The grass is always greener.
As an employee, you hold a single position and, in exchange for your work, you are paid a salary every two weeks. The downside is that many organizations hire weak leadership, provide almost no chance for amassing wealth, and stifle creativity. On the other hand, if you were to quit your job and open a business, you would not receive a steady paycheck, though would have the ability to make a significant income while enjoying creative freedom.
When someone asks me what I do for a living, I tell them that I run a recruiting firm. However, I wish running a company were that simple – in all reality, I hold multiple jobs.
Here are 15 things that most entrepreneurs must learn in order to successfully build a business. Your requirements will be very similar:
1) Industry Analysis:
If you’re going to quit your job to open a company, you’re going to have to pick the right industry to venture into. This will entail extensive industry analysis to determine things such as amount of competition, strength of those firms and potential revenue generation.
Being able to analyze different sectors from a logical perspective (as opposed to emotional) will make the transition from employee to entrepreneur a rewarding one.
READ MORE: How Following Industry News Can Boost Your Career
2) Social Media:
One of the most efficient ways to get people to find your company on the web is to integrate social media campaigns into your marketing arsenal. Being able to amass followers on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn will give you a significant revenue boost.
RELATED: How to Find People to Follow On Twitter
3) Cost Management:
One of the biggest enemies of great companies is over spending. If you don’t learn cost management and become able to operate your company within a realistic budget, you’ll be looking for a job again.
4) Web Development:
One of the most significant costs that a start-up will incur is programming a website. Even though an abundance of companies will provide programming services, the effective ones get very expensive and often don’t produce satisfactory results.
When it comes to building a website, it’s best that the entrepreneur learn things such as WordPress and HTML in order to get the marketing campaign off the ground without paying upwards of $10,000. Nobody will care about an entrepreneur’s image as much as that individual and it’s helpful for the small business owner to be hands-on.
5) Branding Acumen:
In conjunction with programming a website and engaging in social media, it’s crucial that the first time entrepreneur learn how to brand their organization. In a nutshell, the entrepreneur is going to want to gauge how they want other companies or direct consumers to view their product or service.
Adjectives such as competent, professional, knowledgeable, original, honest and hard working ought to be at the forefront.
RELATED: How to Build Your Personal Brand [10 Simple Steps]
6) Sales:
Regardless of industry, an entrepreneur is going to have to sell their product or service and this is where industry analysis and branding come into play. A small business owner needs to figure out what’s different about its offering and be able to confidentially and clearly express the benefits a customer receives when working with them.
Much of sales is trial and error, industry knowledge and self-confidence.
7) Online Marketing:
As a small business, it’s a big time saver to be able to have companies find your organization on the web. Being able to implement online marketing tactics (in conjunction with social media) such as search engine optimization and pay per click is going to dramatically increase the chances for success.
8) Accounting:
Once an entrepreneur begins receiving revenue, they are going to have to be able to manage it. Proper accounting will help a small business gauge sales, keep costs down, project future revenue, improve profit margins, put aside money for growth and save for taxes.
9) Recruiting:
Upon expanding, an organization is going to need to hire effective, intelligent employees. For a small business owner, recruiting the right individuals can make or break the firm. In order to successfully quit one’s job to open a company, an entrepreneur must be able to put the right people in the right places or risk having to write their resume again.
RELATED: How to Build an Active Candidate Sourcing Strategy
10) Management and Leadership:
Whether it be 3rd party vendors or new in-house recruits, an entrepreneur is going to have to learn how to properly manage and lead those under them. Among other things, this means formulating a vision for the organization, giving consistent and constructive feedback as well as instilling passion in the firm’s employees.
In the End:
In order to quit one’s job and successfully become an entrepreneur, a person is going to have to be dedicated, willing to work excess hours, resilient and optimistic about a successful outcome. Anything less and they will find themselves quickly back on the job market. Prior to sending in that resignation letter, it is suggested that a person be willing to give 110% or it is recommended they stay where they are.
