8 Steps to Go Out on Your Own as an Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship is a workforce development strategy we all need to focus on and consider more.  Either at the individual or community level, entrepreneurship is a viable way to create wealth, develop professional satisfaction and, at the end of the day, help more people.

I find that more and more people are considering going out on their own for their next career strategy.  In fact, many people are referring now to the “Free Agent Nation” or the “1099 economy” with over one-fifth of the population working on a 1099 instead of W-2.   In addition, more and more companies and educational entities are focusing on how to become more entrepreneurial in their thinking, structures and curriculum. And on a personal level, what people seem to ask me about the most, outside of general HR questions, is how to go out on their own.

I offer this guide below that a colleague and I developed for a conference this summer to help any aspiring entrepreneur get started.  In addition to this guide, I’ll be delving deeper into the ideas surrounding entrepreneurship for the next several posts.  We’ll have some guest bloggers in this series as well as some things to mix it up a bit including video content.

Have you thought about starting your own business?  If so, what do you want to do and how can we help you succeed in doing it? If you have taken the leap out on your own, what do you wish you knew before you did and/or what advice do you have for others in doing so?

Resources:

Starting a Business by Constance Jenkins Pritchard

Plan – Business Planning & Financial Statements Template Gallery

Build – Social Capital How-To: 5 Steps to Build the #1 Competency You Should be Developing

Grow – Get a Leadership Development Game Plan 

Care – 6 Tips to Help You Unplug for Your Vacation