4 Important Aspects to Starting your Own Business
This year has held big changes for me. Since this time last year, I have become a mom, I finished my Professional Editing Certificate to accompany my BA Communications, and I dropped from full time hours at my job to part time in order to start my own business as a virtual assistant and freelance editor. I have lost a lot of sleep (most of it courtesy of the baby, but going back to school and starting up my business were a close second!), but have found this new direction to be incredibly rewarding.
The learning curve to being your own boss is steep, but satisfying. Some of the biggest challenges I have had to face in starting up my own business are:
1) Time management:
when you sit down in your office, you have to create working hours for yourself, otherwise it’s so easy to see the laundry sitting in the corner of the living room, especially when you have a work task you really want to avoid! (Anyone else stay up all night during university cleaning out the junk drawer instead of studying for that final?!). I can be the queen of avoidance, when I’m stuck, or have a task in front of me that I don’t really want to do. This has led to me sitting down and figuring out what my work hours are going to be that week and sticking to them. Obviously one of the perks of being your own boss is flexibility, but I try to work that flexibility in on a weekly basis, otherwise it is much too easy to push everything off, and find out at the end of the week, you haven’t actually done any work on your business!
2) Wearing multiple hats:
In other words, as the owner I now have to assume all roles: bookkeeper, marketer, networker, website manager, etc. Part of my work day is now sitting down and making sure none of these responsibilities are shirked. I take advantage of any free material out there that can coach me to make me better at tackling these aspects of my own business. Time management comes into play here, as I like to market and network, but don’t like bookkeeping as much. By incorporating time management, I spend the appropriate amount of time on each task.
3) Getting the family to respect your work hours:
When you’re just in the next room it’s easy for the kids to run to you asking you to do them a favor, or for your hubby to pop his head in to inquire what’s for supper. I have found it is pertinent for everyone to be aware of my work hours, and unless absolutely necessary, they try and figure things out for themselves. Obviously, the nice part of working from home is that when my 11 month old falls down and wants mommy for hugs, I can take a few minutes to console her. At the end of the day I am working for a pay cheque, and if I’m always pulled away from my desk over little things, my productivity will be down, and consequently so will the money.
4) Find resources:
This has been the biggest help for me as I start this new venture. I have joined some great groups that have provided wonderful sources for information and avenues for networking. Having others as a sounding board when you have questions can be a valuable time saver. Others in the industry can give their recommendations, provide feedback, and give avenues to learning new skills. A few that I have joined are CAVA (Canadian Association of Virtual Assistants), vanetworking.com, and Calgary twig of EAC (Editors Association of Canada).
As I start my new adventure I’m sure I’ll find more items to add to this list, but just starting out, these have been my biggest hurdles. Do you have anything to add? If so leave it in the comments section and I will add it to my blog.
