8 steps to creating job of your dreams

Last week at an event I attended, students were debating on the nature of the perfect job and how one should find it. All sorts of ideas were being thrown around. My personal opinion is that the “perfect job” is just a matter of perspective. In the end, it’s about doing something that you are passionate about. And there’s no better joy than getting paid for doing something you love. Ask Oprah Winfrey, Sachin Tendulkar or Mark Zuckerberg. 

Empower yourself

But what if you can’t find that perfect opportunity? Is waiting the only option? Or can you create your own dream job? This is a brief overview for those who dare to build their own path instead of following a trail.

So if you’re unemployed, stuck in the wrong company, dread going to work or trapped doing something that bores the life out of you, maybe it’s time you did something about it. It’s not going to be easy. You need to be willing to take risks and make mistakes. But it is rewarding, empowering and liberating. So how do you create your own job? 

What’s your big idea?

The first thing to ask yourself is: What do you truly love doing? If you’re lucky, you will have several options to choose from. But if you can’t think of anything, it’s time for some introspection. It’s also important to be open-minded and begun on scanning opportunities.

One way is to look around and identify the general needs of the people around you. Do they have problem areas? Are they constantly talking about products or services that they can’t get hold of? Some problems are just “disguised” opportunities and it’s easy to build a business model around them. Never get into anything that everyone else is doing.

Always be creative and build your business around a new concept that no one has heard of. It will be a little more risky but you will have the first mover advantage. As far as possible stick to what you already know. But remember; don’t start a company unless it’s an obsession or something you love. 

Is your idea commercially viable?

It’s important to do a little homework on this new idea. Is there any competition you should be wary of? Who is your target audience? What age-group, nationality, and demographics are you focussing on? You also need to make a business plan to see how feasible your idea is.

There are tons of resources about this online so I’m not getting into details. How much money would you need to initiate the plan? Where do you want to launch? What are the setup costs? How many orders would you need inorder to break even? Don’t forget to discuss the idea with your family and friends. Ask them, if they weren’t your friends, would they still spend money to pay for your service? If the answer is yes, you’re probably on the right track. 

Funding

You don’t require hundreds of thousands of dirhams to initiate your own small business. Start really small and grow with time. You’ll have a stronger foundation while learning the ropes and you will not be exposed to high risk.

It takes about AED 50000 to register a legitimate business in many of the free-zones in the UAE. But you have to be careful of hidden costs depending on the kind of business you are getting into. You might not need an office space initially and you can opt for a flexi-desk solution.

If you’ve prepared your business plan accurately, you will already have a fair idea of how much funding you will need. There are a few options you can consider while deciding how to fund your business. I generally prefer to use my own finance.

That way you get to call all the shots without having someone else come in and run the show. But if that is not an option then you could identify a skill you have to freelance, offer coaching, contact family and friends for support, network, contact angel investors, use crowd funding sites, banks etc.I don’t really believe that you have to spend a lot of money to make money.

That theory may work but there is also a high chance that your expenses will greatly exceed your earnings and you will probably fail even before you had the chance to succeed. Always try to keep your costs low and build your business with baby steps. 

Build an audience

All businesses, big or small require an audience. I am not talking about a customer base here. An audience is a group of people who trust you, believe in your goals, will help and support you.

As a start-up business, having a good audience is a strong plus. This will provide you with the moral support you will need to constantly think positively and strive ahead even when times are tough.

You can also have some of your audience join you in your initiative either as volunteers or as partners to this start-up. As much as its good to be a solo entrepreneur, life becomes a lot easier when you have helping hands and success is better enjoyed when it’s shared. 

Add value

Running a business is about finding opportunities to add value. You should constantly be looking at ways to resolve a client’s pain-point. Whenever you focus on trying to make your customer’s life easier with your product or service, the selling becomes a piece of cake. Be innovative and differentiate yourself from your competition.

Make sure you are constantly updated on what your competitors are up to and work towards staying ahead of them all the time. For eg, if you are offering a product then you should constantly strive towards giving your customer great value for money, up-to date product info, faster delivery, better after-sales service. Building credibility is important and you can only do this if you are good at what you do. Others will gladly pay you if you’re good. 

Network, network and network

I cannot stress enough on how important networking is. Once your product or service is ready to be offered, it’s all about going out there and letting everyone know that you and your business exist. In fact it should be a large part of your overall marketing strategy. When I began my first business, my biggest marketing cost was coffee.

Don’t be too worried if you are not selling on each and every meeting. Networking is about building relationships. There are tons of networking events and clubs right here in Dubai that you can find online. Many of them are beautiful hubs for start-up businesses to promote themselves and spread the word.

The important part is to make sure you follow-up once you’ve met somebody through networking. You can offer to take them out for coffee where you can share your ideas with them and discuss about formulating a potential business relation. 

Be ready to evolve and adapt.

As much as you think you know how to run your business, you will be faced with challenges almost every day. From unexpected bills to unexpected customer responses, you may realise that what you thought of as a fantastic business idea is not generating as much interest as you expected. That’s OK.

The key is persistence and learning how to adapt to unexpected situations. You cannot sell what people do not want. Interact with your customers as much as possible and be ready to adapt your product or service to suit their requirements. When you work beyond the point that most people give up, success is round the corner. 

This is just a preliminary roadmap; giving too much information might take away all the excitement involved in your journey of discovery. The best part is while everyone is cribbing about the bad employment market and whiling away time waiting for the perfect opportunity, you will actually be going out there and making it happen!

The writer is the founder and managing director of InternME www.internsme.com