Working for yourself has many perks, depending on the type of work you do or business that you run, which can make all the difference to a many number of things in your life, not least your physical and mental health.
Either turning self-employed and or starting a business requires a lot of thought and there are a great deal of factors to take into account before doing so. Perhaps the ultimate one though, is ‘why do I want to do this’?
There is no right or wrong answer and they all differ. Some people, often technology entrepreneurs for example, are on a deep mission to impact lives for the better with their revolutionary product or service.
Others perhaps think they can do what they are doing now but better than their current employer.
Some, simply want the freedom to work how they want, with who they want and when they want. Arguably the most important thing though, is to have a plan in place and make sure that your decision is thought through.
When you have done this, there are things that you can action which help you from becoming too overwhelmed or mentally burned out.
Maximise leverage everywhere that you can
Running your own business, means realising that you can’t possibly do everything, or if you do, then there is a small timescale on this where one component, if not all of them will start to become ineffective.
The best thing to do is focus on the areas that you are good at and either outsource or hire for everything else. That way, your business will be running at near to its productive and efficient best.
Outsourcing is actually becoming more and more popular. Often it works out better value than hiring employees, you don’t have to pay national insurance and know that you have an expert taking care of your needs.
Whether this is for marketing, accounting, IT or legal there are plenty of ways that you can avoid being spread too thin so that you can concentrate on what you are good at and what you enjoy.
Automated assets can be your best friend
There are also now technological tools which can help your business not only run, but grow. Tools which essentially do the jobs of people, or save costs elsewhere. Virtual assistants can organise your diary, while Skype video conferencing negates the need to make potentially costly phone calls or travel long distances.
Tools like these have changed the landscape of work and made it far easier and effective to work for yourself than ever before.
More importantly, used properly they can form the cornerstone of your business to make it slick and efficient, perhaps in more of an effective way than any employee ever could.
With platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and even WhatsApp you have the potential to reach millions of people for free to tell them about your business.
Building a website isn’t as hard as it used to be thanks to specialist platforms that are already coded; all you need to do is create a simple design or source someone who can do this for you.
You no longer need to spend a long time looking for people if you need to hire someone for a task, thanks to ‘gig platforms’, which let you post ‘gigs’ on them for freelancers or contractors to bid on them.
Advertising is much more streamlined; arguably the most important part of your business. Especially alternative, innovative advertising like competition creation which can significantly help to spread your word.
For example, Snizl allows you to easily create competitions about your business, and then posts it to its platform of actively interested customers. Every time a person shares your competition on social media they also receive two more competition entries.
The best bit? We are offering a month’s free non-obligatory trial which has proved invaluable to businesses who are looking to grow and automate. If you are looking for that work-life balance, this could be one tool that helps to significantly achieve this. Just think, no more time-consuming marketing!