What does the ideal day as an entrepreneur look like to you? For some people, it means taking business calls from the beach with a Mai Tai in your hand (topped off with a tiny umbrella, of course). For others, it means leading yoga retreats in exotic locations, while teaching your students to find inner stillness so you can help them transform their lives – and the world.
Whether you prefer to work from bed in your pajamas (or yoga pants) or from Starbucks with a tall pumpkin spice latte, your dream of running your own business is definitely within your grasp. It just takes some time, effort, and proactive planning on your part.
Know The Way Out
Start with your business strategy and exit plan. You’ll probably want to write the exit plan into your business strategy – especially if you plan to secure a business loan or other funding from a lender. Put on paper all the little details, all your anticipated expenses, and how you’ll make the money to cover them. Get to work saving up a nest egg to help you make ends meet while you’re getting the business off the ground.
Looks Matter, Too
It’s also important not to become so wrapped up in running a business that you forget to focus on your marketing and branding. Your brand imagery and marketing campaigns are what help you connect with your niche market. Your marketing campaign, website, and brand imagery are literally the first impressions your potential new clients see from you. They draw prospective clients and customers to your business in the first place, helping kickstart the decision to work with you.
Designate Tasks Wisely
As soon as possible, you’ll want to consider which tasks light you up and which tasks you’d rather offload to someone else. As entrepreneurs, we feel rejuvenated and have renewed excitement about our businesses when we unload or outsource tasks that we don’t enjoy. Having the right technology and the right people to help us do the work brings a lot of hope that we can, in fact, continue running the business of our dreams. It gives us hope that we can run our own business while making ends meet.
Thanks to Fiverr and freelancer-for-hire websites, it is possible to run your own business while allowing others to take over the more mundane tasks. A great alternative to hiring freelancers is to purchase software to assist with everyday tasks. As businesses grow and you hire more employees, this might include a W2 software program, a payroll solution, and/or accounting software. Or this could be software to help automate your social media marketing or time tracking for client projects.
If you can afford to hire specialists to do these things, great – but many people cannot afford the added expenses when they are just launching a new business. If you’re one of those people, automated software can be immensely helpful.
Above all else, have faith in yourself.
If feelings of doubt start to creep in along the way, just remind yourself that you’re doing this world (and yourself) a great service by sharing your gifts to help benefit the lives of others.
Written by: Jason Lewis of Strongwell
