Need a New Years resolution? Start your own business!
It’s New Years resolution time!
Every January, as we come down from the euphoria of Christmas and New Year celebrations and are faced with the gloomy months ahead, we once again take the opportunity to implement change in our lives.
We’ve heard of the usual ‘give-ups’ such as giving up sugar, giving up social media, quitting smoking or drinking. Then we have the ‘take-ups’ such as start a new hobby, exercise more, spend more time with family or travel to new places but what about ‘Start my own business?’
If you’ve spent your time ruminating about how much you hate your job or are fresh out of uni and a traditional 9–5 just doesn’t sound like your kind of thing when better than to take the leap and become an entrepreneur?
You’ve wondered how to do it, you’re curious to get going but something has always held you back. Well, now is the time dive in.
Here is our practical advice about whether it’s for you and why you should or shouldn’t take the plunge.
Firstly, do you really want to be an entrepreneur? Life for a ‘real’ entrepreneur isn’t the glossy high profile and glamorous lifestyle as depicted by TV programmes like ‘The Apprentice’ or ‘Dragon’s Den’. Starting a business is really hard work and there’s no guarantee that your business will succeed. You need to have a huge amount of resilience, passion, drive and ambition. Here are some other personal characteristics that (most) successful entrepreneurs have.
Right — so you definitely want to do this. Now you will need to decide on your next steps. Do you already have a business idea and are looking for mentoring, funding or advice? Or, are you still undecided on the idea and just want to get some more training? Do you want to network with like-minded people to learn more about entrepreneurship? You may also be considering joining one of the entrepreneurship courses delivered by the Universities. Whatever you are looking for, a great place to start is the NEF Directory. This is a fantastic starting point for start-up programmes, incubators and accelerators, funding, networking and University programmes.
Here is a list of some other things you can do to help you get started:
- Sign up for entrepreneurial networking events near you. There are literally hundreds of events every day and most are free so look up any in your local area
- Join online forums and discussion groups. This will give you an idea of what’s hot in the start-up world and who the key players are
- Start following entrepreneurs on twitter and other social media
- Sign up for competitions to win mentoring/help/support etc.
- Read the latest books on entrepreneurship. Examples include ‘The Lean 6 and Start-up’ ‘Confessions of an Entrepreneur’
- Get an internship in a start-up as there’s nothing like getting your hands dirty to understand what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur!
Apply to the NEF programme! We provide an intensive 12 month programme designed to give aspiring entrepreneurs the hands on experience and skills needed to launch scalable market leading businesses!
Find out more information about the programme and how to apply.
Most of us give up on our New Year’s resolutions before the end of January but if you are determined to make this year different and you want to start a business, my final piece of advice, borrowed from Nike, is ‘Just Do It!’ You have nothing to lose and there is more support and advice now available than ever before, so good luck!
Based on a blog written for Huffington Post.
