WOMEN & WORK
ileanaj
POSTED: Mon, 04/11/2011 - 12:09am
Self-Employment Anyone???
For a great number of reasons, I am starting up my own businesses that I can mostly work from home because I just cannot afford babysitting anymore! It's crazy! Has anyone else here been able to do this successfully? Any advice on making it work? It's been less than a week and I already have 3-4 prospective clients and I am very excited about the possibilities. I am still anxious about it all though ...MIREILLE'S CALENDAR
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cwlorente
POSTED: Tue, 07/05/2011 - 9:40pm
Market, market, market!
I have been self-employed most of the past 25 years. Some years have been very, very good, and a couple have resulted in zero income. My best advice is to market yourself wisely, efficiently, and often. I used to set aside Mondays, which i referred to as Marketing Mondays, and I did no work that day - just marketed myself. In addition, every day I tried to make contact with a potential client, even if it was just a short email or phone call. Let them know you're there, you have an idea you'd like to discuss with them, you're just wrapping up a project and you'd love to do XYZ for them, etc. Even if you have tons of work to do and you don't see how you'll ever finish -- market yourself regularly. I love self-employment. This may sound maudlin, but I really feel like I'm living my own life when I'm self-employed, probably because I am in control of my work and my work day. Best of luck to you. -- CarolAva
POSTED: Sat, 04/23/2011 - 6:26am
Hi ileanaj,
I've posted a previous response to you in 'Calling all you fabulous women!'As for having 3-4 prospective clients ... that's an absolutely brilliant start! Even if nothing comes of these - the key is that they are interested enough to contact you / speak to you about it (and spread the word); that means others will be interested. It's a numbers game. In business in general (but not a rule!), it takes around 100 calls to get 30 meetings to get 2-3 customers. It's hard work! I've found that the best way to get business is by word of mouth (networking) and of course advertising.
You can be as successful or unsuccessful as you choose to be. It's that old adage - you get out what you put in or 'SISO', which whilst rather crude, is very much to the point; 's**t in, s**t out'.
If you knowingly do the very best you can, and put in the most amount of effort you can (without overworking yourself, or making yourself ill) - then you'll know whether or not you've got something that works ... because it either will or won't work! Sounds stupidly simple - because it is. However, there's really only one way to find out, and that's to do it.
If all entrepreneurs or homeworkers procrastinated - there wouldn't be any business! All the biggest companies started off small (even if it was a couple of hundred years ago!) Bon chance!
pussinboots
POSTED: Tue, 07/05/2011 - 4:10pm
Just a quick thank you for
Just a quick thank you for these wise words...I too have been thinking of doing something on my own (part-time to go alongside my main part-time job) and I have been procrastinating through fear of failure - how silly is that?! So having read your reply to the other lady I got something important out of it and will now push ahead full-steam.cindypop1
POSTED: Fri, 04/22/2011 - 1:53pm
Self-employment!!
I have been trying (half-heartedly) for the last couple of years to start a small business. What are you doing for your business and how did you already get prospective clients?? I wish you the best and hope you succeed!!