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How to Be Your Own Boss: Staying Organized & On Task

Whether freelancing or starting a company, being your own boss is likely a full-time job. The tasks in your own business are never-ending. To be your own boss, you’ll need self-discipline and organizational skills, among many others. But the first step is having a clear vision of why you want to be your own boss.

Whether freelancing or starting a company, being your own boss is likely a full-time job. The tasks in your own business are never-ending. 

To be your own boss, you’ll need self-discipline and organizational skills, among many others. 

But the first step is having a clear vision of why you want to be your own boss.

Why Should You Be Your Own Boss?

Different people start businesses for different reasons. These are some of the primary reasons to consider learning how to be your own boss.

You’re a Self-Starter

Consider starting your own business if you are a self-starter with a business idea and a work ethic that inspires envy.  Especially if you’re ambitious, motivated, and take the initiative. If you can call the shots effortlessly, thrive in uncomfortable areas, and never give up until you achieve your goals, then bonus points. 

For instance, if you look at a depleting bank account and strive to find diverse ways to fund the business instead of giving up, including getting a loan from investors, you’ll do fine as a small business owner (SMB) or entrepreneur. 

You Want to Own Your Future

Start your own business if you are tired of making other people rich. 

How often do you hear people say this? Too many to count, if we’re being honest. The fact is, most business owners understand the value of owning their future.

Think about it this way: starting your own business is in itself a significant achievement. Additionally, your business could become your legacy. 

Here’s something else to look forward to and feel good about: Your business creates job opportunities and empowers others through employment or inspiration. Therefore, your self-employment initiative marks the community and the economy. 

You’re Passionate About What You Do

Remember, being your own boss is a full-time job, but you’ll be doing what you love. There’s a lot of hard work, tears, blood, and sweat that goes into starting a business.

Therefore, it gets easier to wake up every morning and go the extra mile every day by being passionate about what you do. When you are passionate about your business, every day counts and is meaningful, which helps steer your company towards success. 

How Can I Become My Own Boss?

When you’re ready to take action on your dream, follow these steps:

Develop Your Idea

The best way to develop your business idea is to find a problem to solve. The bigger the problem, the more likely customers pay for your products or services. To find these problems, think of what gives you or other people a headache and then find a solution.

One excellent example is painting the exterior of your home. Research shows that most people prefer to hire a painting contractor for home renovation projects. How can you solve this problem if you don’t have any painting skills or tools?

At Hoist, we get you all the support you need to offer painting services to your local communities. 

For example, we offer expert coaching both in-person and remote to help you develop your idea. And in the case of solving a problem, we connect you with the best local subcontractors to deliver high-quality painting work to your customers.

The other option is to monetize your favorite hobby. For instance, if you love to paint and create art, start showing your pieces in a gallery or on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, where people buy and sell.

Also, finding a business that works and starting a company that provides better services or products is an excellent way to develop an idea. 

But remember, any good business idea needs a flourishing market. So test and research your market size, ideal customer, and expected revenue beforehand.

Research the Competition

Never go into business without analyzing your competitors. This helps to solidify your business idea and provide an edge over your competition. Here’s how:

  • Competitor research allows you to see the companies that offer the same product and services that you do. As such, you identify whether you are offering identical items or if the competition already has the edge over you.
  • During the competitor research, you gain vital information about your market since they already have the experience you don’t.
  • You also identify any gaps in the market to fill. 

With the right tools and team, researching and analyzing the position of your competitors becomes an effortless venture. 

Hoist identifies competitor gaps to capitalize on and then offers excellent customer experience and support solutions. We also give you the edge to drive more traffic and lead your new business through expert search engine optimization.

Create a Business Plan

Once you develop your idea and research your market and competitors, start by creating your business plan. 

You can use your business plan to seek funds from outside sources like investors or banks. But if you have enough money to start your business, you should create a business plan for internal use. In the plan, write down your business goals, vision, mission, ideas, model, market, and future goals.

Re-evaluate your plan periodically to ensure all your ideas are relevant and achievable. Be flexible. Or use Hoist’s intuitive business building platform to help you identify your goals, market, and business model. 

We further automate your plans to help run your business efficiently by reducing time, resources and optimizing standard tasks.

Know Your Finances In and Out

Being your own boss means understanding your finances. Write down the basic financial needs for your new venture. Include the cost of technologies, new hires, or items that come later, like utility costs.

Keep in mind that a business that offers intangible services incurs lower overhead. For instance, freelancing as a social media manager, copywriter, graphic designer, or photographer doesn’t require massive startup costs because these are mainly skillset businesses.

But if the new business sells tangible products, the cost of your office space or workspace (if you are remote), inventory, and services like shipping and delivery add to the costs. Therefore, only spend money when necessary and plan to ensure you have more than enough to last a couple of months.

If you are funding your business from your pocket, consider starting the new venture as a side hustle before transitioning entirely to a self-employed startup. 

If you are still unsure about your finances, take advantage of Hoist’s training services to learn how to manage your costs, track and collect payments, and plan for business growth.

Take a Course

Enhance your time management, business management, and entrepreneurship knowledge by taking a course. Seek advice from professionals, read books, watch videos, listen to podcasts, or pay for a class. 

A lesson in managing expenses is fundamental when running your business. Hoist training services allow you to learn from top-tier professionals in your industry—this and more help to make you an expert at running your own business.

Figure Out Your Branding

The way you choose to present your brand affects your business reputation. The first step to figuring out your branding is developing your identity. Are you a fun business entity? Do you prefer a bold and loud representation or a balance of minimal and bold?

Once you know who you are as a business, choose a business name, create a logo, start to set up social media accounts and work on their optimization, and create your website. Choose your imagery, fonts, and colors wisely. Then curate a branding message that fits your niche and tone. 

Or skip the hassle and let Hoist build your brand in no time on Yelp, Google, and other social platforms. Hoist can help to position startup businesses like yours as premium service providers through expert branding.

A Few More Things to Consider Before Launching Your Business

Your idea, business plan, and branding are developed, you know your finances, market, and competition, and you are improving your skills. What’s left is planning the launch. But before you do, ensure you have the right registration and federal tax identification number.

Define the structure of your business. You may opt for a sole proprietorship, but you can choose the Limited liability Company (LLC) option as well. 

Additionally, promote your new business before the launch date. A marketing plan helps get your name and services out to your market. Direct outreach options like Twitter profiles, LinkedIn posts, and Facebook groups are excellent marketing spaces. 

At Hoist, we reduce your burden by taking charge of your business launch. We’ll create your LLC, logo, and even your website. We also curate ads on platforms like Google and scale your marketing efforts to ensure your presence is consistent, productive, and successful.

Conclusion

There’s a lot to do when learning how to be your own boss. But once you decide you want to own your business, you need to find a viable and lucrative idea, develop it, and test it against the competition.

Additionally, develop your business branding and financial strategy. And when everything is settled, launch that business.

Get in touch with Hoist if you’re ready to be your own boss and start your painting business today.


Sources:

15 Reasons Why You Should Quit Your Job and Be Your Own Boss | Lifehack

Understand Your Competitors | InfoEntrepreneurs

How To Make Money as a Freelance Social Media Manager | Hootsuite


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