CONFUSED AND STUNNED – AWESOME! (Dan Miller)
Is now a time to try something new – perhaps something you’ve never done before? Or should you sit out the “recession” and wait until “things get better.”
“The times when everyone is confused and stunned can present an enormous opportunity because no one’s really doing anything,” says Dell Computer founder Michael Dell. “I think this is the time when the seeds of really successful new businesses will be created.”
Designer Kenneth Cole says, “When things are going well, people want to do what’s working and more of it. It’s only in difficult times that people are open to creative alternatives.”
Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, points out that some of the greatest businesses were built in recessionary times. “Money is easy to find in boom times, which leads to far too many businesses getting out of the gate that don’t deserve to be started. When money is scarce, better ideas face less competition and better execution can lead to greater success.”
Whether it’s changing career paths or starting your own business, there’s never been a more opportune time than today. July 1st marks the beginning of the second half of 2010. And what better time to claim your “independence” than on July 4th. Recognize you are in the driver’s seat, break ties with the mother country if necessary and begin your personal revolution. And remember, “things” get better when you get better.
Dan Miller www.48days.com http://www.48days.com/2010/07/02/confused-and-stunned-%E2%80%93-awesome/ read moreFIRST STEPS TO WORKING FOR YOURSELF (FOLLOW-UP) (Chris Guillebeau)
Last week I presented a scenario from one of our readers. Anna was recently laid off from a middle management job, and rather than look for work, she was hoping to become self-employed for the first time.
What are the first steps? she wanted to know. I said that I would share my answer, but first I wanted to hear from the rest of our community.
If you’re in a similar situation or are just curious, you can read some of the answersand see if any advice serves your needs. I’ve copied a few of my favorite responses below.
Derek said…
I think *THE MOST* important thing to working for yourself is to earn your first $100 to $500. That means that in the first few weeks, skip:
- Branding
- Buying business cards
- Establishing LLCs
- Complicated strategies
- EtcSkip everything except things that will generate immediate cash. Why? Because the very first time you make tangible money as a freelancer or solo entrepreneur, it suddenly becomes a lot more real. You’re no longer just experiencing it as a dream or a hope, but you’re actually on track to making it happen.
Krishan said…
Create something — anything — and get it in front of a potential customer. If you think you want to help people with their taxes, create brochure. If you want to do arts and crafts, make something and post it on Etsy. If you want to start writing, start a blog on posterous and send it to all your friends via email and ask them subscribe and share it.
Michelle said…
The old cliche of do what you love and the money will follow, should actually read, “Share what you love and the money will follow.” It is through the sharing of what you love that value is brought into the world – the doing is only a fraction of the process. So I think you should focus not so much about what you’re going to do, but what you’re passionate about and how you can share that with the world.
Gene said…
What’s missing in your life? What are you looking for that you can’t find? That’s how Restoration Hardware was started. Someone who had a need and couldn’t find the goods they were looking. And it doesn’t have to be goods it can be services too.
Alain said…
Self employed for 20+ years. First thing you need is to be ABSOLUTELY comfortable with uncertainty. Regardless of what you decide to do, being self employed you will rarely know where the next few checks are coming from. You need to be real honest with yourself that you can deal with this. In twenty years of self employment [successful 6 figure hospitality consulting/lobbying] I rarely could tell where my money was coming from 90 days out. I simply did the work, persisted and it all worked out but the anxiety never left. Your partner, children, family, friends, bankers etc are usually not that accepting.
Brandon said…
Decide whether you want to be self-employed or if you want to own a business. There is a big difference. Either way can be the right way for individual people. But decide whether you are a solo individual providing a service (like writing, or graphic design, etc.) or whether you are creating a system where a product (or service) is being provided for customers, and you are the one who manages the system.
Heather said…
Unlike many other folks here, I’m not going to recommend you dig deeply into yourself and follow your heart. You need to create a business that meets your financial needs and rewards you with all the benefits of self-employment. Yes, you can create a business around your skills and interests, but at the end of the day it’s still a business and must be treated as such. You need your work, and you need your hobbies.
Our biased judges picked Derek as the winner of the $50 gift certificate from UnconventionalGuides.com. Thanks to everyone who shared advice!
My Thoughts
I’ve been self-employed for almost all of my adult life, a story I told in more detail in the AONC book. It wasn’t always a strategic process—in the beginning I was motivated primarily by the desire to avoid working for anyone else—but most of what I’ve learned in nearly 15 years of working for myself can be reduced to a few simple concepts.
My first step would be to figure out what I can offer that other people will buy. Everything comes down to this interaction. How can I create something that is both desirable and compelling?
People ask all the time about various technical things: “Which web host should I use? What’s an RSS feed? How can I accept online payments?” and so on. There’s nothing wrong with these questions, but they’re not what you should focus on when first learning about self-employment.
I made a short video about the distinction between strategy and tactics a while back. Simply put, you can always figure technical things out. When you’re not sure what to do about a technical issue, this site is a great resource. But there’s no website that will tell you exactly what kind of business you should run.
Instead, ask yourself questions like these:
What do I know how to make?
What do I know how to do?
Is there anything I can teach?
What skills do I have that are valued by others?
Your “first steps” should comprise of answering these questions, or at least thinking carefully about what to offer the world. You can then tackle the “next steps” of figuring out how to create a business model around the answers, how to craft an offer from your business model, how to get the word out about your offering, and everything else.
Note: We’ll soon be gearing up for the pre-sales of The $100 Startup, a book that has been in the making for more than two years. The book is all about this very subject—how to make a living doing something you love. I’ll be going on tour to 30 cities in the U.S. and Canada starting in May, then to other countries a bit later. Stay tuned!
We have a big community of people like Anna, as well as a lot of people who are already self-employed. I hope to do a better job of answering questions like the one we’ve looked at here, and also to facilitate more interaction between both groups.
But First, I’m Off to Nauru
This morning I’m leaving Brisbane, Australia to fly to Nauru, the world’s smallest republic. Long-time readers may remember that my previous attempt to visit Nauru was disrupted due to a visa problem which resulted in my first visit down under. I LOVE everything about Australia—we’re planning a whole tour down this way later in the year—and I’m also glad about finally getting to Nauru.
The world’s smallest republic is not known for high-speed internet access, so I’ll keep comments off on this post and we’ll resume them again later in the week when I’m back on the mainland.
See you all from the road!
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Chris Guillebeau http://chrisguillebeau.com/3×5/first-steps-to-working-for-yourself/?awt_l=6JefR&awt_m=IwEew_2Qssnt7W read more
3 WAYS TO GO FURTHER, FASTER (Michael Hyatt)
Several years ago, I wrote out a list of “100 Things I Want to Do Before I Die.” It’s really an amazing, audacious list. Whenever I review it, I am both inspired and stunned by how many of the items I have already accomplished. And yet, there is so much more. The list keeps growing.
I’ll bet you have a list, too. Perhaps you’ve written it down; perhaps not. Regardless, you doubtless want to accomplish things—probably a lot of things. Really important things. Unfortunately, life is short. I have more to accomplish than I could probably do in seven lifetimes.
So how do you actually make significant progress on your goals? How can you get more things done and squeeze as much juice out of life as possible?
One of the most important things you can do, of course, is to write down your goals. I have written about this in The 90-Day Challenge, so I won’t repeat myself here. But assuming you have done that, what’s next?
Head over to Michael Hyatt‘s website to read further.
read moreWHAT’S YOUR MESSAGE? WHY NOT SHARE IT? (Chris Guillebeau)
Greetings from Burlington, Vermont. After today, I have a few days home in Portland, Oregon, then I’ll set out to visit the midwest and Great Lakes region starting next week.
In this (very windblown) video update, I talk about social media and why if you’re trying to build a platform, you should talk about yourself more than others.
Stay with me, because this idea is definitely contrarian to the conventional wisdom.
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If you can’t watch the video or just prefer to read, here are a few highlights.
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Shouldn’t you use social media to promote other people’s work? Isn’t it good to make others look good?
Well, yes, I think it’s generally a good idea to be a nice person. But I don’t think that has much to do with building your brand or platform. If you care about building a platform, it’s far better to actually do something of your own. This usually involves talking about yourself, and that’s OK.
Let’s take the case of someone like @lancearmstrong. I’m a fan of Lance, but he doesn’t know me. That’s OK, I don’t expect Lance to follow me back—and here is the critical point: I also don’t want him to spend all his time promoting other people’s projects and “retweeting” his followers’ notes. I want him to talk about what he’s doing, and I want him to share his own opinions. In other words, I want Lance to talk about himself.
Should you only talk about yourself? No, of course not. It’s good to share other resources, promote other people, and so on from time to time. But ultimately, people will follow you because you are doing something interesting, not because you are good at passing on other people’s messages.
This is why if you want to build something, you have to have your own message. If someone feels like you’re talking too much about your own projects, they can unfollow you. Whenever someone tells me they don’t like what I write or talk about, I always wish them well and say, “Hey, it’s a big internet out there—hopefully something else will resonate with you better.”
But more likely, instead of losing followers or readers, you’ll gain them once you start speaking out more and being yourself. That’s why you need a message!
So… what’s your message?
What are you working on over there, and what’s the next step? You can share it here in the comments for the world to see. As usual, keep the web site in the URL field (not the comment itself), and if you’re doing something interesting, you’ll definitely get your share of visitors.
Most importantly, be yourself! Don’t be shy…
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Chris Guillebeau http://chrisguillebeau.com/3×5/whats-your-message-why-not-share-it/ read more