Recession has gripped the world creating depression amongst
the people. Fear of losing their jobs and homes, spreads doom
and gloom every where. If you believe this; you are already
halfway down the slippery slope to the bottom of the pit of
despair. What you want is P.M.A.
Adversity brings out the best and worst in people; make sure
it brings out the best in you. In business you plan ahead for
all possible scenarios, or should do, fail to plan means you
plan to fail. For the majority of people i.e. those not in business
simply plan their finances as best they can, and because times
have been good, the thought of losing their job has not entered
the equation, hence the doom and gloom.
But all is not lost, you can usually find free debt counselling,
this tends to delay the immediate problems and consequences,
but doesn’t cure the problem. To a lot of people the idea
of using a stranger to sort out their debt and their lives is
an acknowledgement of failure.
You can do something about it yourself.
Losing your job doesn’t mean you are a failure, it means
you have been given choices. You could choose to be one of the
many who are chasing the few jobs available. You could choose
to find a part time job to put you on, or you can go into business
for yourself. Before you say to yourself that you can’t
go into business for yourself because......... and then you
think of plenty of reasons not to be self employed, you should
look at all the opportunities you have been given and explore
them all.
There is no reason why you can’t actively pursue all of
these three options just mentioned. All you need is P.M.A.
I am going to explore the self employed [in business for yourself]
choice, while at the same time, I suggest you follow other choices
as well. When considering a new business venture, you should
first consider what you know, for instance could you turn the
job you have just lost into a self employed opportunity, and
if you have a hobby, could this be turned into a business venture.
You should also consider what skills and hobbies your life partner
has, and could these skills be used in a business venture.
A lot of men will tell you that their wife has no skills for
a business, because she gave up work 20 years ago to look after
the children, cook and clean. Never underestimate the power
of a woman. 20 years experience looking after children is good
experience for a very profitable child minding business. 20
years cleaning experience means your wife can easily find part
time work as a cleaner, on minimum wages. Why not start a cleaning
company, and employing cleaners, you are starting to leverage
your income; you can build a very profitable business with very
little capital outlay, a business that a lot of men are now
turning to. A business which will continue, even if you find
full time employment. [Most shops and offices want cleaners
to work early morning, or evening.]
One question most people ask is how much to charge? Research
will show how much other companies charge, a rough guide for
a business with virtually no overheads, is twice the amount
other companies pay their staff.
In business it should be equal opportunities for both sexes,
in actual fact most companies are more receptive towards women
in business than men.
For arguments sake let’s assume that you have no skills
or hobbies on which to build a business. You have never been
in sales, accounting, marketing, or had a trade such as joiner,
mechanic, electrician etc. etc. But you have used your own car
to go to work.
I can only speak for the U.K., if you have a car, you must have
a driving license. A car can open several business opportunities.
You can become a courier. I run a courier company specialising
in deliveries using large vans. I get lots of car drivers wanting
work, and I can usually pass them on to Courier companies who
specialise in small van and car deliveries. Car deliveries are
usually letters and small parcels, contact all local couriers
for work. Local evening newspapers quite often use car drivers
to deliver evening news papers to shops, this type of work is
usually on a contract, which means you have to do it regardless
of illness or breakdowns. Catalogue companies use car drivers
for local deliveries. When you start looking around you will
find lot’s of opportunities out there.
Your starting point should be a family discussion; you will
be surprised at what comes out of such a discussion.
There may be local incentives to start a new business, use the
internet, local library or job centre.
Above all you need is P.M.A.
which stands for Positive Mental Attitude in other words ‘I
Can Do It’ therefore ‘I Will Do It’,
don’t think about it ‘Do It
Now’
This is the first in a series of articles
taken from an E book due later in the year.
Article
by Vic Farron : staff writer for RFT Express
