Self Employment Ideas

Recently I listened to a podcast by Seth Godin about something he calls “The Dip”.  No, it’s not ice cream.  ;)

The dip, as I understand it, is that low point in a project.  It’s that time where hope and motivation is low, and the potential for giving up is extremely high.  I’ve personally found myself in this spot on many, many occasions.

The truth is, we’ve all thought about giving up on our dreams and sometimes we have.

What’s interesting is that, according to Seth, more often than not, we end up giving up at the wrong times.  We give up just when it starts to get uncomfortable; just about the time when real opportunity exists.

But guess what??  That’s the time to dig deep!  That’s the time to learn, to grow, and to overcome!

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This morning, I wasn’t feeling like writing much, to be honest.  I wanted to put something out to my readers that had some meat to it.  No fluff, no filler, just good solid content.  So, I turned to EMSI.  EMSI provides data, links, articles, and other information related to labor market trends.

Knowing how many people claim to be self employed, it’s really hard to discern what actually has a good chance of working.  So, EMSI put together a fantastic list of REAL NUMBERS on the top self employment opportunities.  Here it is:

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Wow, it’s been a while since I posted to this site.  For that I apologize!

With that being said, I thought it would be good for me to take a pit stop on my journey and share with you where I’m at.  So much has happened on this trek to becoming self employed.  A career change, a move across the state, a new business…man I’m tired!

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I’ve spent a pretty descent amount of time here explaining how to uncover your passion, your dream, your entrepreneurial Mona Lisa.  While I still believe that this is one of the most important steps in the process of becoming self employed, I also know that there are some more practical and necessary things that must happen to get things going.

Getting your business organized legally is one of those practical steps.  Because I’m using this site to help my readers and document my journey to self employment, I thought it only proper to show you how I did that using Legal Zoom.

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Your home is your haven.  It’s the place where your friends and family can come to relax, unwind, and live “life”.  That’s why starting a business in your home should be something you examine with both your head and your heart!

Unfortunately, many people think that the this means checking their brains or their passions at the door.  That’s just nonsense!  If your asking the question, “what business should I start?”, then here are some things you should be aware of.

The first thing that you might consider are pyramid schemes or multi-level marketing programs that make it easy to get going.  The problem is that they force you to alienate your friends and family by throwing “parties” that guilt them into buying from you.  The second problem is that they usually don’t pay very well and require many hours of unpaid work for limited success.

Know this…real business happens when you solve problems for people that they are willing to pay for.

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Don’t quit your day job!!!  (Note: If you’ve already quit or you have found yourself unemployed unintentionally, then go to step 1a immediately!)

Step 1:

Assuming you are currently still employed; congratulations –  just breathe!  Don’t let yourself get so worked up about taking the plunge just yet.  Trust me I know what it’s like to feel like your soul is being crushed by your current job!  By the way, it’s most likely not and starting your own business with zero income is just as soul crushing!

This just happens to be a perfect time for you to figure out your next step!  If for some reason you are getting upset by me just saying that, then I totally recommend a book by Jon Acuff, titled “Quitter”.  Jon is easy to read, makes you laugh, and will keep you from prematurely ejecting yourself from your sugar daddy (you know that thing you call a day job that pays all the bills).  Check this video:

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A Kitchen Nightmare

If you are a fan of either Restaurant Impossible or Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, then you know that they are always a fun ride for us wannabe entrepreneurs.  That’s not to mention the culinary creativity that is regularly tested on our significant others because, they made it look “easy”.  However, have you ever thought about how these people got into this position in the first place?  How about what happens after the cameras leave?  Please read on…

It’s the food stupid:

First let’s discuss the restaurateurs that we regularly befriend from our couches on these shows.  Usually, they have several things in common (besides a failing restaurant):

1.) Completely stressed out.

2.) Completely in debt up to their eye-balls (and usually their family’s eye-balls).

3.) Completely incapable of seeing outside of their current situation to make the necessary changes to turn things around.

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Actions vs Attitudes

Lately, I’ve been pondering this topic quite a bit.  It started one day last week when I overheard one of my co-workers (that’s in a leadership position) discussing his ability to “think outside the box”.  He was actually defending the fact that his boss had told him that he personally  needed to work on that.  My co-worker said, what is he talking about, I think outside the box all the time.  I had to bite my tongue knowing that this actually was a weak point for him, but he couldn’t see it.  I then remembered discussing the idea of implementing DISC personality profiles  for our sales team with him and remembered his reluctance to do so.

Funny, I thought, how the DISC profiles would probably have lead him to understand his weakness in this area, but that his attitude towards self-reflection & self-improvement wouldn’t allow him to see his weakness.  In this case, he believed something that isn’t necessarily true.  The only way for him to see it would be for him to examine his actions and see if they align with his perceived attitude.

With all that being said, I hate to pick on someone that isn’t here to defend himself.  That’s why I try to quickly turn these kinds of opinions in on myself.  So, the question I’ve been asking myself is what attitudes do I have that don’t align with my actions?  Here’s my list:

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corporate culture innovation2

Trying to make an impact in your corporate culture is hard work, even from the top.  However, it’s a whole different level of difficult when you are starting at the bottom or even the middle.  Below I’ll share with you my challenges in attempting to accomplish the impossible without spending a lifetime doing it.  Bottom line…if you want to impact your company from the bottom up; this series of posts should be a great place for you to start!

Check out Part 1 here.

Wow!  A lot has happened since my last post!  Where do I begin?

First, let’s just say that I did get my book club organized and have several people signed up so far.  So, let’s start by detailing what I did:

1.) First I grabbed a flyer from Microsoft Templates and edited it to my preferences (be sure to spell check).

2.) Setup a quick meeting with the HR manager to make sure it’s not squashed before it even starts.  They don’t like surprises.

3.) Setup another quick meeting with my direct manager to do the same.

4.) Printed out enough flyers for the entire office (around 30 for me).

5.) Came in early before everyone got there and set a flyer on their chairs, in-boxes, or just taped to their computer screens.

6.) Waited for responses.

To be honest, it wasn’t like my phone rang off the hook or people were pounding down my doors to sign-up.  However, what I did get was a steady stream of people asking me what the heck this thing was all about.  Here are some of the reactions:

“This is a good idea.  You should charge people for it.  Seriously, you could get five bucks a head at least.”

“What’s the structure of this going to be like?  Are you gonna allow other people to talk much?”

“Dude, 6:30 in the morning!  Are you crazy?”

The really funny thing is that the third comment was the most popular.  I had several people push back really hard on the time.  So, I’m planning on changing it to lunch time on Fridays.  I’m hoping this will bring in a few more that are on the sidelines.  I think everyone appreciated the fact that I was being flexible.  They forget that I’m doing this for them!

There has been a lot more happen during this experiment, but it will have to wait for other posts.  Future posts:

Inspiration is more important than money

Dealing with negative co-workers

Conversations with the top

What have you done or seen done at your work to change the corporate culture for the better? 

Are you stuck? I know that many people feel like they are.  I know this feeling!  It stinks!  You want to like your job.  You want to feel good about what you do.  You want to smile everyday when you get up for work, but the situation you are in just doesn’t let you.  Trust me, I’ve been there!!!!!  Maybe it’s your boss?  Maybe it’s your bosses boss?  Maybe you just want to get a promotion or a raise?  Or maybe you’ve just had it with your co-workers?

This article is a first step in fixing that!  It’s not a pie in the sky solution, it’s a “role-up your sleeves” approach to cutting the corporate chord; to getting out or buying in!  Rather than sitting here and filling you full of ideas that you may or may not be able to implement, I’m going to take a different approach!  Instead, I’m going to challenge myself and you!  What I’m going to challenge you with is more like buying a fixer upper.  Let me explain…

Whether you buy a house (fixer-upper) to rehab it and sell OR you buy it to live in for the rest of your life, the work is there either way.  So why not rehab your current job from the bottom up?  Sounds crazy doesn’t it?

If you are thinking, “not at my company”, then keep reading!

Especially after the changes in our economy over the past few years; people’s overall satisfaction with their jobs is lower than ever!  According to a recent USA Today article, that quoted the “US Federal Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey”, 51% of all job separations in February 2012 were due to workers quitting.  Meaning that more people quit their jobs than were let go; we haven’t seen that in a while!

So how does that help you?  You can’t quit.  You have bills to pay and a family to support, right?  I know I do!

So, let’s get to the heart of the matter here…what CAN you do about it?  Maybe nothing.  However, I’m guessing that isn’t the case!  The real answer is that you can do LOT’s of stuff!  I’m not going to give you a list of ideas; that’s your job!  Instead, give yourself a quick attitude check.  If you are reading this, you probably already have a bunch of ideas that nobody will listen to.  For the time being, put those ideas on a piece of paper and slide them into a drawer somewhere!

What I’m going to suggest is that you are probably surrounded by people that feel very similar to you.  Meaning that you have a group of potentially amazing people (assuming you are potentially amazing) that feel just as stuck as you!  Chances are, you’ve probably even spoken with them about how messed up the place is that you are working for.  How has that helped?

Everything I’m describing here is very personal to me because I’m living in it.  So, I’ve been asking myself these same questions for a while now.  However, I’m going to “believe or leave”, as John Miller, Author of QBQ says!  But, “how can I do anything if I’m just a lowly employee and all the managers are crazy”, you ask?

Here’s how:

First, I’m going to start a book club.  That’s right, I’m doing it!  This won’t be any book club either; it will be a Business Professionals Book Club.  Sound cheesy?  Maybe.  All I know is that 6:30am on Friday mornings, I’m going to be in the break room ready to discuss some of the most profound and important business books of our generation with my co-workers!

I’ve chosen Seth Godin’s book, “Linchpin” to kick things off.  I’m going to choose a date, create a flyer, and hang it around the office AND the shop & see what happens.  Hopefully, I’ll get a few people interested, but who really knows?

Either way, I’m also going to ask all of the managers to join us one by one, face to face.  Yep, it’s an experiment, but it should be very telling.  If I can’t get managers and employees to communicate in a forum like this, then my guess is that all hope really is lost.  However, if I can get even a couple of people brainstorming, learning, and communicating then who knows what’s possible?

So, join me in starting a corporate culture revolution, from the bottom up!

***Update:  Here is the flyer I’m putting up.  Feel free to use it for your own corporate culture revolution: