For most people starting a new business is a daunting task. I felt comfortable in the confines of the corporate world where I spent most of my career working as a Human Resource Consultant and then later as a business owner, but still working in my field. Running a sole proprietor consulting business just meant less benefits, no leave (tough boss:)), bigger financial responsibilities and a slightly better tax benefit. It also meant doing the same job and having to negotiate contracts with my skill set as the primary product and service.
It took a huge leap of faith to let go of all that was known and try out new avenues of not only making money, but fulfilling a more meaningful purpose.
You see, this is what troubled me. Even though I could do the job well and enjoyed some of the challenges, especially when I started specialising in more complex aspects of HR, such as change management and mergers and acquisitions, but it never fulfilled this deep desire within me to live my life authentically. Eventually I couldn’t make myself fit the mould anymore and I simply had to get out. After trying and failing at several other business attempts, I finally found my way to a more fulfilled way of living. Here are some of my thoughts on starting a new business..
- Find your niche
It's most probably something you loved doing when you were a kid, or something you really love doing now. I tried and failed at many things before. Mostly because a) I was good at it, but didn't have the feels for it or b) I thought it might work, but I sucked at it or c) I saw someone else succeeding at something and then tried it, i.e. it was inauthentic and not aligned to who I was or d) I kept on defaulting to my comfort zones and what was known or e) I found my niche, but allowed my ideas to get derailed by business partners with a different vision and business strategy f) I didn't listen to my instincts and everything else that was telling me..."this is probably not your thing!" g) I didn't think I could do it on my own and kept waiting for and trying to pull in the right people who I thought would be better at some of the things I thought I lacked, for example IT. I have since built a website and as it turns out, I didn't need the IT guy.
- Make do with what you've got
You don't need the latest and the greatest. Just start somewhere. Do it from your kitchen or your garage if you have to. You'll be surprised how resourceful you can be by just working with what you’ve got. I bought one bag of nuts and small amounts of the other ingredients, sold a batch and then used the money I made to buy the ingredients for the next two batches and so on and so forth. For months I never used any of the money I earned for anything other than building stock and infrastructure. I am still building the business, but I also had a haircut or two since.
- Once you have your niche, find your market
Finding the right market to launch your product or service into is more important than how hard you will ever work in achieving your goals! It meant trying the product out in a few places before I found the right groups to associate with. There were a few drastic failures and of course quite a few groups that felt ok, but not ideal for the launch of my products. Finally I stopped and accessed what kind of energy and type of people I wanted to attract to me and not the other way around. This meant aligning my life, my work and my products to people I could easily associate with, felt aligned to and shared similar passions with.
I just knew when I hit the right market. Engagements with clients started feeling lighter and people were naturally and spontaneously supportive. It is significant how vastly different client engagements in the right market feels to when I didn’t engage with the right markets before. Engagements with my clients nowadays are on the whole positive, lively, nurturing, friendly and warm.
If client engagements feel draining and your efforts are not really yielding positive results, then it probably means you haven't found the right market for your product, you have exhausted the market and or the relationships and network within the market somehow got damaged and is starting to break down. Having said that, if the network is damaged by something external, it can be repaired, especially if the trust in you and your product has not been tarnished.
It does take time though, so be patient in expecting positive results, but there definitely is a certain knowing and feeling that I experienced when I met my people. Most importantly, when you meet your people and you know it, take care of them as they take care of you. Never take your peeps for granted!
- Work your little booty off...
There is no way around this folks. If it means grinding away for hours on end, then it means grinding away for hours. Maintaining focus, determination and discipline isn’t a negotiable when it comes to chasing your life's dream. What makes the difference is Passion. I work really hard, but I do it with passion and care. Anything is possible, because I love what I do and for that reason I don't mind the labour, the sore feet, the days when I don't know how I am going to get out of bed, let alone run a business. The people, the smiles, the chats and the feedback makes it all worthwhile. At the root of all this is something deeply fulfilling. Doing something that is aligned to my authentic self brings along with it a sense of accomplishment and joy. This is the thing that makes my heart happy and content.
- Balance, humility and appreciation
I find it rewarding and empowering to live this kind of life and if I would like to sustain it, it also means that I need to put the work into building and maintaining the relationships that help make all this possible. I know that without the support of my loved ones, my guides, mentors, clients and my Higher Power, none of this would ever be possible. I can never forget that. My daily practice therefore includes prayer, meditation and doing my best to maintain a healthy balance. I call it my spiral (or the God code) and everything I create revolves around living healthily, running a business, spending quality time with my friends and family, doing service work and taking time out to centre and focus my energy. Staying humble and grateful helps to maintain and grow this new found peace and joy.
One thing I realised is that all this is just a journey. There are no failures, just learnings. Keep going, the joy is in the discovery and growth and with it comes its rewards. Often in unexpected ways. When the focus is not on money, but on joy, joy turns into money.
Love life, enjoy the journey!