Start Point
You think you want to go solo. That’s great. I’ve worked for myself since 2003 and I wouldn’t ever want to work for anyone else, ever again. Let’s work out your start point.
You can do it. Everyone can do it. But being able to do it does not mean that you should do it.
If there is one thread that runs through everything involved in being your own boss, is that the buck stops with you. There’s no one to bail you out. The first maxim is “be honest with yourself”.
Notebook
I’m an analogue sort of guy, as will become increasingly obvious. Grab yourself a notebook. I’ll happily sell you one, but any book will do. This book will record your thoughts and chart your progress.
Leave the first few pages blank (we’ll put an index in here). At the top of say, page 5 write,
“Going Solo”.
Then beneath it, write the following
- What you are now. Employee? Student? Unemployed?
- How you fund your life. Salary? Savings? Partner? Any way you can?
- What responsibilities you have. Parent? Carer?
- What’s your personal situation? Do you live alone or with others? Do you fund just yourself or others?
Write as little or as much as you want. The important thing is to be honest. This book is for you. It’s your business partner. Don’t tell lies to your business partner.
Leave a line, and write down what you want to be; You Tube Superstar, Management Consultant, Landscape Gardener, Author, Model, Gravedigger, Personal Trainer – whatever it is that you want to be. What’s the dream? What are you aiming for?
Analysis
Don’t look now, but you’ve just documented a start point and an end point. If you were working for a big company, then you have completed a “situational assessment” (or any other of a thousand buzz phrases) and set a goal.
We are just going to call it the journey. We have identified where we are starting (Point A) and where we want to get (Point M). Now, all we have to work out is how to get from point A to M.
Now, go back to page 1 and write Index at the top of the page. Then write – “The Journey” on the left side of the page and “5” in the middle.
Wow. Look at you. You have instigated project “Going Solo”, completed a Situational Analysis, established a goal and documented and indexed the project. In an office, you should probably take a break here. Lunch maybe. It’s been a productive day.
Sorry, I’m being flippant (partially). We will revisit the journey and will write more pages on it. When we do – be sure to add the page number next to the 5. That way, whenever you want to reference the journey, you’ll know where to look.
OK. Lunch break over.
Take a look at the four questions and their answers. If you are unemployed, independently wealthy with no responsibilities, then what are you doing here? Go surfing. Immediately.
Conclusion
If you are not that person, then the chances are that your start point is, to some extent at least, going to guide your approach to going solo. That, my friends, is effectively the beginning of a feasibility study.
Next post – what to do about money?
