What are the challenges of going out on your own?

Starting your own business could be the most regarding experience of your life says Dimopoulos. However, there are many challenges you need to get ready for both financially, and more importantly, emotionally, before you embark on your journey. For many of us, it is a road of no return as we give up our high-paying careers in pursuit of a dream.

As the founder and managing director since May 2006, Michael has successfully positioned Recruitment Academy as the first Induction, Training and Placement institution of its kind in Australia. This placed Recruitment Academy in a distinctive position within the market place; offering a unique service to the recruitment industry – and creating recruitment success stories.

Michaelís extensive experience in strategic development, innovation, passion and an extraordinary vision has been the foundation of his success. As a result, his highly successful Recruitment Academy is not only on the global radar, but to his credit he is the creator of an industry first, Recruit Me Now.

To want to earn more, be independent, do something different or get out of a frustrating job is simply not enough. There either must be goods or services to sell and they must be in sufficient demand, in both good and bad economic times, to generate a satisfactory profit.

To avoid the pitfall of simply buying a job and struggling to survive, you should work out the minimum financial return needed to make your own business more profitable than your present job.

The key here is to stay focussed and remind yourself everyday the reasons you quit your last job to begin with. If you, like many of us, started your business with no or minimum staff, loneliness could be your greatest enemy. I kind of wish I had gone into business with a partner as it is can be an extremely lonely journey.

I remember how long it took me to feel comfortable introducing myself as the managing director, I know this sounds crazy but you realise how conditioned you become after many years of selling someone elseís brand. I think this was a huge obstacle for me to overcome but it taught me how to deal with my own demons and insecurities. As long as you are aware of what is going on then it is easy to work through and take each step at a time. A valuable lesson I learnt along the way was not to tell people too much as I began to see that there where more people actually not wanting you to succeed because of there own insecurities and resentment of not having the courage to got out on there own.

To this day I still sleep with an A4 pad by my bed and constantly find myself writing early hours in the morning as this has been when my creativity is at its peak so better to embrace it I say. I do believe that this is where my best marketing and advertising concepts where instigated. Additionally, I have taught myself the power of gratitude and every night record all the things I have been grateful for, very powerful.

The challenges will vary depending on the business. In some businesses the biggest challenge is acquiring adequate capital. For others, the biggest will be establishing a customer base and/or name recognition. With the abundance of information about starting a small business available today why is it that the failure rate of 90% or better, depending on whose statistics you want to believe, has not changed.

The main challenge to starting a small business I believe has to do with your motivation.

Your motivation to start a business must be consistent with your passion and enthusiasm for what you are doing. I have watched many good people fail over the years because they started a business more often than not for the money.

Don't get me wrong. Money is a good thing and a wonderful tool. But, to earn money without enthusiasm and passion is more difficult.

Alongside motivation and passion would have to be capital. You need enough money to start up and you need something to live on until your business is successful. Figure out what you realistically need and then plan on needing double to triple that.

Employees, boy this is really major. In fact it might be the most important factor. You need great employees, you need to keep them, avoid turnover. But you also need to be the boss and stay in control.

Marketing, it helps to be a good marketer. This can also be a factor related to capital. Don't be afraid to spend to market, but don't spend uselessly (I've done that too).

You don't necessarily need a brilliant concept, or a unique idea. You just need to give people a product or service they need or want and find a niche that isn't being served in your market.

Stay involved and stay flexible. You can't be too wed to a specific way of doing things. Listen to your customers. Stay positive. Stay involved. Don't give up. Losing heart and giving up probably kill the majority of small businesses even more than lack of capital.

Marketing Marketing Marketing as without marketing the business goes nowhere.

Acknowledge your feelings. Be honest to yourself. Talk to a therapist if you can afford one. Go to local small business meetings and gatherings. Meet fellow new business owners who share the same challenges as you do. Read success stories. If you are having a particularly bad day, take some time to have a walk. You'll be amazed at how much better you feel afterwards.

Separating work and play, just because you are your own boss doesn't mean you can take 3 days of a week off. That is if you want your business to succeed. You can spend more time with your family, but you also need to devote time and energy to your business for it to flourish. In fact, you might need to work twice as hard as before the first couple of years to get things going.

If you work out of your house, make sure to designate a room for work only. Go to work as if you are working for someone else at a set time every day. Take lunch breaks at the same time. This will give a sense of normalcy to your new routine. Try not to allow people to interrupt you during work time. But do setup you own schedule between work and play and stick to it.

You need to diversify your revenue streams to ensure you donít expose a significant part of your business. In 2006 recruitment Academy launched with a four day classroom facilitated Induction course in 2008 Recruitment Academy;

ï facilitates 1- 4 day courses on and off site
ï the entire programme is accessible on line, accredited and forms part of an Industry Accreditation Programme
ï facilitates 1 day Corporate recruitment training programmes
ï sells licensing of course online content
ï sells recruitment DVDís
ï contracts out image consulting services
ï recruitment assessment profile tests
ï Consulting services

Not to mention all its revenue steams through its sister company Recruit Me Now such as job ad sales, banner and tile advertising, supplier index, principal partner advertising and candidate board placement fees.

Introducing a diverse range of revenue streams make a significant impact on your business during a very vulnerable and uncertain economic climate and gives clients and candidate many options.

The most rewarding achievement especially in a dynamic Industry like ours is to have launched something quite unique and to merely replicate something is far less exciting than to bring a concept and brand to life and being recognised as a true innovator and creator within an industry says Dimopoulos.

What would I have done differently knowing what I know now 3 years later. I guess lots more capital in the beginning and definitely find an ad agency that provides true consultative advice as unfortunately I learnt the hard way and found that some ad agencies are purely order takers and will churn through your advertising budget with absolutely no guidance.

After 2 years of building Recruitment Academy and beginning to see positive cash flow the decision to then launch another industry first Recruit Me Now was a tough decision. I must admit the Academy prepared me for yet another daunting experience but I was inspired by the challenges of bringing yet another brand to life not to mention the introduction of a career site which was well overdue which I guess someone had to do it and I knew it had to be me.

Take time out and be conscious of your mind set. Negativity breeds negativity and guess what, keep thinking its tough well what do you get more of? Visualisation is a very powerful tool therefore manifest the feeling of being successful and you will the create success.

Bio:
In an Industry where its reputation is tarnished as a car sales industry, attrition is out of control and the thought of investing in programs such as Induction and Training was un heard of, founder and managing director Michael Dimopoulos saw opportunity and launched not only one of the most recognised and respected training industry brands Recruitment Academy but also recently the launch of Australiaís first ever exclusive career site for recruiters, Recruit Me Now.