Rasheed Ogunlaru, who has previously been feature in thedivorcemagazine.co.uk is a life coach business coach motivational speaker and author of Soul Trader: Putting the Heart Back into your Business
Rasheed helps people move forward in their life, in their career, their business and in their workplace.
Here’s an excerpt of our most recent interview:
There are many who have been through divorce or separation who now find themselves in a situation where they need to get back to work and they opt to become their own boss for whatever reason. Only thing is they don’t know what business to get involved in. What advice would you give them in terms of finding their direction?
Divorce can be difficult and challenging but sometimes the whole process can actually be one of blessings, one of positives in that it asks you to revaluate your whole life – “What am I doing in terms of my career, in terms of my work?” So the good thing is that it might give rise to these feelings of “actually I do want to do something but I’m not sure what”
So let’s deal with the people who perhaps want to be their own boss but don’t know how to go about it.
- Best starting point is to ask yourself a couple of things, “What’s really important in life and what’s important to you in a potential business?”
I ask that because there might be certain things in your life and life balance that are really important for instance, it might be your life circumstance, that you have children, maybe you’re a carer. There are certain things that you really need to be mindful off when you start thinking about a business including location, health and wellbeing and more so really the circumstances that you are in at that given moment.
- Then once you start zooming in on the business itself, what are the things that I am passionate about and what are my skills?
These are very important questions because the whole journey of starting up is going to be very difficult – its going to take time, it’s going to take energy and resources and resourcefulness.
You really need to think hard before starting something that you are not passionate about or where you do’t have skills for. It’s advisable to chat to other people you know and who are their own boss and ask them what they do, how they found their passion because there might be clues in there for you.
- What kind of personality? What kind of mindset?
Are you someone who needs certainty? Then starting your own business is not for you. If you need that guarantee of a paycheque then starting a business is not for you.
But if you are a self-starter, independent and resourceful, with a can-do attitude who doesn’t need that certainty then starting a business might be for you.
A lot of it is also about confidence and you need to be confident about your skills set. So if you have these qualities then you’re going to be well placed for business.
- Also looking at your own circumstance, with divorce in mind.
Was your divorce recent and very acrimonious, was it really costly, has it left you emotionally drained, is now the best time to set up your business or could you spend a bit more time looking into it, researching and preparing for it and then starting it when you feel really ready to get on with it.
Listen to the rest of the interview where Rasheed answers more questions including:
- What are the must dos when you are starting a business?
- Why is a business plan necessary when starting a business?
- Many people find networking quite intimidating and makes them feel slightly uncomfortable. Why is this a vital part of business start-up?
- What’s the difference between coaching and mentoring and which one should one work with initially?
For free resources from Rasheed click here – soul-trader.biz, where you will also find information on his networking for success workshops click here – http://rasaru.com/