Many of us are hesitant to open own business, because they consider hired, highly paid work to be a guarantee of stability and confidence in tomorrow. But life often presents us with unpleasant surprises. Sometimes the most loyal employers begin to deceive their subordinates, increasing their demands, but at the same time not raising salaries.
For unknown reasons, the majority of hired workers begin to “move” only after they have been “dumped” by their employer. Why wait for this “momentous” event? After all, you can open your own business and start working for yourself at any time.
Losing a job is a great reason to start your own business
Unfortunately, most Russians think about their business only after they have been fired, finding themselves unemployed. And here the question arises: where to get the initial capital to open an enterprise? And in general, after dismissal, few people will be able to gather their strength into a fist and begin to act.
Most often, dismissal from work occurs for the same reasons: they asked for a salary increase or refused to go to work on their well-deserved day off. Naturally, the manager is not interested in paying compensation, even if he is to blame for your departure.
How to move on after being fired, when there is only a small amount left in your pocket and a work book with the sentence “dismissed”? Of course, life goes on. You can find a new job, or you can try to start working for yourself, without intermediaries. Then no one will fire you for sure.
Common misconceptions of employees
To make it easier to come down to earth, let's look at the three most popular illusions that hired workers indulge themselves with:
- I am irreplaceable! Have you been working for several years in one company, and are you 100% sure that you are an indispensable employee? Relax - the price of your experience is 1 kopeck! Remember:
There are no irreplaceable people! They will quickly take your place with a “green” student, and they will forget about you before the ink is dry on the work book with a record of your dismissal.
And don’t try to find out why you were fired so easily - everyone has already forgotten about you. So, let's take a deep breath and move on with our lives. - I fulfill all management requirements, so I will never be fired! This is absolutely disgusting! Do you admit that you are an obedient slave of your master and at the same time count on his favor? Yeah, now! Remember:
Slaves have always been a bargaining chip for slave owners. If you want to be respected, get up from your knees and raise your head high - you are no longer a slave.
- I will work well, and after that I will have a big pension! How old are you? What country do you live in? How big is the pension? Remember:
An old slave is a waste material that must be disposed of.
Unfortunately, this is the harsh reality of our life. Nobody needs pensioners. Only a few receive a decent pension, and they worry that it will not be canceled for them. And where is the guarantee that tomorrow retirement age won't they raise you to a hundred years? There is no such guarantee. So, don’t live in illusions, friends!
We hope you have already realized that working for yourself is more promising than working as a laborer for a slave owner. Let's take a look interesting option starting your business.
How to start working for yourself without taking time off from your main job
- 1.
Assess your financial situation. Often, starting a business requires initial capital. In this case, it is worth considering not only money, but also time. Even at the stage of inception of the idea of creating your own business, you need to imagine how much time it will take to implement it, as well as how many hours you will have to devote to it every day. This is especially important if you continue to work for your “master”.
We recommend that you create a small table indicating all the required resources, as well as a list of steps for building a company. You need to carefully calculate everything in advance in order to understand whether it is worth investing your efforts in the implementation of the project. After all, sometimes ideas that are simple at first glance can turn out to be difficult to implement in practice.
- 2. Enlist the support of loved ones. Before you decide to start your own business, you should consult with family and friends - an outside perspective can be useful. In addition, in the future, some worries may fall on their shoulders: placing orders, filling out documentation, and the like. It is simply unrealistic to cope with everything on your own. Due to a new job, the amount of time allocated for family may decrease, and this is unlikely to please anyone. Therefore, you should explain to your loved ones that this is necessary for their own good.
- 3. Manage your time effectively. Time flies by unnoticed, especially after opening your own business. First of all, you should increase the length of the working day: you can get up earlier and go to bed later. In addition, it is very important to learn how to manage your time effectively. To do this, you can use calendars and create special schedules that must be followed. It’s also a good idea to read additional literature that talks about how to learn to save time. Thus, you can accustom yourself to the same regimen in a few weeks.
- 4. Hire a consultant. Typically simple office worker does not know how to quickly and efficiently perform this or that routine operation. As a result, the implementation of the project may be delayed - instead of sales and marketing, the novice businessman will look for a way out of the current situation. In such cases, it is better to consult with people who have some experience in this field. You can take them as a share, paying a certain percentage of the profit. Such an assistant will always tell you what needs to be changed in the workflow, what to remove altogether, and what to leave unchanged.
- 5. Learn from your mistakes. Many people take mistakes and failures so seriously that they give up the idea of starting their own business. But you need to understand that the cost of mistakes is proportional to the size of the business, that is, it is minimal. Therefore, you should learn to learn from previous failures. By reviewing your mistakes, you can find the optimal solution that can change the fate of your business.
- 6. Put all your assets to work and get rid of the “ballast”. If in addition to your home you have an apartment, warehouse, then all this can be safely rented out. If you have a car and you don’t use it, then it is better to sell it or also rent it out. In addition, you can change your job by becoming a courier. Then the car can be used to deliver goods. Put the money in the bank at interest to increase your profits a little more.
- 7. Get a job with your competitors. Without sufficient funds necessary to create your own business, you can infiltrate the company of your future competitors. But this should only be done if you are 100% sure in which area you want to create your business.
- 8. Free up time. Try to gradually switch to remote work. Suggest to the “owner” to make your work schedule more democratic: for example, every other day or in shifts. This way you will be able to find more time for your own project.
- 9. Reduce unnecessary expenses. Try to find replacements for anything that might be unnecessarily eating up your money. If you receive large phone bills, then this is a reason to reduce the duration of unnecessary telephone conversations. If you are often fined on the road for traffic violations, then you should start driving according to the rules. Do you spend a lot of money on entertainment? Consider cheaper vacation options.
Stop working for your uncle - it's time to build your own business, and this will not only increase your income, but also change your future.
Tired of working for your uncle? Thinking about how to start working for yourself? Don't think, just do it!
All people are divided into several categories: those who successfully work “for the owner”, being content with a large or small (depending on your luck) salary, those who do not work anywhere, preferring work to hanging on someone else’s neck, and those who rush around in search of an answer to the question, how to start working for yourself.
The most important thing is that there is not too much of a gap between thoughts and actions, otherwise you risk not getting even a couple of centimeters closer to the dream of starting your own business.
Why should you start working for yourself?
Life is a rather unexpected thing that loves to present surprises, therefore you cannot be sure of the future if you have not provided it for yourself.
People who were lucky enough to find good job with a decent salary, they don’t want to think about the fact that tomorrow the situation could turn upside down and you will be left with nothing.
Naturally, owning your own business is not a guarantee of instant success.
In order to turn from a novice businessman into an oligarch, you will have to work hard for many years, forget about laziness, rest and complaints.
And then, not a single businessman, especially in our country, is immune from financial crises, bankruptcy or tax raids.
And yet, you need to start working for yourself for a number of reasons:
Independence.
Even the most loyal bosses have bad character.
Who knows what your big boss will think of tomorrow: maybe he will want to cut your salary, or demote you, or decide to take his brother in your place, or even think that you will ideally cope with the role of a punching bag.
Beginning businessmen are like squirrels who don’t stop their wheels even for a minute.
But as soon as the business gets on its feet, you form, find a smart deputy, and you have time for your loved one.
Caring for the future.
Pensions in our country, unless, of course, you worked as a deputy or some kind of official, are simply shamefully small.
Therefore, hopes in the style of: “Now I’ll work, and then I’ll retire and rest” are not typical even for people who have grown together with rose-colored glasses.
Retirement is more the beginning of a struggle for survival than a well-deserved rest.
How can you start working for yourself?
Even if you are going to cook soup, you will not do without the preparatory stage (deciding what kind of soup to cook, finding a saucepan, buying and processing food, etc.).
What can we say about our own business?
“Everything you do must be done well, even if you do something crazy.”
Honore de Balzac.
When thinking about how to start working for yourself, do not forget about the main components of a successful start:
- region (or city district) where your point will be;
- concept;
- amount of starting capital, etc.
Starting capital.
Without it, no business start is possible.
Experts advise not to start your own business if you do not have at least a third of the required amount.
Risking borrowed money (or, even worse, borrowed money from the bank) is unwise.
If you go bankrupt, you will have to look for sources of income to pay off debtors.
You shouldn't start your own business if you know absolutely nothing about it.
If you dream of owning a grocery store, you should first get a job as an ordinary worker in a supermarket, then rise to a management position to understand the whole essence of this business, and then go on a free voyage.
Starting to work only for yourself is an incredibly tempting prospect, but there is nothing wrong with starting a company with a partner.
Especially if your potential partner has experience and money.
Once you have enough of both, you will be able to register your company.
Competent approach.
Of course, you will immediately want to become the owner of a cool restaurant with 500 seats.
But, if you are completely unfamiliar with this business and do not have your own start-up capital, then you should start, for example, with a stall selling takeaway food.
This way you can not only increase your starting capital and gain experience, but also understand whether you are even ready for entrepreneurial activity.
Business plan.
The more accurate and thoughtful your business plan is, the higher your chance of success.
Be sure to include:
What do you need to remember before you start working for yourself?
Owning your own business is quite a responsible step, so you should take care of the little things if you want to achieve success and not be defeated in the first battle.If you decide to start working for yourself, remember:
Owning your own business is not necessarily entrepreneurship.
For example, my friend Olya, left without work, tried her hand at copywriting (writing texts to order).
At first she earned pennies, but cheap orders allowed her to gain experience and learn a new business.
As soon as Olya had regular customers, her monthly profit increased significantly.
Today the girl’s income is at least 5 thousand hryvnia per month and she has no desire to work “for the owner” again.
Remove from your life everything that takes up a lot of your time but does not bring benefits:
Drinking with friends, hanging out in nightclubs, watching TV, etc.
People who spend too much time on these things do not become successful.
Practice without theory is ineffective.
In one of Bill Gates’ interviews, I read that he spends several hours a day reading financial analytics.
If you think that you will learn everything as you go, and studying theory is a stupid waste of time, then don’t start anything serious at all.
Believe in your success.
Pessimists and whiners rarely achieve success precisely because they doubt their abilities and constantly expect a blow from fate. They send a signal to
The Universe says “something bad will happen to me tomorrow,” and the Universe perceives this as a desire.
In the end, what you ask for is what you get.
More optimism and confidence that you will succeed!
Do you still have doubts whether it is worth taking such a brave step?
Are you thinking of leaving everything as it is and devoting your life to working for your uncle?
This “sharp” video will convince you otherwise! 🙂
Start working for yourself not so easy!
The formula for success consists of perseverance, desire, hard work, a competent approach to business and a bit of luck.
But the difficulties you have experienced will definitely not be in vain if in the future you will do what you love, without depending on others.
Useful article? Don't miss new ones!
Enter your email and receive new articles by email
How to start your business from scratch if you have no money and experience? Where can I find a working business idea to start a project? What business should you start to get your first profit tomorrow?
Hello, dear friends! Alexander Berezhnov, entrepreneur and one of the founders of the business magazine HiterBober.ru, is in touch.
Today we will talk about how to start your business from scratch. Is it really possible to do it at all? I answer unequivocally - YES!
Here I will describe step-by-step technology on starting a business, and I will give examples from my own business practice, as well as talk about the experience of my entrepreneurial friends who started their own business without money or other material assets in the form of premises, equipment or goods.
All you have to do is study this material and apply the acquired knowledge in life!
Are you ready? Then let's go!
1. Why is it better for beginners to open a business FROM ZERO?
Dear readers, this section of the article is very important! I sincerely advise you to study it carefully. I guarantee you won't regret it.
Here the key points on starting a business for beginners will be explained from the point of view psychology of entrepreneurship.
Before starting a new project, be sure to think about what determines your desire.
Understand yourself and your motivation to open a business, and my small test, compiled in the form of two blocks of different beliefs, will help you with this.
For example, an excellent way for a beginner to start a business would be to sell popular, in-demand goods from China.
Belief block No. 1.
What thoughts SHOULD NOT open your own business with:
- How can you quickly earn a lot to pay off your debts?
- The idea I have in my head will definitely work, but I need money to make it happen;
- Am I worse than others? My neighbor is engaged in business and everything will work out for me;
- I'm tired of these idiot bosses, I'm quitting tomorrow and starting my own business!
Yes, friends, business is more psychology than technology. I'll explain why a little later.
Belief block No. 2.
On the contrary, you are READY to start a business if you think like this:
- I am very good at doing something that is in demand in the “market” and based on it I want to open my own business;
- I realize that at the beginning, large investments in business are very risky, and I can only invest free money in the business, but I will not borrow it, since the risk of losing money without business experience is very high;
- My own business takes a lot of time, and in order to develop it I must have a cash reserve or source of income until my project generates tangible income;
- Having started my own business, I will no longer have bosses and supervisors who guided me in my work and I need to now become a sufficiently organized person to act independently and achieve success in entrepreneurship.
If you have dominant beliefs from block number 1, do not rush to get involved in a fight. After all, most likely, such judgments indicate the emotionality of your decisions and underestimation of the risks that arise when starting your own business.
The beliefs prevailing in your head from block No. 2 indicate that you are fully aware of what business is and are going to take a responsible approach to its start and further development.
I already wrote above that business is basically psychology and only then - technology.
It's time to explain why this is so.
The thing is that our internal “cockroaches” and delusions prevent us from starting our project.
Here are just some of the myths that hinder the start of successful projects:
- You can’t open a business without money and connections;
- Taxes will eat up all profits;
- Bandits will take my business;
- I don't have a commercial streak.
Surely you are familiar with all these fears of beginners. In fact, if you overcome them, or rather just score and don’t think about all this nonsense, then your chances of success will increase MANY TIMES!
You can prepare documents for registering LLCs and individual entrepreneurs free of charge through the online service. At the exit you will receive forms filled out without errors, which you just need to print and submit to tax authority. This way, already at the first stage, you save your money and time, insure yourself against refusal by the Federal Tax Service, without delving into the complex language of the legislation.
2. Where to start your business so as not to burn out - 10 iron rules!
Then I bought 2 payment terminals. You yourself have probably used the services of such terminals more than once when paying for a mobile phone. But this business cannot be called open from scratch, since at that time (2006) I invested about 250,000 rubles in it.
So, friends, perhaps you know both successful examples of business projects and examples where entrepreneurs with their “brainchild” failed.
By the way, basically everyone hears stories of great successes, but it seems that it is not customary for us to talk about failures and is even embarrassing.
Like, I’m a fool, a loser, I’m broke, I lost money, I got into debt. What to do now? And now there is nothing left to do, all that remains is to live on and step by step get out of the current situation.
So that you don’t find yourself in the place of this poor fellow, here are the simplest rules that will help you start a business with minimal risks and greater chances for the success of the enterprise.
How to start your business from scratch and not go broke - 10 iron rules:
- Never take out loans to start a business if you do not have experience;
- Before starting a business, remove the " rose-colored glasses“and ask yourself the question: “What will I lose if I fail”?;
- Be prepared for different scenarios, consider both optimistic and pessimistic scenarios;
- Under no circumstances should you open a business with money intended for other strategic goals in your life (children’s education, loan payments, treatment, etc.);
- Carefully study the market and your capabilities, that is, the resources you have to start your own business;
- Do not get involved with obscure or “super profitable” projects that require serious investments;
- If possible, talk to experienced entrepreneurs who are successful in business and take note of their advice;
- Start a business in a field you are familiar with;
- Plan your upcoming actions in writing and clearly formulate each stage that you have to go through to achieve your goal;
- Be optimistic and don't stop at the first difficulties!
3. How to start your own business from scratch - 7 simple steps using the example of a fictional aspiring entrepreneur Vasya Pupkin
For clarity, I propose to go through all 7 steps of technology for organizing your business using the example of a fictitious entrepreneur, let his name be Vasily.
This is the hero of our story, who decided to open a business from scratch.
Step 1. Determine your value
Look, friends, I think you will agree that business can be called the exchange of money for some value that you can give to your clients, that is, solve their problem for money.
Let's say you're good at driving a car, or you can make beautiful designs on a computer, or perhaps you have a talent for creating DIY crafts - in all these cases, you have value that people are willing to pay for.
Let's get straight to the point and do a practical exercise that will help you get your business off the ground:
Exercise:
Take a piece of paper and a pen, then write a list of 10 things that you feel are better than others.
Once you have this list ready, think about what you are good at that you really enjoy doing. Maybe you are doing this as a hobby now.
The fact is that a person cannot do something for a long time that he does not like, and business is a big creative process, which requires you to be versatile, willpower and dedication.
For example, as a result of this exercise, you came to the conclusion that you like to teach something, explain things, communicate with people and work with information, and most importantly, that you are good at it.
Then, by combining your abilities, you can become a private tutor, consultant, or succeed in the network marketing industry.
This is a general principle.
So, once upon a time there lived Vasya...
Vasily decided to open a business and approached this task responsibly.
Vasya made a list of his favorite activities and compared it with what he does best.
Based on the results of the exercise, our hero decided that he would engage in computer design, since he had been working for several years in the company “DesignStroyProekt” LLC in the city of Chelyabinsk, which develops interior design and then finishes the room according to the 3D project.
Vasily assessed his strength and decided that he would become a private interior designer; he already had a number of completed projects, positive customer reviews and an impressive portfolio.
Vasya loved his job and sometimes even took it home, since the company had a lot of orders.
Even then, our hero realized that, in essence, he was engaged in entrepreneurial activity, only the company buys his services at a low price, and clients pay the company much more for design development.
Here Vasily realized that if he could find clients on his own, then he would not have to go to the office at all, and his initial investment in the business would be minimal. After all, his design skills themselves are essentially a business.
This is how our newly minted entrepreneur came up with the idea to start a business.
While working in the company, Vasya even received a small percentage of completed projects, which means he could influence the level of his income.
Fortunately he lived in big city, where he had quite a few potential clients.
Step 2. Analyze the market and choose a niche for a future project
In order to understand whether your business will be successful, you need to conduct an appropriate analysis of the market in which you will sell your goods or services.
So, Vasya decided not to rush and carefully prepared for the new stage of life, which was called “free swimming in the world of business.”
Over the few years that our designer worked for the company, he learned that there were about 10 similar companies in the market in his city, and they all provided similar services.
He asked his friend Pasha, under the guise of a client, to go to these companies and identify their weak and strengths in order to further develop competitive advantages working for yourself.
After commercial intelligence, Pasha identified a number of strengths and weaknesses of these companies. Pasha put these sides into a table so that Vasya could conveniently compare them.
Strengths of Vasya's competing companies:
- The interior designer of these companies inspects and measures the property for free;
- all companies provide a discount on subsequent finishing of the apartment;
- 7 out of 10 companies give the client a gift certificate for a 30% discount when re-ordering a design project from them;
- Managers of 9 out of 10 companies carefully talk with the client, competently finding out his needs.
Weaknesses of Vasya’s competing companies:
- 8 out of 10 companies try to be too intrusive to sell a large number of additional products and services at the first meeting with the client. This causes his negative reaction;
- the interior designer in all 10 companies, during the first conversation with a potential client, conducts a dialogue in complex professional language using large quantity special terms;
- 7 out of 10 companies charge an additional fee for making changes to a computer design project.
Taking into account all the above-described pros and cons of competitors, our hero Vasily decided to engage in interior design of houses and apartments in his city at a lower price. Similar companies on the market provide these services more expensively, since they spent a lot of money on maintaining the workplace and paying taxes for the employee.
The cost of our designer’s services was now one and a half times lower with the proper quality of execution of design projects.
This completed the second step of building his business from scratch with Vasily Pupkin.
Step 3. Decide on the positioning of your business and draw up a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
In order for your customers to understand exactly what you offer them and what makes you unique, you will need to decide on your positioning. In other words, in what light will you present yourself to your client.
Let's return to our fictional hero Vasily, who wanted to open his own business and was at the stage of developing a proposal for the customer.
Vasya already had a good portfolio and a number of reviews from satisfied clients, but how to show all this to your potential customers?
Then Vasya said to himself: “I’m a designer!”, and decided to create my own website on the Internet.
Here he posted his portfolio, reviews, information about himself and his experience, as well as his contacts so that a potential client could conveniently contact him.
Vasily also formulated his Unique Selling Proposition (USP)*, which sounded like this: “Creating the interior design of your dreams for a reasonable price. Creative. Bright. Practical."
So Vasya began to position himself as a professional designer who develops a product at an adequate cost good quality for people of average income level.
Step 4. Draw up an action plan (business plan)
In order to launch your business and avoid many problems, you need to be prudent and try to present your idea and action plan on paper in as much detail as possible.
You can briefly write down the main stages that you have to go through to organize and launch your project. Draw diagrams and drawings and provide explanations for them.
Correctly, this stage of starting your business from scratch is called business planning. These are your instructions, following which your chances of success increase significantly.
I already wrote in one of the previous articles, be sure to check it out.
Now we return to our hero Vasily, who decided to become an entrepreneur and quit his job. Vasily had long wanted to open a business without investments, because he did not want to risk money. He understood that without proper experience, such an experiment could end badly and lead to loss of money.
As a result, Vasya decided that his actions would consist of 3 simple steps with subtasks and would look like this:
- Create your own website with a portfolio, reviews and contacts;
- Post your portfolio online on sites for remote workers;
- Inform your immediate circle about your new project (friends, acquaintances and relatives).
Stage 2. Receiving first orders
- Sign contracts and receive advance payments from clients;
- Fulfill orders;
- Get feedback and recommendations from the customer, add work to your portfolio.
Stage 3. Quitting your job
- Write resignation letters;
- Work the required 2 weeks, complete work projects and transfer tasks;
- Agree on the supply of clients to contractors for repair and finishing work.
Now he was completely ready for the first practical steps to transform yourself from an employee into an individual entrepreneur.
Step 5. Advertise your project and find your first clients
In order to find your first clients when you already have an offer for your services, you must first notify your acquaintances, friends and relatives. Tell them that from now on you are engaged in such and such activities, and also try to conclude the first contracts with them.
If your services are not relevant to them at the moment, ask them for contacts of people to whom they could recommend you.
It's no secret that in order to reach a large audience and automatic self-presentation, you will simply need to create a website for yourself.
Meanwhile, the hero of our business story, Vasily, did not sit idle and developed a personal website for himself, created groups in social networks, notified those around him about the services he provided and sent out commercial offers to his potential clients.
The first orders have arrived...
Step 6. Launch a business, earn your first money and build a brand
Having completed all the previous steps, you are gradually approaching the most interesting stage - the first orders, and therefore the first profits.
- Isn’t this what we strived for when we became entrepreneurs!?
- “How to make money starting your business from scratch?”- Isn’t this the question we asked ourselves?
If you show the proper perseverance and follow my recommendations, then success will certainly await you. Just believe in yourself and don’t give up ahead of time, be prepared for difficulties, because they will come, I’m telling you that for sure.
So, our Vasily received and completed the first orders. As usual, he did this with his usual professionalism. The designer understood that simply making money was not enough, because he already knew how to do this in his office job in the company.
Possessing a strategic vision, Vasily decided that in order to develop his business and increase the cost of his services, he needed to build a name for himself, or, as they say more correctly in business circles, a reputation.
Earn yourself a name that will help you earn everything else!
Folk wisdom
To do this, Vasya did not just sit at home and watch TV, but methodically engaged in self-education, attended thematic exhibitions and seminars, and went to creative gatherings of designers and entrepreneurs, where he could find potential clients and meet new partners.
A few months later, Vasya gained a reputation as an experienced and punctual professional in the field of interior design. Average cost his order grew, and clients came to him based on the recommendations of their friends, to whom Vasya provided high-quality design services.
Step 7. Analyze the results and expand the project
When your business began to generate significant income, regular clients appeared, and you began to be recognized in the business and professional sphere, it’s time to sum up the interim results of your work and outline new horizons. Simply put, it’s time to expand your project in order to increase profits and your own “weight” (your name) in your chosen area of business.
Vasily did the same; he analyzed his results, income, and outlined possible ways to expand his business.
As a result, our designer drew up a new business plan.
Now Vasily could hire assistants who performed all routine operations for him. Our entrepreneur opened his own interior design studio named after Vasily Pupkin. In it he was now the leader and art director.
Thus, having gone from a novice designer to a company employee, our now big boss Vasily proved to everyone by his example that starting a business from scratch is real and does not require cosmic sums, much less loans, which inexperienced entrepreneurs like to take out.
Dear readers, perhaps someone will say that this is a fictional story and the issues of registering a company, proper negotiations with clients, legal issues and other subtleties.
Yes, this is true, but believe me, if you take these simple 7 steps as a basis, then starting a business will turn into exciting journey, which you will remember for a very long time. And as an experienced entrepreneur, you will share your practical knowledge with newcomers.
I will say that I personally managed to open a business using the described model.
I wish you good luck and I am sure that by approaching the start of your own project responsibly, after a while you will be doing what you love and getting paid for it.
Below you will find working business ideas for starting your own business from scratch, as well as real entrepreneurial stories about how my friends and I opened our own businesses.
4. What you can do to open your business from scratch - 5 best business ideas
The business ideas below will help you get started in business and actually feel like an entrepreneur.
Some ideas will be related to making a profit using the Internet, others will not.
All you have to do is choose the type of business you like and start immersing yourself in it.
Business idea No. 1. Business with China
Selling trendy goods from China is now a very relevant trend.
You can sell such goods by first purchasing them directly in China via the Internet, through social networks, one-page websites and message boards.
My friend Alexey has a retail and wholesale business in Moscow Chinese goods. At first it was watches, various “fun things”, things for the home.
Now this business brings him clean 350,000 rubles per month.
His scheme is simple and consists of 5 steps:
- Choosing the right product and testing.
- Purchasing goods wholesale in China.
- Advertising this product via the Internet in different ways.
- Sending the ordered goods to the buyer by courier in Moscow or a transport company in Russia.
- Scaling your business and encouraging yourself.
And once Alexey worked as a taxi driver and, as far as I know, started with a debt of 30,000 rubles.
Its success lies in studying the necessary information; you can start by watching a free webinar by Evgeniy Guryev, an expert on the topic of Business with China, and then take the first steps to implement this idea in practice.
Here's what Evgeniy says about business with China - 3 pressing questions:
If you want to start an effective online business selling popular goods from China, visit an expert in starting this type of business.
You will learn step-by-step information for starting a business now.
Business idea No. 2. Consulting and training
If you know how to do something well, then there will probably be many people who want to learn from your experience and knowledge.
Nowadays, training via the Internet is especially in demand. This is where you can find hundreds and even thousands of people who are willing to pay you.
For example, I have a friend Alexey, he lives with me in the same city of Stavropol and teaches foreign languages. Just a few years ago, Lyosha had to visit his students at home or invite them to his home. Now the situation has changed radically, everything has become much simpler.
With the advent of the Internet, my friend began to teach people English and German languages via Skype. I myself used his services for a year. During this time, I managed to learn English from scratch to a conversational level. As you can see, it works.
You can also open your home business from scratch on training or consulting people via the Internet.
Nowadays, many lawyers, accountants and teachers make good money this way. But there is an even more advanced option for making money on your knowledge; it is to create and sell your own training courses via the Internet.
To make a profit this way you need:
- choose a topic in which you are knowledgeable;
- record a training course on it;
- start advertising this course online in different ways and earn income from sales
The advantage of this type of business is that you record your training course once and sell it many times.
In general, selling information on the Internet in the form of techniques and manuals is called infobusiness. You too can open it and make it your main source of income.
Business idea No. 3. Earning money using the social network Twitter (Twitter)
Today, almost every person has their own profile on one of the social networks. But few people know that here, in addition to entertainment and communication, you can make good money.
One of these opportunities is Twitter, which is common for many - a social network for exchanging short messages of up to 140 characters.
Ordinary people spend their time and money here, while smarter people have turned this social network into their source of permanent income.
It's no secret that wherever people hang out, there is money.
After all, our Internet users are an active paying audience. So why don't you get some of their money. Moreover, this is absolutely legal and does not require outstanding knowledge.
It's enough to just do a few RIGHT ACTIONS and get your first profit. We have previously written about how to start your own business on Twitter and receive income comparable to average salary across Russia. Read our article “” and implement the methods described in it.
Business idea No. 4. We are engaged in mediation - we earn money on Avito.ru
Making money using electronic ad boards is the simplest and most accessible for most people.
You are required to have minimal computer knowledge, a few hours a day and a desire to work for yourself.
With the help of sites that specialize in posting free advertisements, you can build your own very profitable business.
This can be done in 3 steps:
- Find something to sell
- Post an ad on the website
- Receive a call from a buyer and sell the product
We will use the most popular Avito board (avito.ru) as a site for posting sales advertisements.
Hundreds of thousands of advertisements are posted here every day, and the site’s active audience numbers tens of millions of users.
Can you imagine how many potential buyers there will be for your product here?!
First, you can start here by selling unwanted items you have around the house, and then post ads for goods and services that you don't even have in stock.
You don’t believe that this is possible and want to find out how it's done?
I myself tried to earn quick money with the help of Avito, I won’t say that I became a millionaire, but I managed to earn several thousand rubles in a week.
Business idea No. 5. Growing from an employee to a business partner
If you are currently employed, you do not have to quit your job and open your own business. You can do this within the company you work for.
If your company is not too large, and you are one of the key specialists there, then under certain conditions you will be able to get a share in the company’s business. This will allow you not just to receive a salary, but to become a full-fledged managing partner on a par with the current owner - your main manager.
This is possible if your actions can directly influence the increase in the company’s profits.
Become an indispensable specialist and it is quite possible that the owner of the company himself will invite you to become his business partner.
This method is proposed by the legendary Russian entrepreneur Vladimir Dovgan. Yes, you will have to work hard here, but you will become a co-owner of an already operating company without risks and really from scratch.
Dovgan himself gives the example of a guy who became a co-owner of a large restaurant chain in Moscow, and before that he was a simple cook in one of the restaurants.
This young man I really liked what he did, he was professional in preparing food and courteous with the guests of the establishment.
The owners, seeing his passion for work, first promoted him to restaurant manager, and then offered him a share in the business for developing their network of establishments and training staff.
I don’t remember this man’s name, but now he has become a dollar millionaire, without actually opening his own business, but by starting to develop someone else’s.
This is also a good way to start your own business, especially if you have a good career in a small or medium-sized commercial company.
Business idea No. 6. Building your business on the Internet
If you have good computer skills, know how to create Internet projects, or at least understand the principles of their functioning, then you should consider the Internet as a way to start your business from scratch.
There are two main ways to start an online business:
1. Freelancing. This is a business of providing you paid services via the Internet. If you have professional skills, for example, you can draw beautiful designs, write texts professionally, or know programming languages, then you can easily make money on the World Wide Web. More precisely, it can rather be called working for yourself. Although successful freelancers earn from 500 to 10 000 dollars per month.
You can start earning money this way on popular exchanges for freelancers “Freelance” (fl.ru) and “Workzilla” (workzilla.ru).
2. Classic business on the Internet. Building a full-fledged online business on your own is not so easy; it’s best to follow the beaten path.
To do this, just read my article. There I talked about how you can make money on games, on social networks, on selling information from 50,000 rubles a month and gave examples real people who are already doing this.
This concludes my review of business ideas. I hope that they will help you get started and start making your first money.
5. My own experience of starting a business from scratch in the service sector
As I wrote earlier, I opened my first business at the age of 19 - it was a vending business (terminals for accepting payments). Yes, for this we needed cash. Then I had several more projects. All of them had nothing to do with the Internet.
And so, about 3 years ago, my current friend and business partner Vitaly and I opened our own website creation studio without a penny of money. We ourselves learned to make Internet projects literally on the fly, but in the end, after a few months, we earned about 500,000 rubles in our website creation studio.
Naturally, I often had to work with legal entities who transferred payment for services by bank transfer. To do this, you had to either open your own company or work through someone.
We chose the second method, having agreed with our current business partner Evgeniy Korobko. Zhenya is the founder and head of her own advertising agency. I interviewed him, you can read him in the article about, the material was published on our website.
Our first clients were entrepreneurs we knew.
We approached our business responsibly and fulfilled orders with soul. Soon the “word of mouth” effect worked when our satisfied clients began to recommend us to their friends.
This allowed us to receive a continuous flow of customers, and sometimes we could not even cope with orders. This experience helped us to believe in ourselves, and today we have in our minds full picture how to start a business from scratch and make it successful.
I would like to note that with the development of information technology in the world, your sales market today is the entire planet!
There are no more distances, any information is available and now starting a business is much easier than even just 10 years ago.
I hope that all the materials in this article will help you take the first step towards your dream - your own business, which over time will turn from a small home project into a huge company with a worldwide reputation.
Therefore, dear readers, I assure you that everything is in your hands, just act, because the city takes courage!
6. The real story of how my friend Misha worked as a security guard and became a businessman
Here is one of my favorite stories about a real entrepreneur who started a business from scratch. After all, I promised to give examples from life in the article.
Do you want to know how Mikhail became an entrepreneur from a laborer, opened a business, bought a foreign car and an apartment?
A few years ago, my friend Mikhail worked everywhere he could: as a construction worker, loader, security guard.
In a word, he was not engaged in the most monetary and intellectual work. It all started when my friend was guarding a sales company building materials. One day a client came to them who wanted to buy a large batch of building insulation, but it was not in stock.
Misha knew that literally 100 meters from the company he was guarding there was another hardware store, where exactly there was such insulation. Having taken a contact from a potential client, he went to this store in the evening and agreed that he would bring them a large client if they would give him a percentage of the purchase made from them. The management of this store agreed and Misha worked as a freelance sales manager, earning about 30 000 rubles for just one transaction (recommendation).
And this was an amount equal to his monthly salary!
Mikhail thought it was an interesting business, and the financial result of the deal gave him confidence. So he quit his job and began by agreeing with various companies that he would sell their goods. Since Misha already worked as a laborer and security guard in a construction company, he also chose construction goods for sale: windows, doors, fittings, roofing, and so on.
My friend simply walked around the construction sites of the city and offered his goods. Some people bought from him, some they didn’t. As a result, Mikhail created an assortment of the most popular products and understood how to properly negotiate with construction site foremen.
After 2 years, Mikhail opened his own company selling building materials and involved his brother in this business. Before this, his brother Kostya worked at Gorgaz and received the usual small salary. Now the guys are quite successful in sales and earn good money.
By the way, I have been to their office more than once and have known Misha for several years. He told me this story himself.
Conclusion:
By starting a business from scratch, you avoid the risk of losing money, and this is the most important thing. Also, starting with no material resources teaches you to make better decisions to make money. After all, if you are able to make a profit without investing, then with money you can even become a successful entrepreneur.
See you in the next articles and good luck in your business!
Please rate the article and leave comments below, I will be grateful for it.
How to open your own business without investing money - 7 proven business ideas of 2018 for beginners and aspiring entrepreneurs
) and today we will consider the next group - Working for yourself. Also this group earnings can be called .
Freelancers are people who do various jobs, usually remotely, without concluding an employment contract.
There are hired employees who are registered as employees of the enterprise, and agreements are concluded with them employment contract, they are recording in work book, they are allocated a workplace in an office, factory, etc.
Unlike hired workers, a freelancer is not officially included in the staff with an entry in the work book, but at the same time his services can be used regularly.
This is the main drawback. You will not be officially employed, you will not receive a pension from your employer, you will not have preferential leave, etc.
At the same time, you will have a free work schedule, which you will set for yourself.
Working for yourself at home includes the following types of income:
- Programming;
- Web design;
- Writing articles to order;
- Promotion of groups on social networks;
- Conducting advertising campaigns in services contextual advertising;
- Development of printed products;
- Logo creation;
- Creation of websites and online stores;
- SEO promotion;
- Editing audio and video content;
- Trading;
- Photography services;
- System administrator;
- Etc.
In this series it was said that when choosing a way to make money on the Internet, I recommend starting from such concepts as: linear income and passive income.
So, working for yourself on the Internet is a linear source of income, but this option can bring you much more more income, than . If we talk about the approximate amount of earnings by working for yourself, then this is a horizon of 5,000 rubles. up to 150,000 rub.
There are exceptions, but in any case percentage something like this: about 90% of freelancers earn about 10,000 – 50,000 rubles. per month. And only a few earn more. As a rule, these are stellar, professional specialists for whom clients line up.
As an example, I can cite a freelancer whose name is Evgeniy Peshinsky. His main specialization is design:
- Design of information products.
- Design for information business.
- Printing: advertising, leaflets, booklets, catalogues, DVD boxes, covers.
- Etc.
He works with many famous information businessmen. And here is a screenshot of my correspondence with him, when I wanted to order a design from him for one of my information products:
As you can see from the screenshot, Evgeniy has work for 2 weeks ahead. And he charges quite a bit for his work. I ordered DVD boxes and 3D boxes from various freelancers and I can say that his prices are not too high, but higher than the market average. I ordered cheaper too. He does his job efficiently, which is why he can afford to charge higher than everyone else.
This type of income, I mean working for yourself on the Internet, is not suitable for everyone, since it requires specific knowledge. In particular, knowledge of special programs, such as Photoshop or Corel, if you are involved in design. Or Sony Vegas, Adobe After Effects, if you are involved in video processing.
Some of the areas require obtaining a high-quality university education.
Not everyone can master areas such as programming or web design. First, you must have an interest in it. Secondly, to become good specialist one of these areas requires a lot of time. In a month, two, or even three, you are unlikely to become a great specialist unless you have a gift from God.
Many of the activities listed above require a creative streak, which not every person has either.
All the methods of earning money described above fall into the category of remote work. This is a huge plus of working for yourself, as well as any other way of making money on the Internet. It is also worth noting that such work does not require investments, that is, it work on the Internet without investment.
I would not consider this direction in the long term. If you are a really cool specialist who has a queue of clients, then it is possible and yes, you can make money this way, especially if you like what you do.
But if this activity brings average or small income, then you can work for a while, for example, to make money to create something more profitable and autonomous, or create a passive source of income in parallel.
If you work for yourself online, or are planning to do this, then always keep in mind the focus on creating passive sources of income. Remember that knowing only one way to earn money is a risk, as is having one source of income.
Why is this a risk?
- Firstly , you may suffer some kind of injury that will prevent you from doing your job. What will you do then? How to get your own food?
- Secondly , technologies may change, or your specialty may become no longer in demand. Let's imagine that you are a system administrator and work for yourself. You have about 30 clients whose websites you serve remotely. Let's imagine that on average each client pays you 3,000 rubles every month for website maintenance. Thus, your income is about 90,000 rubles per month. Everything seems to be fine, but imagine that a hosting provider appears on the market, which provides system administrator services to all its clients who host websites on its servers completely free of charge. And now all your clients switch to service to him and you lose your income.
Therefore I believe that there must be many sources of income. So that each of them replaces and complements each other. But since there are only 24 hours in a day and you only have 2 hands, it will be difficult for you to do several different types of work for yourself at the same time.
In this case, you will only be saved by creating passive sources of income that will work independently without your active participation. It is the creation of such that we will deal with in the following articles.
In conclusion, I would like to highlight the following advantage of working for yourself on the Internet before methods of earning money belonging to other groups.
Working for yourself on the Internet means quick money
By working for yourself, you can earn your first money in just a few hours. This is especially true for those who have loans or some other urgent financial obligations, that is, when you urgently need money or by a certain date.
Creating passive sources of income sometimes takes a lot of time. This stops people. Not everyone is ready to work patiently and wait for the hour when the source of income you create begins to generate decent profits and work independently.
But this is a matter of everyone’s choice. Whatever path you take, it will be your choice. And in the next issues we will look at the following directions movements so as not to miss new releases.
Today, as part of our traditional “Business Question” section, we decided to answer the main question of people who are just thinking about becoming entrepreneurs. This question is constantly asked by tens of thousands of people across the country. And it sounds very simple - is it worth quitting your hired job and starting your own business? Almost every businessman who was once employee, I had to find the answer to this simple question. Let's try to understand the situation and in the end answer what is better - to work or to do business. First, we'll look at what makes jobs so attractive to us. Next, let's look at the advantages of your business. And at the end of the article we will summarize and draw conclusions.
Work moments that greatly interfere with the decision to quit
When a person decides, he faces many strong factors that, to one degree or another, keep him in the workplace. It seems like everything is already tired. I want to change the situation. There is a clear desire to become your own boss, but something still gets in the way. There may be many or few such obstacles. Depending on the personality of each individual person, his social status and the currently occupied workplace.
The strongest factor that can prevent even very confident young people from opening a business is, of course, imaginary stability. Since childhood, it has been hammered into our heads that working at work (excuse the tautology) means being confident in the future. But owning your own business is a huge risk. You can lose everything. There is some truth in this. It's actually safer to work for someone else. At least that's how it looks at first glance at the situation. You have certain working days, a schedule, and a fixed salary that you receive monthly. Plus – various awards, bonuses, etc.
All this is really present among people working for someone or for the state. But where is the guarantee that you will not be fired at the first need? For example, the boss urgently needs to accommodate his relative, or simply because of some disagreement or personal hostility. So working for someone is not always a guarantee of stability. Or rather, there is stability, but it can collapse at any moment, like a house of cards in the wind.
Another point that prevents many from quitting a job they don’t like and starting their own business is their status in society. It’s always nice to say that you work as a top manager, or head of a department, or chief specialist in a large company (continue the chain yourself). This immediately raises your prestige in the eyes of your friends and family.
Saying that you are a businessman is, of course, cool. But to say that you are just starting your business, barely making ends meet, constantly getting into debt, eating bread and water and practically not resting is very difficult. But on initial stage Almost any business (if you are a young, inexperienced entrepreneur) everything looks something like this. There is still a long way to go to mountains of gold, crowds of clients and stability. And not everyone will be able to reach this. In general, it will be difficult at first. In particular, it will be difficult to tell your friends how you quit a good job and are now doing your own business, which so far does not really bring anything.
The work environment can also become big problem. At work you have connections, acquaintances, perhaps even friends. And, as soon as you leave the walls of your home office, all these relationships will slowly fade away (with very rare exceptions). Many find it difficult to come to terms with this. That's why they still go to work and only dream about their own business.
There is also a chance to be left with virtually no communication. At work, you have to talk to a lot of people every day - colleagues, bosses, clients, partners, etc. But in business (depending on its type) everything may turn out to be completely different. For example, if you prefer to make money on the Internet, then there is a chance to stay practically all alone. Only correspondence and short calls from clients will disturb the silence of your working day. For some, this is very difficult.
Business is an unpredictable business. Including in terms of work schedule. Some manage to perfectly set up their workday, find time to relax, and even take a vacation for a couple of months a year. Others have to “plow” around the clock, seven days a week, and they dream about vacation for years.
And probably the most powerful factor that hinders many is the reaction of loved ones. As we have already said, since childhood we have been told about all the delights of working life and the disadvantages of business. Therefore, in our country, most people are opposed to any manifestations of entrepreneurship. Perhaps such people surround you. And this may become the main reason for all doubts. After all, you want the support of your loved ones. Moreover, in such a new and complex issue. Unfortunately, not everyone receives this support. And it's sad.
The work does not require any initial investment. In business, you will need start-up capital. Although, if you look at the situation from a different angle, studying at the university can be called an investment in your future job. And training costs a lot these days.
And one more thing - in business you will have to make hundreds of different decisions. Decisions on which the success of your business, stability and final income will depend. Not everyone is ready to take on such responsibility. At work, everything is simple - you carry out the instructions of your superiors and don’t think about anything else. It's actually convenient.
Above, we looked at the factors that keep us in the workplace and prevent us from opening our own business. All this can be attributed to the advantages of hired work. Now let's look at the advantages that own business gives us, and finally decide whether it's worth quitting your job and doing your own business or not.
What makes your business so attractive?
The most important advantage of business is freedom. No job will ever give you that much wiggle room. What you will do at one time or another will depend only on you, your desires and skills. Of course, at first it will be difficult, you will need to spend a lot of time. But then, when you acquire regular clients, establish partnerships, and understand the nuances of your business, your business will begin to generate a stable income. And you will be able to live more freely, interestingly and diversely. You will be able to travel, buy expensive things, cars, apartments, and make your childhood dreams come true. It's worth any risk, isn't it?
Be successful businessman, even in our country, is prestigious. You just need to overcome initial fears, inconveniences, sidelong glances from the outside, and get rid of a bunch of stereotypes and complexes. You just need to do your job. And do it well.
Business can bring much more money than any (almost any) hired job. That is, if you strive for financial independence, then your choice is your own business, but not “working for your uncle.”
By creating a business, you get rid of annoying bosses. No one else will brainwash you, tell you what to do and what not, or force you to perform duties that are not yours. Only you are your own boss. Only you tell yourself what to do. Of course, there is always a place for certain circumstances. You will have to please customers. But it’s even nice to do this when you understand that your monthly income depends on it.
And one more thing - by creating your own business and constantly working on its development, you will always be confident in your future and the future of your family and friends. What will happen tomorrow will largely depend only on you and your actions. And the realization of this cannot make me happy.
And finally, the most important advantage of entrepreneurship is the opportunity to do something that really interests you. If you love photography, become a private photographer. If you like video games, open a gaming club. If you like to spend time on the Internet, there are dozens of possible ways to make money online.
Everything seems clear, but...
On the one hand, the choice is obvious. Your own business will bring more money, pleasure, peace of mind and comfort. That's how it is. But you need to remember one more thing important point. Not all people have all the necessary qualities that any entrepreneur needs. Namely:
- Communication skills, ability to establish connections, personal charisma;
- Ability to make decisions;
- Desire to take responsibility;
- Ability to plan, prudence;
- Knowledge of time management;
- Ability to change depending on conditions;
- Organization;
- Ability to think creatively;
- Observation.
These are just the basic qualities that any person who wants to create their own business must have. Of course, you can achieve success without all this. But then the path will be longer and more difficult.
If you have some of the skills from this list, you have every chance of opening a profitable and promising business. If you are closer to the conveniences that were listed in the first part of the article, then perhaps it is too early for you to quit your job.
And the wisest decision is to gradually leave the workplace for business. That is, you start your activity parallel to your work. And only when the income from the business exceeds the profitability of your workplace, you can think about saying goodbye to your boss.