It's time to move on...
My new website is now up and running and I'll be transferring my blog to:
This is the last installment of 'Idea-ism' as I know it - Come across to my much nicer and sexier blog for more pearls of authorpreneurial wisdom...
2015 is Authorpreneur Almanac year.
Join me in my 365 Adventures in Writing and Entrepreneurship...
I love Pinterest. It's such a fantastic tool for collecting content and it appeals to my hoarding instincts. I can collect lovely things without filling my house with junk!
It's also a powerful research tool, allowing me to access valuable information that may not be otherwise obvious in the endless ocean of the internet.
Here I am. Come and join me in the Pinterest playground:
Visit Amy Morse - Authorpreneur's profile on Pinterest.
In the post, Tilly offers 5 tips to turn your hobby into a business. It's packed with sensible and practical suggestion and a reality check.
For the past four years I've worked as an Enterprise Coach,
supporting people facing just this dilemma; 'how to turn a hobby into a
business'.
These are some of the the things I challenge people on when I first meet them:
One of the first questions to ask yourself before considering whether to
take this step is "do you actually want to?"
The immediate response might be;
"well yes of course, why else would I be here'?" but let's dig deeper...
Being self employed is not easy. It's much more difficult than being
employed - where you turn up at an agreed time, do what you're there to do and
get paid at the end of the month. It's a straight forward contract.
Another aspect to this is: if your hobby becomes your job, will you lose
your passion for it?
Doing what you love sounds wonderful in theory, but when
you're struggling to make ends meet and get regular work in, it's easy to start
resenting it.
Let's assume that you've done this soul searching and addressed these questions
before you seriously consider the move to self employment. The advice Tilly
offers is great, however, I have 4 things to add:
1) Get help
You definitely need to be a do-er, but you also need to recognise
your own limitations.
One of the biggest mistakes I see starts ups making is
trying to do everything themselves. Often, when they come to me for business advice
it's because they went ahead and did things without considering the consequences
and got themselves into a pickle or made expensive mistakes.
If I had a pound
for the number of people who buy a limited company package off some dodgy
website without understanding their statutory responsibilities, then I'd have...
Okay, only enough for a round of drinks - but still it's a messy and expensive
problem to fix.
2) Learn about business
(I don't mean a Business Studies qualification, I mean practical enterprise support)
It's one thing being good at something, quite another
to turn it into a business. And a whole other substantial step to make it
profitable and sustainable.
Just because you have a brilliant skill or lovely
product doesn't mean you can run a business. (tweet this)
A small business (and that includes
being a one-person band or freelancer), has a multitude of different processes
and functions. You're not just the maker, you will also be; the salesperson, the
marketer, the quality controller, the manager, the bookkeeper, the designer, the health
and safety person, the HR person, the
credit controller, the administrator, the purchaser, the negotiator, the payroll person etc etc.
You can only learn
so much by looking online, reading books and blogs etc. There is no substitute
for going on a course or talking to a professional.
If you don't know what you don't know, how do you know you don't know it!
Recent research conducted by
the Federation of Small Business, suggests that the second biggest reason
businesses fail in the first year (after financial problems) is: not getting
training or support.
3) Be prepared to pay for some things
A bad homemade website (unlike Tilly's, which is gorgeous), some poor
quality marketing materials you printed off on your bubble jet, emails filled
with errors etc, all these things make you look like an amateur.
You can use
favours from friends and family to a certain extent, but you may not necessarily
be able to guarantee the quality or rely on them. And what if you get your mate
to design your website and you don't like it? You didn't pay for it, so you
can't very well complain (not without losing a friendship!).
In particular, with regards to printing, especially leaflets,
business cards etc. they can use a lot of ink and cartridges for home printers
are expensive. Often it works out cheaper to go to a local printing firm (some
of the online providers have hidden costs, a bit like budget airlines!). It also
has the advantage that you're supporting local business and can build a
relationship for discounts etc. You can also actually speak to a human about what you
really want, rather than being constrained by an online template.
4) Think business.
This is an abstract one - here's an example:
My first
venture into self employment was as Tom Cat Designs (hence the Twitter handle!).
My husband and I were refurbishing properties at the time, and as a finishing
touch for the rooms, I painted some big, bold canvases. I had lots of
positive comments, people asked about the art and friends
commissioned me to do art for their homes. Someone then suggested that I should
put on an exhibition. I booked a gallery space, giving myself a deadline, and
set about producing a series of paintings. When the exhibition opened, I sold
several pictures and then some commissions for more work followed. I was
churning out paintings and making money and it got to the point that I should
declare the earnings, so I registered for self assessment with the tax office.
Then
that was that...
At no point did it dawn on me that I was now, by the most basic
definition; a business.
I didn't have the mindset of a businessperson. In my head, Tom Cat Designs
was a hobby that made me some extra pocket money. As a result, I didn't do any
research into the marketplace, my customers, competitors etc. I didn't have a
plan or think about marketing, I didn't cost it out and didn't think about
branding or assess my skills and look at areas for development.
With no direction, no plan and no goals, inevitably it fizzled out and I gave up.
If you want to turn your hobby into a business
you need to be businesslike and that involves a shift in your mindset if you
want to succeed.
I don't mean becoming some cutthroat, hard-nosed meany-pants about it, just to tell yourself; "Okay, I'm serious about this, let's do it properly."
I'm now on the next incarnation of my ambitions to work for
myself, this time turning my lifelong love of writing into my Amy Morse, Authorpreneur business.
With two fiction titles already published...
I'm now
working on some business skills books. Look out for the first of
these:
'Operation Author: So You've Published a Book... Now What?'
Business Skills for Creatives
I already give regular talks at events for creative entrepreneurs, and I'm available for more of this.
I'm also working on a programme of Business Skills for Creatives. If you'd like to know more, check the website:
www.AmyMorse.co.uk
or bounce me an email and I'll keep in touch: amy@tomcatdesigns.co.uk
What tips would you offer to people considering self employment?
