Be Your Own Boss in 30 days?
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It's Monday. Don't forget to prepare yourself to act the part of being your own boss.
People ask me if it is possible to go from serf-employment to self-employment in 30 days. I think it is, but you need experience before you can dive in so quickly. I recommend at lesat 3-6 months of research and marketing to find your niche.
There are other reasons to stay out of self-employment, too:
1. High debt
2. Mortgage
3. Children
4. Education goals
5. Significant other who isn't supportive
6. Laziness
7. Burnt bridges in the industry
If your debt is way out of control, I recommend making the biggest and hardest decision to make: spend 1 year tripling your efforts and paying it all off. One year of hardship: no extraneous spending, no vacations, no dinners out, no $3 lattes, no movies, no CDs, no new clothes. If you have a job, get 2 more part time ones. Send every extra dollar to your creditors and pay it all off, starting with the smallest credit card. Debt is a killer, it will cloud your mind constantly. The benefit of this "hardship" is that you will learn that hard work pays off. If you are young (under 25), I recommend doing this regardless of debt.
If you have a mortgage, consider downsizing. I believe the housing market is in a big bubble, and recently sold my condos and home. I currently am working on buying up a trailer park, where prices are very low and quality of life is very high. I publish a newsletter (Mobile Home Millionaire) and nearly everyone I know in my park are worth close to a million. Don't look at trailer trash, look at wealth. Homes are overpriced for sure, consider moving from a $300,000 home where you have $50,000 equity into a $30,000 trailer which gives you $20,000 in cash. Work hard at your business for 3 years, and go back and buy your old house for cash!
Children are a joy (I've been told). They can also be very expensive. If you don't not have $1000 in the bank for every year old your child is (or combined), don't strike out on your own. Children need time, patience and money. If you have a 6 years old and a 9 year old (total age combined: 15), you'll want $15,000 in the bank before heading out. This is non-negotiable, unless your significant other is working a stable job.
If you have college goals, get it done. I am 100% against college for 90% of college students. I never went, and it gave me 5 years of work experience and saved me nearly $100,000 over my friends. Of my friends who went, only 10 to 20% are ahead of where I am, but they are so burdened with debt and headaches that I'm not sure they are ahead. College seems to be more for community and family than for success nowadays. If you're in the middle of college, you might as well finish it -- take more classes, take summer school, finish it up and get going!
If your husband, wife, girlfriend or boyfriend is not supportive of you being your own boss, talk to them and find out why. As I have said before, friends and family can tell you where your weaknesses are. If the relationship is serious, don't be a jerk -- make the decision together.
If you are currently in the industry you expect to be self-employed in, don't enter that business if you have ANY burnt bridges. One of my failures was from a previously burnt bridge years earlier in another town. Suppliers talk, customers talk. Go and find your burnt bridge and work it out. This is not a twelve-step program, this is business. You don't want any enemies going into the business, they can quickly become the biggest mountain you will never climb.
People ask me if it is possible to go from serf-employment to self-employment in 30 days. I think it is, but you need experience before you can dive in so quickly. I recommend at lesat 3-6 months of research and marketing to find your niche.
There are other reasons to stay out of self-employment, too:
1. High debt
2. Mortgage
3. Children
4. Education goals
5. Significant other who isn't supportive
6. Laziness
7. Burnt bridges in the industry
If your debt is way out of control, I recommend making the biggest and hardest decision to make: spend 1 year tripling your efforts and paying it all off. One year of hardship: no extraneous spending, no vacations, no dinners out, no $3 lattes, no movies, no CDs, no new clothes. If you have a job, get 2 more part time ones. Send every extra dollar to your creditors and pay it all off, starting with the smallest credit card. Debt is a killer, it will cloud your mind constantly. The benefit of this "hardship" is that you will learn that hard work pays off. If you are young (under 25), I recommend doing this regardless of debt.
If you have a mortgage, consider downsizing. I believe the housing market is in a big bubble, and recently sold my condos and home. I currently am working on buying up a trailer park, where prices are very low and quality of life is very high. I publish a newsletter (Mobile Home Millionaire) and nearly everyone I know in my park are worth close to a million. Don't look at trailer trash, look at wealth. Homes are overpriced for sure, consider moving from a $300,000 home where you have $50,000 equity into a $30,000 trailer which gives you $20,000 in cash. Work hard at your business for 3 years, and go back and buy your old house for cash!
Children are a joy (I've been told). They can also be very expensive. If you don't not have $1000 in the bank for every year old your child is (or combined), don't strike out on your own. Children need time, patience and money. If you have a 6 years old and a 9 year old (total age combined: 15), you'll want $15,000 in the bank before heading out. This is non-negotiable, unless your significant other is working a stable job.
If you have college goals, get it done. I am 100% against college for 90% of college students. I never went, and it gave me 5 years of work experience and saved me nearly $100,000 over my friends. Of my friends who went, only 10 to 20% are ahead of where I am, but they are so burdened with debt and headaches that I'm not sure they are ahead. College seems to be more for community and family than for success nowadays. If you're in the middle of college, you might as well finish it -- take more classes, take summer school, finish it up and get going!
If your husband, wife, girlfriend or boyfriend is not supportive of you being your own boss, talk to them and find out why. As I have said before, friends and family can tell you where your weaknesses are. If the relationship is serious, don't be a jerk -- make the decision together.
If you are currently in the industry you expect to be self-employed in, don't enter that business if you have ANY burnt bridges. One of my failures was from a previously burnt bridge years earlier in another town. Suppliers talk, customers talk. Go and find your burnt bridge and work it out. This is not a twelve-step program, this is business. You don't want any enemies going into the business, they can quickly become the biggest mountain you will never climb.
posted by A. B. Dada at 9:49 AM
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