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Getting Started With Your Lifestyle Business
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The first time I heard the term ‘lifestyle business’ was when I started designing this blog. I wanted to be able to define what I do, and the category I fall under as an entrepreneur. I like to see myself as a serial or multi-passionate entrepreneur, and now I’m adding ‘a lifestyle business owner/entrepreneur’ to the list.
I basically turned my passion into a business (personal interest) – that’s how I coined the term ‘lifestyle business’ even before I spent about an hour searching for the definition online. It is not a new term, there are several definitions in different resources – but most have negative and biased attitudes towards it. I don’t think it matters anyway – because I’m still a lifestyle business owner/entrepreneur, and I am unstoppable.
Lifestyle Business: My Definition
From my point of view, lifestyle business is the best form of business for people who want to be free and happy – maybe the pictured quote below is a little cliché, but it’s true
The happiness part:
Prior to starting my first business – I grew up taking care of children including my younger siblings, cousins; I’d help out at the local church camps every holiday, and also volunteer at our local community art center – organizing activities for children. I love children, and planning to launch a business for their pleasure made me so happy. I don’t think my family was surprised when I first shared the camp business idea with them.
My other businesses involve a combination of writing, designing, mentoring, consulting, teaching and learning new things – and if you know me very well, you’d know that these are my obsessions, my pastimes.
The freedom part:
In the past few years, I have been juggling multiple interests, I’ve had a lot of good ideas, and, of course, I can’t do everything at the same time; but I have tried every good idea thrown at me. I can do all that because what I do allows me to work on other projects, and also have the lifestyle I desire without having to sacrifice my personal life. In other words, I get to try new things because I can, I have a flexible working and work-life balance, and I can choose to stay in the UK or Nigeria, and still get to run my business from anywhere.
So! now you know why I have the picture quote. Here is my definition:
Lifestyle business is a business that reflects your way of life – your personal interest, values, and enables you to use your talent, skills and hobbies; gives you the freedom to work in a way that sustains the lifestyle you want, and gives you a sense of self-fulfillment.
Running a lifestyle business means you have the freedom to make your own decisions, and you are not driven by profit to keep your investors happy, like most corporate businesses – you are more focused on the value, you work on your own terms, and you set your own hours. You earn money doing what you really love – and it can be just about anything: from selling your DIY projects online, to opening your own fashion boutique, or a design studio.
If you don’t know the true meaning of success, (click here to read mine).
A lifestyle business is not very different from a corporate or, in general, terms a ‘Startup’ business. The difference is probably the structure/design. Most startups are harder to build and sustain, and profits don’t come easily – but when it comes, the owners begin to enjoy the freedom and flexibility lifestyle business owners already enjoy.
(Pictured: A day in the life of a lifestyle business entrepreneur – that’s me in Orange).
The Growth Potential For A Lifestyle Business
So! I know what you are thinking – NO! a lifestyle business doesn’t have to be small at all. Doesn’t mean you won’t or shouldn’t make money or employ smart people. You must know that the main reason people go into lifestyle businesses is for the freedom to live a great life while running their company – unlike a startup whose aim is to grow big enough to provide a return to investors.
In other words, a lifestyle business could be any size, can be very profitable from the very beginning, and has a high growth potential – and it’s all up to you to decide how big you want your business to grow.
For instance: with my camp business, I currently book hotels and hostels, and hire equipment for my camp business, which is quite expensive – but my short-term goal is to build our own camp site, which will have all the equipment and resources we need; and my long-term goal is to have more than one camp sites.
Excitingly, my small lifestyle business has a high growth potential. Again! it can be just about anything if you can cultivate your creative brain. Another example on how you can grow a lifestyle business, using the DIY and fashion boutique examples above – is opening a physical DIY studio to teach people how to make their own things.
What Lifestyle Business Is Not
So you know what lifestyle business is, and you are probably excited and ready to get started – but let’s set realistic expectations before we go any deeper.
1. It is not about having the freedom to do as little as you want.
Don’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet, because it’s not about having the freedom to do as little as you want, right from the offset. I don’t believe anybody should start a business sitting at the beach sipping a cocktail, even if it’s a knitting business – come on you are not Richard Branson yet. I also don’t think anyone serious about starting a business should spend the first few days, weeks or months doing nothing (chilling’). Let me tell you the truth, starting a business takes a lot of hard work, success doesn’t come overnight. So won’t you rather do all the work now and rest later when you’ve reached your goal?
- In my opinion, it’s about starting a business with little capital – I have actually never gone out looking for funding or investment to start my business, but I work extremely hard to get results. My lifestyle business(es) enables me to start up whenever I want without any serious capital.
2. It is not just a ‘Mom and Pop’ Shop
According to Business Dictionary online, “a mom and pop shop is a small, independent, usually family-owned, controlled, and operated business that has a minimum amount of employees, has only a small amount of business volume, and is typically not franchised, therefore open for business only in a single location.”
Contrary to popular belief, a lifestyle business isn’t just a mom and pop shop. It can be anything, any size, and very similar to any startup. A lot of people have started really successful lifestyle businesses online, Click here to read stories about three highly successful lifestyle entrepreneurs – these guys run extremely successful blogs (Pat Flynn, Tim Ferriss, and Chris Guillebeau). 
Here is a really successful lifestyle business, called Mindvalley, the company has never taken a VC or loan, and it’s really interesting how they’ve evolved.
Of course, we also have really successful lifestyle business entrepreneurs in Nigeria, like Bella Naija, and MUD Nigeria. If you’re still not convinced you could run a big lifestyle business, you might be interested to read Epic Things Start with Small Humble Steps. It’s a good read, and I think it will help you understand the concept of starting and running a lifestyle business.
Quick Guide To Starting Your Own Lifestyle Business
So now you know what lifestyle business is and isn’t, and you also know that you can grow it to any size of business you want. Now, let’s go deeper:
If you already have an idea of what you want to do, then skip to the ‘How to start your lifestyle business’ section below. If you don’t have any idea yet – you should start by evaluating your skills, talents, personal interest, values, and your passion. Write down at least three things (5 is good too) that make you unique, then write down 3 -5 ideas that come into your mind. After that, find a problem, that people are willing to pay for – no idea is a bad idea. Have you heard about these two lifestyle entrepreneurs who get paid to wear company t-shirts (iwearyourshirt.com)? Again! there is NO BAD IDEA, even if it’s about making better mousetraps – you shouldn’t be worried about or be ashamed of your idea.
HOW TO START YOUR LIFESTYLE BUSINESS
Now that you have a good business idea in mind, there are several steps to get started:
- Have an Effective Action Plan: I don’t mean a business plan – it’s different, it’s a simple list of all of the tasks that you need to finish to meet your goal. Of course just like any other business, you need to have an action plan before you get started. Why? Because it can help turn your idea into a reality, gives you a clear direction, and also helps you understand your idea better. Click this to read 5 Reasons Why Your Business Idea Needs An Action Plan.
- Start your Business Plan: A business plan is not something you write overnight just to get it over with. It’s the most important document for any business, and should not be rushed. It is a living document that evolves over time, and should adapt to a changing marketplace. That’s why I suggest you start it, but not close it – keep it flexible and unfinished, you will see that you may have to change your business idea a number of times even before you get to launch it. However, if you are looking at reaching out to investors, then you can go ahead and close it – but we are talking about a lifestyle business – and so we don’t need any VC or Loan right? RIGHT!
- Get a Blog first and then a Website: I’m not trying to repeat what a lot of bloggers have already written – I am only going to explain why I think you should get a blog first before a website. I have done the opposite so many times before, and I think it takes a long time to get results, unlike a blog. Blogs drive long-term results, and it’s an inexpensive way of selling/advertising your new business. A lot of people read blogs to stay up-to-date and to learn how to do certain things. Having a blog can connect people to your brand, can help you develop a relationship with potential and existing customers, and also drive traffic and awareness to your business and website. You can use your blog to share some practical guides and advice, and some ‘how to’ tips. People with real needs would visit your website to view your product or service, from your blog.
- Make a Realistic Social Media Strategy when you Join the Party: You already know the benefits of using social media for business – again, I’m here to tell you the truth. In reality, not all your Facebook friends, Instagram and Twitter followers will subscribe to your services or buy your products from day one. A lot won’t even respond to your Facebook page invite – it happens! but why focus on growing your social media likes/followers overnight, when you’ve got a business to run. I suggest you focus on the number of people who have engaged with you, accepted your invite, and are interested in knowing more about your business; because if you impress them – they can become outspoken evangelists for your business, and others will come around eventually. I’m not saying stop promoting your business online – of course you have to keep doing that every day, but don’t beat yourself over followers or likes, because social media success does not happen overnight.
- Learn a Few Things from the DIYers, Photographers, Makeup Artists and Fashion Designers: People love to see your work and how it works before they buy into, and these group of people have got it going for them, thanks to YouTube and other social networking sites. They use this medium to showcase their work, it drives interest and repeat customers, and we can learn a few things from them. This can work for any business, products, services – think outside the box – just about anything can be done to drive interest and awareness for any business.
- Spread the word: I believe you should start with your family and friends, they are an inexpensive way to sell/promote your business. If they don’t understand your business idea, I believe you should help them understand, so they can also share it to their friends and colleagues. If you are into products or DIYs, make something for them as a gift – something they will use every time – and if you are into services – design a solution to meet their needs or lifestyle. Your family and friends are your life size/walking billboard waiting to be utilized, Simple. Some tips: don’t make it obvious that you are using them to promote your business, especially if you are the type to always receive and not give – I’m sure your family will be happy to receive something from you too.
- Be Bold to Approach your Potential Clients: This is something I struggled with when I started, and I still do. This is how I see it – if you don’t try you will never know if the answer would have been a yes. Honestly, getting a No is not such a bad thing, It’s just a no, not the end of the world. To me ‘No’ means you’ve got something new to learn, ‘No’ means you’ve got a challenge, and it’s an opportunity to prove yourself, ‘No’ means you are still a human and humans make mistakes, they get things wrong every time; and the best part is, you can ask them for feedback. I have never heard of anyone dying from a constructive criticism – young people and new entrepreneurs need that every time to grow – so ‘No’ can also mean your idea is really good, and it does have a future only if you change something.
An finally! (I’m totally digressing) A ‘No’ can save you a lot of stress, time, money and embarrassment in the future; so go ahead, make that call, send the email, Get a Yes or NO… it doesn’t matter, it’s only a word… Stay Positive Always, no matter what… and you will make it happen for you. Goodluck!
How to Conduct a Personal Swot Analysis
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SWOT analysis is a useful technique for understanding your Strengths and Weaknesses, and for identifying both the Opportunities open to you and the Threats you face. – Mindtools
SWOT analysis was first devised as a business tool in the 1960s, commonly used for business planning, new market/business development, and new product or service launch – generally, organizations use it to assess themselves and their competitors and to formulate their strategies. Today! more people (entrepreneurs, job seekers etc.) are conducting personal SWOT analysis to determine where their particular skills are most likely to fit in, in the professional world.
What SWOT stands for | Credit: Shutterstock
The purpose of a personal SWOT analysis
There are several reasons why we need personal SWOT analysis. For example, in a business context, the SWOT analysis enables businesses to identify both internal (Strengths & Weaknesses), and external (Opportunities & Threats) influences. It’s primary objective is to help business develop a full awareness of all the factors, positive and negative, that may affect the business.
On the other hand, a personal SWOT analysis is essential in personal development, it helps you understand what you are best at, and the areas you need to improve upon to become the best version of yourself. It’s a crucial step for making yourself more appealing to your customers or employer. So whether you are transitioning from entrepreneur to employee, starting your own business, or planning to climb the career ladder; a personal SWOT analysis can help:
- Boost your self-image.
- Set a course for your career
- Take advantage of opportunities available to you
- Identify your short-term and long-term goals, and help you set actionable plans to achieve them.
How to conduct a personal SWOT analysis
Here are the steps to perform a personal SWOT analysis. (You will most definitely find these very useful if you carry out these tasks honestly and realistically):
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Strengths:
This part looks at what you do well and where your skills and talent stands out. Questions to ask include:
- What do you do better than anyone else?
- What sets you apart from others, such as education, certifications, experience, lifestyle?
- What do other people around you see as your strengths?
- What are the positive things people say about you when they meet you the first time?
- What special traits and attributes do you possess?
- What values and ethics set you apart from your peers?
- What advantages can you offer an organization?
When looking at your strengths, think about them from both an internal perspective, and from the point of view of your friends, families, customers and competitors (if you currently run your own business).
For instance: here’s a short list of my strengths:
- Creative and innovative
- Creative writing skills – can prepare any business writing of all kinds
- Capable of studying and transferring knowledge
- Strong project management skills
- Great public speaking and presentation skills
- Capable of studying and understanding business concepts, and any book on any subject
and last but not the least, I am
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Determined, focused, ambitious, resilient confident and a risk-taker – hence why I’m an entrepreneur
2. Weaknesses:
A personal weakness is an area of opportunity for growth, these are things you could improve upon. For example, some people are disorganized, and uncomfortable speaking in public. These are weaknesses that can really hinder one from growing or succeeding in the professional world, whether you are an employee or an entrepreneur. Questions to consider are:
- What would other people see as your weaknesses?
- What are the negative things people say about you when they meet you the first time?
- Do you have a weak network of connections that will hurt your chances of succeeding or finding work?
- What negative feedback about your personality or work habits have you received?
- Do you have any negative online identity that may stop people from identifying with you, buying into your business or employing you?
- Does any part of your education or training need improving?
- What could you improve about yourself?
Again, consider this from an internal and external basis, and be honest to yourself. As a guideline to conducting yours, here’s a short list of REALLY embarrassing weaknesses I discovered and worked on when I conducted my personal SWOT analysis:
- Perfectionist – I’d often miss deadlines as a resultBad at staying in touch
- Hate failing at anything – took it really bad and personal
- Workaholic – didn’t know when to stop, would work all night all day
- Unnecessarily shy – not capable of speaking in a small group or large group.
Interestingly, this last point is my strongest point now. As a result of the personal SWOT assessment I conducted few years ago, I found out that the only problem I had which hindered me from moving forward and getting my dream jobs, was the fear of public speaking. I worked on it, attended presentation skills training – now! I speak at any occasion irrespective of the size of the crowd.
This is why answering these questions honestly and realistically can help you become the best version of yourself. Answering it falsely can really harm your image and chances. It’s best to be realistic now, and deal with the unpleasant habits as soon as possible.
3. Opportunities
For this part, you should look at your strengths and ask yourself whether these opens up opportunities you can take advantage of. You can also look at your weaknesses and ask yourself if you could open up opportunities by minimizing or eliminating your weaknesses. I use ‘minimize’ because I want to be realistic, the truth is it may take a while to totally eliminate your bad habits (weaknesses). It is a process that requires focus, hard work, determination, and a conscious mind – there are no magic tricks or words for it. For instance, I went on training to improve my public speaking skills – that’s a process.
Questions to ask include:
- What good opportunities can you spot?
- Is there a new demand for a skill or trait you possess?
- What is the state of the economy, is your industry growing?
- What interesting trends are you aware of?
- Is there new technology in your industry?
- What changes are taking place in the industry?
- Are there certain job openings that can’t be filled by other job seekers?
- Have customers and clients given you feedback about new services you could provide?
4. Threats
This part takes into account the external factors that could hurt your chances of improving yourself, moving forward to starting your own business or getting a new work. Questions to ask include:
- What obstacles do you currently face at work or in business?
- Is there strong competition for the types of jobs for which you are best suited?
- Is there strong competition for the products/services you are currently providing or planning to launch?
- What are your competitors doing?
- How easy is it to enter the industry you’d like to start a business in?
- Is changing technology threatening your position?
- Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?
- Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your business or your ability to rise in your company or get work?
- Is your industry changing directions, which you are not ready for?
- Are there new professional standards and industry practices you cannot meet?
- Is there any new technology that will hurt your chances of finding work or remaining competitive in your industry?
- do you have any family obligations that will reduce your chances of finding work or starting your own business?
A Personal SWOT Example
To help you understand what a personal SWOT analysis look like, here’s an example of a personal SWOT published on a training and job site Mindtool. This is a SWOT analysis for Carol, an advertising manager.
Strengths
- I’m very creative. I often impress clients with a new perspective on their brands.
- I communicate well with my clients and team.
- I have the ability to ask key questions to find just the right marketing angle.
- I’m completely committed to the success of a client’s brand.
Weaknesses
- I have a strong, compulsive need to do things quickly and remove them from my “to do” list, and sometimes the quality of my work suffers as a result.
- This same need to get things done also causes me stress when I have too many tasks.
- I get nervous when presenting ideas to clients, and this fear of public speaking often takes the passion out of my presentations.
Opportunities
- One of our major competitors has developed a reputation for treating their smaller clients poorly.
- I’m attending a major marketing conference next month. This will allow for strategic networking, and also offer some great training seminars.
- Our art director will go on maternity leave soon. Covering her duties while she’s away would be a great career development opportunity for me.
Threats
- Simon, one of my colleagues, is a much stronger speaker than I am, and he’s competing with me for the art director position.
- Due to recent staff shortages, I’m often overworked, and this negatively impacts my creativity.
- The current economic climate has resulted in slow growth for the marketing industry. Many firms have laid off staff members, and our company is considering further cutbacks.
The Outcome
As a result of performing this analysis, Carol takes the bold step of approaching her colleague Simon about the art director’s maternity leave. Carol proposes that both she and Simon cover the job’s duties, working together and each using his or her strengths. To her surprise, Simon likes the idea. He knows he presents very well, but he admits that he’s usually impressed by Carol’s creative ideas, which he feels are far better than most of his.
By working as a team, they have a chance to make their smaller clients feel even better about the service they’re getting. This takes advantage of their competitor’s weakness in this area.
Related Post: Tips to Transition from Entrepreneur to Employee.
Infographic to help you perform your personal SWOT analysis
Personal SWOT analysis – making the most of your talents and opportunities (External Link)
Tips To Transition From Entrepreneur to Employee
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When I first started blogging about my journey and experience as a young entrepreneur, I never knew I’d someday be sharing tips on how to transition from entrepreneur to employee. What has changed? – Well, a few months ago, I was facing some business challenges, juggling too many responsibilities alone, and I couldn’t launch the business I was planning at that time, and I decided to take a break, re-plan and re-strategise.
Weeks passed, I still wasn’t mentally ready to start again, just then I decided to get a short-term contract or temporary job, at least to keep busy, stay relevant in the industry, learn new things, meet new people and potential clients. Again, I was faced with new challenges including changing my personal brand, image and mindset from that of an entrepreneur to employee. Truth be told – some HR managers are intimidated by former entrepreneurs, because a “has-been” could end up being the boss one day. That’s why I had to be very careful not to come across intimidating, unemployable or “over-qualified” (don’t you just hate that?).
One option was to hide information on what I’ve been upto in the last few years – you can say ‘lie’ – NO! because now it only takes a google search for one to know a whole lot about you – so lying wasn’t an option for me. Instead I was modest and simple, and then I approached the companies I was interested in. Yes! I got offers – but I did not accept any. Why? because I got my mojo back – I guess I needed the drawbacks to get my head back in the game.
So if for any reason you’d like to transition, I know there are several reasons why some people transition – but the decision is totally up to you, and I am not against anyone who’s trying to transition from self-employer to employee; hence, why I’m sharing these tips, and I hope you’ll find this useful. Here are some tips on how you can transition successfully.
- Explore Your Reasons & Understand Your Personal Goals
My reasons for making that decision – like I already said: I didn’t want to sit at home doing nothing; and even though I did not go through with it, I learnt a lot in the process; I left my comfort zone, tried new things and it improved my confidence three-folds. Therefore, exploring the reasons why you want to stop working for yourself and start working for another entrepreneur (harsh, I know!), is very important, and you also need to understand what you want to achieve in life. Sometimes circumstances can blind us from seeing the future, the prospects, the opportunities ahead; and all we want to do is give up, believing we can get rid of the problems that way. However, this step can help you see things clearly, get a pen and paper, write down the main reasons and your personal goals, and if at the end you are convinced you have to transition, then you can go ahead.
- Conduct A SWOT Analysis Of Yourself
Just like when you started your business, you also have to conduct a SWOT analysis of yourself, to know your strengths, your weaknesses, and how you can improve yourself to be suitable for your dream job. This analysis will help you understand the kind of job that best suit your personality, and how your skills and experience can benefit your employer. Remember you won’t be going in as a CEO or a business owner who is responsible for everything and everyone, you are going in as an employee who will be responsible for his/her given task, and probably in charge of one person or no one at all. So understanding yourself, your strengths and weaknesses will give you a better picture of the kind of jobs you should be applying for, whether it’s a team-oriented job or a one ‘man-band’ job.
- Research Your Preferred Industry & Job Role
Being a techie girl who also has a business management degree, worked as a business consultant and a technology consultant; I was more interested in companies in this sector/industry. So in your case, you have to research companies offering services and products you are interested in, consider your experience in that industry, and be sure you have the necessary skills. The truth is, someday you may want to go back to run your own business, and the worst thing that can happen is going back after wasting time and years in the wrong industry, and then you are out there struggling in business, all over again; who says you won’t transition back to being an employee? So do the right thing now, do your research and then apply for roles in companies you’ll learn a lot from, a place where you will meet potential clients, partners, suppliers – who will follow you to your own business, FACT!
- Design Your Curriculum Vitae (CV or Resume)
I have a lot more to say about this, but I will try and keep it short….
I have heard some self-employed individuals brag about not having or needing a CV. Trust me, you can’t really get away from this one, everyone needs a CV, even the very successful entrepreneurs in the world have CVs – just Google it. Whether you are an entrepreneur or a student, a strong resume is important in telling and selling your story and personal brand; they are designed to open doors for any one – be it a job, a contract or an investment. My CV for instance, is my self plan just like my business has a business plan. It’s a reminder of where I started, my progress, the gap I need to fill and where I should be headed. So if you still think you are too cool for school – in this case “for CV,” then think again! Oh and by the way, a CV is that personal profile and portfolio potential clients or companies request for when you make a bid; so if you are an entrepreneur without a CV, you should get one (click here to read why an entrepreneur needs a CV, and how to create one); and if you are transitioning and do not have a CV, you have to get one also.
Here’s how I optimised my CV for a job application (check the image on the right), I omitted the title ‘Founder,’ or ‘CEO,’ and used my main Job role for the title – (Had to hide some of my client’s info), but you can see from my CV that I have been self-employed since 2013, so I used the title: Independent Consultant on my CV, and I briefly described the projects and clients I worked for; I also highlighted the jobs that where relevant to the company and the role I was applying for.
Think about the area of expertise you want to focus on and give yourself the appropriate title, highlight the projects you executed, your part in the project, so for instance if your staff was in charge of the project, you can say that you managed and monitored the project team and process, and you liaised with the client etc.
- Send A Speculative Email or Application To The Company Of Your Choice
A speculative email or application is one you send to a company that’s not currently employing or employing internally. Sometimes companies start the recruitment processes internally – open to employees only, or through referrals and recommendations, before advertising to the general public. There’s absolutely no harm in trying, you might just gain access to the hidden/unadvertised jobs. This is exactly what I did, none of the companies I applied to, advertised any job openings, in fact the company I got the first offer from where planning to start advertising the following month, so I kind of saved them money and time – (well in the beginning), and I also kind of wasted their time by not accepting the offer. So I sincerely apologise to them for that.
Now for you, start by sending an email with your CV and a cover letter to the companies you are interested in, introduce yourself, express your interest – I simply said I’d like to work for them as ******* (whatever the job role), and then I explained why and how I will fit in and how I can contribute to the success of company. Now I hope you see why you need to do the SWOT analysis!
- Call Or Visit The Company
So what if they don’t respond to your speculative email/application? – Make a call, and if you are not comfortable with cold calling then visit their office. You can find the company’s address on their website’s contact us page. What happens if they won’t let you walk in without an appointment? – Here’s what I did, I went on LinkedIn, and I searched for the company’s HR or the CEO, took their names and details, learnt few things about them, and when I got to the offices, with a lot of confidence – I told the security at the gate and later the receptionist that I was there to meet with ‘Mr. this’ or ‘Mrs. that’. They thought I was probably family or a close friend. So even if you do not have an appointment, it’s all in the way you approach the first point of contact. Remember! first impression matters – and to be honest, this is Nigeria, you can get to meet anyone without an appointment. If you’ve done all the right things, and you still can’t get past the gate, then you need God and Luck to try again. Good Luck!
- Prepare! Prepare!! Prepare!!!
So I have told you the steps you need to take to transition successfully. Now I hope you are ready to make a move – visit or call the companies. But first you must be prepared, because they may just decide to interview you right away, and you want to be very prepared to impress them. The worst thing is walking in confidently and then you flop (oh! what a nightmare). So here’s how you prepare: 1. Research the company, 2. Refresh your interviewing skills.
- Research the company: Who are they? What services or products do they provide? What is the company’s culture, mission, vision and business values? Who are the customers or clients? Who are the competitors, partners, suppliers etc., – look for information that a typical applicant may not have. I will shed more light on this in my next post.
- Refresh your interviewing skills: Work on answering interview questions such as: tell us about yourself? why do you want to work for us? tell us how you help a client solve a complex problem? how do you perform a particular task (this depends on the industry and the job role you are applying for).
… and that’s it. I wish you all the best, I hope transitioning to employee is the right path for you. As an entrepreneur who’s been there, it’s sad to see you go, but I hope some day you will come back to the club. In the mean time, please follow my blog, and I will try as much as possible to post more information for everyone (entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs). GOOD LUCK!
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