Article Tools
At a company Christmas party in January (don’t ask), I got talking to Mike, an intelligent, articulate young man who wasn’t feeling very festive. Six months ago he lost his job, and he’s had trouble finding a new one. He had been his office’s jack-of-all-trades for nine years, so he’s adept at accounting, administration and IT. But he has no degrees or diplomas to show for it—and he says employers are getting picky about that kind of stuff.
As a self-employed journalist/consultant specializing in entrepreneurship, I had to ask Mike if he had considered starting his own business. Mike looked aghast, as if I had just asked him to play point guard in the NBA. He wanted a job, with benefits and security.
Sadly, Canada doesn’t work that way anymore. Job security snuck out the back door during the 1991 recession, and now jobs themselves are getting scarce. While Canada has so far escaped the brutal job losses of the U.S., a January survey by Pollara Strategic Insights found that 31% of Canadians believe that they or a member of their immediate family could lose their job this year.
Journalist Rod McQueen got it right in 1995 when he wrote a book on starting your own business and called it The Last Best Hope. In a tough, unpredictable economy, many Canadians who find themselves without work may be better off launching businesses of their own rather than sitting around waiting for some employer to recognize their talent. Here’s why:
• People like Mike, who have more energy and experience than education, might have trouble finding a company to pay them $40,000 a year. But as a self-employed consultant, he might well find fiveor six companies willing to pay him $8,000 to $10,000 to oversee their computer networks, train their bookkeepers or be “on call” as a trouble-shooter.
• More companies today are outsourcing services to people like Mike. Lean, mean businesses don’t want to spend valuable time managing security guards, payroll, bookkeeping, food-service staff, or even marketing people.
• Information-age entrepreneurs rarely need expensive offices or special equipment. With a $500 computer, a $100 multifunction fax/copier/printer and an Internet connection, you’re as well connected as any corporate careerist. In most cases, home-based service firms don’t even need business licenses—although you will need a GST number from Ottawa.
• Sole proprietors aren’t immune from recession. But if you have six clients paying you instead of one boss, there’s little chance you’ll ever be entirely out of work.
If you are one of those 31% fretting about job security, now is the time to prepare for the worst. Should that dreaded axe finally fall, here are six things you couldbe doing now to ensure that you’ll be set to go solo.
• Evaluate your self-employment potential. Google “entrepreneur test” and take a few quizzes to see if you have the drive, resilience, flexibility and people skills to thrive as boss, salesperson and employee of the month combined. Talk to the business owners you know to find out what they like or hate about their lifestyle.
• Determine what kind of business you’d most like to run. What kind of work do you most like to do, and what are potential clients willing to pay for?
• Do some hands-on market research. Determine which of your skills are most in demand, and who would want to hire them. Call potential customers to see what contractors they hire, and why. Talk to people who do what you’re thinking of doing, and pick their brains. Don’t forget to ask how much they charge.
• Identify what else you would need to know in order to launch your own business. Without colleagues or bosses to fill in your knowledge gaps, you may need a refresher course in web design, landscaping, tax accounting or cake decorating.
 |
 |
 |
Rick Spence is a Toronto writer and communications consultant, and former editor and publisher of PROFIT. |
Rate this article
