Quit your job and work for yourself (3 skills you need, plus a checklist)

I have a friend who is a teacher at a high school in the States. To keep her anonymous, I am calling her "Shelley" even though that's totally not her name.

Shelly (not her real name) has been at this teaching job for over 10 years, and ahead of her spans another 20 in her career. And she doesn't want to do this job forever.  However rewarding the work may be, 20 more years seems like a LOT!

I can see that she has over the years honed her skills - how best to negotiate with young people, how to diffuse conflict, how to engage an audience, how to motivate. So the logical answer to me is “start your own business, be a consultant in the field you know and specialise in”

I started my digital marketing & design company (Top Left Design) in 2002 - and back then I was a "freelancer". It wasn't something I had to leap into - it happened to me because the place I used to work at ceased to be.

So when I talked with her about it, I said "You could start your own consultancy!" She listened sceptically as I explained how she already has a lot of valuable skills and she could still stay in the education "industry"  as a consultant. "It's easy!" I exclaimed (I was bending the truth in enthusiasm)

Consultancy business model - selling your expertise, in the industry you have experience in.

Just like many of the people I meet (who come from corporate, finance, legal, charity, health or education career backgrounds), a consultancy business is the logical next step - and in fact - extremely low risk.

You only need a home office and a laptop - the rest is down to you! 

And there is certainly a trend towards more and more people doing this. It's not for everyone, some people want to go into something completely different. In terms of leaps of faith, it's a safe one.

For some people the idea of staying in their industry and becoming an adviser to others in the industry doesn’t make them excited. And, there are also many more who are scared to leave the security of a job.

As I know all too well from starting Top Left Design, and feeling worried and fearful in those early days.

Its been 14 years since (nearly) and now I have a team of 7, and a "proper office". it's a lot different to my early years when it was just me on my own.

The skills you need:

In order to start a business, there are definitely some additional skills you need - and the great thing is you can learn as you go.

These are:

Financial awareness: You need a basic understanding of pricing, profitability, the value of your time, markup, invoicing. This us usually quite easy to get your head around - though many people struggle with pricing.

Sales and marketing: Yes even if you are not a "salesperson" you won't have a business unless you can somehow convince someone to give you money in return for your expertise. Built into this is your online presence, your personal brand, and your social media presence. 

A confident description: This is kind of connected to the previous point. You have to be able to explain to people what you do and what that value is. When I first went out on my own, as a freelance web designer, I had an easy to understand product - websites. Of course even then there was more to it than that. For my friend "Shelly" it's more complicated - she has to state the end result - eg "I help schools deliver better exam results" or "I help schools with their cost cutting" or "I help turn around failing schools". Whatever that thing is, she needs to know what that is, and be clear on it. This is often the stumbling block for people starting their own businesses.

Could starting up on your own be a mistake?

My theory is usually things you do are worth it for the learning. I don't want you to be rash - the money is rarely as much as you would hope or expect - it takes time to build it to be more than your old salary.

As my company helps people with their marketing, branding, design, and social media, I get to meet business owners all the time at different stages of refinement of these skills.

Of the many hundreds I have met and worked with, I don't think many people ever regret it, there is so much to do and learn when running your own business - even from the very beginning when you are setting up, working from home, and figuring it all out.

It's so exciting and fun watching what starts off as a notion transform into a profitable, thriving business that adds value to the world - because of that first step!

Reality Check

I want to be encouraging, sure! But if you did a bit of math on your earning potential and are rubbing your hands with glee at all the money you are going to make (when you work out your day rate and multiply it by the number of days you would work ) - it's never that much. This is because you won't be billing yourself out all the time!

As a rough rule of thumb, 2/3rds of your time needs to be spent on marketing/sales activity which can include networking, writing proposals, refining your message, re-evaluating your pricing, and of course if you want to be super advanced, actively participating in your social media channels and creating online content. 

Not to put you off! 

What really worked for me

When I joined a club called "Toastmasters" all those years ago, because I was so scared of public speaking I would shake and go red in the face - it was the best thing I could do. It's a public speaking club where you meet several times a month and practice your skills speaking in front of an audience. But with Toastmasters, it's a structured meeting with a supportive audience who ALWAYS clap for you. Definitely worth looking for a local club - no matter who you are or what you do!

The other thing I did was join BNI - a networking organisation which is great for B2B types of businesses and SMEs.

Networking is great - but choose your network according to where your audience hangs out. And follow the rules of networking (be genuinely interested in others, don't be salesy, ask lots of questions, make an effort to connect people to others, always follow up)

A checklist (11 things you need to start your own business):

Below is a starting checklist, of the things one needs to do at the beginning. These 11 things (while non exaustive) is compiled from memory, from experience, from figuring it out, from making mistakes and witnessing mistakes others make - and from working with so many consulting based startups:

1. A name for your business (see my "7 steps to naming your company" article on this)
2. A clear description of what you do, how it helps, and who you do it for
3. A business bank account (choose a bank with good online banking and a good app)
4. An awareness of your pricing and deliverables (which can be day rate but the sooner you package your skills into "products" with names and outcomes, the better.
5. A business address (it doesn't have to be your home, there are plenty of virtual addresses out there, and if you want an intro, one of our clients gives this service)
6. An accountant (yes I know you can learn to do your tax returns yourself - but trust me, a proper accountant can free you up to do valuable business building). Don't just go with the one your uncle or dad recommended, interview 2-3 and ask for recommendations - it's got to be a good fit! 
7. Some sort of a plan for your IT - unless you are great at IT, it's best if you find someone who can help you with setup of email, a way to back up your files. Ask me if you want recommendations!
8. Regular networking activity – a way to become known under your new identity – you will be getting most of your initial work from your network, so build on this, and meet many people
9. Domain name (doesn't have to be .com but choose one carefully – try namemesh.com or www.domainsbot.com to see what’s out there – tools like this also give you more ideas! )
10. An email address which is matching with your chosen professional domain name
11. A well designed, professional holding page (at the very least) to give people a quick sentence of what you do for whom, link to your social media profiles, and your contact details.
12. A plan for how and when you will be considering your visual identity and marketing material

People want you to be confident - to "own it".

This is an important factor. The sooner you say "I help X with Y" and not "I just started sort of and I use to work in X" - the more confident and more effective you will be in conversation.

Getting started - next steps:

If you are dreaming about starting your own business, and you aren't sure what you will do, - look at the checklist, and take action - start working your way though it! 

Start with the name, and the description of what you will sell, what problems you will solve, who you will help.

Feeling like you need a real life pep talk, or you have more questions? I provide 45 mins free consultancy sessions for on the fence  would be start-ups - I would love to help you avoid some of the mistake I made, and fast track your way to where you are already matching your old salary! Just message me or email keren [at] topleftdesign.com and we can meet!