Becoming an entrepreneur is full of risks because there are always risks when you are trying something new. But just because you are faced with risks on a regular basis doesn’t mean that you need to face them all at once or that you can’t be prepared. When you use your tools to prevent risk and keep it at a minimum, you can ensure that you and everyone you work with has room to experiment and innovate without hurting your business.
Limited Liability Structure
From the very earliest days of your business, you can start protecting it and decreasing the risk you are facing. The main way to do this is to make sure that you structure your business appropriately. The limited liability company or LLC is a great option that reduces the risk that you personally face if something goes wrong. That way, your business is liable for any mistakes that are made, rather than you personally. This can protect your assets and give you room to figure out what works for your business.
Insurance
You also need to make sure that your business is properly insured against the various things that could potentially cause problems. Some kinds of insurance may be federally or locally mandated for businesses while other things are just a good idea. When purchasing insurance, try to take a holistic view of your company so you don’t miss any important areas for coverage. For example, cyber liability insurance is increasingly necessary in the event of data breaches, and many companies fail to invest in that kind of insurance.
Start Small
One part of minimizing your risk as an entrepreneur is not taking risks that you can’t afford to have potentially fail. When you are first starting out, your risks will need to be smaller because your business won’t be as profitable. But as your business grows, you can increase the risks you are able to take. Just make sure that your risk is always within a manageable range that your business can recover from.
Risk taking is a big part of owning a business, but you don’t have to take on more risk than you can handle. As you carefully assess risks every step of the way you can make decisions that will improve your business. Think of risk as a way to make opportunities for your business, but remember to keep those risks within reason.
Opposed to what some people may tell you, you don’t actually need a college degree to have a lucrative, successful career. There are many successful people out there who never graduated from college and have great careers and ZERO student loan debt. I, unfortunately, am not one of those people… But, here are three popular jobs that don’t require a college degree—and that are actually enjoyable and in high demand.
Digital Marketer
Every year, humankind is becoming more and more dependent on technology. Rather than traditional advertising, most businesses have gone completely online. Therefore, there are a lot of people who need help promoting their brand via social media and other online mediums. A digital marketer is someone who uses the internet to help businesses promote their services or products. So, if you have a knack for navigating various social media platforms, digital editing tools, etc., then becoming a digital marketer is a great way to go (and is in very high demand).
Real Estate
The need for buying and selling properties will never go away. In fact, it is an expanding, diversifying industry that could probably use someone with your skills and perspective if you are a critical thinker who can listen effectively and negotiate like a pro. Working in real estate is a very flexible job option. It allows you to work with a variety of people on a regular basis (which is great if you consider yourself a social person) and act as your own boss. To become a realtor, you need to get your real estate license. Each state has its own requirements for getting your real estate license. Therefore, be sure to do your research ahead of time on what requirements are necessary for your location.
Police Officer
Perhaps you enjoy watching reality crime shows (who doesn’t like murder porn, amirite?) and have always thought about being the one solving those crimes. You may even consider being a police officer to be an awesome job. But did you know that it could totally be the career for you—and you don’t even need a college degree! A career as a police officer is a dynamic and hands-on career where you get to help people. There is a lot of growth potential too. In fact, after several years of experience as a police officer, you may have the option of becoming a police detective.
These days, more and more people are realizing that a postsecondary degree from a traditional educational institution is not enough to land a successful career. Many employers are preferring experience to education instead. So, don’t fret if you don’t have a degree. There are plenty of great options for you without one!
If you are thinking about joining the world of entrepreneurs, it can feel kind of overwhelming, especially if you haven’t done that kind of work before. However, all entrepreneurs have to start somewhere and most try their first venture without any meaningful experience working for a startup. Making the transition from working a regular job to becoming an entrepreneur can be complicated, but you can take steps to make sure you are as successful as possible.
Go in With a Partner
Just because you are starting your own business, doesn’t mean you have to do it entirely on your own. In fact, you can increase your chances of success if you simply find a partner to work with. Your partner could be someone more experienced, who has started a business before. Or you could choose a partner who has a different skillset from you so you each can bring different benefits to the table. Finding a good balance with a partner can be an effective method for getting your new business off to the right start.
Look for Franchising Opportunities
If you want to start your own business but you also want to make things a little bit easier for yourself with a built-in structure, you could start out with a franchise. That way you get to start building up experience as an entrepreneur while you are engaging in that kind of work. You won’t have to make as many decisions about how to manage your business, so you can focus on finding a great location and making things run smoothly. According to Franchise Gator, commercial real estate is more available now than it was before the pandemic.
Make Sure You Know About the Industry
When you are new to the world of entrepreneurship, it isn’t usually a good idea to start a business in something you don’t really understand. Choosing a business in a sector that you know a lot about can help to balance out your inexperience, according to YourStory. Then you can take your industry-specific knowledge and use it to increase your chances of success.
It’s okay to be new at starting a business, and in some ways, it can be an advantage. Don’t be afraid to experiment and take risks, as well as apply the knowledge you do have to your new venture. When you can find a great balance, it will help your new business to flourish from day one.
There is no business that doesn’t have employees. And while employees may be under your authority while at the workplace, they are not beneath you, or any other manager or owner. There are certain rights that your employees have that your business is required to uphold. It shouldn’t be difficult walking the line between acceptable employer and employee relationships and unacceptable ones. You need to know what is expected of you as an employer. Here are three legal rights every employee has at your business and what you need to do to uphold these rights.
Protection Against Discrimination
The first legal right that every employee at your business has is protection against discrimination. You, the business, and the employees of the business are not allowed to discriminate against any other employee in the workplace. There is never any leeway with discrimination, you must treat your employees equally. This includes discrimination for reasons of sex, gender, sexuality, race, religion, nationality, age, or any other such reasons. Ensure that you take care to educate your employees and yourself on anti-discrimination tactics, and how to ensure that they are treating everyone fairly, equally, and non-discriminatorily.
A Right to Physical Safety
Another legal right that the employees of your business have is a legal right to physical safety. This one is probably a no-brainer for you: your employees are entitled to a safe working environment and practices that protect their physical safety. Employees have a legal right to know about hazards in their workplace. If you know that your working environment exposes your employees to any sort of chemical that can cause health effects, you are required to disclose that information to your employees. As a business, you need to do your best to always protect the safety of your employees.
Minimum Wage
The final legal right of all your employees at your business is minimum wage pay. You are required to pay your workers the federal or state minimum wage in your area, whichever one is higher. This also includes regulations that your employees are entitled to overtime pay and holiday pay. There is never any reason that you should be paying any employee less than the legislated minimum wage.
Making sure that your employees are legally protected and given their rights as workers is a part of your responsibility as a business owner. If you are not respecting these rights, it will catch up to you. Make sure that you are honoring your employees’ rights in the workplace. If you don’t respect these rights, you’re not just an A**Hole Boss, you are breaking the law.
I did a really great training this weekend and I want to pass on some of the goodness. It’s right on time since it is the beginning of the year which is, as everyone knows, goal-setting time!
Here is a visioning exercise that follows a different process for goal setting that I want to pass along to you. After you read this, take some time, not more than 5 minutes, and go through this exercise.
Take a minute and picture yourself on 12/31/2022. It’s the end of the year and you’re extremely happy. 2022 has been good to you. You are in a great place personally and professionally. You are giving a recap of what your year has been like. Your conversation starts off with “This was a great year because….”
Close your eyes and picture that conversation.
Where are you having this conversation? Someplace new? Your usual favorite place?
What will that conversation sound like? What does your year in review look like to you? What were the positive changes in your life? What did you do differently?
As you’re describing your year in review to those around you, what are you saying? Who are you talking to and what is the look on their faces as you talk? Are they surprised? Happy for you? Encouraged?
As you talk about what changed, think about what you had to start doing to get to that happy place at the end of the year. What did you have to stop doing? What did you have to do more of? What did you have to do less of?
Open your eyes and think about your year. To get to that happy place, what are 2-3 things that you absolutely have to get done to get there? Those are your 2022 goals. Let’s crush them!!
