Can You Just Jump Into Business?

Hmm. That explains a lot of my competition, Julia. They put a bunch of numbers of the paper, tell potential clients they are tax experts and CFO advisors- and voila, they get the gig (since they charge $ 50, to boot). And, then, we get besmirched when the (idiotic) client complains that “all these guys” are unqualified.
Or, a kid out of high school claims to be a product designer, since he made a balsa wood airplane (or something similar). Charges (another idiotic) client $ 250 for a new product design that doesn’t work. And, then we are told “none of you guys” know a thing about product design.

I don’t mind not getting the idiotic clients. I just mind getting lumped in (when they tweet, post, eMail) with the jerks they chose to (not) help them.
Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. recently posted…Something new? No, not really…

How do I jump off the cliff?
Debbie recently posted…Friday is Quote day.

I have to say, Julia, I’ve never found it quite as easy as that! If you’re going to survive, you need more than self-confidence and a good idea. As Roy suggests, you can fool some of the people …. but not for long. And jumping off the cliff is exhilarating – till you hit the ground. I’m all for people jumping, but after proper training, and with a parachute that really works.
Alan Miles recently posted…Elevating sales

What a beautiful blog. When riding your horse over a jump there’s a saying, “throw your heart over the fence and the horse will follow.” I think I’ve been hesitating at the fence and need to re-learn how to throw my heart over and just follow it. 🙂 But I’m learning.
Mary Muse recently posted…Writer Service: Muso Anti-Piracy

I like the topic…take action, make it happen… nicely done

Knowing where you are going with this, as a kind of extension to helping younger people get started in life, I must agree with you. Jump off the cliff, put both feet into the water, press forward. There are a lot of people in life that have started more than one business, didn’t make it but did learn from it and because they did jump in,again and again, ending up becoming very successful after a few tries. But they had to get started sometime.
And I do have someone that helps me with my techie stuff. Thanks for sharing.
Chef William recently posted…Weight Loss Snack Food – Brussels Sprouts

I think even with youth, there’s a benefit to working for it.

My first entrepreneurial endeavor was at the age of ten as a paper route carrier. This was at a time when girls weren’t generally in the mix. Some (OK, most) would have classified me as a pain. I called every week to ask about openings. I wanted it so bad I was willing to do what it took to wear down the managers. They finally relented. I was fastidious in how I handled the route in appreciation. Of course, the end story is better – I invested the income into a money market account (paying 14% at the time) that paid for the land banks wouldn’t finance for the farm property my husband and I bought many years later.
Investing was one of the best lessons I learned from this early ‘leap.’

As an adult, I’ve regretted the leaps I’ve made (lessons learned the hard way) without research, education and consideration. Although I tend to trust my gut, business success takes more. I’ve learned from bad decisions, but don’t view those mistakes as stellar moments. Even with kids, there’s a benefit to spending time understanding the market, demands and passion driving you to succeed.

I can relate to what Roy is saying. I also understand the intent of your message. With the youth I’m seeing coming into the US job market these days, it would serve them well to have the teaching expanded beyond the current ‘positive reinforcement’ messages that seem to be producing aimless, pleasure seeking transients.
Nanette Levin recently posted…R U 🙁 w/ crappy copywriting?

I think it goes both ways, starting a business is almost always a gamble. A true entrepreneur enjoys that part. The worrisome part for me is that there seems to be a lot of people deciding to go into business without the appropriate expertise. I have run into some lately. Designers who think it is all romantic and fun…who create real problems by not being trained in human needs, ergonomics or safety. Web designers who decide that since they set up a WordPress site for themselves, that they are suddenly an expert…then tried to bill me even though she couldn’t figure out how to finish the job. It is really important that people have a viable value to offer in their business. On the other hand, there are people who never start their business because of fear…or not the right time…etc. this was a provocative post.
Cathy recently posted…Confessions of a Morselist

This was an interesting post and I’m a little torn in terms of how to respond.

On one hand, I love the idea of taking a hobby and turning it into a business and jumping courageously into the unknown. On the other hand, I think that a lot of people will read this as a “fake it to make it” type of message or will jump in head first off the diving board only to find there’s no water in the swimming pool, which bothers me a lot.

I think that it might be a good idea to clarify that taking the risk and following your dreams is a great thing to do, but still make sure you plan and learn and know what you are getting into as much as possible and that you don’t end up doing something unethical or even illegal depending on the field in terms of representing experience.

Honestly, I think the illustrated quote does the most to harm your message in the post, because I would be really angry if I paid a photographer thousands of dollars who represented themselves a professional and all they had for experience was taking pictures of shadows (now granted I would do research and find that out and not hire them in the first place), but that’s just not sound business advice regardless of whether you are turning a hobby into a business or actually turning a college degree into a business or taking years of experience in a field and turning that into a business. Misrepresentation is bad business no matter what you are trying to do. Does that make sense? Sorry for my long book sized comment.

Please understand this is just my opinion and I do love the idea of people feeling confident enough to turn a hobby into a business, I’d just like to see them be successful at it, which takes a lot more than just jumping in head first. I also like the post itself a lot, just had a few concerns about it, especially the illustrated quote picture, because it changed the meaning of the post itself for me.
Emily recently posted…The Next Week

I am well educated and have an abundance of life experiences but I hesitated for a long time before I jumped off the cliff. I believed I needed more education and just a bit more … oh and if I just add that … then I will be ready. I personally believe we are never 100% ready so at some stage we just have to jump and learn along the way. I have learnt more in my past two years of failures and successes than I ever learnt getting my degrees. Do I regret jumping? Not at all because in business we don’t only grow professionally, we also grow personally. Do I have a thriving business? I am only just getting there, but with more to offer now than I ever did before I made that jump.
Kama recently posted…Comment on Ylang Ylang and Finding Your Own Magical Potion for Confidence – Y (A-Z of Confidence) by Kama

Nice post Julia!
I view it more as a mental jump rather than the literal business jump some other commenters have seen.

We can so easily stop ourselves mentally by making things seem so difficult as you say, when in fact if we just did it, we’d find it wasn’t as bad as we thought!

It’s a mental trick I have written about many times, and it can be really powerful!
Cheers,
Gordon
The Great Gordino recently posted…Goal Achievement – One Small Step For A Man?

I love this post, Julia. Sometimes all you need to add to your expertise is a little faith and a big jump. As far as complaints of others who are not doing it right and muddying the field, while that is true in some cases, in many cases it is perception.

There are several people (some of whom have been doing what I do for half the number of years or less) who hate the way I do things and call me a scammer and a charlatan. They “know” their way is the right way, and of course my way is terrible. Whatever.

While it’s different for some things like taxes and finishing websites, there are a lot of varying degrees out there on most subjects. Don’t be afraid to jump in. It’s the only way you learn to be better and to solidify your opinions on the best way to do things.
Amethyst Mahoney recently posted…My Business is More Sugarland than Martina McBride – 3 Takeaways from the Willamette Country Music Festival

Wow what a lot of comments, how awesome you found a can of worms and the birds are going crazy for them!

I think like Gordon said many people get stuck in the mindset or waiting til they have one more training etc. That mindset keeps them trapped and they cannot take the physical leap to action.

I read you article as though it is speaking someone who has skills yet may think they need more to offer it to the world…

You hit a hot topic, congrats and thanks for sharing

I agree! I think it’s about knowing what you want and going for it! Thanks for the inspiration.
Lena recently posted…4 Easy Ways to Wear See-Through Clothes

Wow, Julia. Did you step on a landmine? lol…

I think it really depends on the subject. There are some subjects that can be learned on one’s own (self taught) and they don’t pursue it, even though they might be really good at it, because they don’t have the right piece of paper to “prove” that they are good enough.

On the other hand, we have a lot of people out there touting their wares with no idea what they are doing.

Like anything, you need to ask questions, investigate and follow your gut instincts. If you are offering your services, just be honest with people about where you are at. We all have to start somewhere.
Amy Putkonen recently posted…What Meaning Do We Have?

I loved your post, and did not perceive it the way some others have. My parents started their own business, and were somewhat successful for a long time, but neither had direct knowledge about opening their own business. I am leaving my long-time profession next year, and am interested in starting my own business (probably microbusiness). I never considered it before, thinking I needed an MBA or something, but after considering my skills and options, it seems more and more do-able. I’m excited about the opportunities!
Annie recently posted…Lunch and the Picky Eater

I get the concern of fake-it-’til-you-make-it, but I think your big point here is trying to kill all the overwhelm. If what you’re doing isn’t working, or you don’t have a talent for it, you’ll find as you go what you need. Continuing to educate yourself and expand what you do should be a part of your practice anyway. But the biggest thing should always be to get started and keep going – Amethyst posted a macro of it that I love. “Do it even though you suck.” It’s always easy to come up with why you’re inadequate, but like most things in life, especially with the high school crowd you’re talking to, no one cares quiiite as much as you do about how terrible you think you are.