How to start your own business? 

I’m sure many people wonder what the steps are to start their own business. Here is the answer: courage. Actually, it’s part of the answer, but I believe that to even start a business you need courage. There is an entrepreneur in everyone, but what sets apart businessmen and businesswomen from people with an idea, is courage. Courage to start promoting. Courage to start taking responsibility. Courage to commit. Without courage, we can’t achieve anything because fear holds us back. Fear of failure. But the question I will ask right now, and the question you’ve probably heard many times, is how do you know you will fail before you even try?

I speak from experience when I say that fear can sometimes be the greatest obstacle in starting a business. I made clay jewellery for quite a long time but only started selling clay jewellery recently. And truthfully, I always wanted to start selling my jewellery and even start making my own money, but I never had the courage. My family always encouraged me to try, but the fear of failure clouded my mind, blurring my vision of what I was capable of doing. Without courage, starting or running a business may not be possible, and when we see famous businesspeople in the world, they tend to have something about them that makes them different to others – and no, it’s not their money. It’s their courage!

Once you start a business, you cannot easily turn back and give up. I’m sure that worries people because commitment is necessary for starting a business and as students, parents, and workers, we don’t have time.

So how do we make time?

I know it’s easier said than done, to manage your time well and be organised. You can take it from me though. Making time for business is possible, even whilst juggling lots of events in our life. If you really commit to a business, it can be your source of pride and income, and all of it comes from doing something you have a passion for. This leads me to another key point: Passion. Possibly one of the main reasons many people start a business. It’s not necessary, but I would say that passion can be the most lasting fuel to boost your effort in running a business. So, along with courage, passion can also be one of the most important things that help you successfully run a business. 

Courage does sometimes come with risks too. Starting a business means that you are responsible for what happens behind it, but I think that the rewards of running a business outweigh the efforts and commitments. The satisfaction of successfully running a business cannot be compared to anything else. I do want to acknowledge that I run a small business, not a major business, so giving these pieces of advice comes from my personal experiences. And although I run a small business and I make money from it, but less regularly than full-time businesspeople, I also manage to balance other aspects of my life, as a student. 

Starting off my business, I was nervous. But truthfully, nervousness is an understatement because I couldn’t bring myself to sell the jewellery I made for a long time. I only gave it the shot after repeated suggestions and a realisation. The realisation that this business could be successful, and I could never know if I didn’t even try, but at the same time, I would like to advise any ambitious people who want to start their own business to have something to fall back on, like studies or work. However, if I never started selling the jewellery I made, I would also have never realised the potential I had for entrepreneurship, even if it’s only a small business. Whatever opportunity you have to gain that independence and experience and money, take it. Because it can be something you’re incredible at and one day you may just be grateful that you chose courage at that moment. And once more I repeat, have something to lean on, because although you should invest time into the business, it’s risky to not have a backup.  

So, should you start a business?

If you have an idea, turn it into a worthwhile activity and you never know, it may become a major, money-making business one day. I didn’t write this to force everyone to start a business but to reach out to people who want to start, who may have an idea or not, but don’t have the courage to begin. It’s okay to be worried and scared and anxious, but the moment you start selling you’re already a fraction of the way to running a successful business. So, I say, just go for it! You will never know if you don’t try!

And of course, never neglect your job, studies, and your health on this journey! 

About my journey, I started making clay jewellery when me and my mum one day walked into Hobbycraft empty-handed and walked out with me holding a packet of airdry clay. Little did I know that the airdry clay was the first step on my journey to running my small business. 

I started making air dry creations and did so for a long time to the point where my hands would expectedly become stiff as the air-dry clay hardened around my fingers. It would take additional days for it to fully dry and with as little patience as I had, it became quite frustrating. But do understand that it’s always better to have patience. 

So, I continued making jewellery with air dry clay until my parents, with their immense support and courage in me, decided to invest in buying polymer clay. Although you must be thinking that there isn’t much of a difference between the two as they’re both clays, it had such a great effect on my creations. Polymer clay was much easier to use and gave me a larger selection of clays to work with. Inexplicably, it was a lot more effective! 

After a long time of making polymer clay jewellery, more people started to know that I made clay jewellery. After showing them what I’d made, I got suggestions to sell this jewellery and start my own business. But as soon as I’d heard business, I completely pushed aside the idea, because I was so scared to make a mistake, give it a shot, or commit to it for the fear of failure. And I reiterate that it was the epiphany that I could be successful, and that I was capable, that lead me to take the first step. The courage that I’d mustered and the self-belief that I’d developed encouraged me to start. And now, as a full-time student, I run a small business, and if I can do it, so can you!