Today’s post is about why you should start your career as an entrepreneur now and not wait until you are ‘ready’.
Have you been toying with the idea of becoming your own boss? Do you wonder whether your current 9-to-5 job will still be there when you need it? Or have you heard the tales of people earning a great living while sitting at the beach with their laptop? Those people exist and you can be one of them. It won’t be easy in the beginning, but it will be worth it!
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my full disclosure here.
When is the Best Time to become an entrepreneur?
Now.
No really, now is the time. A popular quote to help motivate you:
Building a business, whether online or brick and mortar, takes time. There is no overnight success or get-rich-quick, so starting now makes the most amount of sense. Keep your 9-to-5 and start building your online business. When the money from your website or blog starts to come in, you can scale back your day job until it is a thing of the past.
The early days of your online business will be filled with writing if you have a blog (recommended), and learning. Learning about how to bring traffic to your website, what to do with your visitors when they get to you, how to promote items.
The good news is that you only have to learn most of this once. There really is no “one way” to create a successful blog, because every blog is different and unique. What you want for an outcome for your website may be totally different than what another blogger wants.
You are building a dream here. You want to learn and learn right, because when you are successful you can replicate that success over and over.
Here are some benefits to being your own boss:
- Waking up every day knowing that you are building a future for yourself.
- Creating multiple streams of income gives you a buffer against the crazy economy.
- You can scale your business depending on the income that you want, working more or less based on your needs.
- The satisfaction of knowing that you work for yourself and are not spending your valuable time making money for someone else.
Think about why you like your job and then think about why you might want to be your own boss. What are the upsides? What are the downsides? Can you fit an online business into your life?
If you start slowly, only moving forward one step at a time, you can succeed over time. And with 3 Billion people online daily searching for answers or reviews, you can be successful if you want it.
online entrepreneur careers
When I first looked into network marketing, I heard the words “affiliate marketing” everywhere. Affiliate marketers promote other peoples products for commissions. Most affiliates have a website with a blog and they write review posts about the products. If someone reads the review, clicks a link and makes a purchase, the writer of the article can receive a commission on that sale.
For a while I was thinking that was the only way to make money online, and while it is one of the best ways, it is not the only one. Now that I have been online for a while, I keep hearing about new ways to make an income online. Think about hobbies you enjoy, or things you are passionate about. Can you translate that into a blog or YouTube channel?
Depending on your skills and interests, here are a few online businesses:
- Selling on Amazon. You can create low content printables, like journals and note paper and sell it on Amazon. Yes, you can make money selling lined paper.
- Affiliate Marketing. Write blog posts with links promoting products and get a commission on sales. Classic passive income.
- Become a Virtual Assistant. Work from home while helping bloggers across the world with Pinterest scheduling, office help, or course launches.
- Social Media Influencer. If you can get in front of the camera, you can build an audience. If you can build an audience, you can earn money from sponsors and ads
- YouTube Vlogger. Much like Influencers, you can build an audience and earn a good income from sponsors and ads on your channel. This is not limited to people doing makeup tutorials. There are successful people in all niches on YouTube: bushcraft campers, foodies, home car repair, toddler exercise classes, etc. If you have a skill that you can teach others, you can earn money on YT.
- Become a coach. If you are an expert in one field, you can become a coach to others who are interested in that field and need your expertise and experience
- Freelance writer. Write and sell articles through Fiverr or Upwork. Or create and sell Private Label Rights (PLR) content to other bloggers.
- Dropshipping. Create an online store with Shopify, find products to promote, and have them shipped direct from the manufacturer. No onsite inventory!
Who can be an entrepreneur?
Anyone who is interested in creating their own financial freedom.
People who have a skill or hobby that they want to help others to learn or do better with.
A person who wants to help others create their futures and live freer lives, possibly with their own small business
If you have noticed a gap in the marketplace, you can fill it. This is historically how most products get invented, but it works with people who share information as well.
In short, anyone who wants to help others and earn while doing it.
Who should not be an entrepreneur?
The idea of becoming an entrepreneur seems to really hit a lot of us when we are under a great deal of stress. Work pressures or the thought of being your own boss makes entrepreneurship sound really grand, no doubt about it. The truth is, there probably isn’t a “perfect” time to take the leap, but there are times when it’s most likely going to end up in disaster.
People who are desperate
Desperate times call for desperate measures, right? This isn’t always the case. Starting your career as an entrepreneur should never be a last-ditch effort to save you from yourself or whatever circumstances you are dealing with in life. In fact, that’s probably the worst time possible.
We go through periods in our lives where nothing seems to be going right. We might feel hopeless or believe a drastic change is necessary to find happiness.
Maybe you’re in a job you despise, or you and your boss can’t seem to get along no matter how hard you try. Don’t let that fool you into jumping ship on a whim, but do not discard the idea outright. It may fit you better when your circumstances are better.
People who are afraid of failure
Becoming a successful entrepreneur takes planning and research, and a dedication like you’ve never experienced before. Your life as you know it is going to change the moment you decide to go for it, and more times than not, it gets harder before it gets any easier. If you have a hard time with failure, you might want to wait on starting a business.
There will be road blocks. It is inevitable. It takes a certain kind of person to recognize that failure is not personal and it is not the end. Successful businesses are built by people who made mistakes, learned from them, and started again. You need perseverance to succeed.
People who are in the wrong frame of mind
- You hate your boss.
- And/or you hate your job.
- If you can’t pay your bills.
- Or want a ‘flexible schedule’. (it takes time to get to this point)
- If you think it will be easier to be your own boss (because they do not look like they work as hard as you do)
- ‘Play it safe’ is your motto
- You’re only in it for the money
When you make a hasty decision, you will secure a future of more illogical decisions based solely on desperation rather than success. You also do not want to start a business if you are in a negative frame of mind – like hating your boss. That is some serious negative energy and you don’t want to start a business based on escaping your pain.
It was not until I really started to believe in myself that I discovered what I really wanted out of life…personal freedom. Blogging helped me learn this about myself.
Why would I want to be an entrepreneur then??
The short answer is that you will learn so much more about yourself and what you are capable of. If you want to make your online small business a success, you will have learn how to do that. If you tried something and it failed, you will need to problem solve and find another solution.
It is also super rewarding. Solving problems and fixing things that go wrong take hard work and sacrifice, but succeeding is exhilarating! That is an amazing feeling. And when you love what you do, you want to do it! It is not a chore to get up early and work on your website…it is a labor of love. When you have success, you know that it belongs to you. Not your boss, or the company you work for. Yours.
Related Post: Success Is A State of Mind
The other awesome thing about creating your own success is that you can replicate it in all areas of your life. Use the success thinking skills you achieved to:
- find a new relationship
- teach your children critical thinking skills that they can use forever
- use some of your new income to start a foundation or charity and really make a difference for people
- write a book
- learn a new skill like skiing, wakeboarding, jumping out of a plane or bungie jumping (do people still do that???)
Conclusion
We looked at why you should start your career as an entrepreneur now. And we looked at who should not start now. And I have given you several ideas for businesses you can start as well as the benefits of growing your business.
What are you waiting for? Blogging is by far the easiest and most inexpensive way to start an online career. You need hosting (like Siteground), a domain (the name of your website address on the internet), and an enthusiasm for your chosen niche or website topic (i.e. your hobby or passion). Start now and prepare to live life on your terms.
Related Post: How to Start A Blog and Make Money Online
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Happy blogging and follow me on Pinterest!
-Irma 🙂
Awesome article Irma! I think you’ve really laid out the ways someone can get into being an entrepreneur online quite easily. Although it isn’t simple to do for most people, it can be very simple to start. I think that people get too overwhelmed and think that everyone else can do it but them. I know I thought that before I started affiliate marketing and blogging. Now I love it! I also agree with the types of people that should not be entrepreneurs that you listed. Too many people go into it for the wrong reason and with the wrong mindset and fail. Thank you for writing this!
Thank you Dan and thank you for visiting us today,
I am happy to read your comments. I have met so many people who feel like you do, that once they got started they loved it! I know that I feel that way as well and I am so happy to have found my own niche to help people 🙂
Cheers,
-Irma 🙂
This is a great and very informative article for people who are searching and would like to start for a career as an entrepreneur like me who are looking for more improvements as well as financial freedom on the online business. It is excellently outlined the benefits and how to begin it which is easy to follow.
I love the way you verified the framework of blogging is far the easiest and most inexpensive way to start a career as an entrepreneur in online business. The points are well analyzed and very comprehensive enough.
Thank you so much for sharing this, Irma and best wishes.
Lyn
Thank you Lyn and thank you for visiting us today!
Cheers,
-Irma 🙂
This a great read Irma.
So many superb points you made here. I’m amazed at the vast many ways to build a presence as an online entrepreneur.
I love the way you stress the importance of having the right mind set.
Some examples that really caught my eye:
– Desperation: Not a good endeavor for someone is, as you said, trying to start an online business as a last ditch effort. The circumstances in your life need to be stable. When I looked into this for the first time, I didn’t like the way my job was going but I didn’t quit just to start (as a newbie) an online business. Also, I knew before I started this was going to take time (a couple years at least).
– Failure: I did allow that fear of failure to get to me at first. The thought of failing in fulfilling your aspirations for success, will result in that very thing. I do the best I can without lofty hopes or hopelessness. There will be peaks and valleys and I know I need to be at peace with that.
-Being in it for the money: I admit that is what was on my mind at first, but then i had an epiphany that it it all starts with a mentality for heartfelt charity. Which is to say, put your heart before the dollar signs and try to offer some means of providing value in someones life before you even think of making a penny.
So much great perspective in this piece. For I thank you immensely. Definitely going to bookmark this.
Thanks and blessings, Brad
You are welcome and thank you for visiting us today,
I agree. Fear of failure kept me from really reaching my potential with blogging, but I am in recovery now 😉
Cheers,
-Irma 🙂