Take the plunge, but keep your head! (Self-Employment)

Member Name: hypno06

Product:	Self-Employment
Date:	20/02/09 (246 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Being your own boss, doing what you want!

Disadvantages: Income can fluctuate and you can work long long hours!

I have a very good job, and have had ever since I left school, but after 10 years in the same place, I found myself stuck in the proverbial rut, and not sure how to get out of it. This coincided with the sudden death of my Father, who had not yet reached retirement age. I had been given the kick up the backside I needed - life is too short to be unhappy at work, and if I wanted to, I could do something about it.

I didn't want to move from one rut to another, so I decided to retrain and do something completely different - I quite fancied learning reflexology, so I found an evening course and signed up.

Not happy with just finding myself a new hobby, I wanted to do this for a living.....so here started my journey of self employment.

I am not so niaive to believe that I could make a living JUST out of reflexology, so I needed to look for other things to complement it. Searching the internet, talking to others in the industry, trying new therapies for myself, lead me to courses in Indian Head Massage, Hypnotherapy and NLP and Reiki. Over the course of about 8 months, I studied in evenings and weekends, took days off my "proper" job to attend training courses and workshops, wrote essays in my lunch-hours and ended up with Formal (and most importantly, insurable) qualifications that could allow me to begin my new career.

Once I knew that I was going to complete all the above, I handed in my notice - many people thought I was mad - leaving a reasonably well paid, secure job with prospects, in order to do "airy fairy" stuff.....My Mother said i was having a mid life crises - what if I was, it was what I wanted to do.

I had a 3 month notice period and I used it well - I knew that in 3 months, my income would go down to zero unless I got myself up and running. During that time, as well as my studying, I was obtaining prices from competitors, doing my own version of mystery shopping, getting quotes from suppliers for equipment, brainstorming, brainstorming and more brainstorming........Remember the old saying "Poor Preparation gives Poor Performance". If you are considering going self employed, this is incredibly important.

I have a mortgage, I have children, and I have a husband that doesn't earn a fortune. I don't have a mass of savings so I HAD to make this new venture work.

I also had to be realistic - just because you set up a business doesn't mean your diary or your order book will be full in the first day, the first week, the first month, or even the first year. Things take time to build up, yet the bills don't ease up, just because you aren't earning. So one of the first things I did was to set myself up with an easy, flexible admin job that paid little more than minimum wage, but at least I knew that I had a little money coming in, even if clients were slow to appear. This means that the pressure is off just a bit, but not so much that you can become complacent - you know you need to make a success of the business to pay the mortgage and keep a roof over your head.

I fully believe that you get out what you put in.........How were clients to know that I have set up a fantastic therapy room? Well, of course they wouldn't know unless I somehow told them. So early on, I bought a load of coloured paper, and a decent printer, and printed off lots of simple leaflets and went putting them through doors. I worked out that I needed to pick up one client in order to cover my costs. Two clients and I was in profit......after my first session of leaflet dropping, I picked up 9 clients! I was in business!!!

Every day, if the weather was dry and my diary was free, I would put leaflets through doors. It got me my first batch of clients who then told others and word of mouth meant that my diary was soon full. Within three months, I was able to earn as much as I had in my old "proper" job. Yet, other people I have spoken to, say that leaflet dropping won't produce the goods, so isn't worth doing - yet they haven't tried!!!

My leaflets found themselves in pubs, libraries, school staff rooms as well as community centre notice boards, etc! If you don't promote yourself, you can't expect your phone to ring!

I made expensive advertising mistakes too though - caught up in some smooth talking ad sales talk from yellow pages, and from some advertising mediums that were nothing short of being scams - after being stung a couple of times, I learnt my lesson, and became good at saying NO when parting with money was involved. Beware though, because you will get some real sharks trying to get you to take out an ad at the doctor's surgery, in a police magazine, for a special edition of a journal that no one reads anyway etc etc.

The best marketing and advertising is free, and again comes down to being determined and pushing yourself forward - giving talks to the local WI, giving demonstrations at school PTA events or offering your services for a fundraiser etc. One of the best things I did was to agree to do an article for the local evening news. Having done one terrifying interview on the benefits of hypnosis, I then became their first port of call for similar things, as I did on local radio. Getting in the local newspaper by writing an article that is genuinely interesting, not just an advert, resulted in me having the same basic article published in the national press.......not bad publicity at all and it didn't cost me a penny!

I would always say that you should think outside the box when you are self employed......what happens if clients become a little thin on the ground? For me, the answer was that I started to teach the subjects in which I was now working - Adult Education workshops and courses, teaching at the school where I did my training, even teaching at a local prison.......just because you are a reflexologist, or a builder, or a chef doesn't mean that you can only DO your trade.......you can teach it too! I went back to college part time to study for my Cert Ed, as I didn't have a teaching degree......something else to put on my CV! I was also approached by someone wanting to use my "hypnosis voice" to record meditation MP3 downloads - not something I would have thought of myself, but an opportunity too good to turn down!

I also found "niche" markets and specialised in certain things - for example I took extra exams to work with pregnant women. There are very few maternity reflexologists in the UK - I am one of them......cue an article for the National Childbirth Trust magazine and a leaflet on the local mother and baby group noticeboard, and I had a steady run of pregnant women wanting me to do their feet. If you look at your potential markets and work out which one needs you most, you can target your energy into getting that business that no one else is after.

Of course, organisation is paramount - you need to know exactly what you are doing and when otherwise you will start letting people down, including yourself. Keep records, keep a diary, keep a separate account for your business expenses and income. If you say you will do something, or meet someone, then make sure you do it. If you let down your clients, they will not return, nor will they recommend you to others, and your business will fail. If you procrastinate, or are not passionate about what you do, if you simply don't enjoy it or are not confident in what you are doing, you will not get the most out of your self employment, and therefore will probably not make it the success it might otherwise have been.

It is hard work, it is uncertain, and at times, when you have an empty diary for next month, it is worrying - but if you have determination, passion and a true element of common sense, it can be immensely satisfying, even if you never become rich from it!

For me, after a couple of years, I found that the teaching element was taking over, and I ended up teaching full time.......that was never my intention, but that is just the way it evolved......that then lead me back to my original career (albeit for another company than the one I left) so I sort of went full circle back into full time employment. Again, some might say it is a mistake, after all the effort I put into setting up a successful practice, but actually all the skills I learnt being self employed have meant that I am a much stronger person now - I have the confidence to take risks, I know that if I am unhappy at work, I CAN do something else, I know that I get out what I put in etc etc etc.....and that to me is priceless. I now see my favourite clients and people that they specifically refer to me in my evenings and weekends, and it is lovely to have a "profitable hobby" now! I still teach the occasional workshop, and love it! So a win-win situation for me!

So, some of my tips would be:

- Think outside the box - do what others in your industry don't....push the boundaries a bit. It won't always pay off, but you will be surprised!

- Go and get your clients - don't wait for them to come to you.

- Don't get caught up in expensive advertising. A good website is vital nowadays, but you don't need to pay a fortune for it, and you certainly don't need most of the "help" that is offered to you....at a cost. The best marketing is the sort you can do for free - so go out and do it!

- Be realistic. Work out what you NEED to earn to clear your bills. If it is unlikely that you can earn this in the early days from your new business, make provision for it and get a part time job to supplement it. Don't kid yourself that things will be ok if they won't.

- Put your tax money away and pay your National Insurance. You don't want to find you have a big bill you cannot pay. Do your accounts properly - keep your receipts, claim your expenses, and make friends with the tax man.....their self employment helpline was incredibly helpful to me, and they even do free one day courses.

- Join a support network - a local business forum, Women in Enterprise, chamber of commerce etc......working on your own can be lonely, and meetings with others in the same boat can be very beneficial, on a social basis as well as another place to give a demonstration and get yourself some free marketing!

As you can tell by the length of this review - I could talk about being self employed for ages.........so I had better shut up now before I run out of space!!!

Self employment is not for everyone, but it may be for you! Don't be afraid, do your homework, have faith in yourself, and be sensible.......and enjoy!

Summary: You can get more out of this than you would ever expect.