ILLUMINATING the Transitional Path from Employee to Entrepreneur — What are the Viable First Steps?

Many are interested in this topic.

A lot more will soon be.

Many will be forced into entrepreneurship as a matter of survival. As of current writing, unemployment has been climbing across the globe. The unemployment rate in New York as of June 2020 is 20.4% and that metric for Singapore has climbed from 2.4% to 2.9% in the second quarter 2020.

There are many books written on the topic of becoming the top performer in a corporate setting as well as how to become successful entrepreneur.

Very few actually write about their individual journey crossing from one pasture to the other.

Not just that.

During my conversations with many people within my close connection circle, I realised there were many misconceptions about “starting a business”.

That is because many have been in corporate setting for long — They have a misconception that “starting a business” comes with huge upfront capital outlay that includes rental, utilities and employee salaries.

There is one connection of mine who went on to walk the entrepreneurial path last year incurred a grand total $5,000 of expenses in his first month without a single dollar of revenue earned.

His first expenses on the first day?

He hired a Personal Assistant to manage his (empty) calendar.

This is not the way to manage our cash reserves although that is a surefire way to blow it.

Instead, focus on what is possible with $0 down.

This article is all about possibilities we can all explore without upfront capital outlay. We need to understand that starting a business doesn’t have to be a huge step ahead from where we are today.

It is the first step to a long journey. An arduous one.

This journey can also be flexible and potentially meandering.

However arduous and meandering, it is important to remember that viability counts.

The next step has to be immediately visible in order to venture out on our own.

The Immediate Visible Step

Consider projects, freelancing, consulting.

Entrepreneurship is a big word.

Once we start thinking about it, we associate it with a grandiose with no immediate next step.

Instead, break it down in milestones.

Use projects, freelancing and consulting opportunities as milestones moving towards the big entrepreneur dream.

Let me tell you why that works.

Chances are that many — myself included — are worried about losing the stability of a monthly pay-check.

The entrepreneur has no pay-check.

What he / she has is contracts with revenue (if they can sell their services and products).

Henceforth, to mitigate that in the near term — Start with a side to supplement the day-job.

Add-on 2 more hours of work on top of the standard 9am — 6pm.

In that case, there is no worry about losing that pay-check and there is a notion of “venturing out” with the financial fort bastion well defended. Thus, even if the side-gig fails — There is no cost in terms of salary loss.

I started out this way.

I believe this is one way to start because when we do work hard, we work hard for our upside with our downside minimised.

Reaching out to People, Online and Offline

The ability to reach out to people is important online and offline.

We live in fortunate times where technology is at a stage that there is so much power is given to us through the devices in our pocket.

First thing — Social media is an important portal to assess the global consumer market.

This is a geographical borderless market where people are on multiple platforms purposefully (or not). Thus, having the ability to connect and network online is now more important in this decade than the previous.

In my opinion, it is no longer sufficient to just have a social media account for the purposes of being an Influencer or just following Influencers.

We need a Social Media Portfolio which serves the purpose of a digital marketing strategy as well as building a pipeline of leads.

Second thing — Communication tools are critical for virtual coffee sessions.

Zoom communications is free today.

In fact, most technology platforms’ basic packages are free for users because they want to pre-sell their premium services until we become habitually accustomed to their products over a long period of time.

Do consider to use them.

I use a plethora of social media platforms to build my online presence and communication platforms to facilitate lead conversion efforts.

Understand that Trust Comes before the “Sale”

Ever tried asking an absolute stranger to buy your products and services?

I bet you that the success rate is very close to 0.

I know because I have been there.

The important is to recognise that Trust has to be established prior to any Sales ask.

Otherwise why would people buy from you?

That is the major reason — Just One Man’s Opinion, I could be wrong — that every carefully thought out Sales / Marketing effort is a deliberate funnel process.

And that means every effort to start out has to take into consideration of establishing trust through presence online and offline.

Want people to know you? — Think Content Marketing.

Want people to relate to you? — Think Personal Branding.

Want people to speak to you? — Think the ability showcase experience through turning objections to objectives.

Take the time to build all of these skill-sets while working on the side.

Once the 1st Sale comes in, our confidence will be sky-high.

“Gosh, I can do this!”

Once there are more contracts coming in, we will know that the time is here for us to cross over.

As entrepreneurs, we have to work on this every single day.

All these points I mentioned do not come with a hefty upfront capital commitment.

If we take time to understand the tools we have at our disposal — We can unlock our potential, today.

I started one of my businesses as a side-gig from $0.

It has generated a modest 5-digit revenue within 3 months.

While it is not spectacular, it has allowed me to continue paying my bills during this crisis year.

Give it a try.

It might work for you.

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About the Author:

As a Consultant by training, I believe in making the complex simple.

Because simplicity adds value.

Simplicity helps us gain clarity, and clarity helps us to grow.

And if we are not growing, then what’s the point of anything else?

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