An accidental new breed of entrepreneur has emerged.
"Unintentional entrepreneurs" span all generations and
walks of life. There are victims of corporate lay-offs, post-grads
who are uninspired by the lagging job force and those who claim
they were just tired of being miserable at their previous jobs.
They’ve all made the jump from employed to self-employed, often
turning hobbies, creative interests or what they considered ‘silly’
ideas into occupations.
In mid-July, an initiative called Unintentional Entrepreneur launched a five-city
U.S. tour (Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, San
Francisco, Washington, D.C.) aimed at helping small-business owners
and entrepreneurs. The target audience was what co-creator Kevin
Reeth refers to as ‘unintentional entrepreneurs,’ a unique segment
of small-business owners who found themselves starting their own
companies by coincidence, by accident and sometimes because they
had no other choice.
"Technology has made it easier for people to start a
business," Reeth says. "If you make jewelry, you can now
get online and chat on message boards with people who also do
crafts. You can join discussion boards, contribute to blogs — you
can network very effectively."
Small business no longer only refers to mom-and-pop shops, as entrepreneur no longer only refers to dot-com geniuses. Both now refer to, for starters, the single mom who put her crocheting hobby online and turned it into a lucrative source of income, or the 20-something-year-old with an eye for fashion who’s always giving solicited advice to friends, families and strangers and thinks, "I should be charging people for this advice" — and then does.
Unintentional Entrepreneur’s five-city tour intended to bring these people together and get them networking with fellow local small-business owners. At each stop the attendees heard testimonials from veteran entrepreneurs as well as tips on how to manage financial transactions, use social-media tools effectively for marketing efforts and build not only a website, but an online brand.
wOw attended the NYC stop, an informal meet-up over beer and pizza, where the mood was jovial and relaxed. But make no mistake — the questions from these budding entrepreneurs were pointed and thought provoking. This was a group that wanted to get down to business; their livelihoods depend on it.
No matter the speaker, the theme was consistent: YOU (yes, you) can become a successful entrepreneur. In fact, it’s easier than ever. Resources exist today that can provide invaluable visibility for a company without having to pay for an ad in the local paper (the process itself sounds downright prehistoric). You need endless passion, dedication and the guts to make it work. But what’s a better motivator than a lack of a paycheck, or total boredom?
The tour has ended (at least for this season), but the culture of unintentional entrepreneurs will continue. So why not take that jewelry-making hobby, that crocheting pastime, that idea for how to streamline business (probably born out of frustration in the workplace) — and turn it into a job? There’s never been a better time — and you’ve never been in better company.
While the term "accidental" entrepreneur leads some to
believe that inadvertently starting your own company is as easy as
"oops," think again. There are five essentials every
person should have before they launch their own business.
According to Kevin Reeth, who in addition to helping launch Unintentional Entrepreneur is also the co-founder of
Outright.com , online (and free) bookkeeping software
for small businesses, there are five essentials a
person needs in order to become a successful
entrepreneur:
1) At least a few paying customers: The first focus needs to be sales. If you don’t have people paying you, nothing else matters. Don’t fear becoming a salesperson — embrace it. You just need to be able to build relationships with people. Even at the big enterprise sales level, so much of sales comes down to whether or not people like each other.
2) Amazing perseverance and a strong support system: Despite the best of intentions and the most well-thought-out plans, things will go wrong. A lot of things. Self-doubt is almost unavoidable — and it’s just fine. The important thing is to have good people around who can keep your spirits high and provide the perspective you need to make the dream happen.
3) Great customer service: You don’t have to be a world-class salesperson to get lots of sales. And you don’t have to hire one to drum up business. You can amass a great, passionate, free sales force simply by delighting your existing customers. Think of all the times you’ve dealt with a business or service provider where it felt like they just didn’t care about you. Then do the opposite with your customers.
4) A website and corresponding e-mail address: One of the good things about starting a business in a downturn economy is that it has never been cheaper or easier, from the logistics and marketing perspective, to start a company. Take advantage of free online tools to get a Web presence. Get a blog on Wordpress , Typepad or Blogger . If you want something a little more expensive, go to GoDaddy.com , get a domain, get cheap hosting and get a very basic website up. The most important thing is to put your contact details and location up on your site and to very clearly and plainly describe what your business does. Have a look at a few competitor sites to get a sense of commonly used language. Then try searching for the terms used to describe your service and location on Google. It will give you a better sense of what your customers might search for when trying to find you.
5) A simple financial record-keeping system: We know you probably didn’t go into business for yourself for the back-office stuff like the bookkeeping — unless you are a self-employed bookkeeper or accountant! That is not what you want to spend your time doing. Use the technology available to automate your financial transactions so you can spend your time on sales, servicing customers and getting more business. You can use Outright.com to determine where the money is going, whether something is deductible or not and to remind you to pay taxes on time.
More from wowOwow.com:
- What to Do When You Get Fired, by Paula Forman
- Does money buy happiness? How much does it cost?
- Fired to Hired Author Tory Johnson on the Bright Side of Pink Slips
