Process of Elimination

Who am I: 'I am Entrepreneur and a Business owner' 

It is said that you do not know where you are going until you know where you have been.  You cannot measure success unless you know where you are coming from.  Below I will give you a little of my background - 'where I am coming from', reason why I chose to be self-employed and how I arrived at my business ideas.

Work- I have worked as:
PAST

• An Editorial and Unit manager for an International Medical Publishing Company in London.
• A KS3/KS4 & A'Level Science Teacher for over 3 years
• A Supply Teacher in various Secondary schools within London for 2 years
• A School Governor in a secondary school in London for slightly over a year

PRESENT

• Early Years Provider (New start)
• Independent Aloe Product distributor (New start) www.gracesaloevera.blogspot.co.uk
• Owner GraceXpress (New start) www.gracexpress.blogspot.co.uk
• Owner Graces's Diary (New start) http://www.gracesdiaryz.blogspot.co.uk/ 
• GCA - Gender for Child Advancement board of trustee member (since Jan 2010)

Reasons for wanting to become self-employed
Tired of my hamster-wheel lifestyle and gain a better quality of life
Wanted to work for myself
Establish my own home-based business without any risky investments
Better work life balance
Flexible hours - Work around my family commitments
Financial freedom - security
Stability
Time and freedom to go any direction I choose
Go on holiday with my family when I want
Personal growth, build a future

The journey:
With a mixture of excitement, anticipation, fear and mostly hope, I began this remarkable journey exploring different opportunities before me. I've had one crazy couple of months. To find out more about my crazy couple of months, read the article: All work and No play- Reaching for the sky and hanging on for dear life

How I arrived at my business ideas:

First, 
I mentally removed all the negative voices in my head (this will be people who have told you in the past - you are best suited for this, you cannot do this, this job is beneath you, no member of our family would ever do this job). It is also the voices that keep telling you: what would people think or say if you tell them you are giving up this job to pursue xyz career.

Second,
I wrote down every possible job I could do...stretching myself (thinking outside the box) these included:
1: Publishing my own work
    Publishing other people's work - becoming a publisher
2: Running a day care/ nursery
3: Retail
4: Becoming an event planner
5: Franchising
etc

Third,
I started my process of elimination. I ordered the jobs into most interested in to least interested in.  I didn't want to do what I'd been doing any more; I craved a BIG change so after much thinking, I settled for the third and forth on the list (see the post: Process of elimination for why I settled for 3 and 4 on the list): 

Retail (because it is an industry that is constantly evolving and is never dull, skills: I was well organised  able to prioritise, adaptable to change, able to multi task, analytical and numerate). I wanted to be able to provide stylish fashions & essential wear to customers at amazing value for money with out compromising on quality) 
and Event planning (interested in an activity that will allow me be creative, skills: good at managing details & creating a way that allows me get complex work done quicker and more smoothly, goal oriented, flair for creativity, fast learner, people person, ability to problem solve, analytical, numerate, organised, team player etc).

Fourth,
these were broad so I had to narrow it down. I did some more research:
Retail
fashion retail sector -> Type of market level: Cheap or luxury goods -> Speciality market instead of Mass output -> Clearly defined product : clothes or lingerie -> target customer: people of all works of life and all ages
To learn the field
I had to look for a job in the head office of they type of organisation that sells the type of product am interested in as an MAA - Merchandising Admin Assistant and learn the rope from scratch.
Why an MAA
This will enable me learn the following amongst others:
deciding how much money should be spent, how many lines should be bought and in what quantities, how to set price to maximise profit, manage performance of ranges, plan promotions and mark downs, accurately forecast trends etc.


Event Planner
Speciality: City wide festivals or corporate events, no personal events -> target customer: Large companies -> event types: business conference, lavish banquets, meetings, concerts, sports, charity 
To learn the field
I had to look for a job in the large organisations that cater for the type of events  am interested in as an Assistant Event Planner and learn the rope from scratch.
Why an Assistant Event Planner
This will give me a stepping stone into this field, be able to support all facets of planning events hence in a better position to master the policies and procedures of how this industry works. enable me learn how to work on extremely tight schedules, manage crisis and last minute emergencies, pull off big and small events without a hitch, budgeting etc. 

RESULT
I gave it my all, learning independently - building up my knowledge, joined job sites - sent off several applications each week, had my CV revamped to suit target jobs and even visited shops and wrote to companies directly offering my services for free in exchange for opportunity learn, to gain knowledge and skills. For 6 months (January to June), I had no luck. It was a bad time for a career change into a field I had no previous experience, skill or knowledge. You see, a lot of people had been made redundant and still being made redundant so there where more skilled candidates than there were job opportunities. Back to the drawing board.

 DRAWING BOARD
I had to change tactics if I was to make my dreams of coming off this hamster-wheel come true. So pen and paper in hand, I wrote down:
My drive: why I wanted to a career change.These can be seen above and I had to keep reminding myself of these as it would help me structure my business to become successful.

Motivation: all the things I like, know how to do (all my skills), have a knowledge of, can contribute and all the careers that would best suite the skills. These can be seen above.

Then, I reviewed my career list.  

1. Publishing other people's work - becoming a publisher
2. Publishing my own work
3. Running a day care / nursery
4. Retail
6. Becoming an event planner
7. Franchising
etc

I took the top five and did some more research on them (marketability - is it marketable, can I get paid doing it), (Who are my competitors, what are they doing, what can I offer that is different) and settled for child care, publishing and retailing.

Next I decided to create a support group/network, that would be acquiring a mentor or coach & business buddy (possibly chat on Skype & keep each other motivated), becoming part of a business network in your chosen field or a group of like minded people(see article:  All work and No Play - Reaching for the sky and hanging on for dear life for more on this). 

Advice that I will carry with me through out this journey:

1. Keep it simple by Richard Branson
2. Set up with a group of like minded people, chat on Skype  keep each other motivated by Cathy Presland
3. Revisit your market strategy every 3 months, make adjustments, go where your business takes you  by Sarasparilla
4. Stay sole trader as long as possible, do what is right for your business by Nikki Hesford of misfitUK
5. Don't just work hard, work smart; see an opportunity - make decision & take action by Mark Nathwani
6. Make your website easy to use, easy to navigate, easy to understand by David Miles

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