Creative Entrepreneurialship - 3 Steps To Turn Talent Into Self Employment Cash!
By Deborah Catherine Nelson Thanks to the PC and the World Wide Web, everyone now has the opportunity to become successfully self-employed. It is amazing how these tools have revolutionized everything.
How can you take advantage of these tools and the marketplace to turn your talent into cash? Although it is fairly simple to do so, it is not easy. Making the transition from getting a regular paycheck can be challenging for many. Many of us have been raised and trained to think that the legitimate way of making a living is to go to college or a trade school and get a job.
And we have also been taught to believe that the job is the only thing that can provide "benefits," i.e. health insurance. However, young people are graduating from college and going directly into self-employment. They can buy health a monthly fee and also get the benefit of an HSA (Health Savings Account), which is available only for the self-employed.
Before going any further, I would like to define what I mean by creative entrepreneurism. Creative entrepreneurialism is the process of creating a living from a talent or ability, using limited resources, without going into debt. Creative entrepreneurialship is for ordinary people. The goal isn't necessarily to be a millionaire although that may be possible for some. The goal is to be successfully self-employed, making a living at something you love doing, perhaps working at home or from a small office. Creative entrepreneurialism is not about buying a franchise and hiring a staff of employees and opening up a storefront. It's not about taking out a lot of expensive ads in the paper and have a huge overhead and loans from the bank, recruiting a board of directors and going public and offering stock. Yet the bottom line can be a livable to 6-figure income, accompanied by a pleasant lifestyle, without a lot of expense, risk, or debt.
Creative entrepreneurialism is a term that I have coined to describe my lifestyle. My first business was a business for which I had been trained. I went to college and earned a degree in advertising. Then I accepted an independent sales rep position selling promotional products advertising. Eventually, I started my own promotional products company. Now I have branched off into other areas according to my interest passion, experiences and knowledge
Creative entrepreneurialism offers the ultimate in capitalistic freedom. We can make a living doing what we love and or what we are good at; and we can do it out of our home as simple as a laptop, cell phone and website.
Below I have given 3 steps to get started on your journey of Creative Entrepreneurship.
These are the basic steps involved with starting your self-employment career. Give yourself from 1-3 years to put these things in place. Try to work part time at your current job and part time at self-employment. This is a very simple process, but not easy. The idea of creative entrepreneuralship is not to take out loans, but to build a client base, and invest that money into growing your business as the business grows. You will need to learn to think differently, set your own goals, create your own vision for your company, and create vacation time, and days off, because you are your own boss.
Get Some Tools: Invest in a laptop, printer, toll-free number, cell phone, and work area. On your laptop make sure you have a good art program such as Corel Draw or Microsoft Publisher. Make sure the work area is a quiet, organized place in your home, garage, or apartment. Keep your work area separate from your living quarters. I started out in a basement, and when I went upstairs to go home, I was done with work. Learn to use your tools. You may do this on weekend and evenings while you are still maintaining a regular income.
Get Some Expertise: Find out what your passion is and discover a realistic way to market it. Dana Beasley of Angel Arts, is passionate about art and pets; and isn't a fine artist, but is creating digital portraits for Pet City customers. If you love music, but know you aren't going to be rock star, for example, create a website business marketing nostalgic CDs. You will need to take classes in bookkeeping, sales, marketing, website design, and graphic design. A lot of these classes can be done with software tutorials, or taken online. These are basics you will need to know to you run your self-employment career. Develop yourself in your area of talent. If you are a bookkeeper, work on getting your CPA, if you are an architect get your architect's license. Whatever you are good at or love doing; get some kind of training and or credentials.
Get Some Clients: Now its time to start getting some clients. At first it may be wise to actually work for free, while you are still working at your income-producing job. Ask a friend or family member to allow you to practice on them in exchange for a written testimonial about how great your business product or service is. You can build this into your marketing materials, and website, and your client base will grow as you build up experience, expertise, and credibility. You will need some marketing materials to attract clients, and that's where your graphic design training will come in handy. You can also hire a graphic designer on a project basis to help you develop your logo, business cards, and letterhead. As you get more clients, always invest some of your income in more sophisticated marketing efforts such as branding with promotional products, and e-mail consultations, newsletters, and postcards to stimulate and increase business.
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