, you need, firstly, to know exactly where you are going, and, secondly, to have a "map" of the area at hand. In entrepreneurial parlance, this is called a goal (a vision for your business over time) and a business plan.

Reflections, discussions with relatives, friends who could be your potential customers, consultations with business gurus, visualization and other methods will help to draw up a vision.

It doesn’t hurt to start by fantasizing about how you want to see your business, say, in a year, two, three. Choose your own time. It is worth spending enough time on this. Listen to yourself: what “pictures” resonate, what attracts you the most, what inspires you, what scares you? You can even draw. This will help create a "portrait" of the future business – the very destination where you will go.

Now it's time to write a business plan. This is not a simple school essay, but a rather complex thing. If you do not know how to do this, look at the recommendations of experts, special literature.

In general, such a document includes an indication

the region where you plan to work;
the concept of your business;
the size of the initial investment;
action plan: what comes first, what comes next, and so on.

Need or capital?

According to analysts, you should not start working for yourself without start-up capital. Experts recommend stocking up at least a third of the amount necessary to start your own business.

Money may be required for various purposes: renting a room, buying furniture, equipment, licenses, training, advertising, and so on. It is better if it is your free money: not the one that you put aside "for a rainy day" or borrowed from a bank.

However, there are activities that do not require start-up capital, such as web ad design or writing, tutoring, or dog walking. So everything is individual.

Focus on the goal

Now that you know exactly what you want to do, have a clear idea of how your business will look like after some time, have calculated the financial part and thought out insurance options, you can proceed.

You will need almost all your strength and time, at least a lot of time and effort. Therefore, experts recommend that you carefully look at your usual schedule and remove from it everything that can be postponed until later.

It can be useless chatting with a girlfriend on the phone, hanging aimlessly on social networks, lying in bed for a long time in the morning on a working day, frequent watching TV programs, and so on.

Cost optimization

Some of your expenses may turn out to be superfluous. It is better to carefully study the costs: most likely, there are a couple of items on the list that you can refuse for now, or reduce spending on them.

Any property that you do not use should either be sold or rented out. For example, a car that you almost never drive is ballast, especially if it was bought on credit.

In independent sailing as a newly minted entrepreneur, everything that does not work for your goal, that does not support you, can interfere and lead to the “ship” starting to sink.

In a word, it is worth concentrating on your most important task at the moment – the development of your business. The more time and energy you devote to solving it, the more money you invest in it, the more pleasant the result will be.

Reefs and shoals

Hooray! Your “I want to work for myself” has finally turned from desire into action. The ship of your dreams has broken free and is rushing through the waves straight to the goal. The main thing now is that you do not run into pitfalls in the very first days.

One of the most common is the lack of self-organization. While you went to work in the office or other work, your regimen was clearly regulated by your superiors. Now you are your own boss and director, and everything depends on you. This is where the fun begins. Why get up early in the morning if the business meeting is in the afternoon? Why not arrange an unplanned day off and shopping while there are few customers?

All these are insidious tricks that can ruin your good undertaking in the bud. Experts say: a novice entrepreneur needs discipline like air. And if you do not learn how to effectively organize your time, paying enough attention to work, promotion, learning new knowledge and skills, you can forget about your successful business.

Failure is okay!

Going on an exciting journey called "your own business", it is unlikely that you will be able to stock up on insurance against failures – psychological, emotional, and even financial. While you are just getting on your feet and gaining entrepreneurial experience, there will be a lot of bumps. This should be taken as an objective reality and not worry too much, do not scold yourself and do not give up.

Work, as they say, “from scratch” will not immediately bring a lot of money. And in the next month, most likely, too. Depending on the type of activity, stable earnings should be expected not earlier than in six months, and sometimes even longer.

If you have previously worked on a salary and received a fixed salary, and a good one, this can be a difficult test. It is worth accepting this fact in advance. In addition, when the initial investment has been made, it will first need to recoup them and only then turn a profit.

Without inspiration – nowhere

Lack of inspiration. Inspiration is the very fuel on which not only great creations are created, but also business.

Ozhegov's dictionary interprets the concept of "inspiration" as a creative upsurge, a surge of creative forces. The Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron says that this is “a special state of the subject, in which he is capable of the most intense, expedient and intrinsically valuable actions in the field of religious, mental and aesthetic.” And business is also creativity, especially if it is your own.

It can be difficult to keep the mood of the first days for a long time, because the path, as mentioned above, is often thorny. On it there are disappointments, fatigue, losses and other "charms".

In order not to lose and strengthen your inspiration, psychologists advise you to feed on art – go to theaters, concerts, exhibitions. You can also indulge in your favorite hobby. Travel or just walk around the city, get out more often in nature. Give yourself time to reflect and dream.

Finally, surround yourself with people who give support. And with those who take away strength and do not believe in your success, reduce communication as much as possible – distance yourself.

Entrepreneurs are not born

Every aspiring businessman or freelancer is faced with the problem of lack or lack of entrepreneurial experience. Now you have to sell yourself and your services yourself. And this is a whole science, which will be useful to learn.

There are books, courses, consultants who can help with this. You can “ask for it” as a student to a good friend who has already built his own business. The main thing is to remember that everyone once started from scratch, no one was born an entrepreneur.

Another “reef” is the difficulty in accepting oneself in a new role. This problem is often faced by professionals in their field. When you go out into free swimming, you have, at least at first, to play not one, but three whole roles; specialist, administrator and entrepreneur. Their functions are significantly different, and it can be difficult to combine.

The way out is the same – ask questions to more experienced fellow entrepreneurs, read articles, write plans, go to seminars and trainings.

You are not God

A person can not control everything that happens around. This fact should be taken into account when starting a business. You cannot change, for example, the weather or the financial situation of your clients, change laws in the blink of an eye, and much more.

Therefore, it is worth delimiting the areas of responsibility: decide for yourself what is within your competence, what you can influence, and what you cannot. This will help to calmly perceive surprises and changes.

Only forward!

If you think that, having started your own business, you can forget about gaining new knowledge and skills, then you are mistaken. All successful entrepreneurs who have remained so for many years are constantly improving, reading a lot in their field, meeting people, attending trainings or other events for development.

According to the ancient and modern sages, you can reach the goal only when you keep going. No matter what. It doesn’t matter who and what is talking behind your back or right in your eyes, whether relatives and friends doubt your success or cheer you up; manages to get income sufficient at least for living; it turns out too much or too little – you just need to keep going.

This is not easy, but self-support will help when you can praise yourself without waiting for someone else to do it. The ability to rely on oneself is an important psychological skill, one of the main ones in building a successful social life and business. By the way, you can train him: by reading books, listening to lectures, watching videos. The best way is to take a course of psychotherapy to understand your own "undercurrents", see your fears, increase your self-confidence and learn how to help yourself.

Work from scratch: to swim or not to swim?

There is so much more to say about starting your own business. Articles, books, teaching aids, films have been made about it. But only you can decide whether to start?

But what you don’t need to do is rush. It’s better to think it over again, to deal with your fears. And once you're ready, you can take the first step.

As those who have already done it say, this is the most difficult. But any, the farthest road, begins with a single step, even a very small one.