Back in January we wrote a post about self employment for those people who are thinking about working for themselves or are new to it. This time around we’re offering suggestions that could possibly apply to people who’ve been in business for a while but are either struggling or not taking advantage of everything they know to increase their business.
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For instance, we’re an accounting firm. We’re pretty busy all year round, although we always welcome more business. 🙂 Still, if we weren’t as busy, there are a lot of other things we could offer that could help us not only bring extra income in but would help to advertise our business in the community.
For instance, myself or anyone else here could put on a program at a local hotel or elsewhere talking about accounting, Quickbooks, taxes or a number of other things. We could charge for it, advertise it in the newspaper and on this blog, and even if we only got 10 people to come that could make a nice little chunk of change.
We could do webinars and do the same type of thing, and our reach could be even bigger because of social media. Not only that but we could record it and sell it later as a product off our website. We could also take the material we produced, turn it into a book or ebook, and not only have another product but possibly something we could sell on a site like Amazon.
We find that most people see themselves as only one thing or only doing one thing. A friend of mine who works for herself saw her skills as a worker and that’s it. I had a conversation with her, saying that she was calling herself a consultant and that consultants don’t always just do work. She has the skill and knowledge to be an evaluator of processes for departments that are in her industry. She also knows how to offer advice, train, and handle interim management during periods where an organization might be in transition and need someone temporarily. She hadn’t thought of things like that and said she would think about it further and possibly alter her list of services.
When you work for yourself, it pays to take some time to sit down and think about all the things you can do within that business. While you’re at it, think about other things you might be able to do that relates to your business. For instance, there are a lot of people who have niche businesses that have turned it into a profitable speaking career. All it takes is some forethought, some confidence and the ability to speak to people and you could find yourself being seen as an authority in your industry.
Don’t rule out anything you might be able to do unless it’s something you don’t like doing. Being flexible is one of the wisest things those who are self employed can do to help them get by when things slow down.