Being an entrepreneur is not easy, particularly when you’re a fresh graduate out of college and just trying to navigate your way through life. For the past year of my life, I’ve been focused on starting my own design company with a few of my fellow classmates from college. At first, the idea of working together and working for ourselves seemed like a dream come true since our group dynamic had been unbeatable at school but the reality is, we seem to be at each other’s neck for more then half the time.
During my final year in college, one of the many courses that we had to take was called Professional Practice and in the class, we scrapped the surface about how the business side of design works (which to be honest, is much more complicated then invoicing your client as well as writing business proposals). Although I learnt a lot from the class there were things that were never covered in class (which I then learnt it through the hard way). Starting your own business maybe your best option right now since most design firms aren’t really looking for anything else besides interns but before you dive into the deep blue sea, there are a few pointers (or rules) that I’d like to share from my own personal experience.
Rule #1: Commitment
If you are not ready or have doubt in committing to your own business physically, mentally and financially then you are definitely not ready for this. Think of entrepreneurship as parenthood where your company is your baby. You are responsible to feed it (generate income) and mostly nurture it (fine tuning your company and ultimately upgrading its profile). Like a real child, there will be times that it will throw tantrums on you and work against you, but if you stick through the bad time and see it as an invaluable lesson then the good times will become a sweeter success.
Rule #2: Don’t interfere your professional life with your social life (and vice versa)
The key to this is balance. Sometimes it’s inevitable that the two would clash, creating stress within your professional life as well as your personal life (particularly during the early stages of setting up your business). If you don’t prioritize yourself as well as to time manage between the two, you will eventually burn yourself out both mentally and physically, thus creating a downward spiral for your business.
Rule #3: Know your resources
Use your networking skills to your advantage. A lesson that a friend learnt through a project is that you can’t finish a project just all by yourself. There are definitely areas within a project that’s not your forte, which is where your connections come in. Build relationships with people who are experts in various areas and when you get the chance, connect the right people with the right task; creating a smooth sale for your project.
Rule #4: Always have a plan B as well as a plan C
There’s nothing more important then to plan a project out as much as you can (at least from my personal experience) cause Murphy’s Law has always proven itself to be true (what goes wrong, WILL go wrong). Also assume that there will be glitches in your project; identify them during the early stages and create a safety net (your plan B or even plan C) for yourself just so that the project timeline won’t be dragged on, wasting your client’s resources and patience as well as your time.
Rule #5: Trust your instincts/judgments and be decisive
If you have a hard time making decisions in general then maybe you should hold back on the idea of starting your own business. Being an entrepreneur requires judgment calls for almost 90% of the time, particularly when you’re exploring possible collaboration opportunities. If you are starting up a partnership, trust between the partnership is the key to success since there’s no fixed roles as tasks are being juggled to whoever that’s stepping up to the plate. Your indecisiveness within a small task can hinder the progress of the whole project, ultimately creating stress within your company putting both you and your business partners at risk of not complete the project. If your instinct or logical judgment tells you that this is the right thing to do, then go for it. Not having a decision made is worse then making a bad decision that you may have time to fix (if you’ve planned enough time for mistakes to happen).
From personal experience, the road to entrepreneurship is not meant for everyone. It takes a lot of time, energy, money, dedication and optimism to build your own business. If you are not ready for this, you should never start a company with another person that’s more enthusiastic or committed then you are cause in the end, your ‘business partner’ will suffer from you getting cold feet. Being an entrepreneur is not easy; for those who succeeded or are still toughing out their business I salute you and for those who are considering it, my words of wisdom for you is to be brave and be ambitious.
- Chun-Lam
