Those of you who are self-employed (or have created your own streams of income) -- what do you do?

HumbleTrees · 2019-07-28T22:58:38+00:00

ITT : people who don't fit the criteria set out by OP feeling a need to comment.

OP. The sort you're looking for don't lurk on Reddit or these sort of niche subs. I'd be cautious of any info you receive.

crescent2612 · 2019-07-28T15:08:32+00:00

Heads up: I'm not a business owner yet, nor am I financially independent in the sense you want to hear from. As in I still have a full-time job.

But, I'm in the planning stages of opening my first business, and maybe I can give you some insight into the psychology that led me here.

First you have to be willing to be completely honest with yourself about what it is that you want exactly, in regards to:

Money ( a legitimate range of what you'd like to earn, and it's potential to be reached)
Time Sink
How much your willing to invest just to start, * how long you're willing to go without positive revenue from said business
how are you going to get your product/services/business out there in front of people looking for it
Do you have skills that would make you a successful business owner? (Sales, Organization, Persistence, Willingness to Fail and keep moving, Self Driving/Motivated)
Are you actually willing to commit to your business being your integral to your hourly life?
What is it that you want to sell/create that will be exchanged for value?
If you don't know what you want to sell/create, you need to figure out what you are good at, in other words where can you currently create value of which you are not being compensated for enough or at all?

Some tips for the very early stages:

Write a list of all of your hard and soft skills as well as the things you are good at. Don't hold back anything can be turned into a product.
Find friends and family who are doing similar things, or have done them already. Connect with these people and ping pong your ideas/thoughts/questions off of each other. The momentum built up from this process pushes each party to work towards solutions, while simultaneously opening new trains of thought.
Research your competition. As in find out based on what service you provide, and where you business whether it's online or in person, who your competition is. Call them pretending to be a customer if you have to, all's fair in love, and war, and business. Find out who they are what they provide, how happy their customers are, and what their rates are. Many startups gain early momentum by undercutting their competition while providing more attention/personalized service/higher quality product.
Figure out what the costs would be of your business. If you have an idea of what it will cost to operate your business, than you have your first piece of information on how much you need to earn monthly/quarterly to either exist, thrive, or obviously fail. Build a plan for how your business would operate, and then research the costs associated with each part of it's operation.
Is your product in high supply, or high demand? The best situation is a product in high demand with little to no supply.
Figure out how much money you need in savings, or investment to start and carry out your plan.

There is 100% someone in this sub who can offer you better, advice, and experience. But as a guy who's only a bit farther ahead of you (I have a business plan, no my product, have an advertising plan, cost projections/profit goals, and a launch plan with dedicated dates for advancement).

If you ever wanna bump heads about ideas, feel free to PM, you'll find if your serious talking business often keeps you looped into your goals, and increases your ability to reach them.

proplfax · 2019-07-29T09:42:33+00:00

own 5 different companies (4 affiliate, 1 "real"). i only work a few hours a week, unless an employee quits or someone has to be trained. all of the traffic to the sites is from adwords or seo. it's taken me years to figure out what works. capitalizing on a lot of low hanging fruit in really degenerate industries with high margins. most large industries are very monopolized and i'd be pretty depressed going into them. kind of like i feel when i try to tinder right now lmao.

the money has provided some convenience. for example, my primary goals right now are sexual abundance. but i'm not willing to pay for it. that's equated to me getting a house so i could have a garage to put a gym in without driving in traffic to a gym. this resulted in skipping 0 days which has been incredible and i've destroyed past plateaus. i also leased an m4 for two years that i figured wouldn't hurt my chances with women, but it only lead to suicidal street racing with random mustangs. got an old 335i and modded it for pretty much the same fun level at 1/4th the cost. not a car person, but it was an itch.

it's the free time mostly. if i had to 9-5 for the rest of my life, i'd become an alcoholic and probably kill myself by 50.

thrwy75479 · 2019-07-28T17:27:39+00:00

Not self-employed, nor financially independent but want to be. I've found some resources that are insightful, and perhaps may be helpful to you before you make the jump.

Check out this video about financial independence. Ensure you know what it means to you, and what you want to achieve.

Also, be careful about thinking that starting your own company is a way to achieve independence. Unless you have an exit plan, you could end up being more knee-deep in shit than you can fathom. MJ DeMarco discusses this in his book, "The Millionaire Fastlane", where he gives the example of an owner running a coffee shop that is financially successful, but ties up their time and energy with long hours, and no breaks. Without a way of making it self-sustaining and profitable, the owner has no choice but to shut it down.

Further, you need a lot of energy to create, and manage a company, especially because there are no off-days: it's 24/7, 365 days a year, and you have to constantly keep pushing. Every successful person I've met has been a jackass but incredibly hard-working, and a total control freak. You have to come with a deep sense of unwavering belief that you know exactly what you want, and how to get it.

It's not clear what your field is, however, to dabble with the idea, I would encourage you to try sales. Or, try selling some personal effects. This will give you a feel of what it'll be like to get things off the ground by switching from a consumer mindset to a producer mindset. Train your mind to look for needs, and how you can use the resources at your disposal to fill those needs.

A final point worth mentioning is to be around people whose lifestyle you want. Seek their advice, and learn from them.

Bobby_Says_No · 2019-07-29T14:50:10+00:00

From personal experience the two most important things when creating a business is having a good usp (unique selling point) and good people skills. At the end of the day, no matter what business you do, no matter how niche it may or not be, there will always be competition, so firstly, why would people come to your business or pay for your services vs the competition that will already be established and proven them self to the world. Within the world of business you are going to be thrown into all sorts of different situations, a lot will be stressful, so having good people skills and being able to work well under pressure is vital because of this, you never know what is going to get thrown at you, also being able to recognize when people may or may not be trying to take advantage of you etc, knowing how people work and knowing how to read people is vital because of this.

Title	Those of you who are self-employed (or have created your own streams of income) -- what do you do?
Author	Popular-Culture
Upvotes	22
Comments	8
Date	July 28, 2019 2:36 PM UTC (4 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askTRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/asktrp/comments/ciwj0f/those_of_you_who_are_selfemployed_or_have_created/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askTRP/those-of-you-who-are-self-employed-or-have-created.247123 https://theredarchive.com/post/247123