Creative Entrepreneurship: 3 Steps to Turn Talent Into Cash for Self-Employment!

Thanks to the PC and the World Wide Web, now everyone has the opportunity to be successful on their own. It’s amazing how these tools have revolutionized everything.

How can you take advantage of these tools and the marketplace to turn your talent into cash? Although it is quite simple to do it, it is not easy. Making the transition from receiving a regular paycheck can be challenging for many. Many of us have been raised and trained to think that the legitimate way to make a living is to go to college or trade school and get a job. And we’ve also been taught to believe that work is the only thing that can provide “benefits,” ie health insurance. However, young people graduate from university and go directly to self-employment. They can buy health for a monthly fee and also get the benefit of an HSA (Health Savings Account), which is available only to self-employed workers.

Before continuing, I would like to define what I mean by creative entrepreneurship. Creative entrepreneurship is the process of creating a life out of a talent or skill, using limited resources, without going into debt. Creative entrepreneurship is for ordinary people. The goal is not necessarily to be a millionaire, although that may be possible for some. The goal is to become successful self-employed, earning a living doing something you love to do, perhaps working from home or from a small office. Creative entrepreneurship is not about buying a franchise and hiring a staff of employees and opening a store. It’s not about taking out a bunch of expensive ads in the paper and having huge overheads and loans from the bank, recruiting a board of directors and going public and offering shares. However, the end result can be a 6-figure income, accompanied by a pleasant lifestyle, without many expenses, risks or debt.

Creative entrepreneurship is a term I have coined to describe my lifestyle. My first business was a business that I had been trained for. I went to college and got a degree in advertising. I then accepted a freelance sales representative position selling advertising promotional products. Eventually, I started my own promotional products company. Now I have diversified into other areas according to my interest, passion, experiences and knowledge.

Creative entrepreneurship offers the ultimate in capitalist freedom. We can make a living doing what we love or are good at; and we can do it from home as simple as a laptop, cell phone and website.

Below I have given 3 steps to start your journey of creative entrepreneurship.

These are the basic steps required to start your self-employment career. Give yourself 1-3 years to put these things in place. Try to work part time at your current job and part time at your self-employment. This is a very simple process, but not an easy one. The idea of ​​creative entrepreneurship is not to take out loans, but rather to build a customer base and invest that money in growing your business as the business grows. You will need to learn to think differently, set your own goals, create your own vision for your company, and create vacations and days off, because you are your own boss.

get some tools: Invest in a laptop, a printer, a toll-free number, a cell phone, and a workspace. On your laptop, make sure you have a good art program like Corel Draw or Microsoft Publisher. Make sure your work area is a quiet, organized place in your home, garage, or apartment. Keep your work area separate from your home. I started on a base, and when I went upstairs to go home, I was done with work. Learn to use your tools. You can do this on weekends and nights while still maintaining a regular income.

Get some experience: Find out what your passion is and discover a realistic way to market it. Dana Beasley of Angel Arts is passionate about art and pets; and she is not a good artist, but she is creating digital portraits for Pet City clients. If she loves music, but she knows she’s not going to be a rock star, for example, she’ll create a website business that sells nostalgic CDs. She will need to take classes in accounting, sales, marketing, website design, and graphic design. Many of these classes can be done with software tutorials or taken online. These are the basics that she will need to know in order to run her own self-employment career. Develop yourself in your area of ​​talent. If you’re a bookkeeper, work towards your CPA, if you’re an architect, get your architect’s license. Anything you are good at or like to do; obtain some type of training and/or credentials.

get some clients: Now it’s time to start getting some clients. At first, it may be convenient to work for free, while you continue to work at your income-generating job. Ask a friend or family member to let you practice with them in exchange for a written testimonial about how great your business’s product or service is. You can incorporate this into your marketing materials and website, and your customer base will grow as you build experience, knowledge, and credibility. You’ll need some marketing materials to attract clients, and that’s where your graphic design training will come in handy. You can also hire a graphic designer on a per-project basis to help you develop your logo, business cards, and letterhead. As you gain more customers, always invest some of your revenue in more sophisticated marketing efforts such as branding with promotional products and email inquiries, newsletters and postcards to stimulate and grow business.

Being your own boss requires personal development because the business can only grow at the level you are growing. Constant training and coaching is necessary to bring you to full independence. Once you achieve independence in one business venture, you can branch out to others, as your creative juices begin to flow once again. The maximum freedom and joy is living from what you are good at and what you love to do. Creative entrepreneurship allows you to greatly contribute to yourself, your family, the community and the world around you!