Am I cut out for starting my own business?

Thinking about a side hustle? Here’s how to succeed by being you.

1. What do you do best or what do you know most about?

Make a list. Is social media engagement your thing? How about bouncy house design?
Accounting and Business Finance? Or, maybe you are like me and LOVE building
service companies. Write down the things you do best. Don’t limit yourself to one thing.
List the top 3 to 5 awesome things you rock at doing. Struggling with the list? Ask a
trusted friend or family member who will shoot you straight.
Rookie Mistake: Skipping things you love doing just because you are not the “best.” If
you love it and are reasonably good at, put it on the list.

2. What have you been paid for?

Make another list. Yep, you can even list these things next to the list of what you do
best. So, what are you getting paid to do now? What have you been paid to do in the
past few years? Often, what you are getting paid to do now is consulting. If you are
getting paid now by your employer to design bouncy houses, that is consulting! It’s just
no one calls it that if you are “employed.” Put it on the list. If you manage the social
media for the company you work for and you are the go-to subject matter expert in the
office, you are consulting and getting paid for it. Add it to the list. Have you solved some
accounts receivable issues for your last two employers in the finance office? On the list it
goes!

3. What brings the most value to your client or fixes their problem?

Still got room on your list page? Add this list to your list of lists. In your experience, what
has really brought value to your past employers? Think broadly here. Value comes in
many flavors. Increasing income or decreasing expenses is obvious. If that’s your thing
then add it to the list and quantify how much a specific set of tasks, strategies, or
executables was worth. Social media is harder to pin to real dollars but it’s obviously
valuable or all of us would not be addicted to it. Do you have a pathway to get product
on shelves in local or virtual stores? Great! That is worth money. Find out how much
people are willing to pay for advice about these tasks or to have the tasks just taken care
of by you.

If you have been paid to do what you love and are good at doing it, then you can make it! It is a
much smaller step than you may think to go from employed to self-employed. Chances are,
there are a ton of people out there who don’t have someone like you on staff and wish they did.
You can fill that gap. You can be their go-to person. You can do this for multiple clients at one
time and start your own business. Last I checked, multiple paychecks are more secure than one
paycheck… just sayin’.

Below is a little example of how to organize your skills, if you have made money doing it and
what it may be worth to others.

Be you. Be awesome. Get paid.