As we near the end of our discussion on entrepreneurship, it’s only natural that we look at the other side of the equation, which involves remaining an employee within your company. With the lack of objective definition it’s easy to become unhappy in the workplace. Everywhere you turn you see pieces on quitting your job and becoming self-employed. Today I wanted to look at some ways that you can become a happy employee and not worry about leaving your work any time soon.

Set an objective definition.

It could be the lack of goals or objective definition that’s holding you back from being happy as an employee. Do you have an end goal? Have you set short to medium term goals? Do you have a long term plan? I find with being an employee that you need to set goals for yourself because at the end of the day you work for ME Inc. Nobody will ever care about your financial situation as much as you do. The only way to secure a strong future financial situation is to set specific goals for yourself. Do you want to move into management in the future? Do you want to use your current employer has a reference for a dream job when you’re older? If you set some clear cut objectives you’ll find yourself more happy and motivated as an employee.

Try to work your way up the ranks.

Entrepreneurship is popular, but why isn’t intrapreneurship common? Rarely do we see pieces on moving up within a company and leading a team. You can easily become a leader in your company by undertaking challenging projects and motivating others. You’ll become much more happier as an employee once you see your peers are looking up to you and taking direction from you. If there’s a lack of growth opportunities in your current place of employment, it’s time that you switch to a new job so that you can experience what it feels like to be a happy employee once again.

Learn from others.

Whenever I start a new job or anything new in life my goal is to try to learn from others. At one point we will be a beginner at something and someone else out there will be at the advanced level. I find it to be exciting trying to go from beginner to advanced, in any area of life. This is the same as investing for beginners and getting started with your new life. When you start with your company you might just be the intern or hold some mundane job. The thrill comes in moving up the ranks and learning from others. Some will just complain and moan about their position. Those that are truly ambitious will do whatever they can to learn from others and improve their position.

Once you do everything you can to improve your experience at work you can try out some other ideas at home to ensure that you’ll remain a happy employee.

Work on side projects.

I suggest that you try to keep yourself busy with projects that inspire you. Your 9-5 job can be your source of income. Then when you get home you can work on your side business or projects around the house that you really want to get done. When you have money coming in, it becomes much easier to invest money in yourself and side hobbies. You can also become a much happier employee when you realize that your full-time job is allowing you to enjoy other areas of yourself.

Take care of yourself.

Finally you need to start taking proper care of yourself. Working out and eating well will make you feel happier overall. The reason that you hate your current job could be caused by something as simple as your poor eating habits or lack of proper rest. Don’t let these hold you back from enjoying your job.

At the end of the day I want to stress that being a happy employee is possible and realistic. Too many people are jumping on the self-employed bandwagon and bashing 9-5 jobs.

Where do you guys stand? Are you a happy employee or do you want to try out the world of self-employment?

If you enjoyed this piece then I strongly urge you to check out the other articles in this series:

Being a Freelancer Pros and Cons
Being An Employee Pros and Cons
How You Can Moonlight Your Way to Success
How-to Start Your First Business

(photo credit: working word)

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There are many written and unwritten working laws at your current job that are affecting you. You might be at the point where you’re sick of following working laws and are ready to branch off on your own. Instead of worrying about registering as self-employed for taxes and health coverage, you need to focus on making some money with your business idea. This is why we are here to help you get started.

If you’re looking for how to start your first business then this post is a rough guideline for what you can do starting right now!

Think of a business plan.

What will your business be? Will it be a service business or will you sell goods? You need to think of a business plan and get something in writing. Now don’t let this scare you away. I’ve put together business plans for school that were about 100 pages long. You don’t need to do this for your first small business. You just need to consider some of the following ideas in your business plan:

• Definition of business.
• Where will money come from?
• Short term business goals.
• Long term business goals.
• Risks involved.
• Competition.

Every business needs to have goals and to be aware of the competition. If you blindly walk into a business venture, you might walk out broke. I don’t want any of you guys going broke on me.

Brand your business.

Branding is more than just registering as self-employed for tax purposes. Branding is difficult to define these days. It involves everything that you and your business does. From responding to comments to having an amazing blog logo. Branding is everything that you do and how you do it.

According to Escape From Cubicle Nation, branding your business/yourself involves the following:

1. Take a stand.
2. Make people feel.
3. Invoke trust.
4. Solve a problem.

If you can manage to do all four of the above, then you’ll build a strong brand around your business. Don’t stress because by default you should be doing all four in your every day life. You should take a stand by having a clear business philosophy. You should make people feel by conveying how passionate you are. In turn your customers will trust you if you over deliver always. In the end you’re bound to help others solve a problem.

Create a website.

You’re going to want to have a home base. If you plan on starting a pure blog then you’re clearly going to need a website (hosting, design, theme). I don’t have much to say on this part because I hate the behind the scenes website work. In the past I have outsourced this work so that I can focus on what I enjoy doing (writing articles and helping others). You might have to spend a few bucks here but it’s usually a one time upfront cost.

Find paying clients.

This should be step number one. For the sake of not throwing you off with your first business idea, I want you to get comfortable with everything before you start looking for clients. Once you have your business idea up and running you need to decide on how you will earn money and how you will find paying clients. Who will pay you for your services? Finding paying clients is the strongest litmus test for deciding if your business has any legs to stand on. As they say, “if you’re going to fail, then fail fast.” If you can find paying clients relatively quickly then you may be on to something with your business. If you can’t then it means you might have to tweak something or switch gears.

Think about funding.

How will you fund this new business venture? These days you can start any small business online for less than a $1,000 so the funding should be coming from your savings account. If you’re going to want to start a business with a physical location then you need to look into funding. I have personally not gone through this process myself so I can’t offer much assistance. I can recommend that you start off by trying out one of the common options for small business funding: bank loan, angel investor, or venture capitalist.

Work your butt off.

Sorry but this step is mandatory. Everything else is just a minor detail. I find that in life you get what you put in. If you’re lazy with your business, then your business will show. Customers and readers can tell when you’re lazy. No matter how many books are written on the being able to work a few hours weekly and generate passive income, you’re still going to have to hustle hard with your new business. It’s just the reality of life. If you’re not willing to work your butt off then you need to close this post right now and consider other options. The amazing part is that for the first time in your life you will enjoy working hard because you’ll be working on projects that you’re passionate about.

The post that inspired me originally was 7 steps to starting a business over at Investor Junkie. If you enjoyed this piece then I strongly urge you to check out the other articles in this series:

Being a Freelancer Pros and Cons
Being An Employee Pros and Cons
How You Can Moonlight Your Way to Success

I want to know what you think: what worries you about starting your first business?

(photo credit: certs)