Start Your Own Business Now – Part 2

Today I want to follow up on my post from last week, ‘Struggling With a Bad Job. Start Your Own Business Now’, it seems to be a hot issue.

Over the years I have seen many of my friends stay in jobs they hated just because they thought that one day it might pay off (They would receive stocks, shares, a promotion, a salary increase, etc.). This has been my experience: It never does. On the contrary, in most cases it gets worse. (BTW, the same is true for most relationships but that’s for another post.)

Things will only get better if you make them better.

How? In the following I will offer several steps that you can take right now to start getting out of a job you don’t like without leaving it today. (If you like a more drastic approach I offer you email me and we talk about it. There’s more than one way you can do this.)

• First, be honest with yourself. What’s the real reason that you are stuck in this job? Is it because you are afraid you won’t be able to find a better one, are you tied to the location, or are you afraid you will not be able to pay your bills, lose your house, you car, etc.? There can be many reasons, which is yours?Once you know what you are afraid of, relax! The world is not coming down, you will keep your job a while longer, the economy will eventually get better and your life is meant to work out! I promise.
• Now that that’s out of the way, what is it that you really want? What is it that you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t? Take the time on hand and start dreaming up your ideal life, your perfect job, your own ventures, adventures, etc.Put it on paper. Write down what you come up with and make it as real as possible. Where do you live, what do you do, how do you spend your time and who do you spend your time with? If you really want to get into it, start a dream book with pictures, descriptions, outlines, etc. Or make a collage, a so-called vision board, that puts your vision into reality.
• Next, find out what your gifts are. What do you love doing? This is the tricky part because what you love doing may come so naturally that you are not aware of it. Doesn’t everybody love cooking, search the internet or take pictures? Doesn’t everybody want to be a famous writer? No, not everybody does. This is your dream!

  Ask others for help. If it’s hard for you to see yourself for who you are, ask the people who love and appreciate you to tell you what they see. Again, write this down. It may also help to think back to a time where you were really happy. What made that time so much fun and fulfilling? What were you doing? Add this to your list.

By now you should have a lot of material to work with. Look at all the different pieces and ask yourself, what is it that wants to emerge? What steps can I take today that will get me closer to where I want to be?

One of my clients did this exercise and realized that what she wanted most was to find a husband and to make chocolate. Wow! At the time she was working a corporate job in marketing. She decided to go for it. Her first project was ‘the man hunt’. She really went for it and searched for men online and elsewhere. As you can guess, she succeeded and with her husband she moved to the place she had found to be her perfect environment. She also left her job and started her chocolate business, which she grew fast and furious using her marketing talents to promote it. The point I want to make here is that whatever it is you want to do, you can be successful at it. Just take it one step at a time.

Like me, you probably grew up in an all or nothing world, where getting what you want is hard and living the life of your dreams is a fairy tale. Well, I believe that that reality is outdated. In today’s world there is enough for everybody to go around and you too, can live your life with zest and happiness! Go for it

These are some good books and websites on the topic:

Pam Slim’s blog and soon to be book “Escape From Cubicle Nation”

Bad economy, just got fired? Time to fly! Jonathan Fields Fire Fly Manifesto will provide you with great tips on how to get started doing what you love.

A great book to get you started on a business or project is Brian Tracey’s “Flight Plan”. Get it on tape and listen to it in your car. Beats any music!

David Meerman Scott’s book “The New Rules of Marketing & PR” as well as his blog “webinknow”

If you would like to start a blog without setting up your own, yahoo offers a free service on it’s yahoo shine website. On shine you can easily set up a blog and start writing to an already existing audience. It’s a good way to get your feet wet in the blogging world. Check it out at www.shine.yahoo.com

If you are interested in making finding a man your project, a great book to read is “Find a Husband After 35. Using what I Learned At Harvard Business School.”

Set up an account on twitter at twitter.com. Build a community, learn from other entrepreneurs and start to publish yourself. Make sure to follow me at twitter.com/karinmanske. See you there!