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Running Your
Own Business for Fun and Profit
By Pri Notowidigdo
 Have you wanted to make more money lately? Do you feel like having more freedom? Do you have an idea which you think is great . . . but your boss thinks is not? Maybe it's time to run your own business.
"You have to take risks!" your friends may say. "There's no financial security!" "You have a wife and kids to support!" "You have a husband and kids to support!" And the comments fly as people around you express their shock that you would even be thinking of running your own business.
Numerous books, magazine articles, and courses have addressed what it takes to be an entrepreneur. In this article, I have put together simply my own thoughts based on my personal experience as a novice entrepreneur of five years as well as the wisdom of other more seasoned entrepreneurs I spoke with.
Starting your own business and making it work begins with accepting responsibility. Are you prepared to assume full responsibility for the outcome of your business? Whether or not the business is a success depends on you. You choose to be happy or you choose not to be happy.
When you're an employee, you might be able to show other people that you're working harder than you really are. You might be able to blame other people or circumstances when your expectations are not met. When you're running your own business, it doesn't make sense to pretend or make excuses. It all comes back to you because when you're not productive you don't make money. When you look back on life later on, you will have what you want or you will have the reasons why you don't.
"Is this the right time for me to be on my own?" you may ask yourself. If you're hesitating, then it may not be the right time yet. You can, though, start to psyche yourself up to think and behave like you own your own business. If things go wrong at work, be honest with yourself and ask yourself why. If the problem was your own doing, then ask yourself what you can learn from it and move on. If you understand how human nature works , make it work for you and not against you.
Running your own business can be a lot of fun. It can provide a promising future. It can be potentially profitable. And this is what successful entrepreneurs will tell you. This is true. But, if you've spent many years in the corporate world, shifting your mind-set requires a willingness to try and a commitment to hang in. Starting your own business can be frightening if you're not used to being completely self-motivated. This is what is.
Another logical question can be raised: "How long will it take me?"
In the beginning the nuts and bolts of building a business is hard, repetitive, and requires you to be persistent and committed. Added to this, it may not even be profitable in the beginning. How long before you see the horizon is a function of the time and effort you are willing to put into it. It can happen quickly, though, if you're motivated, committed, and persistent, and if you did not borrow money as working capital.
Where do you start? I believe that the process begins with your attitude and the habits you have formed. Develop good habits early, or if you have bad habits, begin to change those bad habits. Running your own business does not have to be difficult. When you get a project, do it on time and do the job well. You will establish your credibility and get another project again, if not from that client, then from a referral. One of the best things of all this is that you can work very hard for a certain period of time but not necessarily on a constant basis.
Attitude is the key to success and fulfillment You may be thinking now about that cliché that you must have a positive attitude. It goes further than this. It's about how you see and accept yourself and how you want to effectively address your limitations. When nobody is around, how do you behave? Have you placed limitations on yourself? What aspects about yourself do you feel good about? What are you certain you cannot do? Do you have any uneasy feelings about what you can do, what you cannot do, and what you failed to do in the past? If you can answer these questions honestly to yourself, you'll feel fantastic. Remember that you may be able to apply the techniques and information about running a business. However, if you haven't been honest with how you see yourself, the business will not succeed and you won't be happy.
When you fell good about who you truly are, then you can make money. In this regard, you have to be mentally prepared to make good money. Start by setting reachable goals. When I first started my business, I did not have huge financial aspirations. My goal was simple: to be able to make a living at this business full time and not have to find other means of making ends meet. After a few years, though, you may want to be more ambitious and set a higher target but still be realistic.
Prepare yourself mentally not to meet your target as well . . . maybe. This happened to me a number of times when I wasn't focused and didn't do enough business development. What happened was that my revenue dropped for several months. This harsh reality motivated me to re-focus in order to achieve my target.
All this points to a fundamental and obvious truth about working for yourself in general. You can control the level of your revenue. If you want more money, then you work harder . . . and smarter, of course. You make more telephone calls You go out and meet a more people. You network. You make sure that people know you're in the market. I guarantee that your revenue will increase.
Even when you're making less money, this becomes a reminder that you are the master of your own destiny. The positive side, even when this happens, is that you can use the less busy time to balance your life. Spend some time with your family. Learn to play a new musical instrument. Take a trip somewhere. All this can happen because your time is your own.
A useful tip for you to try: pick an annual financial target and break it down into smaller achievable sub-targets. Let's say you want to make Rp 100 million this year. Just saying it is hard to visualize. What you need to do is break it down into more manageable pieces like this and then write the following on a piece of paper: Rp 100 million a year, Rp 8 million a month, Rp 2 million a week, Rp 400.000,- a day. Each day you can ask yourself:
"Where's the Rp 400.000,- coming from today?"
Input these figures into your computer. Write them down on a piece of paper and ensure that you see these figures everyday. Your mind will soon start working to make it a reality! The goal naturally moves you forward and suddenly presents you with opportunities. It works! Try it even if you're not an entrepreneur yet.
So, what are you waiting for? To borrow a phrase from Nike shoes,
"just do it!"
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