5 Ways To Become An Entrepreneur And Start Your Own Business
Become your own boss.
Entrepreneurs have success knowing that they may fail. Nothing good ever came to be an overnight success on the first night. Balancing time and effort will turn up results that the entrepreneur can gauge as potential or revision. Until then, there may be several nights ahead of them before they hit the groove of that learning curve of having and maintaining a start-up company. Like any business, there are a few parameters entrepreneurs follow.
1. Think big, act small.
All businesses start out small and can achieve franchise status. Each step you take leads to a bigger step and eventually you will be leaping. The idea for your business should be a solution to a problem, a business that supplies a need. Find out if there is a better way to fulfill the customer. Offer products and supplements that no other company offers or offer them with your business's own unique take on them. This will ensure that your business does not become another generic consumer experience. Attend markets and festivals as a vendor for your business to gain exposure with a variety of people. Not a lot of entrepreneurs will have the revenue to own a lease or lot for their business, so a direct approach is always more personal and efficient. Eventually, the wheel will be spinning faster and faster until you have yourself a reputable and favorite establishment.
2. Find your niche.
As an entrepreneur, you must understand the demand to understand the supply. If there are a dozen Starbucks coffee shops within five miles of each other, opening up a coffee shop in that area would be more difficult, but not impossible. What kind of coffee shop could be so different and lucrative enough to make those early risers think twice about their allegiance to Starbucks? Are their menu items that are favorites that can be kept or are there items that could be replaced with new flavorful options? What kind of atmosphere would your coffee shop have that Starbucks could never have? The niche can be similar to another business but it must be situational enough to stay uniquely yours.
3. Study similar businesses.
Conduct a field study of similar businesses. Narrow down the most important operations of these businesses and compare them to your own. The interactions you have with employees, customers, and even other businesses will determine the work you do for them and yourself. Know how to handle a customer dispute if the occasion should arise. Go through every scenario that these businesses face on a daily, monthly, and annual basis. No detail is too small to be unimportant. Anything that could go unnoticed, will go unnoticed, so look for how other businesses could improve and add the necessary improvements to your own business.
4. Be your own boss but be the customer.
Think about the core values of your business as it relates to your customers. What kind of image are you presenting to your audience? Is it a sarcastic, self-effacing, and humorous workplace or is it a serious but friendly one? Does your business have a recognizable logo, mascot, or face? Make sure it is eye-catching but not too abstract. Work on your business's name also and decide on a name that states exactly your services or the products you sell. Entrepreneurs are their own individuals with self-employed empowerment, but a good entrepreneur will keep the customer close in mind as well. You have to know what your customer is thinking before they tell you what he or she is thinking. Concrete transparency and clear outlines for your business will cast away all doubts the customer may have.
5. Have online presence.
When it comes to business, your presence is the best present you can give to your customers. They want their questions answered and they want to reach you when you are not available. Having a website will gain you more exposure than a single afternoon of networking will. Of course, networking in person is still a considerate and professional habit you should never outgrow. When building your website, introduce yourself, your business story and mission, that way new visitors will learn more about you here than they would over the course of a transaction. In addition to your website, having a social media presence will help you network even more and discover people who appreciate your work and do what you do. People who are curious enough will stay and come back for more when you increase your outreach offline and online.
Entrepreneurship is a risky business, but so is life. Take the risk and find your success.
Vlogging May Be The Future Of Creative Content And I'm Here For It
Vlogging is more than just a YouTube trend.
First and foremost
"Vlogs," for those who don't know, are video blogs where people record their lives and everything they do online. Most of the vloggers we associate with YouTube vlog for a living.
Vlogs are successfully dominating most social platforms at the moment, and that really isn't a bad thing. As a consistent watcher and lover of vlogs, I'm personally motivated to make them as well.
Famous vloggers and their livelihood
People who've gotten famous from their simple vlogs, usually under 10 minutes, are making millions right now. It's crazy to see where they came from and where they are now. Some names you might recognize include The Ace Family, David Dobrik, and Emma Chamberlain. These people grew to earn their places in YouTube's "vlogger hall of fame," as I like to call it.
The most interesting and my personal favorite is Emma Chamberlain. Her story is a little different and kind of crazy. As a normal high school student, her vlogs relayed creative content you don't see normally and her unique/random personality shined through her videos. They were relatable, authentic, and genuinely funny. It was easy for me to become a subscriber, regular watcher, and ultimate fan. However, her journey quickly changed after her newfound fame. Her views and subscribers increased from the thousands to the hundreds of thousands, and then to the millions.
But as her followers and views changed, so did she. She became immersed in the world of YouTube, money (can't really avoid it), and the whole lifestyle. She graduated high school early to pursue making videos, and her daily vlogs became interrupted with sponsorships and exclusive events. Her Instagram changed from her artsy photography to your average bikini and fashion posts.
It was a weird change to see, and I miss the old Emma. But she's onto better things now and I have to respect that.
Ultimately, the job that one upholds by putting their life out there for everyone to see is scary. It made me aware of the change that she might not have even noticed.
What's so special about it?
Vlogging isn't for everyone. But for some, it's like watching a TV series. You're constantly waiting for the next vlog that entails the daily activities of your idol's life, usually filled with small life tips, tours of their beautiful houses, some mediocre comedy, and the basic singing in the car clips.
Vlogs all have aspects that everyone can like. But what's truly special about vlogs is that it feels like you're right there with them, experiencing what they are experiencing.
The camera is usually shot from a POV angle or in some way where people are looking straight at the camera and talking to you. It's weird, but it makes us feel included. From David Dobrik's extremely wild parties with his crazy friends or The Ace Family's trip to a park with their daughter, or James Charles doing makeup at home, it's all immersive for the viewer.
Vloggers are very different from other celebrities. Most celebrities want to shield and hide their personal lives from the eyes of their fans. Think about Drake and his "secret son," or Cardi B placing an emoji over her daughter's face in every video she posts. Or when Kylie Jenner posted her first picture of her daughter Stormi and took it down shortly after because of all the creepy comments and hate. These celebrities have no interest in vlogging.
But then there's a whole other group of YouTube celebrities who are famous for putting the personal, emotional, physical, and professional parts of their life online. Not only do they do that for a living, but in most cases, they have to defend themselves from people who constantly hate and judge them in the comment sections. Just as there is drama in the music and acting world, there's EXTREME drama in the Youtube community. It's cringe-y to watch people cry and get distressed over hate online.
So yes, vlogging and vloggers are special and different but they also come with a lot of problems that some aren't prepared for.
Would I vlog?
The answer to this is yes. I'm interested in vlogging. On multiple occasions, I've envied those who can talk about things going on in their lives for anyone to see. Not in a cocky or empathetic way, but just as a way to express themselves fully and to relate with people digitally.
That may sound kind of weird, but I think it would be a great outlet for me. As someone who's always struggled with expressing herself directly, I've turned to writing. Once it was all private and just for me to release, and now it's public on this platform for the tiny amount of people who take the time to read these articles.
I'm not expecting to suddenly gain millions of people from starting a YouTube channel which will, in turn, earn me a form of income. That's not my goal. I just want to be able to have a public platform in which I can produce videos I love creating, that other people can relate to and love watching as well.
Instagram isn't really my thing. I'm too much of a perfectionist to edit every flaw in my pictures and overthink my captions. Doing that takes away from the whole authenticity I want to relay in the first place. But with videos, my personality can shine more easily like Emma Chamberlain in her early vlogging days.
I even tried creating my first vlogging/cooking video on YouTube the other day. It was for a film class, but it was something I always wanted to do.
When I presented it in class, my professor told me that he was much more interested in me and my personality throughout the video than the cooking. He said, "There's something unique and random to you alone." And that struck me. because what he said was something my mom has told me numerous times before.
I want to take that next step. As I've said before, 2019 is the time for me to put myself out there. And that was the encouragement I needed.
Let's see where this goes!