Starting a mobile or home business

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Starting a mobile or home business
Contribute to Irelands first ebook, on starting a mobile or home business in the beauty/complimentry field.

I have had a lot of queries from students over the years on how to start  a mobile or home business in the beauty and complimentary fields, and while a lot of the beauty and complimentary syllabi broach the subject, it does'nt seem to be enough to help graduates along the way to achieving their goals.

So the objective of this discussion is two-fold,

(1) To start a discussion that will provide guidelines and information for those wanting to start a mobile or home business in the beauty/ complimentary field.

(2) To use the contributions to produce Irelands first ebook for therapists and make-up artists wanting to start a mobile or home business in the beauty/complimentary field. (all contributors will be acknowledged)

So I hope by starting this discussion and sharing some of my own experiences of starting businesses, that others will enter the discussion and share their experiences and knowledge to build a bank of information and guidelines for those aspiring to owning their own businesses.

It is hoped that the information and guidelines gathered will be practical, and easy to follow, as most of the 'start your own business' textbooks can be lengthy and technical. Suggestions for websites with related information would also be welcome.

The information would be provided on the assumption that readers are all ready qualified in beauty, make-up or complimentary therapy and have some sort of an idea what line of business they would like to persue. However it might also provide an insight for aspiring therapists as to whats involved in starting your own business. Most of the discussions will take place through this 'forum'.This forum will be used to get feedback and gather information and the relevant details. This discussion will be a working document with the intention of producing an ebook.

So here goes!

From my experience, the magic formula for a quick route to business success does'nt exist. It requires hard work, long hours, a will to succeed, and a belief in what you are doing. However, their is nothing more gratifying than taking control of your own destiny and financial independence. Starting your own business can be extremly motivating and will enable you to utilise your many talents and skills (some you never even realised you had). It does'nt happen overnight, and invariably you will make mistakes along the way. In fact, making mistakes is part of the process in having a successful business, as long as you learn from them and use them to make your business stronger.

Before talking about the more formal aspects of starting a bussiness (eg legal and financial) I think a good starting point should be to look at the inherent skills and qualities that one posses such as confidence, practical skills, vision and the will to succeed.

Confidence
Confidence will play a crucial role when it comes to delivering your service eg how confident are you in performing the task at hand? how confident are you in dealing with clients? how confident are you in dealing with suppliers or businesses you might need to deal with? Confidence will come from having good knowledge of a subject and talking to others who have been in similar situations, and also from practicing the practical skills which you need to provide your service. So network and read  as much as possible to become knowledgeable on your subject,  and practice on family and friends to improve your practical skills at every available opportunity.

another good way to build your confidence and practical skills would be to work for somebody else (in your prefered choice of business) for a period of time. In some cases it might be unpaid work, but sometimes you have to make these sacrifices when starting your own business in order to get experience.

Practical skills
Your practical skills are crucial to the success of your business (assuming that that you will be the one delivering the service).It is most likely that your initial training will need to be underpinned by lots of practice to improve your skill level and speed of delivery, although never sacrifice quality for speed. You can improve your skills by practicing as much as possible on family and friends or seeking out additional training. If you launch into your new mobile or home business immediatly after completing your training it would be advisable to take it slowly and have a minimum of clients till you perfect your skills and timing.

Vision
Vision is what brought you to undertake your training. At some point you would have had a vision of starting your own business and would have had to take the steps towards achieving that goal. Vision is what can drive us forward and make us want to get out of bed in the morning. In fact vision is one of the biggest contributors to persons wanting to start their own business, as they realise that their existing lifestyle or job is not going to cater for their visionary needs. They decide that they have more to offer and have skills, abilities and knowledge that is been stifiled. Visions are a bit like dreams and can conjure up emotions that move us foward towards our goals. But it should be remembered that vision in itself is not enough, and vision without venture will remain vision. In other words, your visions will never be realised unless they are follwed by actions, and the 'action' stage is were most visions flounder as you lack the will to succeed.

The will to succeed
The will to succeed is what will ultimately determine if you achieve your goals. It overides all the other 'business' skills of marketing, finance, accounting, sales etc etc. These type of skills can be learned, or bought, however, the will to succeed is something that seperates the the achievers from the none achievers. It is not some thing that can be bought but is specific to each individual and determined by their mindset and confidencce in faceing new challenges. Your will to succeed will determine how you deal with setbacks and mistakes (and there will be many) and will drive you foward to overcome the many challenges along the way.