Here are 5 tips that lead to self-employment success | Jun 18th 2007
It always surprises me when I find myself in a position of giving business advice to people, although I know that may sound strange since I’ve been running my own home business for five years. Self-employment seemed like a natural career transition for me - something that happened almost seamlessly after I got laid off in 2002.
When I really think about it, I realize there are five things I did when I was just getting started that helped me become successfully self-employed.
Stay with other job
I didn’t quit my day job. This may sound counterintuitive, but one of the strongest motivators for working for myself was when I got a small taste of it while I was working full-time. When my older daughter was about 2 months old, I began working from home once a week for my existing employer. This taught me a lot about how to manage my time and gave me the confidence I needed to take the next step, which was to solicit freelance work directly.
Use What You Know
I leveraged what I already knew. I offered up my online marketing skills directly to companies (essentially my competition) that provided these same services to their clients. So, rather than approach clients directly, I contacted the agencies with an offer to help them manage their project “overflow.” This approach was surprisingly effective.
Take the financial hit early
I worked for very little money (at first). One of my earliest freelance jobs was for a company that paid me just $15/hour for about 10 hours per week of work. I took this job, which was a drastic pay cut from what I was used to, because I figured it was a pretty good deal for having flexible hours and being able to work from home. It also enabled me to continue working in my industry during a time when jobs were scarce. I also learned how to manage a direct client remotely (very remotely, as this client was based in Australia).
Network network network
This is going to sound clichéd, but I cannot underestimate how much networking helped me in the beginning. It continues to be my main source of new clients. I started out working primarily for agencies rather than with clients directly. This has enabled me to meet many people in my industry. No matter where these employees are within their company’s management hierarchy, they are excellent contacts for me because they inevitably move on to other jobs. I often hear from them again about new work opportunities.
Share your knowledge
I was, and continue to be, very loud about what I know. I launched a Web site for my business, started a blog with free Internet marketing advice, joined my industry’s top organization and wrote a training module for one of the few industry training courses available. I also spoke at an industry conference and plan to speak at future conferences, all under my own company name. This lends much credibility to the expertise I’m selling, and puts me in front of a lot of potential clients.
I remember how insecure I was when I started. I had to rethink everything I knew about work. I had to take far more responsibility for defining my professional identity than ever before. These days I feel lucky to be able to shape my career in a way that is both personally and professionally rewarding, but also provides limitless opportunities for growth. I hope that sharing what I’ve learned helps someone else get started down this same path.
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This article was originally published in the Poughkeepsie Journal on Saturday, June 16, 2007.