49% of workers in the U.S. have made a dramatic career change—and for those who haven’t, 65% say they’re thinking about it or previously considered it. Given these statistics, there’s a strong chance you are also considering a career change. There could be many reasons behind this, but since you’re reading this, it’s probably because you’d rather do what you love than find yet another job.
This begs the question—are you working your dream job or dreaming of working on something else?
We’re talking about exploring your passion and embracing your potential life as an entrepreneur. We know that word can be intimidating for some, but the steps we share below will make the idea much more tangible—perhaps they’ll even inspire you to create your dream job instead of searching for it.
Identify whether your passion is a viable business opportunity
We often choose certain career paths because of how much they pay, or because we have the skills required to excel in them. In this Inc article, one expert offers another reason people make certain choices about their career paths: “Because they didn’t have all the information they needed at the time to make the right one.”
But history has shown that all kinds of passions make viable businesses. For example, your passion may be cooking or baking. You might dream of opening a premier restaurant, artisan bakery, or boutique pasty shop downtown. Your delectable dishes could delight the palettes of foodies throughout the city.
You might dream of creating unique crafts like custom jewelry or even birdhouses. While once just a hobby people dabbled in to sell at weekend fairs, crafting items like these has become lucrative in recent years thanks to the internet. Etsy, in particular, has provided crafters with the opportunity to make their passion their dream job, such as this charms seller that became a top seller on the site.
There are two key actions you can take to determine whether your passion can make it as a business:
See if someone else has already done it
If there are already businesses that center around your passion, that’s a good sign. Extra points if those businesses are successful. Though if there aren’t many (or any) relevant businesses out there, it doesn’t mean your passion isn’t viable. You may have found a niche market that needs to be filled. Though if there are other businesses like yours in the marketplace it shows an initial signal of possibility.
Write a business plan
This exercise encourages you to think critically and practically about your passion. Conducting market research, identifying potential customers, performing financial planning—these are all important tasks in creating a business plan that help you consider how your idea can become a reality.
Remember the immortal words of Walt Disney: “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
Consider Bootstrapping
Sure, you could save up for years to invest heavily in a business—but why wait when you can take strides to become a business owner sooner rather than later? Enter bootstrapping, the act of starting and building your business with existing resources like personal savings and readily available equipment.
Bootstrapping provides several benefits:
- You can get your business up and running quickly.
- You maintain complete control over the business and associated decisions.
- You can spend critical time and money on the core of your business, like the product or service you offer, instead of ways to get capital.
Prioritize these key business areas
Once you’ve started your company, there are a hundred different directions you can go in—but it’s important you remain focused on these important areas of your business:
Product Offering
Here the concept of a minimum viable product (MVP) is important. An MVP is essentially a product (or service) you put out that’s “good enough” for customers to purchase, even if it isn’t perfect. Selling an MVP is especially useful in the early stages of your business since you have limited resources—you can gauge customer interest and willingness to purchase without investing a lot of money upfront.
Market Testing
Even after you’ve done some initial research and identified a need in the market, you still have to verify how deep the need is and what people are willing to pay to address it. Put your MVP in front of potential customers and put your theory to the test with actual sales.
Customer Feedback
Insights from customers can be invaluable to not only identify the viability of your product, but also improving it for future sales. For example, your customers can show you ways they use the product that you didn’t initially consider, or they may ask for features they would be willing to pay more for. Just keep in mind that some insights may not be useful or feasible, so consider all feedback carefully—such as paying more attention to feedback that’s shared by multiple customers.
Your dream job could very well be your passion brought to life. Pursue it practically with Business Maker—an all-in-one solution that helps entrepreneurs get started with their business idea. Get recommended products that fit your needs and help your business grow.
