Why did you suddenly decide that you can make money on Bentley by knitting slippers or SMM? We are strangling initiative in the bud. We check the “objective reality” settings.
You and I were present at a historical moment. Before our eyes, both the Soviet and post-Soviet career paradigms have finally died. If in the Soviet version the ideal looked like “ employment history with a single entry” or progressive growth in line with the nomenklatura system, and in the post-Soviet - like a career in a Western corporation, now we are dealing with completely different values.
Hired labor - from light hand Kiyosaki is declared a loser's occupation. A mobile coffee shop, but your own, is better than a post at Gazprom. Better to capitalize on your talents than the measured life of a clerk or the nervous life of a top executive. Risk and individualism are good, dependence on the employer and labor relations are bad. The result of this approach was a fermentation of minds, expressed in a cosmic number of startups and micro-businesses. Yesterday's clerks began to see the light and discover remarkable powers within themselves. And most importantly, they gain confidence that by “doing what they love” they can live the lifestyle of billionaires in retirement.
Self-confidence is, of course, the engine of any business. But are radical changes in career and lifestyle always justified? Or rather, they are always justified, but how timely are they?
The inexorable statistics that I keep for myself show: the number of requests for consultations from those who want to leave paid work is approximately equal to the number of requests from those who want to return. So let's try to clip your wings in advance with a few simple questions.
- Are you really the best on the market? Why is your product/service better than the same thing, but performed by a large and well-known corporation? Why is it better than other entrepreneurs?
- It’s trite to remind you, but still. Are you really ready for changes in your standard of living? In business, there are all sorts of times. Today you are a hired worker and choose between Lafite and Clicquot, and tomorrow you are a free person, but you choose between “Monastery Izba” and “MKSHV” champagne.
- Do you really want to sell something? Constantly, hourly, seven days a week.
Download these three thoughts into your brain and live with them for 3-4 days. How do you like this?
Ok, I agree, no one can objectively evaluate point 1, and maybe it’s not necessary. It is enough to understand that your prices are reasonable and you have an initial food supply - a circle of “warm” clients with whom you can start. On the other hand, complete carelessness here is also unforgivable. If you don’t know your competitors and can’t clearly show the client the benefits of working with you, nothing good will come of it. More precisely, the first steps to promote your knitted slippers, homemade cakes, SMM services will almost certainly be difficult, but if you haven’t come up with that very USP, everything will be even more difficult.
Another obvious thing that most new believers don't realize. Let's say you were an employee. And they worked in a certain company. Besides you, there were salespeople, accountants, lawyers, and, characteristically, CEO. OK. You left the company and became a freelance marketer\SEO\SMM\HR... - and who do you think you became? (Spoiler: every first person thinks that only the CEO).
So, you became the general general last. And first of all – a seller and an accountant. Plus everyone else, right down to the security officer and the logistician.
Do you think there will be much time left for the main business in this situation? And were you so eager to, say, communicate with the tax office, understand the dreary accounting schemes, delve into the intricacies of marketing on social networks? Yes, you don’t want to know anything about the cost of one impression, advertising targeting and the simplified tax system. You want to knit slippers.
But that was not the case. Everything that was previously so successfully outsourced to colleagues from the relevant departments of your company is now your daily work. “To hell with everything!”, one well-known character smiles from the cover, “Get involved and do it!”
Yes, go ahead and do it, but first take it as an axiom that the number of possible failures will increase exponentially. For the simple reason that the number of their potential sources will increase.
In hired work there was only one such source - your direct function. Now you can equally screw up in the main function, in accounting, in logistics, and in sales. Moreover, the consequences will be much more severe than with hired work: your business simply does not have a margin of sustainability yet.
If you don't have to trade, don't trade. False beliefs that push you where you don't belong
In principle, everything here is quite transparent. As an HR worker, I responsibly declare that in order to roughly understand how well your trade will go, a superficial analysis of your resume will be enough. You probably have it. Open it and watch it now.
Have you worked for 15 years in a row in a federal state unitary enterprise, federal state budgetary institution, state institution or similar stable environment? Think hard. Maybe let the hobby remain that way? There are no predictability or guarantees during “transformation”. What your peers rave about may not be feasible in the broader market. If you bake great cakes, feed them to the “girls from the accounting department” for free and they go with a bang – this does not mean that these same cakes will be bought up for real money by strangers.
The problem is not that people may not buy cakes (this is not true: with the right attitude, everyone will buy them), but that you may not see the real trends and price limits of the market. This means that the transformation process will be slow, painful and sad.
In addition, you will have to quickly get used to the fact that stability is the exception rather than the rule. And, in fact, first you have to understand what stability is: when you have it in the background for many years in a row, you stop noticing it.
Other options on your resume. Were you running from place to place? Well, maybe there's nothing wrong with that. If you don’t have any resume at all, because you’ve been an individual entrepreneur all your life, then I think you’ll figure it out without me.
What do we have with false beliefs? Let's try to bring some of them to the surface of consciousness.
- “Well, I’ll try, maybe I’ll be able to sell something” (There should be no doubt! The working version, which does not allow options, should be “It will work out”);
- “Who will buy this? People have no money at all!” (You probably don’t have this. And, it seems, you never will. If you can’t cope with this thought, quit everything immediately. Your happiness is hired work);
- “To sell something, you need to approach it normally. Well, there, it’s expensive to make a website, allocate a lot of money for marketing and SMM. And the main thing is to hone the quality of the product to complete perfection. I must have the perfect Instagram with the perfect slippers!” (So you will always get ready and never start.)
- “It’s all too scary. What if I mess up something with taxes? What if criminal structures become interested in me?” (Thousands of lawyers and individual entrepreneurs submit reports, and nothing. And criminal structures are not interested in you.)
In a word, even if you are completely unbearable, first calmly deal with uncertainty, perfectionism, fears and social stereotypes.
By the way, an equally false belief is that sales will happen by themselves. I am deeply convinced that you can sell absolutely anything and absolutely for any money, but the process cannot be started without effort. Are your landing pages or knitted socks incredibly beautiful? As long as no one knows about it, you can assume that landing pages and socks are the most ordinary.
The mere fact of publishing photos of your cute socks on VK will not lead to their sales. You have a lot of tedious and painstaking work ahead.
For what and at what cost? Do you really understand this? “Infocoaches”, etc. characters as absolute evil
Are you ready to move from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm? Don't give a damn, because failures will inevitably happen. And enthusiasm must be fueled by a clear understanding of why you need this whole story. That is, your motivation. Good motivation– achievement (freedom, money, independence), poor motivation - avoidance (tedious work, conflicts with colleagues, routine, etc.). I will assume that if you yourself don’t really understand what you want, a crowd of people who want to help will immediately come to your aid. Keep your ears open! It is at this stage that your real needs and intentions can be drowned in information and consultation noise.
Who is making the noise? Yes, you yourself know.
As soon as information Technology penetrated into every iron, quite naturally an army of those who capitalized on this arose. And, which is also natural, there is an army of those who feed on those who capitalize on it. In other words, infocoaches. An infocoach is a coach that no one has ever seen in person. He lives on your Skype. He spams all your mailboxes - because you once foolishly liked his post on FB. He also gives you free webinars from his kitchen and free “books” (in fact, a large pdf file), writes various kinds of “selling letters”, etc. He encourages you to “pick up” all free content from his website (and yes, for some reason he really loves this expression).
Whatever you do - from slippers to marketing - you will in any case sell it via the Internet, which means you are a potential target audience for an infocoach. What is good about infocoach?
- if you don’t quite understand where to start, maybe you can learn some simple ideas;
- if you don’t want to pay any money at all for these ideas, you don’t have to pay.
What will you get in addition? And this is where the fun begins. As we understand, anyone can take on the prestigious title of infocoach. Some of those who have decided to become one, for the purpose of promotion, copy the strategies of other infocoaches who, according to them, have achieved successful success. Accordingly, the information array they create is growing more and more actively and becoming more and more homogeneous. As a result, when you come to an infocoach in hopes of creating your own unique strategy, you will most likely get about the same thing as your competitors. Will this work? What do you think?
Let's think logically. In a particular line of business, the number of successful projects is for some reason always lower than the number of failed ones. We know about successful projects (albeit from the words of the project authors themselves), but we have much less information about failures. In short, this is what is called “survivor bias.”
And if suddenly you meet an information coach who tells you about the worst business practices and 101 ways to go bankrupt, hug him and ask him about everything in more detail.
And be careful with enthusiastically positive characters.
A little about taking decisive steps and “cutting off the safety net.” What happens if you assess the situation after the start of the battle?
Finally, you have lived to see the day when you finally understand: all your energy is on capitalizing on your hobby and not a minute of your life on hired work. It's time to take out a saber and slash at the tired leash labor relations and office slavery!
- Come on, come on! - business literature quietly itches in your ear, - Take it and do it! Cut off the insurance, place the army in the area of death, stop being a poor dad and an office bunny!
Got it. They cut me down. Six months have passed, and your “safety cushion” (didn’t you have one?) has been depleted.
Suddenly, bleak circumstances began to emerge: your expenses are regular, but your income is not. Not only have your previous articles not gone away: clothing, food, transport, corporate governance, but new ones have also been added: taxes, outsourced accountant services, advertising, purchasing materials, etc. You discovered that the real landscape of the competitive environment is not at all is what he looked like from the outside. Firstly, there were much more competitors. Secondly, competitors, as it turned out, are constantly inventing something, undertaking something, changing strategies and introducing new products to the market. All this does not add optimism to you, and as a result, work becomes more and more difficult.
I'll stay a little K.O. Start the process smoothly. There is no need to cut down any insurance there. Make a plan and figure out how you will parallel work and business at first. And at what point will you go into your own business completely? I think this should happen when the income from your capitalized hobby for at least 3-4 months in a row will be at least 80 percent of your income from your main job. This is where everything will become clear: is there real demand, are you comfortable as a businessman, what needs to be done to make sales go up.
Maybe you know, but I’ll remind you: a significant proportion of pathologists’ clients are citizens who jumped into the water head down in an unfamiliar place. With our “transformation”, in general, the situation is similar. Of course, you always want to get rid of the burden of boring work functions and throw yourself into new area. But it is much wiser to enter this flow gradually. Study competitors' strategies and the latest technologies in your field, participate in specialized events, determine the ratio of your labor costs and realistically possible income. Then there will be more chances to swim out.
An annoying phenomenon in your new life: clients. What you don't expect them to do and what they are likely to do
Everything would be fine, but sooner or later one small problem arises. There are a certain number of people around you who behave unceremoniously and unpredictably, evade specific agreements, tell you unrealistic fables and want something unknown. But you are ready to tolerate them. We are ready to meet their whims and wishes for one simple reason: they have your money.
And another strange conclusion: they become something like bosses for you.
“Well,” you say, “but what about freedom and independence, the opportunity to send everyone and everyone, the opportunity to deal only with sane people?”
I hasten to disappoint: no way. It is impossible to work for clients and be independent of the client. This is true even for Russian Post and Russian Railways. Until your business reaches Russian Railways scale, you will even have to show miracles of loyalty and flexibility. Stephen Covey called something similar “effective interdependence.”
A little about what you don't expect from clients. Most likely, you don’t expect what you yourself don’t plan to do. Let's say, scam a client. Or give him black PR. But the client’s soul in this regard is in the dark. I am not calling for building barricades and treating the client as a deliberate antagonist. I simply encourage you to follow three simple rules:
- You can take an advance payment - be sure to take it. This disciplines both sides :-)
- Agree on everything “on shore”. The client must clearly understand what is paid and what is free.
- Give the client a little more than he expects. Even if it is something symbolic. A beautiful bag for knitted slippers. Extra 30 minutes of paid webinar. Extra 300 grams of homemade cake you baked.
There are also positive aspects. If you follow the above rules and a normal marketing strategy, the number of clients will grow exponentially, and accordingly, your income will grow at the same speed.
Imposter Syndrome: Sometimes it's not a syndrome. How to understand that you are an impostor
Here we are talking about situations where your competence will be questioned by clients. Of course, by this we do not mean that you are actually simulating the skills and abilities that you are trying to sell.
Let's be honest. How many times in the last month of your work have your colleagues approached you with something like this: “Vasya, you are such a cool specialist in stationary squirrels! We don't know anyone cooler. Please give us 10–15 minutes. No one except you can clearly say how exactly they are going crazy”? If all you do is fight off such consultations, congratulations: you can capitalize on it - of course, if you come up with a suitable strategy. If not, then perhaps you are not such a strong expert? The point is not even that the social recognition of your expertise objectively reflects its level. (Let’s say you really know in great detail the operating principle of the mentioned device). The fact is that if you cannot clearly convey your knowledge to both a three-year-old child and a hundred-year-old grandmother, you don’t know a damn thing about stationary squirrels. In this case, you will never be able to sell your consultation to anyone, and since you will also be bursting with self-confidence from within, you will get the reputation of an impostor.
- Who, Vasya? I know him. He has been working in the hairdressing department for five years now. Puffed up like a turkey. But he can’t really explain anything.
An impostor is not someone who doesn’t know/can’t do anything in their chosen field. And the one who cannot give his knowledge, skills and abilities a marketable appearance. We are not talking about the “manufacturer/businessman” dichotomy here. It's more about the fact that if you don't have the proper level of social intelligence, you will still look like an impostor.
You can paint brilliant paintings and conduct brilliant coaching sessions, but if their genius is obvious only to you, see above.
So, the first sign is that you do not know how to present the product face-to-face (regardless of the reason).
The second sign is that you don’t want to do this. Every time you communicate with a client and offer him outsourced accounting, knitted slippers, website promotion, you feel an inexplicable discomfort inside. You should not ignore the “weak signals” of the subconscious and blame everything on lack of experience, retrograde Mercury, etc. The greater the gap between external aplomb and internal uncertainty, the greater the likelihood of being an impostor.
I repeat, we are not talking about any objective criteria at all! Imposter syndrome is a state of your mind, and the more stable it is, the more it affects your real reputation in the eyes of the client. Even on distance. Even if you have never seen clients live and do not plan to.
Soap and cosmetics are very popular now self made. Buyers buy products with great pleasure when they know what they are made of and why they are made.
With the right approach to finding your buyer, this hobby is very a short time can become a good source of income, both additional and main. Your blog or page will increase your sales, and therefore your income.
- For myself
- For friends
- As a gift
- For shops
- For salons
Toys - pillows
What to give a child or teenager for a holiday? We often ask this question, and the solution is not always easy. And with such original pillows, the issue with the gift will be resolved. In the home of every needlewoman there is a lot of leftover fabric and all kinds of ribbons and buttons. With the help of these simple materials and your skillful hands, you can easily come up with best friend for any baby, which, unlike a purchased toy, will keep the warmth of your hands and a piece of your heart. Well, then learn to pitch and sell yourself. And, perhaps, soon this will become your main occupation.
Pillow toys - owls
Toys - pillows are one of the most original gifts for a child's room.
Cardmaking. Greeting Cards
Greeting cards have been given, are given and will be given! What if it is handmade? And created taking into account the tastes of the person for whom it is intended? With the variety of materials that are presented in creativity stores, you can please the most demanding customer. And the field for activity is huge. Invite your friends, gift and souvenir shops, work with flower shops and wedding salons. And, of course, various online trading platforms. The more you tell about yourself, the more orders you can complete. And the amount of income you will receive from your hobby depends only on you.
Knitting. Hats, scarves, socks and mittens
Grandma's mittens and socks keep you warm the best! And everyone knows this! If you have been friends with knitting needles and crochet since childhood, then you will always have inexpensive and original gift. And if you get acquainted with the latest fashion trends and manage to find your own style and signature, then there will always be a grateful customer who will appreciate your work and be happy to pay you for it. Find your buyer! Work for him! And your income will grow along with the number of fans of your talent.
Hats, scarves, socks and mittens are a great gift for any occasion for children and adults.
Wedding theme
Every girl wants a wedding. No not like this! Every girl wants the most extraordinary wedding! And therefore, in addition to the presence of the groom and guests, at this wedding it is desirable to have 1000 little things that will delight everyone around. To touch and delight. And every girl believes that without these little things the wedding will simply fail. And therefore, seize the moment and offer a solution to this problem. Wedding invitations. Boarding cards. Guest book. Ring pads. Original gifts-compliments for guests of the evening. Original accessories for the bride and groom, made in the same style. All this, made by your with skillful hands with pleasure and love, it can become your feature, your work, which will bring joy and a very good income.
- Invitations
- Album
- Landing cards
- Guest book
- Table decoration
- Gifts for guests
- Glasses
- Wedding accessories
Birthday cakes to order
- Wedding cake
- Themed cakes for children's parties
- Original birthday cakes
- Sweet table decoration for any holiday
Business - custom cakes
Decoupage
Decoupage - from the French. "cut out". Very simple but interesting way decoration of interior items, accessories, dishes, furniture and even clothing. Due to the emergence of a huge number of different materials, this type of creativity is increasingly spreading among needlewomen. Affordable prices and the uniqueness of each product are one of the main criteria for this direction. Find your unique style, be original and soon you will find your buyer and understand that you can work with pleasure and joy.
Interior items
- Caskets
- Mirrors
- Trays
- Notepads
- Dishes
- Furniture
Bijouterie
- Plastic
- Accessories
- Ornamental stones
- Textile
- Tree
- Ceramics
- Metal
- Glass
IN Lately Handmade jewelry began to be in great demand. With the advent of special materials and components, this type of creativity is developing every day. Original styles. The mixture of materials and techniques will not leave anyone indifferent. Each master can find his own circle of admirers. And the monetary reward will be directly proportional to your imagination and efforts. If things are made with soul, then success is guaranteed.
The original technique of making clothes, accessories and interior items has firmly won the minds of needlewomen all over the world. This technique is felting or simply “wet felting”. Unpredictable textures, original color combinations. Using natural materials such as merino wool, silk, viscose. In things made using the wet felting technique, no fashionista will go unnoticed. Become a master and work for pleasure.
- Stoles
- Scarves
- Slippers
- Cloth
Tailoring
“If you know how to sew, you will never go hungry”... that’s what my grandmother, who was an excellent seamstress, told me. Our whole family was well dressed during times of total shortage. Her customers were always happy, and I received a bunch of beautiful scraps, from which I already sewed outfits for my dolls at the age of 6. My dolls were also the best dressed in the yard. And all my friends were jealous of me. How they still envy me... Because I learned to sew perfectly, and my imagination is enough for many, many beautiful dresses. I think you, if you know how to sew, know how useful this skill is... and I don’t need to explain that this can be not only a hobby, but also a very profitable business...
There are so many types of handicrafts... There are so many ways to make this hobby your favorite job. Look for yours, Improve yourself. Make your customer happy. Be passionate about your business... And your customer will be your beloved friend who will always make you happy!
Video - How to turn a hobby into a business
Beginning entrepreneurs are often in search of ideas for their business. The main task of any entrepreneur is to find exactly the kind of business idea that he will like and which will be pleasant to implement.
This is why an entrepreneur should think about using his hobby as a business.
A hobby is something that a person does for free time. This could be drawing, knitting, embroidery and many other activities that you like.
Types of hobbies for business
Today, a hobby as a business is a very common option. Since people's hobbies are very diverse, the types of businesses also vary. The main areas of hobby that can be used as a business idea are the following:
- Making handmade cards;
- Writing or ;
- Knitting;
- Manufacturing of wood products;
- Soap making;
- Making jewelry and much more.
An additional idea for people living in rural areas, can serve as packing of vegetables, preserves in summer and autumn and their sale in winter. 
Thus, many families harvest vegetables and berries that grow in their gardens not only for themselves, but also for sale. And in winter, they go to the market or sell seams through friends.
Despite the fact that such a business is seasonal, it is very popular, especially among people living in villages.
Another hobby that can be used for business is computer games.
Thus, game lovers can earn money by playing games online. Cash is awarded for completing certain levels and receiving rewards in a particular game.
In order to start earning money in this way, you should register on special services and create your own account, which will be linked to an electronic wallet.
Stories about people who start their own business with a small starting capital, investing their own savings and achieving good results are a reality today. Here are a few such ideas that have turned into sustainable businesses.
Perhaps our selection will help you realize your desire to become an entrepreneur.
And with $300 you can grow a business - if you don't whine. The economist and marketer worked for 12 years at the famous automobile holding Atlant-M. Then she completed landscape design courses. And I realized that this direction can be not only a hobby, but also a profession.
The assets were only $300, a personal car that became a company car, and a great desire to engage in landscape design.
We immediately formulated three principles of our work:
1. We only hire full-time employees, despite the fact that the business is highly seasonal and most competing companies prefer to use the services of temporary workers. But we decided that for high quality work we need people who will develop with the company.
2. We conduct business legally to protect the company and offer clients transparent working conditions.
3. We create gardens for life - thoughtful, high-quality and beautiful.
It all started with Cheburashka and the unicorn. Anna Levkovich, a radiologist by profession, has always loved handicrafts. And having started sewing toys, I became so involved in this activity that I decided to make it my business. Now she sells products to 65 countries. At the same time, he continues to work as a doctor.
In the first year of my son’s life, I went with him to my mother for the summer. It was hard without my usual surroundings, and I needed to keep myself occupied with something. I made mobile phones, put them in homemade boxes, and they stood in my house. Then at the same time I started making soft toys. One of the first was a unicorn for my son, he slept with it.
Then a hippopotamus, a whale, a dragon, an anteater appeared... Later, my clients themselves began to call my toys “intelligent.”
Instructions
Remember what you did with pleasure? Did you sew dresses, bake pies, make bouquets? What you love can become a good source of income if you put it on stream, or bring in additional income if you do it occasionally. One of the advantages is the absence of management. You also set the scope of work yourself; in addition, the new business will not require initial capital. If you liked to sew, then you already have a sewing machine, and customers will purchase the material and accessories. Do you know the history of the local region? There will be visitors who will be interested in local attractions.
Do you love children? Maybe you can come up with games, programs for calendar holidays and contact secondary schools. Teachers junior classes you will be welcome. For this you need your personal creative ideas, artistry, ability to command the attention of a children's audience. Contact the management of the nearest schools and boarding schools. Approximate earnings vary between 1000-3000 per event.
Remember, maybe you are good at sewing, drawing, knitting? Hand-knitted products are always in fashion, any item - from interior accessories to knitted or appliquéd items will find its buyer. Very often such things are required as gifts for loved ones, so the demand is growing all the time. In addition, the client pays for the materials himself, leaving you to receive money for the work performed.
Take high-quality photos of your crafts, clear, under professional lighting. However, a good photographer is perhaps the only thing you will have to spend money on. Place the images on websites on the Internet, in newspapers, and show them to your friends. Approximate earnings depend on the complexity of the work, on average 50% of the cost of the material you work with.
Make money from pets if you love them and find a common language. To do this, you need to purchase materials to cut cats too. Attend grooming courses, which will cost at least 5,000 rubles. Start by talking with animal owners, this can be done in, on the landing, publish advertisements in the newspaper. Approximate earnings range from 500 rubles per haircut.
Do you know how to cut people’s hair, do manicures, pedicures, and perform complex hair styling? Salon services are very expensive, but you can do the same for less money. For example, it is difficult for elderly pensioners to get to the hairdresser, and working people cannot get to the salon due to their schedule; for some, it is more convenient to cut their child’s hair at home. You need to buy a set of professional tools for styling and cutting, materials for regular manicure