The Year of the Entrepreneur: Becoming Your Own Boss for 2022
Since the beginning of industrialization people, for the most part, have always wanted to be their own bosses. Since the rise of the COVID pandemic, and the increase in prices, as well as job and financial insecurity even more people, are looking to get into the entrepreneurial stream for 2022. Well running your own business certainly isn’t a walk in the park, it can be a rewarding path for many people who want to support themselves and their families without relying on an employer.
There are a variety of benefits to being your business owner from the freedom to set your own schedule so you have the time to fit in what matters most to you in your life, like family time. It additionally offers the opportunity to really enhance and develop your professional skills in a practical environment while being potentially lucrative and providing an income to support yourself and your family. It gives business owners more creative freedom with where they take their projects and leaves you with a great sense of accomplishment for achieving your goals.
With my career as a serial entrepreneur, from opening one barbershop to generating multiple streams of income from many businesses I have gathered together some tips I have learned over the years that can help you find success on your entrepreneur journey.
Be Your Own Boss
Choose what you want to do: understand your skills, observe demand and solve a problem.
When running your own business you want to pick something that you actually want to do or have experience in. Observe the market for what drives the needs and wants of consumers and to determine possible demand for your offerings. If there is a problem or gap in the market you are trying to target, that is a great opportunity to fill that void and solve any potential problems consumers may be facing in that area.
Some essential skills for business owners include:
Effective communication
Leadership and teamwork skills
Customer service skills and experience
Strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities
Effective and efficient time management skills
Financial sense and understanding
To be a successful business owner in 2022 and any year soon to come there are a few things you will want to do and keep in mind moving forwards.
Determine Your Target Audience
When starting a business you will be providing a service or product to clients, as such, you will need to determine who the target audience for your product is. For example, at CADMEN Barbershop our target audience is young to middle-aged men looking for a relaxed and comfortable place to get their hair and beards done.
Conduct Market Research
Once you have determined who your target audience is, you will need to conduct market research. This step allows you to better understand the marketing you are entering, your consumer, and what you need to do in order to be a successful new condor in whatever market you are entering.
Determine your own strengths and weaknesses
Just as every person, situation or item has strengths and weaknesses, you and your business will have a set of strengths and weaknesses that are unique to you. Once your strengths and weaknesses have been determined, you will want to optimize your business model by focusing on your strengths and figuring out how to overcome the weaknesses.
Develop a budget
Every business needs a budget, and every business has different resources available to it to cultivate that budget. Whether you have a wealth of funds to cover your business or your pinching pennies to make ends meet, you need to develop a budget to keep your business on the rails and going in the right direction. The last thing you want is to overspend or run out of funds.
Source capital
Determining the source of your capital before launching your business can help you stay more sustainable over the long term. Entrepreneurs may use various methods to source capital, for example, you can consider bootstrapping, which is the term for using your own money or the company's operating budget, this is what we did when opening the first location of CADMEN Barbershop in Mississauga. However, if this isn't an option available to you, maybe consider applying for funding with the government or other small business incubation funds. There are various networking events and the like that connect founders with investors and of course you could always consider getting a loan from the bank.
Pick a successful name and register your business
When deciding you want to run your own business, much like with a loved pet or baby, you’ll probably have some ideas for the name that you’ve been considering. When choosing a name make sure it is one that you like and is timeless, make sure potential clients can understand and relate to it, and make it noticeable and unique. Once you’ve decided on your name and have the framework together make sure to register your business with your government. Make sure to double-check on different resources like online to make sure that no one else has your business name and that it and any associated domain is available to you still.
Market your business
Finally, once you’ve set up your business and you’re ready to go, you still need to drive awareness of your new brand with potential customers. This is when marketing your business comes in. The digital world we live in has made it very easy to cheaply advertise your business by creating different social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to advertise your business to your audience for free. For a fee, you can also create a paid business account to place ads and promote your posts online. For example, we use a variety of social media platforms from IG to TikTok to promote our multiple businesses, as well as having websites set up for each business from the Clinic to the Barbershop.