6 Apr 2020
Episode 4 - How To Start A Startup Online Despite Being A Full-time Employee?
Even before we could try finding the answer for the titled question, let us try asking an even more important question to ourselves. Why do I work? Why do I wake up in the morning?
Your answer for these questions can be of two types:
1) Everyone works, everyone wakes up in the morning and so do I.
2) To Succeed in life
If your answer is like that of Reply 1, then it’s high time you must set goals for yourself.
And, if your answer is like that of Reply 2, then success is defined by you accordingly to your present goal. And the definition of success is “the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.”
Therefore, if you are a kind of person who says “I am going to become this…” , “I am going to achieve this…” or “I am going to experience this….” and then begin to work towards that goal, then you are on the right track. Success does not necessarily mean financial gain, it could be creating something the world needs, it could mean being of service to somebody or it could be of having better relationship with your family or friends.
Rule 1: Employment terms: Make sure that your startup idea is not a takeaway from your existing employment. It is important that we select a niche which does not conflict or does not compete with your existing employer. As a principle, we should be very ethical and follow the code of conduct of the terms of employment for which we have been employed.
Rule 2: Know your personal characteristic traits: Find what is that one thing that you LOVE doing even if you are not paid (I am not suggesting to not to make profits), it is just to identify your passion and fuel it. There are some exceptions in some cases where you will have to do just the opposite of what the result of the personal traits result just so that you do that which is out of your comfort zone, put yourself to test. Learn a new skill. Because you cannot expect different results doing same things. There are some potential tools suggested in my Digital Startup Blueprint to find the trait to discover yourself.
Rule 3: Know Your Audience: After knowing what is that one passion which drives you, find out your potential client or probable members you could join your community. Define their age, gender, their interest, hangout places, etc and try reaching out your audience. Maybe meet over a cup of coffee. Your client could be one of your distant or close friends, having similar interests, talk to them about your plan of creating a digital product and services, take feedback. Mix and match the combinations of their feedback and your researched content and form the next phase.
Rule 5: Rollout: Start rolling out your digital product and services on all social media platforms, get traction through combination of organic and paid traffic. There are different mediums on which you can have social media strategy released. If in case, you are well versed about the social media marketing, then you will have known the gist already. Else, you will surely need a mentor to guide you. Choose a mentor who can guide you through the process since the Step 5 of all other processes is slightly a challenge for the newbies. So, find whom you and your ideas resonate so that you take massive actions so that eventually you start making profits in few months.
Therefore, it is not merely starting a startup despite being a full-time employee, but you will bring a whole new meaning to your life.
Cheers!
Pramukh Rao
