Before you decide whether or not running your own
business is right for you, start by pinpointing your
area of expertise and assessing your aptitude for
business.
Starter Questions
Ask yourself the following questions:
- In what areas do people approach me for advice and
assistance? From what parts of my job do I get the most
satisfaction?
- What do I like doing so much that I would do it
even with no pay?
- What hobbies or interests could I "spin off"into a
small business?
- Do I enjoy budgeting and financial planning?
- Do I enjoy making cold calls, tele-marketing and
selling?
- Do I have enough self-discipline to work on my own?
- How easy is it for me to bounce back from rejection
& setbacks?
Proceed with Caution
Before you take the plunge, it's important to "wade
in gradually" or you may just find yourself swamped.
Before I started The Training Oasis, Inc. I tested the
waters for a few years by doing some freelance
facilitation and design work while I was still employed.
I enjoyed it.
At the time, it seemed that a logical transition
would have been to become an associate of one of the
firms that used my design and facilitation skills from
time to time. Things don't always go as planned. Despite
persistent effort, I couldn't find a consulting firm
that was willing to add me to their regular "string" of
freelance trainers. This puzzled me as I consistently
received excellent ratings from course participants.
Even in the 1990s, many firms were not sure how the
majority of their clients would react to a Black female
trainer. In short, it was perceived as just too much of
a risk.
I realized that I would have to do it on my own if I
was to do it at all. I put together some training
material in the area of personal marketing strategies
for professionals who wanted to make career changes.
Let Your Network Work For You
I discovered that networking is one of the best
strategies for building a business. For example, by
joining a professional association related to your area
of interests, you can make contacts and increase your
profile. To be successful, it is important to go with an
attitude of giving rather than just getting.
Write articles for the newsletter, volunteer to help
out at meetings and conferences. Join a committee to
help the organization plan a special event. Mentor some
of the younger members who are just entering your
profession. To get you must give. Gradually, people will
get to know you but it takes time. You'll need a lot of
contacts when you're out on your own.
One word of caution... don't overdo it. At the end of
each year, if membership in a particularly association
is not resulting in buiness, then don't renew it. I once
did a total of what I had spend on associations
memberships, conferences and sponsorships over a few
years and it was a staggering $50,000. My business leads
were not coming from the contacts I made through the
associations. I should have caught this long before it
became a big ticket item and such a serious hit to my
bottom line. Don't let the same thing happen to you. If
a particular membership is not yielding desired business
results, you can always pay the non-member rate to
attend a specific session or conference that is of
value.
If there are structured networking events in your
area, attend them regularly. These are usually more cost
effective. They don't involve a membership and the focus
is on generating business leads. I attended Bette Myer's
networking sessions at The McGill Club as well as
ConnectUs hosted by Donna Messer and Vicki Vancas.
Advice From the Pros
Identify people who can give you advice about how to
make your move and follow their advice. I am going to
stress this. Make sure you send a prompt thank you note.
If you are ever in a position to give these people
business referrals. DO IT!! After 9/11 when the
crunch hit me and a lot of other trainers, I'll never
forget wondering what happened to all those people to
whom I had given free advice that helped them launch
their careers. Most of them never said thank you or
looked back once they had achieved their goals.
Bette Myer made it possible for me to have a
mastermind session over the phone with Dottie Walters.
Later on when I was in a position to do so, I used her
to conduct a networking session for a organization when
I was on the board.
More about the Dottie Walters consultation. When I
told Dottie that I was thinking of using public
workshops as my transition strategy, Dottie cautioned me
that public workshops were a hard sell and extremely
difficult to market. She advised me to target the
corporate market, advice that I was not ready to hear.
To me, the obstacles seemed insurmountable. How could
I make myself available to corporate clients when I was
working full time? How could I ever hope to compete with
the large consulting firms when I didn't have their big
budgets to invest in glossy brochures and large ads in
prominent magazines? I struggled with these questions
for a long time. While I don't have all the answers, I
experimented and eventually found some ideas that worked
for me.
Start Again
There is no point in waiting for everything to be
perfect. Your first attempts may not turn out exactly as
you planned. What you've got to do is learn from them,
start again and see what happens.
Bearing Dottie Walter's cautions in mind, I decided
to run my Career Makeover workshops at prestigious
women's clubs such as The McGill Club and The Elmwood
Club in Toronto. I came up with the workshop and
promotional material but, for the life of me, I just
couldn't find a name that captured the essence of my
business and my vision of training. So I picked a name,
New Directions, even though I knew it wasn't exactly
what I wanted.
I tried a variety of approaches to marketing the
workshops. I distributed my flyers at bookstores,
women's clubs and through mailings sent out by some of
the professional associations to which I belonged. I
soon learned that the world of marketing public
workshops was very different from marketing courses
within a corporation. For example, I naively believed
that, you could distribute 200 - 500 flyers and have 20
people attend your workshop. After all, that's the way
it worked inside the corporations where I have worked as
a management development specialist. It's not so easy
when people are taking the money out of their own
pockets to pay for a workshop.
The most effective method for me was going to
structured networking events, generating leads and
following up on them. I enjoyed moderate success, 6 - 8
people per workshops. This was certainly a lot less than
what I had anticipated. When I called Dottie Walters
again, she assured me that I had been more successful
than most people who had attempted to offer public
seminars. The participants loved the workshops and found
that the techniques which I taught really helped them.
Have Frequent Checkpoints
Re-set Your Course
Checkpoints are important. I paused and evaluated
what I was doing, I realized that, while I learned a lot
and had satisfied my customers, the numbers I was
generating were not nearly enough to make it possible
for me to "give up my day job". It also became clear
that it was the phone calls and not the flyers that were
resulting in registrations. Working all day. Trying to
get my toddler settled and to bed on time so that I
could hit the phones at night was bringing me closer and
closer to burnout.
Next, I tried to hire someone who would work on
commission to do the phoning for me. The result - it
bombed. She was unable to close a single sale. As an
entrepreneur, a lot of your initial success will come
from your own enthusiasm. Sometimes, it's difficult for
a third party to convey your vision with the same
passion level of passion that you bring to it. If you do
use someone, pay them stictly for results. If you pay
them a base plus commission, they will never be
motivated to hustle for you.
You'll need to re-set your course time and time
again. I had to do it when the NSDAQ tanked in 2001 and
most of my clients were in the high technology sector,
after 9/11 and after SARS. When companies significantly
cut their spending on training, I spun off the executive
consulting services and executive retreats into a new
company Executive Oasis International.
Re-Charge Your Batteries
So, I rested for a while and spent a lot of quiet
time by bodies of water and near the fountain in front
of my dream house. I listened to motivational tapes and
books and read my Bible while I contemplated my next
steps. The vision for my business became clearer and
clearer. I didn't know how I was going to do it but I
took the advice that many people had given me and
decided to target the corporate market. For a long time,
a name for my business was elusive . It was a long
process that took a lot of reflecting. Then, one day
"out of the blue" I woke up with the name The Training
Oasis. It fit my vision of training as a creative,
colourful, energizing and refreshing experience
perfectly. I wondered why I hadn't discovered it before.
I guess I had just been too tired.
Get the Creative Juices Flowing
Through mind-mapping and brainstorming with Donna
Messer, Bette Myer and marketing guru Jerry Goodis, I
was able to come up with some creative ways to market my
services. You can use the same techniques that I did to
come up with creative marketing approaches that reflect
your vision. Instead of sending out letters, I
distributed gift bags filled with some of the toys and
energizers I use in training. I found stationary with an
energizing waterfall in the background that captures the
essence of The Training Oasis to produce a one page
"teaser" and I started meeting with some corporate
prospects.
Only You Can Make It Happen.....Think Again
Taking that plunge isn't easy but, if it's for you,
you'll eventually come to a point when you just have to
do it. It's scary giving up that pay cheque. After I
attended a two day speaker's school sponsored by the
Canadian Speaker's Association and saw other people
succeeding, I realized that I could do it too. I
approached my boss, Marc Berwald, and told him what I
wanted to do. He was very supportive. With his help, I
developed a business case to propose converting my role
from employee to consultant as an interim step. He
championed it for me and it resulted in a consulting
contract with my former employer. I kept marketing
myself and networking and I gradually obtained more
clients. It wasn't easy and, like the desert before the
oasis, there have been dry spells and the inevitable
setbacks. In spite of this, during my first year of
operation, I made more money than I had ever dreamed of
earning as an employee. Over the years, running my own
business has allowed me to:
- have more balance in my life
- go to auditions and slowly build my acting career
- spend quality time with my son
- send my son to private school and involve him in a
range of athletic and recreational activities (even
though I am divorced and assuming the primary
responsibility for his care)
- travel to Asia 7 times and visit many beautiful
places while I was there and in transit (Malaysia
including Kuala Lumpur, Penanag, Melacca, and Kuching,
Singapore, Bangkok, Mumbai, Dubai, Paris)
I could never have done this as a full time employee
and this would NEVER have worked without the support of
friends, family and, most of all God.
Before Diving Off
Running your own business is not for everyone but it
can be fulfilling if it's the right thing for you. So,
get started. Clear off those credit card bills. Set
aside 20% of your income in a slush fund to provide
yourself with start up capital. Conventional wisdom used
to be that you should sock away enough to cover 3 months
worth of living expenses before you take the plunge. In
this turbulent market in which dry spells can be long,
setting aside enough money to cover 1 1/2 to 2 years
worth of living expenses is more prudent. So delay your
launch date so that you can really give yourself a
chance to make a success of it.
Make sure that you get your mortgage and line of
credit approved. Take care of your dental treatment and
any major medical bills that your company health plan
will cover. Develop a clear and focused pictures of what
you want to do and then just keep at it. Get high
quality business cards, stationary and your web site in
place before you give you your day job.
Surround yourself with positive and supportive
people, attend conferences and courses that will move
you closer to fulfilling your dream. Never let anyone
tell you can't do it. Keep those pessimistic tire
kickers as far away from you as possible.
Finally, when the time is right...and only you will
know when that is....go ahead and take the plunge! It
may be the refreshing change you've been seeking.
