There is a great opportunity right now to challenge how we do work. Many of us are asking whether it may be time to be our own boss.

Well… let’s get curious!

Jayne Huhtanen, a tellent business coach, joined us in the talent ecosystem and delivered a webinar on evaluating entrepreneurship as a career choice. She offered us a roadmap packed with ideas, gentle nudges and an invitation to engage in finding out our superpowers!

A long-time coach and trainer, Jayne, helps women find the time and money to do the things they love. She helps them get to the place they want to get to, faster. We like her thinking and shared a few highlights from her session.

“Your life, your potential business opportunity, or current business – it is in your hands. Whether you take action, make decisions, make changes to change your life and your business, your career or your future – it is up to you. If you change nothing, nothing will change.” – Jayne Huhtanen

Is Entrepreneurship Right for Me?

Some people know from the start that they want to be their own boss. Whether it’s being an entrepreneur, freelancer, contractor, or business owner, having your own business requires specific skills and drive to be successful. Gallup conducted research with more than 1,000 entrepreneurs to determine the 10 qualities of highly successful entrepreneurs and this is what they came up with (from “Entrepreneurial StrengthsFinder” by Jim Clifton and Sangeeta Bharadwaj Badal):

1. Business Focus: Always looking at profit.
2. Confidence: They know themselves well.
3. Creative Thinker: They make things better.
4. Delegator: They don’t try to do it all.
5. Determination: They battle difficulties. Passion can fall here, and may outweigh weaknesses in other areas.
6. Independent: They will do whatever it takes.
7. Knowledge-Seeker: They are constantly learning.
8. Promoter: They are the spokesperson for the business.
9. Relationship-Builder: They have high social intelligence and build strong relationships.
10. Risk-Taker: They have good instincts when it comes to managing high-risk situations.

Consider how you rate on a scale of 1 to 10 (or a yes / no) on the above skills?

The reality is, when you start a business, you will need to be able to do all kinds of tasks and wear every hat. Learning a little bit of everything, and doing a little bit of everything comes with the job!

Remember – skills can be acquired! Jayne encourages you to reach out for help if you’re looking to dive in deeper into evaluating whether the entrepreneur life is for you. This is definitely worth doing before you get started!

Feeling pretty good about this? Let’s move on!

Identifying your superpower. What should I do or sell?

Think about your values, beliefs and unique talents and write them down. This will help to guide you in identifying your superpower and narrowing down your area of focus.

There is only one you out there! One person in this whole universe with your lived experiences, energy and talents. Think about what makes you, you.

Consider:

• What makes you feel Important? Why?
• What raises your self-esteem, your feeling of “how much you like yourself”? Why?
• What have you accomplished that gave you a great sense of pride and satisfaction? Why?
• What skills and talents do you have? List as many as your can think of. Think back over your entire life: what are you good at, what have others told you that you are good at?

These questions are a compass to figuring out your skills, strengths, and passions which will in turn help you decide what kind of product or services you would like to sell.

Identifying your Why. What is my purpose?

There’s no greater gift than to honour your life’s calling. It’s why you were born. And how you become most truly alive. – Oprah

Knowing your why, or purpose, will give you clarity and help you to stay motivated and driven in achieving your goals.

Already know it? Awesome.

Need a bit of help getting clear? Think about why you do what you do? What is important to you, what drives you, what do you want to accomplish or contribute in this life? Write it down!

Start thinking about how you could develop a product or service that might leverage your talents and skillset and deliver on your why. Find a friend or join us for an Idea’s Lab in the talent ecosystem to hash it out. List 50 things you could do to earn money with your skills, talent and purpose.

Go a little crazy and have some fun with it! Write it all down!

Now, how are you feeling about entrepreneurship? Are you excited, overwhelmed, inspired?

Entrepreneurship is not for everyone and that is ok! If you are feeling like you would like to explore this option in more depth, reach out to Jayne to book in a discovery call and join our talent ecosystem.

We have women going through similar journeys and can offer you the support you need to move forward with a meaningful and rewarding career. You can access all webinar recordings in the community.